Forum:Abeir timeline

Forums: Helping Hand > Abeir timeline

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I've found a few dragon magazines that have enough information to create a small timeline of Abeir. My doubts are, should we create an article for this (like the one of the First Flowering? Or just add the years to the Roll of Years?

If we go the second option, I guess we need to create a way to differentiate events that happened on Abeir of those that happened on Toril.

Also, should we record the timeline using Dalereckoning?

Zeromaru X 13:18, January 27, 2017 (UTC)

In my opinion, having both would be ideal! As a reader I would like to see Abeiran events appear in the roll of years, but an overview in one place would also be nice.

The easiest way to distinguish Abeiran events from others would just to mention in the text that it happened there. Or, if we want it clearer, we could start the event with "On Abeir:", or just "On Abeir, ...", as e.g. -930 DR starts with "In Kara-Tur, the Black Leopard Cult..."

If we want an even stronger distinction, we could create an "on Abeir" header, comparable to the "in conflicts", "in deities", etc. headers. That has the disadvantage however, that we loose the usual distinction into different kinds of events, but as naturally much fewer Abeiran events are to be expected, that might not be a big problem.

Daranios (talk) 21:08, January 31, 2017 (UTC)

Ah, I forgot about the dating. Does Abeir have its own dating system? If so, BadCatMan created a nice solution e.g. at Veridon, that gives both the "native" dating system for flair and the "DR" year for comparability.

Daranios (talk) 19:30, February 1, 2017 (UTC)

Thank you. :)

Given the crossovers between Abeir and Toril, at say its creation, the Spellplague, and eventual returns (what a mess) I think it would be necessary to simply have Abeir on the same timeline as Toril and using the same Roll of Years. We can simply treat it as another setting like Kara-Tur or Zakhara.

And, although we don't divide by time and edition, I think dividing by planet is worthwhile to avoid confusion or save disinterested readers the confusion. An "On Abeir" heading would be perfect. In a lot of years, distinguishing by event is getting to be a PITA anyway, so it's not something to stick closely to.

— BadCatMan (talk) 01:14, February 2, 2017 (UTC)

From what I've read in Erin M. Evans novels, Abeir is a really sad world. I kinda feel sorry for those guys Ao returned to Abeir in the Second Sundering before gods such as Enlil stopped the "returning process". They do not have normal access to magic (as the Weave do not exists on Abeir), the world is forsaken even by the gods (that are terrified of it), is full of deadly stuff that is dangerous to even itself... and it seems years, if not ages, behind Toril in stuff like science or other kinds of civilization developments. So, as for the question, not. Abeir does not have a known canonical system for recounting time. The vayemniri use the generations system to recall their history: "In the time of Kepeshkmolik Thymara, daughter of Kharadin, of the line of Shasphur"... that means Kharidin existed at least 4 generations ago, as Thymara is the grand grandmother of Dumuzi... but we don't know how long is a vayemniri generation (because, Thymara had at least three clutches, and Ashoka was the only survivor of the last one in 1486 DR); and Shasphur is out of the question: he existed even before the foundation of Tymanchebar, that the 4e FRCG states it happened "around two centuries before the Spellplague" (so, we know the Kepeshkmolik bloodline has existed for more than three hundred years, as Thymara was a survivor of the Spellplague...)

The point is that we do not have an accurate "reckoning" system for Abeir. That's why I was asking if I should use the Dalereckoning (that was used by Ed and Bruce R. Cordell in the article about Gontal).

Zeromaru X 02:51, February 2, 2017 (UTC)

If there are no numbered years for events on Abeir, and no means of converting "X years ago" (which tends to be ±1 year) accurately to Dalereckoning, then no, the events can't be put on the Years pages. They'd be just too uncertain. But if a bit of lore says X happened in 1395 DR, say, then yes, it would be fine to put it on that page.
I had a similar problem when piecing together the history of Koryo: a lot of undated events, vague references to things centuries or generations ago, and two mentions of another dating system without any context. Hence I pieced together a very speculative chronology and dated it where I could, with a lot of notes and reasoning. I suspect the history of Abeir will look much the same.

— BadCatMan (talk) 05:54, February 2, 2017 (UTC)

That now makes me want to create a history of Zakhara from the very vaguely arranged events in Al-Qadim material... So many project ideas, so little time.

Daranios (talk) 21:34, February 2, 2017 (UTC))

I have created a version of an "on Abeir" heading, though the color scheme is of course open for discussion. (Taking the little I know I have chosen a kind of grey for the main body - steely sky - with blue script - blue sun - and a light blue frame - Blue Breath of Change as a time frame.)

Daranios (talk) 20:51, February 9, 2017 (UTC)

I like it.

~ Lhynard (talk) 04:37, March 6, 2017 (UTC)

I like it as well, thanks. I will be using for stuff in Returned Abeir as well.

--Zeromaru X 16:47, March 13, 2017 (UTC)