Cambruin: Timeline

Cambruin: Timeline

Original: Meridian: Would I be correct in assuming that you are inferring that the SB legend is not telling all and that the War of Tears actually lasted twice as long as it implies?

Another thing(probably wont get a straight answer off this one...): The SB legend also implies that Caeric Blackhammer, was not Cambruin's champion sometime shortly after the deliverance of Shadowbane to Cambruin. Either because of death or disertion. (Probable reason for disertion being the church's change of stance on Cambruin's war.) Although, it does say that he was slain at Kierhaven. Which would raise a couple questions. Is the SB lore's inferrences correct, that Cearic was no longer with Cambruin sometime after the deliverance of Shadowbane? And if so, what was Cearic doing at Kierhaven?

By- Silestree

Answer:Ah yes, more timeline questions...

The history of the Age of Kings has developed as the game has, but now it's in what I'm pretty sure is a reasonable final form. As the holes and spaces on the timeline have gotten filled in, the War of Tears has indeed grown quite a bit in its duration - it's become something of a Hundred Years' War, with a few bouts of invasion and total warfare spread out over nearly two centuries.
The story presented in the Human Lore is, so far, the most detailed account, and it's accurate, at least as far as the outline of events goes.

Really, you could almost say that there were two Wars of Tears: the first began with Konrad's Boast and ended when the Elves destroyed the Kingdom of Alvaetia, while the second began with Cambruin's invasion of lands conquered and occupied by the Elves since early in the first war and ended at Kierhaven. There was a good thirty year gap in between these wars, during which the Humans were pretty much warring with each other constantly. In this sense, its very analagous to the Great World War of the 20th Century, which was fought in two bouts with a twenty year intermission.

For those who are profoundly interested in building Guild histories and what not, here are some dates, cribbed from my Age of Kings timeline. All dates are King's Year (KY), as taken from the Human reckoning.

913 - Konrad's Boast at the millennial anniversary of the Grand Alliance. Tensions immediately escalate between the Hidden Court and the 10 Kingdoms.

914 - War erupts between the Hidden Court and the Kingdom of Escalandor, one of the 10 Kingdoms on the Elvish border. The War of Tears soon begins in earnest, drawing in the rest of the 10 Kingdoms.

circa 1045 - Cambruin is born somewhere around this date.

1046 - King Valdimanthor's armies launch the final invasion of the 10 Kingdoms, and destroy the armies of Alvaetia. Alvaetian King Meynard is slain, and the succession is thrown into chaos. Civil wars reign among the Humans, while the Elves withdraw into their forests.

1061 - Cambruin first wins fame. The king of Caledorn abdicates and turns the crown over to him. Cambruin declares the foundation of a new united Human kingdom, but many of the monarchs of the Ten Kingdoms defy him. The War of Seven Crowns begins.

1065 - Cambruin knights Caeric Blackhammer.

1066 - Cambruin overcomes the last resistance to his rule. The High Kingdom is established. A decade of peace and prosperity follow.

1076 - An insult from King Valdimanthor leads Cambruin to invade the occupied kingdoms of Escalandor and Ghand. The High King walks right into an Elvish trap, and the War of Tears begins again. The Patriarch of the Holy Church backs Cambruin, and persecution drives the Rangers from the lands of Men.

1081 - Cambruin sees the Vision of the Sword. The Quest for Shadowbane begins.

1083 - Caeric achieves the Quest for the Sword, and delivers Shadowbane to Cambruin. Cambruin slays Valdimanthor at the Battle of Rennelind. The tide of the war turns.

1084 - Cambruin invades the Hidden Court, taking the battle to the homeland of the Elves.

1085 - The holy Church withdraws its support from Cambruin. One Crusader, Malorn the Just, breaks rank and stands by his King. He quickly becomes a Champion.

1090 - The Library of Aerynth burns, destroyed by Cambruin's army.

1091 - Cambruin officially recognizes the Knights of the Sash, an order of would-be paladins who follow Caeric's inspired example. Many more worldly knights resent the favors lavished on their "holier than thou" comrades.

1099 - the battle of Kierhaven, the Woeful Stroke, and the Turning.

There you have it. There was a LOT more going on, of course, but that gives you the timeframe of the War at least.

Now (as if this post isn't long enough!), about Caeric... The Paladin never left the High King's service - he wore the title of Champion with pride from the day Cambruin annointed him to the day he died. He had a lot of friends and supporters at court and among the Champions... but he also had more than a few enemies.

The resentment many Knights and Champions felt at not being able (or even willing) to follow this wonder boy's divine example resonate well with the decline and fall of King Arthur's court. That's the tragedy: if you look at Le Morte D'Arthur, who do you find guilty for the demise of all the great heroes? Arthur was mortally wounded by Mordred, a knight of the Round Table. Sir Lamorak and King Pellenore were done in by the Orkney Brothers (Gawaine, Gareth, Gaheris, Agravaine, and the half brother Mordred), and Sir Lancelot killed ALL of them save Mordred. When deprived of enemies to fight and when the only deeds worth doing were simply impossible (the Grail Quest, or the healing of Sir Urry), the Round Table turned on itself.

The same sort of thing happened with Cambruin. I don't think the High King and the First Paladin ever had a falling out, and I'm sure they never came to blows, but I can say with a pretty reasonable degree of certainty that by the end of things there were probably a few issues they didn't see eye to eye on anymore. Add genocide, the conflict between holy virtue and worldy reality, the exhaustion of nearly 20 years of campaigning, and Malorn's zeal (if that's the right word for it) to the mix, and you have a recipe for catastrophe.

And that's exactly what they got. Caeric was at Kierhaven, because it was his duty. A better question: why wasn't he fighting at Cambruin's side? If he had been, he surely wouldn't have died (Shadowbane and the King's presence would have borne him through any conflict, or prevented the betrayal that some say did him in). If he hadn't died, odd are he would have been at his King's side, and could have prevented the Turning altogether...

Too bad, really.

In my zeal, I posted a bit of an error up above, as J. has been good enough to point out.

NOTE: Cambruin was born circa 1045, not 945. So, at the Battle of Kierhaven he was in his low fifties, not his low one hundred and fifties!