Learn all about the five Ages of Krynn and how the Dragonlance timeline is truly just a great river with many branches.
Transcript
Cold Open
The River of time is said to be unalterable, but with five different ages of Krynn, I would say it is more malleable than suggested.
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and I am going to discuss the Five ages of Krynn with you. Don’t forget to like and subscribe to this channel, ring the bell, and you can further help this channel, and pick up Dragonlance Gaming materials, using my affiliate link in the description below. Dragonlance is most famous for it’s War of the Lance, set in the Age of Despair with the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy of novels, but what set the stage for those events, and where did they lead? Let’s get a birds eye view of the Five Ages of Krynn.
Discussion
First and Foremost, I am compelled to introduce you to Astinus of Palanthus. Dragonlance’s Deities are able to take many forms, so it’s difficult to delineate the line between Astinus the chronicler of history with Gilean, the god of knowledge. Still gods are known to take the forms of Avatars and walk amongst the mortals of Krynn, so he might be Gilean’s Avatar, and still there are rumors that he is Gilean’s son. Regardless of the truth, Astinus’ Iconochronos is his immortal life’s work, and he makes note of everything that happens with his sacred order of monks, the Aesthetics.
After the Chaos War at the end of the Age of Despair, Astinus vanished and his work at the Great Library of the Ages was picked up by Bertrem of Palanthus. It isn’t so clear as to Astinus’ fate, as there is a mysterious Herald that wanders the land with intimate knowledge of Krynn’s history in the Age of Mortals. Some believe this may be an Astinus with Amnesia, and others perhaps a mortal gifted by the god Palatine.
History is referenced by the First Cataclysm, when the gods hurled a mountain at Krynn and changed is’t destiny irrevocably. Dates are referenced with PC or Prae Cataclius, and AC or Alt Cataclius. After the Chaos War, some Aesthetics began using SC or Secundus Cataclius, but Bertrem maintains Astinus’ dating system, and so will we. By way of breaking the fourth wall on events and dates, the reality is that different creators have worked on the same campaign setting over decades, so it’s easy to find past publications with conflicting events and dates. I am referencing the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition, Dragonlance Campaign Setting as it is the latest reference point. That may all change with the Fifth Edition of Dragonlance rumored to come, but for now, this is the most up to date reference that I am aware of. If you have different sources I would be very interested in hearing about them. But, getting back into it, all of our knowledge of Krynn’s history is thanks to Astinus and Bertrem after him. So let’s raise a glass to them both, and dive into the Five Ages of Krynn.
We begin with the Age of Starbirth. It is when the gods first created Krynn and populated it with its original species. The high god awakens and records the plans for this new creation in the Tobril, the book of all truth. He calls out to his children for aid in creating this world and brother and Sister, Paladine and Takhisis answer. The high god summons Gliean to be the bearer of the Tobril and maintain neutrality in this new creation. Each god of Good, Evil and Neutrality summon their own supporters and together embody the pantheon of deities and begin creation.
Reorx shapes the world into being, the other gods begin to populate it, Paladine and Takhisis have Reorx forge five rulers of the world, the five metallic dragons, takhisis corrupts them and creates the five chromatic dragons. This begins the All Dragons war, causing the gods to withdraw into the Beyond, creating the Dome of the Heavens, The Hidden Vale and The Abyss where they can each exist in privacy.
This time of peace would not last and when the gods discovered the sparks of reorx’s forge were alive, they fought over them for control, until ultimately the High God was forced to return and force the gods to bless the sparks. Thus the three races of Krynn were born, elves, ogres, and humans. The gods had children to act as a barrier between creator and creation and the three moons of Krynn were born. Solinari, Lunitari and Nuitari. Hiddukel tricked Reorx into crafting the greygem, which reorx accidentally trapped Chaos within and placed it on lunitary to create change and chaos on krynn from a distance. The three moons create magic with the power of the gem.
Thus begins the Age of Dreams. We can divide the age of dreams into three distinct times, 9000-5000pc known as the foundation. Ogres claim mountains, Elves claim the forests and man claims the plains. This age is defined by the rise and fall of the ogre nation and the split of the decadent ogres and the enlightened Irda orges. It also delineates the enslavement of humans to build the ogre nation and their eventual freedom.
5000-2000pc is called the Time of light. Reorx creates gnomes from the Ogres, and one is tricked by the god Hiddukel, travels to Lunitary to claim the graygem, and loses his grip on it so it falls to krynn, creating wild magic and change to all it comes into contact with. From the gnomes sprang Kender and dwarves. From the elves it creates the sea elves
The elves convene the first High Elven council, Sinthal-Elish. They claim land of forests inhabited by the chromatic dragons and the moon gods craft the dragon stones for the elves to win the first dragon war and the stones are buried in the khalkist mountains.
Minotaurs sail to Ansalon and war with and are enslaved by dwarves of Kal-Thax. THe dwarves split into two nations, and minotaurs escaped slavery founding their own nation. The dwarves discovered the dragon stones and returned them to the surface. Now the dragons are free and begin the second dragon war with their lizard men against the elves. The elves win at great cost and the three moon gods create the orders of high sorcery to control magic on Krynn.
Elves wage war on the humans, and the half-elf species. Social change creates war and eventually the elves, humans and dwarves would find an uneasy peace with the formation of Qualinesti and the hammer of reorx being gifted to humans.
The Time of Knights comes at 2000-960pc. Pax Tharkas is built as a monument of peace between the elves, dwarves and humans. The humans war with each other and the Knights of Solumnia are formed. The High Clerists tower is built to protect Palanthus and the Great Library of the Ages appears overnight and Astinus begins chronicling history for the first time. The Dark Queen plants dragon eggs around Krynn and when hatched and grown, they ravage the land and the third dragon war begins. The Order of High Sorcery created Dragon Orbs to protect their towers and one is placed in the High Clerists tower. Paladine directs Huma Dragonbane to forge the dragonlance and defeat the dark queen. And the Age of Might begins.
The Age of might is about a thousand years and is defined by the rise and fall of Istar. Regional war and skirmishes over trade routes leads most nations to sign the swordsheath scroll. Istar installs a kingpriest who acts as the moral standard of the continent of Ansalon. Racism erupts in istar as the kingpriest draws lines between good and evil, right and wrong. His priests lose their ability to use magic, and the other races grow disgusted by human arrogance. He decrees Magic to be evil and directs the towers of high sorcery to be destroyed. Two towers fall before peace is made. The kingpriest declares himself a god and the true god sends a warning of destruction unless the kingpriest is stopped. True clerics are removed from Krynn by the gods and Lord Soth is given an opportunity to atone for his misdeeds and save krynn. He fails, and the gods send a mountain crashing into Istar, forming the blood sea and reshaping Ansalon.
Thus begins the Age of despair. This is separated by the Time of Darkness and the Time of Dragons because you know the Dark Queen can’t stand idle too long. She places a foundation stone to open a portal to the abyss, then loses it when Berem comes across it and becomes immortal with it embedded into his chest. Takhisis steals the good dragon eggs and uses them as leverage to keep the good dragons out of the coming war. The dwarves war with each other and Fistandantilus destroyed their armies from Zhaman. The Hammer of Karas is taken. The Time of Dragons begins with the Highlords being named. Priests of Takhisis corrupt the good dragon eggs creating Draconians.
Eastern ansalon is captured by the dragonarmies. The companions discover the true gods never left Krynn. The whitestone council convenes to form an uneasy alliance against the Dragonarmies. The Dragonlances are rediscovered in Icewall and the Dragon Orb is won from Silvanost. New dragonlances are forged. The Dragon Orb in the High clerists tower is used as a trap and the Blue dragonarmy is defeated. The truth of the good dragon eggs is revealed and the armies of the whitestone council with the good dragons fight back. Takhisis discovers Berem and captures him to open her gateway to the abyss. The Heroes of the Lance discover berem and use him to destroy the gateway and the War of the Lance ends.
Raistlin magere travels through time to defeat the Dark queen and becomes the master of past and present as his sister wages continued war with the help of the Death Knight Lord Soth. Raistlin sacrifices himself for his friends in the end and Kitiara is defeated. Lord Ariakan forms the Knights of Takhisis. The Irda ogres break open the graygem to protect themselves and unleash chaos. Raistlin is saved from the abyss by his nephew with the knowledge needed to defeat chaos.
The second cataclysm hits krynn as chaos minions attack all of ansalon. Takhisis abandons Krynn, and her knights, and Reorx seek to repair the graygem. Tasselhoiff stabs chaos and a drop of his blood is used to recapture him. In order to banish him, all gods decide to leave Krynn. With the gods absence, Takhisis returns and steals the world, moving it through space time, but is weakened by the act and the Age of mortals begins.
The age of mortals is defined by the absence of the gods’ magic and the domination of the great dragons over Krynn. The dragon purge lasts for 26 years and ends with Dragon overlords reshaping Krynn. Goldmoon rediscovers magic as mysticism and the Knights of Steel are formed. Draconians form their own nation and destiny. A great storm falls on Ansalon and Mina emerges. A kender appears with a device of time traveling, and good dragons are taken by Takhisis.
Mina raises an army and defeats the great dragon beryl, and reveals she is the agent of the one god, takhisis. Goldmoon rebukes the Dark Queen and dies. The other gods discover Takhisis’ treachery with the help of Tasslehoff, and Mina continues killing the Dragon Overlords. Paladine strips Takisis of her immortality by sacrificing his own, and Takhisis is killed. With the gods and magic returned, and the Dragon overlords gone, Mina remains a mysterious force for the gods to manipulate.She discovers that she is in fact a god herself and joins them in the heavens.
Outro
And that is the current Ages of Krynn. I know it was heavily condensed and much was left out, but I will return in the future with videos about the specific ages, and even moments within the ages to discuss. What do you think of the different ages of krynn? Do you have a favorite one? Who are your favorite influential characters throughout the ages? Leave a comment below, subscribe to the channel and like this video. You can support this channel and pick up some Dragonlance gaming materials by using the affiliate link in the description below.
This channel is all about celebrating the wonderful world of the Dragonlance Saga, and I hope you will join me in the celebration. Thank you for watching, this has been Adam with DragonLance Saga and until next time, remember:
If I’m going to see the end of the world, I should see it with a positive attitude.
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