User:Ir'revrykal/Timeline/Sembia

This article examines the dating of the novels and short stories in the series Sembia: Gateway to the Realms.

Scope
The Sembia series consists of the following novels, anthologies, and short stories, presented here in order of publication:


 * The Halls of Stormweather (July 2000):
 * "The Burning Chalice"
 * "Song of Chaos"
 * "Night School"
 * "The Price"
 * "Thirty Days"
 * "Resurrection"
 * "Skin Deep"
 * Dragon #273 (July 2000):
 * "Shamur's Wager"
 * Shadow's Witness (November 2000)
 * Dragon #277 (November 2000):
 * "Another Name for Dawn"


 * Dragon #283 (May 2001):
 * "Garden of Souls"
 * The Shattered Mask (June 2001)
 * Black Wolf (November 2001)
 * Heirs of Prophecy (June 2002)
 * Dragon #297 (July 2002):
 * "And All the Sinners Saints"
 * Dragon #299 (September 2002):
 * "Memories"
 * Sands of the Soul (November 2002)
 * Dragon #304 (February 2003):
 * "Haunted"
 * Lord of Stormweather (March 2003)

An eight novel titled Pride of the Lion was planned but never completed.

Additionally, a number of spin-off novels and short stories have been produced, expanding on some of the characters of the Sembia series, primarily Erevis Cale:


 * Twilight Falling (July 2003)
 * The Crimson Gold (December 2003)
 * Dawn of Night (June 2004)
 * Realms of the Dragons (August 2004):
 * "Soulbound"
 * "How Sharper than a Serpent's Tooth"
 * Midnight's Mask (November 2005)


 * Shadowbred (November 2006)
 * Shadowstorm (September 2007)
 * Realms of War (January 2008):
 * "Continuum"
 * Shadowrealm (December 2008)
 * The Godborn (October 2013)

These spin-off products are not the primary focus of this article, but will be examined for chronology clues all the same.

Presenting...Seven Millennia of Realms Fiction
The web article "Presenting...Seven Millennia of Realms Fiction" (published in 2000) presents the following dates for works in the Sembia series:
 * The Halls of Stormweather: 1290s DR to 1370 DR
 * "The Burning Chalice": 1293 DR to 1369 DR
 * "Song of Chaos": 1290s DR to 1370 DR
 * "Night School": 1370 DR
 * "The Price": 1370 DR
 * "Thirty Days": 1370 DR
 * "Resurrection": 1370 DR
 * "Skin Deep": 1370 DR

Sembia Timeline
The web article "Sembia Timeline" (published in December 2002) provides the following dates:


 * 1273 DR: Birth of Shamur
 * 1293 DR: Shamur disappears
 * 1307 DR: Thamalon is born
 * 1335 DR: Erevis is born
 * 1336 DR: Stormweather Towers stands completed
 * 1343 DR: Shamur re-appears
 * 1344 DR: Shamur and Thamalon are married
 * 1345 DR: Tamlin is born
 * 1347 DR: Larajin is born
 * 1348 DR: Erevis joins the Night Masks


 * 1349 DR: Tazi is born
 * 1351 DR: Talbot is born
 * 1359 DR: Erevis arrives in Selgaunt
 * 1361 DR: Erevis is hired as the Uskevren's butler
 * 1363 DR: Tazi meets Steorf
 * Nightal 1370 DR: the "now" of Halls of Stormweather
 * Hammer 1371 DR: Shadow's Witness and The Shattered Mask both occur
 * Black Wolf covers a span of time between Hammer 1371 DR and Mirtul 1372 DR.
 * Kythorn 1372 DR: Heirs of Prophecy occurs
 * Marpenoth 1372 DR: Sands of the Soul occurs
 * Alturiak 11, 1373 DR: Lord of Stormweather begins

The Grand History of the Realms
A few relevant dates are listed in The Grand History of the Realms:
 * Erevis is born in 1335 DR
 * Erevis joins the Night Masks in 1348 DR
 * On Alturiak 11, 1373 DR, the Uskevren family is trapped in the Land of Stormweather
 * This refers to the plot of Lord of Stormweather
 * On Kythorn 3, 1373 DR, Tazi unwittingly frees Eltab
 * This refers to the plot of The Crimson Gold

Dragon & Web Articles
Over the years, Wizards of the Coast published several articles covering the various characters of the Sembia series, both in Dragon magazine and on Wizards.com. Some of these reference specific dates.


 * Dragon #273: "The Heroes of Stormweather"
 * Thamalon was born Mirtul 4, 1307 DR and is currently over sixty years old
 * "[Shamur was] born 97 years ago"; "[A] magical accident sent her fifty years forward in time"
 * Tamlin was born in 1345 DR
 * Tazi was born in 1349 DR and is 21 years old
 * Talbot was born in 1351 DR
 * When Erevis was 17, he was chosen for "letters work" in the Night Masks, following several years of "skilled bladework" in their service
 * Dragon #277: "The Heroes of Shadow's Witness"
 * Jak Fleet receives a divine boon and becomes a cleric of Brandobaris in the spring of 1353 DR.
 * The Righteous Man is fifty years old
 * In his early twenties, the Righteous Man runs with the Shadowblades gang of Maskites and after two years he becomes a priest of Mask. Since Shadow's Witness is set in 1371 DR, and the Righteous Man is fifty, this must have taken place in the 1340s
 * The Night Knives are founded "immediately after the Time of Troubles"
 * Dragon #283: "The Foes of Stormweather"
 * "A quarter of a century ago", Marance and Nuldrevyn were promising scions of the Talendar family

Methodology
Since the Sembia series is so interconnected, the dating of events can often be triangulated through references in the novels and short stories themselves. The four types of "chronology clues" are:
 * References to specific events that occur in the other works in the series
 * References to events that occur in works external to the series as well as the "world state" of the Forgotten Realms
 * Phases of the moon
 * Explicit dates, usually given in chapter headers and the like

The method, then, is combing through every novel and short story, page by page, for chronology clues. These will then be compared to the dates given in the sources in the literature review.

Analysis
In lieu of a more meaningful alternative, sources are listed here in order of publication. Press "Expand" to view the notes for each work.

The Halls of Stormweather
The prelude states that:

"It is winter in the Year of the Unstrung Harp, 1371 by Dalereckoning."

Shamur's Wager

 * The auction takes place a week before Chenna Talendar's "pastorale"
 * Shamur is still trying to come to grips with having to impersonate the "other Shamur" for the rest of her life
 * Shamur was displaced "fifty years forward in time"
 * It is summer
 * Chenna remembers that the "original" Shamur is an accomplished rider, which could indicate Shamur has only recently taken her place
 * Five days after the "pastorale", Shamur sets Ripper free
 * The short story must take place prior to The Shattered Mask, since Shamur still wears her metaphorical "mask". There are no references to any other events in the series, nor to Shamur's children, so it seems likely that "Shamur's Wager" is set several years prior to The Halls of Stormweather

Shadow's Witness

 * Chapter 1
 * "The month of Hammer, 1371 DR, the Year of the Unstrung Harp"
 * The Righteous Man summoned Erevis and Riven three days ago. Erevis can't attend since Thamalon has an important business meeting.
 * Chapter 2
 * Jak sneaks into the Soargyl mansion at night
 * Chapter 3
 * "Every year on the thirtieth of Hammer, Thamalon held a birthday ball to honor his lost older brother, Perivel Uskevren". The chapter takes place during the ball.
 * Perivel is "forty years dead"
 * The Zhentarim ambush that took place in "Resurrection" happened "over a month" ago
 * Erevis has seen to Thamalon's safety for nine years
 * "The Soargyls had not made a public appearance in over a tenday, a rarity for them, and rumors had been flying. Through his own sources, Cale had heard a story of murder in Sarntrumpet Towers". This means the events of chapter 2, where the Soargyls are murdered, happened roughly a tenday earlier.
 * Chapter 4
 * Riven meets with Verdrinal at "second hour". Dawn is five hours away
 * The attack on Stormweather Towers happened "earlier tonight"
 * Chapter 5
 * Talbot did not attend the ball. He is not responding to summons
 * Cale begins his investigation into the ghoul attack a few hours before dawn on the day after the ball. The day that follows Hammer 30 is the festival of Midwinter.
 * Chapter 6
 * Erevis reaches the guildhouse "in the small hours before dawn"
 * The corpses of the Night Knives have been dead "a tenday at least, maybe two"
 * Chapter 7
 * Dawn breaks just as Erevis decides to ask for Jak's help. It is still Midwinter
 * Brelgin leads Cale to the temple of Deneir in the early morning hours. Erevis tells him Stormweather Towers was attacked last night
 * Jak has been at the Deneiran temple for a tenday
 * Chapter 8
 * Erevis and Jak investigate the docks at midday on the same day
 * Erevis feels the effects of "a day and a half without sleep". Assuming Cale has a normal sleeping pattern, he would have gotten up the morning of Hammer 30. It's not unreasonable to say midday on Midwinter is a day and a half later.
 * The two rent a room at a flophouse and plan to strike at Yrsillar at night, after they have had some rest.
 * When Erevis wakes up, it is a few hours past midnight on the following day, which must be Alturiak 1, the day after Midwinter
 * Riven kills Verdrinal "several hours past midnight". Presumably concurrent with Jak and Erevis's storyline.
 * True to their plan, Erevis and Jak arrive at the guildhouse while it is still night
 * The last time Jak led Erevis through the sewers was a month ago. (Ref: Resurrection)
 * The events of the last two days have changed Erevis
 * Chapter 10
 * Erevis and Jak have been in the Belistor version of the guildhouse for "a quarter-hour or so"
 * Chapter 11
 * Erevis first escaped from Yrsillar two days earlier. This happened in the early hours of Midwinter. Erevis and Jak infiltrated the guildhouse in the early hours of Alturiak 1. They must have been inside the guildhouse and/or Belistor for almost a full day. At any rate, it should now be Alturiak 2.
 * However: Erevis's "whole life had changed in the course of only two days" This should refer to the events between the evening of Hammer 30 and the death of Yrsillar, as with earlier references to the same span (see Chapter 8) If no more than two days (or roughly two days) have passed, it should still be Alturiak 1. If it's already Alturiak 2, more than two days must have passed. Alturiak 1 fits the timeline better.
 * Chapter 12
 * The Night Knives guildhouse burned down two nights ago. It is night.

The Shattered Mask

 * Chapter 1
 * "25 Hammer, 1372 DR, The Year of Wild Magic"
 * It is afternoon
 * Talbot has been acting strangely "[o]ver the past few months"
 * The ghoul attack on Stormweather Towers (in Shadow's Witness) happened "a year ago". Tazi was grievously injured and lay bedridden for months, but is now up and about after getting the OK from her healers
 * Brom Selwick was hired as Thamalon's household wizard "several months previously"
 * Thamalon is "more than sixty years". Shamur is "half a century old"
 * Chapter 2
 * This chapter is set "a tenday earlier"
 * Chapter 3
 * Shamur visits Argent Hall in the morning
 * Bileworm, having "possessed" Lindrian Karn and gained access to his memories, says Lindrian served as Probiter four years after Shamur and Thamalon's wedding. At the time, Shamur was mother to a three-year-old
 * Shamur and Thamalon have been married for "nearly thirty years"
 * Chapter 4
 * Lindrian "died"&mdash;i.e. Bileworm left his corpse&mdash;one hour after delivering his lies about Thamalon
 * It is now three days later, at night
 * The "original" Shamur was murdered "nearly thirty years ago"
 * Chapter 6
 * Marance Talendar was slain "three decades ago", yet re-appeared on the Feast of the Moon, "a month and a half ago"
 * Ossian Talendar survived an encounter with the ghouls that plagued Selgaunt "a year ago"
 * "&hellip;a certain opera the Hulorn ordered performed a little over a year ago" (Ref: Song of Chaos)
 * Chapter 7
 * "&hellip;if one didn’t count the half century that the rest of the world had somehow experienced without [Shamur], [Thamalon] was more than ten years her senior"
 * Chapter 9
 * Tamlin is woken up by Escevar in the morning
 * "Gellie's an ass for planning an outing before noon"
 * Shamur and Thamalon did not come home last night
 * The reason Shamur and Thamalon didn't leave before mid-afternoon is because Thamalon was busy meeting with "those dreary emissaries from the other side of the sea"
 * The ambush happened in the morning
 * Chapter 10
 * Talbot refers to the "calamity that had befallen him just over a year ago", i.e. him becoming a lycanthrope in "Thirty Days"
 * Over the "past several months or so", Larajin has deepened her rapport with animals
 * The Uskevren kids meet two hours after Tamlin was ambushed
 * Tazi refers to the trouble at the opera in "Song of Chaos" as having happened "a little over a year ago"
 * The undead attack in Shadow's Witness happened "last winter"
 * Chapter 11
 * Shamur was an adolescent "more than eighty years ago"
 * "Somehow, fifty years had passed for the rest of the world, but not for me"
 * Chapter 12
 * Shamur and Thamalon question a bravo for his involvement in their attempted assassination "twenty-four hours ago"
 * They decide to take on the Quippers tomorrow
 * Chapter 14
 * It is morning
 * Nuldrevyn Talendar is "concerned about what happened yesterday"
 * Elaborating, Nuldrevyn refers to the attacks on Tamlin and Talbot, so both must have taken place yesterday
 * Chapter 15
 * Thamalon is surprised to learn his children have been attacked twice in "less than twenty-four hours"
 * Chapter 18
 * It is morning
 * "Last winter that walking skeleton revealed a side of himself we'd never suspected" (Ref: Shadow's Witness)
 * Chapter 20
 * The Uskevren kids are to be ambushed at midnight. It is now nearly midnight, "if it isn't already"
 * Chapter 22
 * The family is gathered at the Drum and Mirror while the "red and golden dawn" is visible above the Sea of Fallen Stars
 * The people trapped in the collapsed houses on the High Bridge have been freed, an operation that took several hours
 * the "last three days" have opened Thamalon's eyes, which must be time elapsed since Shamur tried to kill him

Detailed Timeline (tentative)

 * 1371 DR
 * Middle of Hammer
 * The Righteous Man summons Yrsillar, but his summoning ritual is sabotaged by Drasek Riven. The Righteous Man is possessed by Yrsillar and the Night Knives are massacred (SW)
 * A dread murders Boarim Soargyl and his wife. Jak Fleet witnesses the murder and is injured but manages to escape to the Harper safehouse where he collapses into a coma. The Harpers send Jak to the temple of Deneir for treatment (SW)
 * Hammer 30
 * Ghouls and dreads under the command of Yrsillar attack Stormweather Towers, killing many and injuring Tazi (SW)
 * Midwinter
 * Erevis investigates the Night Knives guildhouse. He encounters Yrsillar but escapes. Erevis finds Jak at the temple of Deneir, unwittingly cures him from his coma, and then enlists his services (SW)
 * Alturiak 1
 * Erevis and Jak infiltrate the Night Knives guildhouse (SW)
 * Erevis kills Yrsillar for good. The Righteous Man dies and the Night Knives are no more (SW)
 * Alturiak 3
 * Erevis challenges Riven to a duel. Erevis wins but lets Riven escape (SW)
 * 1372 DR
 * Hammer 25
 * Having been misled into believing her husband killed the "original" Shamur several decades ago, Shamur attempts to kill Thamalon (tSM)

Sembia Timeline

 * Thamalon's birth date
 * Sembia Timeline: 1307 DR
 * The sources consistently agree he was born in 1307 DR.
 * Shadow's Witness
 * Sembia Timeline: Hammer 1371 DR
 * This is partially correct. Some of the novel's events take place mid-Hammer and on Hammer 30, with the bulk of the novel being set on the dates of Midwinter and Alturiak 1.
 * The Shattered Mask
 * Sembia Timeline: Hammer 1371 DR, concurrent with Shadow's Witness
 * This is not possible as the events of Shadow's Witness are referenced multiple times in The Shattered Mask as having occurred a year ago. The novel also clearly states it is set in Hammer 1372 DR on the very first page.