Updated EQ1/EQoA/LoN/EQ2 timeline

[mixx]

<p>been working some more on this recently:</p><p><a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgZpGi6Fgbi2dFBMME9MbVhYRTdqeFUtNS1abEVlV kE#gid=0">https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...1abEVlVkE#gid=0</a></p>

[Cusashorn]

<p>Umm.. how is it possible to establish a timeline with actual dates when no actual dates are ever given for most of the timeline? Add to the fact that we're working with at least 4 different calendars and numerous games- some of which don't actually have any impact on the lore of the games' universe (LoN), and that none of them have ever been synchronized up to a universal timeline, and I just can't see how any of that can be accurate beyond the general "This event happened in the general ballpark of x-many years ago" thing.</p>

[Mary the Prophetess]

<p>There is an awful lot of sources for lore out there, from NPC conversations, to narrarators, to promo videos, to in-game books, to out of game atlas,  to developers comments.  Not to mention 12 years worth of such information.  Often the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing, and contradictory information is presented.</p><p>Through such a long period of time, filtered through so many prisms, without an over-all directing hand, is it any wonder that the lore of Norrath in all it's various incarnations is now hopelessly tangled into a Grodian knot that no one can untangle.</p>

[Meirril]

<p>I'm sure the Lore of Everquest could be resolved the same way the Gordian Knot was solved by Alexander the Great (played by John Wayne, pillgrum). Just let someone hack into it and brand some of it "lies told by people in game", "fasle information", "popular myths" and some of it "nearly correct but slightly misrepresented by well meaning scholars". That would actually look a lot like our real histroy.</p><p>Though to be honest, as a story EQ wouldn't really benifit from all the work done. It hardly ever helps a story to go around calling bits of it false.</p>

[mixx]

<p>Simple! With each event you look at lore references to see whether it could have possible have occured before or after the next one <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Sometimes you will read something in one lore article and find that it mentions something that means something has to move! Overall it's kind of fun to do and i had a great time reading/working on it </p>

[Mary the Prophetess]

<p>Case in point:</p><p>According to official Everquest lore, The creation/evolution of humans from barbarians through the intervention of the Divine Twins marks the begining of the Age of Blood.  The fall of the Combine Empire marks it end</p><p>The Age of Blood was preceeded by the Age of Monuments, yet the in-game books (from both EQ Live and EQ2) on Ardathium talk about it being one of the first centers for the worship of the Divine Twins built during the Age of Monuments.</p><p>In other words, official lore places humans as existant during the Age of Monuments and *AT THE SAME TIME* states that they did not come into being until the following Age of Blood.</p><p>Now the only way to really resolve this type of contradiction is like Meirril suggested;  for a developer to come on and say, 'Oops it was a mistranslation, and what they *really* meant to write was, "In the first days of The Lost Age", and not "In the first days of the Monument Age".</p><p>And, indeed, in this particular case, Jindrack came on to the forums and made the 'clarification" of the translation 'error'.</p><p>However, the text of the books in both games was never changed, and unless you happened to know about the developer's correction on the history and lore forums, (from 6 years ago), you would only know what the books tell you and your timeline would be incorrect by two entire ages.</p><p>And the game(s) are full of such inconsistencies.</p><p>The reasons for such inconsistencies are obvious, there is a vast amount of information to be coordinated so as to remain consistent with each other.  Too much information for even someone tasked to do that job and *only* that job.</p><p>There has never actually been a developer whose job it was to do lore exclusively.  All of the developers wore more than one hat, and it was only those that had a particular interest in the lore that took on the task *in addition to* their other responsibilities.</p><p>Now Tony Garcia and Bill Trost wrote most of the beginning lore for Everquest, and Vhalen had a long time at SOE, so that  he was able to keep things fairly consistent.   However as time went along he moved from EQ Live to EQ2 and really had no more control over the lore that was being produced.</p><p>Coordination between developers in the two games was informal and while they tried to keep everything consistent, it just started to diverge.</p><p>Vhalen and Jindrack realized this and before they vanished into the Mists of Ethernere were trying to construct a master timeline for Norrath.  To my knowledge they never finished it. </p>

[mixx]

<p>I didn't go from ardathium lore on that one - worked from the pond to paladin lore and placed it after since we know erollisi was in takish'hiz when she was pregnant and a general idea of the time that takish'hiz fell</p><p>alot of the dates are not attached, just placed in an order that seems to make sense <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> some dates i did add from other sources although it's up in arms really - highkeep is a big one for example with its date being so far back yet clearly stating on the front of highkeep the founding date which didn't really make alot of sense after going to highpass on eqoa</p><p>as for the ages, i wouldn't go on them exactly, for example the age of enlightment is a bit of a mixup when you look at highbourne and tony bayle II's reign and what's going on in eqoa</p>

[Cusashorn]

The heck? She went to Felwithe, not Takish'Hiz. I always remembered her being taken care of by the High Elves on Faydwer.

[Resstful]

<p>OP, Am I correct in assuming you are also Mixxit@nagafen and MixxitNDance_Live? Cuz there are threads back in January, May and June discussing lore from those names and it would be good to go back and review the aguements made back then and see if any changes from those discussions were made in your spreadsheet.</p><p>Also curious; did you actually get all the NPC dialog sent to you?</p><p>edits for pre-coffee spelling errors..there could be more</p>

[mixx]

<p><cite>Cusashorn wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>The heck? She went to Felwithe, not Takish'Hiz. I always remembered her being taken care of by the High Elves on Faydwer.</blockquote><p>the elves were leaving tunaria after bayle headed south from the northlands so the barbarians had been around for quite some time before the elves even left takish'hiz</p><p><div><p><cite>Resstful wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>OP, Am I correct in assuming you are also Mixxit@nagafen and MixxitNDance_Live? Cuz there are threads back in January, May and June discussing lore from those names and it would be good to go back and review the aguements made back then and see if any changes from those discussions were made in your spreadsheet.</p><p>Also curious; did you actually get all the NPC dialog sent to you?</p><p>edits for pre-coffee spelling errors..there could be more</p><div></div></blockquote></div></p><p>hi yep, i'm liched, mixxit, xiea from the befallen.lore <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>this was based on the old timeline, i found it quite difficult to modify it in a visual format so wanted to have it down as a spreadsheet before i resubmitted it back to the graphical on</p><p>which npc dialog? eqoa?</p>

[Zabjade]

<p><span style="color: #00cc00;">That reminds me was Zan Fi or Swiftail the first to become Monks? Were they in contact with each other or did they parallel develop? </span></p>

[Cusashorn]

<p><cite>mixx wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Cusashorn wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>The heck? She went to Felwithe, not Takish'Hiz. I always remembered her being taken care of by the High Elves on Faydwer.</blockquote><p>the elves were leaving tunaria after bayle headed south from the northlands so the barbarians had been around for quite some time before the elves even left takish'hiz</p></blockquote><p>Lets see here....</p> <p><em>In the early ages of Norrath, before the arrival of Man, the Marr Twins did walk the face of Norrath. The children of a God of Power, Tarew Marr the Water Lord, the Marr Twins searched amongst the mortals of Norrath a cause to champion and embrace with their divinity. The Gods of Nature puzzled over the Marr Twins absence of a divine purpose, and the Gods of Influence scoffed at the twins for seeking such a purpose amongst the mortals. The most malicious of the Gods, Innoruuk, and Cazic-Thule, sought to corrupt the young twins to strengthen the forces of hatred and fear. </em></p> <p><em>Innoruuk, the twisted God of Hatred and Spite sent his mortal followers to Tarew's daughter, Erollisi Marr, to tempt her and seduce her into the darkness. With the wisdom imparted to the Goddess by her father, she saw through the Teir'Dals deceptions, and their wickedness was more visible to her eyes than even their physical forms. <strong>So it came to pass that Erollisi journeyed to the lands of Tunare's fair elves, to escape the sickening advances of the Teir'Dal. It was in the early kingdom of the elves</strong>, that Erollisi did find warmth, peace, and beauty in the harsh realm of the mortals and it was there that she embraced and was in return embraced by a most mortal of traits. It was there she found love. </em></p> <p>Huh. Well holy crap, I can't believe I had that tidbit wrong for so many years. I always thought it said Felwithe. Now I feel like a fool.</p><p><cite>Zabjade wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><span style="color: #00cc00;">That reminds me was Zan Fi or Swiftail the first to become Monks? Were they in contact with each other or did they parallel develop? </span></p></blockquote><p>Zan Fi came long before Swifttail was born. Still kinda hard to believe that a Human Bard would develop the concept of martial arts by facing off against Cazic Thule himself.</p>

[Rainmare]

<p>actually not hard at all. if you take out the ingame idea that bards dual wield swords/daggers and are always armed.</p><p>martial arts when you watch it in rl....especially certain styles, have a lot to do with timing and rythmn/movement. something a bard would know a LOT about. using that knowledge and fighting bare handed...I can see a bard being the one to develop the early monk type fighting style.</p>