Timeline-chaos

The Time of Chaos is the century following the events of The Great Exile, up to the events of Return to Aphrodisia.

Year 5610 - The Great Exile is in full swing. By the end of that summer, the gate to Niu Heym is closed, leaving any humans in Aphrodisia stranded and hiding out of sight from any thralltakers.

Year 5617 - First skirmishes begin to break out between demons, pitting demons who took few to no thralls during the Great Exile against demons who were able to take many. The Thirteen Queens were dispatched to collect renewed pledges of loyalty amongst the entire demon population (about 10,000), including an oath to allow Felatitius ' court to settle disputes. These usually resulted in the noble demons' favor, angering weaker demons further. Additonally, Felatitius invoked a new court fee where these disputes meant a thrall had to be given to his personal harem for each ruling by both prosecutor and defendant. This lost him popularity even further by everyone.

Year 5620 - The first demon raid is lead against a peaceful, neutral elf village, breaking the long-held treaty permitting demons to enthrall only wanted criminals or wrongdoers. All two hundred forty of the village's adult inhabitants were enthralled. Emperor Felatitius officially condemned the action and ordered the offending demon to reimburse the village with money, despite the fact there was nobody left to accept it. It was distributed instead to dark elf mercenaries who participated in the raid who claimed to be relatives. This did not fool anyone.

Year 5623 - Due to facing no consequences from raids against elf villages, the first demon raid is lead against a minor dwarf stronghold, Mount Blackcap. These dwarves were ready for the assault and repelled the mercenary dark elf army with crossbows and cannon, leading to several demon deaths and most of their mercenary force. The survivors of the attack claimed they had come only to trade and were massacred for no reason at all. They called for Felatitius to punish the dwarf stronghold, but he declined, making yet more powerful enemies.

Years 5624-5639 - These years were a time of relative peace. Vulnerable villages had already been raided, and others were now regularly defended, making raids more costly. Additionally, many demons did not want to repeat the disastrous raid on Mount Blackcap and tried other means to take thralls, such as claiming serial debtors could be legally enthralled to pay off their debts.

Year 5640 - With many of the human thralls aging and losing their potency, the thrall population begins to drop steeply, leading to greater demand for thralls. Raids resume more boldly than ever before, including a second sneak assault against Mount Blackcap, this time successful. Many elven villages' defenses were overwhelmed by attacks coordinated by the demon nobles. Many strongholds and villages fell due to enthralled spies living within them for up to several years before betraying the settlement and opening the gaits for raiders. Felatitius condemned these attacks and a few demons fall guys were captured and banished as punishment, with once again money for the victimized villages being pocketed by dark elf mercenaries.

Year 5641 - Furious at the blatant breach of the peace, an alliances of primarily dwarves and elves form an army twenty thousand strong and begin to march against demon forts, managing to destroy several and capture the demon lords who were conducting raids out of them. Felatitius, in turn, took this as an assault against all demons and ordered a counterattack, though these were mostly fended off as few demons or their mercenaries were actually willing to risk their lives and wealth, instead returning to more defensible positions closer to Magan.

Year 5642 - Growing desparate for some kind of victory, yet wary of court intrigue, Felatitius orders several of the Thirteen Queens to attack the main elf and dwarf army.,The queens present attempted a repeat of the pink petrifying mist that had defeated the human army, but a hundred elf mages managed to redirect it back toward a dark elf camp and petrify the demons' allies and thralls instead. Unfortunately, the redirection was uneven and about a third of the allied army on the flanks still ended up petrified, including most of their commanders. Plans to march on the demon capital city of Magan were thus cancelled, and with the main threat gone, the allied army dispersed.