It a commonly held belief amongst historians that the history of the Core begins with Barovia. Indeed, no reliable historical records have been found predating 351 BC. According to historical records obtained in the Theodorus Archives of Immol, prior to 351 BC Barovia was embroiled in a bloody and costly war with the Terg invaders that had decimated most of the noble houses of Barovia. It was a general by the name of Strahd von Zarovich that finally led Barovian forces to a costly victory over the Terg warlords, and it was then that he claimed rulership over the land that is Barovia, settling in to a former Terg fortress that he named Castle Ravenloft.
Hailed as conquering hero, all seemed well until the fateful wedding night of Strahd von Zarovich’s brother, Sergei. Assassins of a rival noble family, Dilisnya, chose this night to soak the castle in the blood of the von Zarovich family and its guests. Little is known of what precisely occurred that night, but by all accounts none left the castle alive.
At this time in 351 BC Barovia was drawn into the Mists, losing contact with its former neighbours and becoming the sole land of what would become the Core. It seems that the von Zarovich’s all but disappeared from public view, and nothing of historical significance would occur until 542 BC when a mage known as Azalin would be drawn into the Mists and arrive in Barovia, becoming an ally to the reclusive Strahd. Five years later Barovia is joined by its first neighbour, Forlorn, appearing from the mists attached to Barovia’s southern border. Barovian travellers venturing into this new land reported foul, inhuman creatures, what we now know as Goblyns. It was not until 575 BC that Barovia would be neighboured by Arak to the northeast, the first nation to house human settlements and allowing Barovia to trade with outsiders for the first time in two centuries. With three nations now forming this cluster, I believe that 575 BC marks the true formation of the Core, the beginnings of what shall become a host of competing nations.
Late in the year 579 BC, Mordent appeared to the west of Barovia. The circumstances of Mordent’s arrival in the Core is shrouded in mystery, primarily due to the people of Mordent holding to keeping legends rather than factual historical records. However it is commonly held that Mordent was brought into this world from another place due to the machinations of one known as the Alchemist, a madman performing some manner of hideous - presumably arcane - experiment. It is believed that Mordent’s transposition was the result of a device known only as “the Apparatus,” though the true intention of the device is lost as the Alchemist was destroyed upon its activation. Soon after Mordent’s arrival in the Core, the allegedly tenuous alliance between the house of von Zarovich and the outlander mage Azalin ended, and Azalin is reported to have left Barovia with an animosity seething between himself and von Zarovich that survives to this day.
It was at this time that Darkon come to appear to the north of Barovia, doubling the size of the Core with its vast expanses of land. It is there that the mage Azalin travelled and how precisely Azalin came to rule Darkon is a matter of debate, however by studying historical archives obtained at the University of Karg, it is possible to compile a series of events. At the time of Darkon’s arrival, the wizard Darcalus was the ruler of the nation, but he was much hated by the noble houses of Darkon as well as its commonfolk due to a much-reported cruelty and propensity for savage displays of the Arcane. The noble families conspiring to have Darcalus eradicated are said to have recruited Azalin to their cause; Azalin then entered Castle Avernus alone and what happened there none but he know, however Darcalus was never seen again and Azalin “Rex” (lit. “king”) took the throne of Darkon - any who denied his claim was swiftly slain while attending a banquet held in Castle Avernus.
In 581 BC the land of Bluetspur joined the Core, appearing to the south of Barovia and to the east of Forlorn. Human refugees of Thaani ethnicity fled this realm in droves, taking shelter in Barovia - practically doubling the population of Immol - and reporting that their lands had been claimed by a race of hideous brain-stealing creatures. Exploration of this realm was understandably limited, and the Thaani seemed more interested in adopting Barovia as their new home than in returning.
Early in the year 588, the first major act of geographical change upon a land already existing within the Core occurred - an event known as the Scourge of Arak. Arak was decimated by a tumultuous sandstorm that wiped out all life in the land, however the strangest and most baffling result of the storm is that Mount Lament, one of the largest mountains of Arak, was transplanted miles to the west and the land of Keening formed around it. How or why this enormous geographical changed occurred is a baffling subject, however it would not be the first such change to occur in the Core.
The next century marks a period of rapid expansion as a host of domains join the Core - Gundarak arrived in 593 BC, a land ruled by the tyrannical Duke Gundar, taking its place to the southwest of Barovia before being joined by Invidia in 603 BC. Kartakass appears to the south west of Gundarak in 613 BC. Valachan arrives to the south west in 625 BC. Nova Vaasa appears upon the Core’s eastern shores in 682 BC, followed shortly by Lamordia and the Nightmare Lands affixing themselves in the west and east respectively in 683 BC and Borca taking its place to the west of Barovia in 684 BC.
Such rapid alterations to its geography and the additions of so many competing nations caused significant and lasting changes to the power structure of the Core. Duke Gundar formed a bloodless feud with Strahd von Zarovich that would continue until the annexation of Gundarak in 740 BC. Invidia’s then-ruler in 603 BC, the “Traitor King” Bakholis, formed trade alliances with its neighbours, assisting in the southern Core’s rise in economic power that would only become stronger with the addition of Borca. The additions of Nova Vaasa and Borca also mark the introduction of the two religious faiths that retain the most power to the modern day, that of the Lawgiver and Ezra respectively. The western and northern Core also benefited greatly, as the appearance of the Sea of Sorrows led to a boom of seafaring trade between the lands of Mordent, Lamordia, and Darkon.
Near the end of the century in 690 BC, an outlander mercenary named Vlad Drakov along with his horde of bloodthirsty barbarians known as the Talons of the Hawk appeared in western Darkon, briefly waging a short and bloody conflict before being driven into the Mists. Shortly thereafter the land of Falkovnia joined the Core with Drakov as its leader, ushering in a new age of conflict. This would be the last land to join the Core in this century but for the arrival of Richemulot in 694 BC. The Winter War marked the last significant event of the century as Vlad Drakov marched troops into Lamordia in the winter of 695 BC, but his troops were vastly underprepared both for the terrible winter of that year and the superior weaponry of the blunderbuss-wielding Lamordians. Drakov’s forces beat a hasty retreat in January of 696.
The beginning of the next century marks the first time open warfare has occurred between nations of the Core with the beginning of the Dead Man’s Campaign in 700 BC. Vlad Drakov sent his troops into Darkon, pressing into the region of the Forest of Shadows. By all accounts it was the dead of Darkon that rose up to defend its borders, hordes of zombies meeting the armies of the Hawk. Falkovnian soldiers fell in droves and it is said that even the Falkovnian dead rose to fight their former brethren. This continued until the spring of 701 BC when Drakov withdrew his troops. In 703 BC, Drakov and Baron Vilhelm von Aubrecker of Lamordia made a treaty ensuring non-aggression on the part of Falkovnia in exchange for martial supplies, making Lamordian weapons and armour standard issue for Falkovnian troops to this day.
By 704 BC, Drakov’s forces were recouped and he ordered another invasion into Darkon. Darkon’s undead again met his forces, this time within minutes of their crossing of the border, and another hasty retreat followed.
In 706 BC Drakov ordered a small force into its southern neighbour of Borca, resulting in another failed invasion known as the Widow’s Massacre. Not a single man was said to survive on the side of Falkovnia and in 707 BC the land of Dementlieu joined the Core. Drakov ordered the annexation of this new territory and, after an initially successful drive into Dementlieu’s heartlands, his armies fell to the far superior weaponry of the Dementlieuse muskets and cannon, not to mention a plague of mass-desertions.
Defeated but not bridled, Drakov would mount another failed invasion on Darkon in 711 BC. Drakov then entered an extended phase of planning in order to prepare for his next assault, in the mean time launching unsuccessful attacks upon Richemulot and G’henna in 716 and 719 respectively. During the Borderlands War of 716, Drakov’s troops battled the citizenry of Richemulot lead by the ruling Renier family, who proved more than a match for Falkovnia’s armies. Following the appearance of the G’hennan wastes in 719, Drakov sought to annex the lands in the Starving March, attempting to cross the Balinoks into central G’henna, and suffering from a severe lack of provisions they were eventually beaten back by twisted humanoids, priests of Zhakata, and other strange beasts native to that forsaken realm.
The final conflict in the Dead Man’s Campaign came in 722 with Drakov launching far more troops than had ever been gathered previously only to be have them decimated once more. Following this crushing defeat, Drakov has largely kept to his own devices within Falkovnia aside from the Executioner’s Campaign against Dementlieu and Richemulot of 724, and the Gold Claw Massacre of 727 in Dorvinia.
During this time the Core was expanded by the arrival of Arkandale in 708, Hazlan in 714, and Sithicus in 720. Finally, Falkovnian aggression in the western and southern Core was largely put to a halt by the formation of the Treaty of Four Towers in 729, allying Dementlieu, Mordent, Richemulot, and Borca against Falkovnia.
740 BC marks the year of the greatest era of geographical disruption the Core has ever known, aptly named the Great Upheaval. The very Core itself was wracked in tremors and entire lands disappeared as if they had never existed, or inexplicably appeared elsewhere.
Many of the changes to the power structures of the Core in this timeframe can be explained by political machinations. Borca and Dorvinia, both ruled by members of the Dilisnya family, were united into one realm - retaining the name Borca. Arak was annexed by Darkon, as was Gundarak by Barovia and Invidia following the assassination of Duke Gundar. Arkandale was absorbed into Verbrek. However beside these political changes, there were a host of inexplicable geographical modifications to the topography of the Core.
Valachan adjusted its position ninety degrees; Farelle and Sanguinia completely disappeared, never to be seen again; Vechor disappeared, though it would later reappear upon the Nocturnal Sea; G’henna, Bluetspur, and the Nightmare Lands disappear from the face of the Core, though travellers still report finding these places through mistways; Markovia was wrenched from the face of the Core to its new place in the Sea of Sorrows; and perhaps most baffling of all, the space left by G’henna and Markovia in the centre of the Core became the mysterious “Shadow Rift,” a land consumed by mist and reputed to contain innumerable horrors. To this day, the cause of the Great Upheaval baffles scholars, though I have theorised that the cause was some manner of catastrophic arcane event, likely the result of an attempt to manipulate astonishing quantities of arcane energy. To what end we may never know.
The after effects of the Upheaval continued shaping the Core for years to come, most notably resulting in the formation of the Nocturnal Sea in the east and its occupying islands - Liffe, Vechor, L’ile de la Tempete, the Isle of the Ravens, and Nebligtode.
Despite these events, 750 BC yet marks one of the greatest tragedies to strike the Core. In Darkon, Azalin Rex declared that he would personally lead the Darkest Night ceremony, a rite known as the Requiem. Hundreds of people came to the city of Il Aluk from all over Darkon to witness their king. During the ceremony, at the stroke of midnight, a tumultuous wave of energy leapt forth and expanded in every direction, consuming Darkon, and wiping out every living soul in Il Aluk. A malaise settled upon Darkon, and it was left with neither king nor heir; the ensuing civil war between nobility was bloody and would likely have continued to this day if not for Azalin’s return five years later. The Wizard-King returned, claiming to have stopped the dead of the Grey Realm from reclaiming Darkon. Despite his return, the former bastion of knowledge and civilisation that was the city of Il Aluk remains a wasteland containing only the undead to this day.
The Core has remained a geographically stable entity for almost twenty years and it is my belief that whatever planar force draws the lands of the Core together has halted its expansion. The current layout of the Core leaves the majority of political power in the hands of the most advanced nations - Dementlieu, in particular, has the most far reaching cultural impact across the Core alongside the greatest military advancements. Despite this, the denizens of the Core have largely taken the Great Upheaval as a sign of a coming darkness - the priests of Tepest launched their inquisition to wipe out fey and demihumans, blaming them for the destruction caused to the Core. The Ezrites of Darkon began to prophesy the coming of a “Time of Unparalleled Darkness,” claiming all but the faithful shall be destroyed by the hordes of the Mists of Death. Across much of the Core, paranoia for the days to come is reaching a fever pitch, and its rulers seem either powerless to stop it or simply uncaring. Despite the apparent power of these advanced nations, it is my belief that should they continue to discount the fears of their populaces, then we may indeed be heading toward anarchy.
