The Path of History

The commonly understood history of the Flanaess begins just over one thousand years ago, when the great conflict between the ancient Suloise and Baklu nish empires forced massive migrations eastward across, around, and even under the western moun tain ranges. This resulted in the mixture of races and cultures that defines the modern Flanaess.

Tales of the era before the migrations are fragmentary and poorly understood. Did monstrous creatures rule Oerik before the advent of humanity? Did the great races of humans, elves, dwarves, and the like arise by fiat of the gods or journey here from elsewhere? Did the elves raise humanity to civilization, or did humans achieve this on their own? Did the Flan once have their own empires and civilizations? Who built the oldest tombs in the Cairn Hills, the half-buried ruins in the Bright Desert, or the deserted stone cities in the Griff Mountains? Where were the fabled realms ruled by Johydee, the Wind Dukes of Aaqa, Vecna the Whis pered One, the High Kings of the dwarves, or the elven King of Summer Stars? What became of the mysterious Isles of Woe, and who dwelled there? No one knows with any certainty.

Even histories of the early years of the migrations are unclear on many points. The Oeridian tribal realm of Thailand was so thoroughly absorbed by the king dom of Aerdy that it survives only in name as the Thelly River. The ancient kingdom of Ahlissa, ruled by the Flan and easily conquered by Aerdy, is known today only for its founding wizard-queen, Ehlissa the Enchantress, and a magical nightingale she made. (The Flan here have almost vanished through inter marriage.) So it goes for much of recorded time.

What is presented here is a history of the land accepted by most learned authorities and understood by almost anyone with a rudimentary education. The current time is the Common Year (CY) 591, which is also 1235 OR (Oeridian Record), 6106 SD (Suloise Dating), 5053 OC (Olven Calendar), 3250 BH (Baklu nish Hegira) and 2741 FT (Flan Tracking).

Note: When calculating Common Years prior to the Declaration of Universal Peace in 1 CY, remember that Common Year reckoning has no "year zero." Thus, the time elapsed between 5 CY and -5 CY is only nine years, not ten.