This content was originally included in Homelands #1. The original article can be accessed via Internet Archive here.

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(1 generation = about 20 human years)

After the Great Destruction
1st Generation (600 years ago)

• The few creatures and beings who actually survived the final conflict between the Tolgath and the Ancients are those who were in the vicinity of the Rift, and thus did not have their lifeforce drained from them by the planet as a result of the Apocalypse Chime. There are nomadic human cultures appearing on the plains, forming from a tattered cross-section of the summoned people who were stranded here by the planewalkers. Goblins and Orcs have started to make their homes in the Koskun Mountains and are digging through the rich soil in search of ore and gold as well as inhabitable caverns. The world is going through serious changes; violent storms are a constant, as are unpredictable weather patterns and seasons.

3rd Generation (560 years ago)

• The beings stranded on this unfamiliar world continue to adapt to their new homes and environments. Many have given up on rescue and now consider the Oasis, surrounded as it is by a deadly wasteland, to be their true home. Tales of the great war have become little more than stories for their grandchildren.

4th to 10th Generations (540 to 420 years ago)

• The stories of the great war are now hundreds of years old and are degenerating with every telling, as there is no single widespread written language. Occasionally, a lone planeswalker will briefly appear, only to steal a variety of the inhabitants away.

12th Generation (380 years ago)

• A colony of Dwarves from another plane are utilizing a stable subterranean planar gate in their excavations for minerals and gems. One such expedition arrives in the depths of the mountains, where they soon establish an underground city, whose name translates roughly as “New Freedom.” It is a beautiful place filled with Dwarven artifacts, many designed to allow the Dwarves to exist in comfort in the depths of the planet; the wealth of nearby ore allows the city to flourish. Eventually, the Dwarves dig to the surface and begin to build a great stone castle overlooking the salt marsh, both as an outpost and a tribute to their success. They are not discovered by any other culture and are unaware of the history of the world.
• Two planeswalkers duel in the swamps near the uncompleted castle. When the duel is over, an ancient Vampire by the name of Baron Sengir is stranded when his wizard is banished.
• The Dwarves begin to explore their world by constructing half a dozen sailing vessels. During their travels, they contact many cultures; however, those that venture far into the open seas are never heard from again.
• When the first seafaring Dwarves return, they find that most of their kin who stayed behind to work on the castle have been slain or turned into undead by a trespassing Vampire. Despite their efforts and experience, they cannot regain the castle from Baron Sengir’s clutches. The Baron pushes back the assault by raiding deep into the mines and overwhelming the unprepared Dwarves there. During one such episode, Sengir captures the Dwarven King’s daughter, Irini, and turns her into one of his Vampires. The Dwarves, beaten and demoralized, escape into the marshes and set out to build a new community far from the blight of the Vampire lord. These survivors swear a life-oath of vengeance and strike the knowledge of the subterranean planar gate from their histories.
• Serra, an exploring planeswalker, arrives. Although she herself is temperamental and impulsive, she encourages peace between the various plains nomads and the foundation of the city-state of Aysen. She takes on the role of protector over the people of Aysen, a role that eventually grows into a form of godhood.

13th Generation (360 years ago)

• The Dwarves learn that many of the beings who live on this world have little idea that there are worlds beyond their own. These humans and humanoids, with such short life spans, have either forgotten or mislearned the reasons why they are here and what has happened to the world in the past. Still following their life-oath to ensure that the people of this world don’t learn of the gate to the Dwarven world, the Dwarves set out on a greater quest: to uncover and reassemble the fragmented history of this place.

17th Generation (280 years ago)

• Baron Sengir sends Vampires and creatures on raids against Aysen; his intention is not to conquer the populace of Aysen, but to instill fear in them and erode their morale.

19th Generation (240 years ago)

• Feroz, a planeswalker who despises the generally accepted use of sentient creatures in duels, arrives and encounters both Serra and Sandruu, a Minotaur born with the planeswalking spark.
• The Baron senses the presence of the planeswalkers and moves to minimize the danger they represent to his plans.

20th Generation (220 years ago)

• Feroz founds the Wizards’ School on the Floating Isle to teach the basic foundations of magic to the people of this world.
• Aysen Abbey is built in the city of Onella, in Aysen.
• On another plane, Ravidel leads Taysir to discover the budding romance between Sandruu and Kristina. Taysir pursues Sandruu to Ulgrotha, the Homelands.
• Feroz duels Taysir, after Sandruu is banished to another plane.
• Feroz and Serra build their home. Feroz casts a Ban over the world, a spell to protect it from outside plunder.

22nd Generation (180 years ago)

• With the aid of one of the Baron’s Dark Tomes, a corrupt Wizard Savant on the Floating Isle transforms Eron the Relentless, a common thief, into an immortal.

29th Generation (40 years ago)

• After an enlightening visit from Ihsan, a lord and a Paladin of Serra, Baron Sengir calls a halt to the sporadic attacks against Aysen. Without a common enemy, the peoples of Aysen begin to turn on each other.

30th Generation (20 years ago)

• Feroz dies in a laboratory accident. Unknown to Serra, his death causes the Ban over the Homelands to begin a slow deterioration.
• Serra departs, never to return. She is killed some time later by a planeswalker who covets her wedding ring, believing it to be a powerful artifact.

31st Generation
Present Day

• The Ban weakens to the point that planeswalkers are able to breach its wards and enter the world of the Homelands.