Rothcar blather

I'm such a derivative fantasy whore. *sigh* Here's a really, really sketchy timeline of all the various plotlines that take place in this universe. They are legion, and I came up with most of them when I was in eighth grade, which is why they suck, and why I'm only giving sketchy details, so as to embarass myself as little as possible.

The history of Rothcar and the surrounding areas can be divided into four main sections- five, if you count post-Stella Matin, but that's still technically part of the Fourth Era. Given the way certain characters keep making ominous noises, I'm sure I'll have to come up with a Fifth Era soon.

The First Era is characterized by nature worship and cohabitation between human, non-human, and demi-human species. There were no gods and no form of organized religion. It ended when a war between the humans and demi-humans escalated to engulf the non-humans as well.

During the First Interlude (began in 1E 3087), most of the demi-humans and non-humans were killed; those that survived were banished underground. Most of the dragons died then, as well, and those few that survived became royalty among the non-humans.

The Second Era saw the beginning of actual deity worship; two goddesses were born out of the wreckage of the First Era, and they were recognized by all species as the final authority on everything. The humans lived in dozens of small fiefdoms and city states; the two largest of these were called Rothcar and Izalia.

The Second Interlude (whose plot is so pastede on, I don't even have words to describe it) began in 2E 963 when a plague drove the non-humans out of the Rift and back to the surface. The two Goddesses were kidnapped by someone who had figured out how to attain godhood on his own. Both Rothcar and Izalia were destroyed; the high princes of both countries banded together, along with a ridiculously large cast of side characters, to end the war and recover the Goddesses before the idiot who'd kidnapped them blew up the continent.

In the end, an elf priestess named Tybarra, and an outlaw magicrafter named Radrezyne were the ones who actually saved everyone. The two of them killed the Goddesses and the wannabe god, and ascended to godhood on their own. They separated the excess godhead into six pieces; Tybarra moved on to another plane of existence, and Radrezyne went back to take care of her husband, the ex-prince of Izalia.

Radrezyne and her then-husband united several of the fiefdoms around Izalia and became wise and benevolent rulers. Eventually they had children and everything went to hell, but that's another story altogether. The high prince of Rothcar went back and united a few feudal states of his own, and began rebuilding Rothcar. The Six pieces of leftover godhead became six new gods, and the Third Era began.

The Six were elemental deities- the four principal elements, plus life and death. Each one chose an area of the continent to patronize and agreed to maintain a balance in the forces of nature. They also agreed to leave Radrezyne and her people alone.

This worked for a few hundred years (even though they'd all wanted to do something when Radrezyne lost her mind and her son sealed off the country), until the elemental of death tried to take over the continent (3E 542). The rest of the Six picked six mortals to represent themselves on the physical plane, gave them powers by proxy, and waited for things to fix themselves.

The Six Avatars sealed the elemental into a rock and went into hibernation. The Third Interlude began in 3E 1150 when a bunch of idiots revived the elemental and all of her nasty creations. The Avatars were awakened and told to go forth and be useful- but they'd been asleep for six hundred years, and they had to get over their culture shock first.

The Fourth Era began with the mutual suicide of the Six and their Avatars; they shattered themselves into a thousand pieces, and each piece became one of the Thousand Little Gods. By this point, most of the non-humans and demi-humans left the continent or the plane; the incredible variety of creatures that once called the continent home had dwindled to a few dozen races.

Rothcar became the center of commerce and culture; Radrezaria, to the east, had opened its borders to annex the lands to the south and north, but remained otherwise completely isolated.

The Fourth Era is my favorite because the focus shifts away from the country as a whole and focuses more on the capital city of Shaivhen, where the Guilds and Temples vie for power. I love my Thousand Little Gods and my Assassins' Guild, even if I did completely steal them from Tamora Pierce and Eve Forward. The Fourth Era has the highest ratio of cool characters to useless pieces of crap than any other Era, too.

Derivative fantasy whore, like I said. Foxbird's story takes place in the middle of the Fourth Era, while Stella Matin happens towards the end. (Silverlock was born in 4E 398; he meets Foxbird and Blaine in the 480s; Theron kills his father in 4E 776; he leaves Radrezhaea (or Radrezaria, or whatever else the fuck I call it at any given point in time) with Bren and Co and arrives in Shaivhen in 4E 1000.)