533: A male child is born to Allesandra and Pauli: Jan. This will be their only child. Their marriage is rumored to be “troubled.” In Nessantico, Marie dies bearing the fourth child of Justi, another son. Though sickly, Audric will survive.
535: Nessantican forces push farther westward in the Hellins (and also on the Isle of Paeti, which they will come to control).
537: Southern Fever rises again in the cities. Marguerite ca’Dakwi, vacationing in Namarro, is infected and dies. Audric becomes the a’Kralj in her place.
540: The Commandant of the Holdings forces in the Hellins, Petrus ca’Helfier, is killed by a Westlander after ca’Helfier either “rapes” a Westlander’s daughter or the two of them fall in love (the truth here will probably never be known). The new Commandant, Donatien ca’Sibelli, takes the murderer forcibly and executes him without trial; the Westlanders protest. Retaliations escalate, and there is suddenly open war-and Commandant ca’Sibelli finds that there are new forces with the Westlanders: soldiers with faces marked by tattoos and spellcasters with skills that match those of the teni. In the Coalition, A’Hirzg Fynn, now 18, leads the Firenzcian army successfully against Tennshah, taking land in the east for the Holdings of Firenzcia.
542: There are attacks by Westlanders inside the Hellins frontier-the magic used by the Westlanders proves formidable. Westlanders win a large-scale battle with Holdings forces in the Hellins. The towns around Lake Malik and Lake Udar are lost, as is control of the western frontier. The Hellins Holdings are reduced to thin strips of land around the cities of Tobarro and Munereo.
543: Hirzg Jan suffers a heart attack. His health begins a slow, steady decline.
544: Justi, realizing he is dying, names Sergei ca’Rudka as his choice for Regent until Audric reaches his majority at 16. Kraljiki Justi dies, and Audric becomes Kraljiki at age 11.
YEAR 548: (the events of A Magic of Nightfall): Hirzg Jan of the Coalition dies; Hirzg Fynn crowned. Archigos Ana of Nessantico assassinated, Archigos Kenne crowned. Assassination attempt on Hirzg Fynn fails. Sergei ca’Rudka deposed as Regent by Kraljiki Audric and imprisoned. The White Stone assassinates Hirzg Fynn; Fynn’s nephew Jan (son of Allesandra) becomes Hirzg Jan II. Sergei ca’Rudka escapes from the Bastida aided by Numetodo and flees to the Coalition. In the Hellins, the capital of Munereo falls to the Tehuantin Westlanders. The Tehuantin send an invasion force to the Holdings; Karnor razed. Kraljiki Audric assassinated by ensorceled offizier; Kraljica Sigourney crowned. Coalition troops march into the Holdings from the East. City of Nessantico taken by Tehuantin, burned and plundered; Kraljica Sigourney commits suicide. Coalition forces sweep away the Tehuantin army. The White Stone kills a Tehuantin spellcaster, saving Hirzg Jan’s life. Allesandra is named Kraljica.
YEAR 549: Rochelle, daughter of the White Stone and Hirzg Jan II of the Coalition, is born. Archigos Semini is stripped of his title upon Hirzg Jan’s return to Brezno, though he accepts the lesser position of A’Teni of Nessantico. A’Teni Karrol ca’Asano of Malacki is elevated to Archigos, and the Concenzia Faith is reunited, though the new seat of the Archigos is in Brezno, not Nessantico. Karl ca’Vliomani marries Varina (becoming Karl ca’Pallo). Sergei ca’Rudka is named Special Ambassador to Firenzcia for the Holdings.
YEAR 550: The Numetodo become an official political entity within the Holdings. Varina is named as their head (A’Morce), and becomes a member of Council of Ca’.
YEAR 551: Jan ca’Vorl marries Brie ca’Ostheim of Sesemora-as is customary in this society, he takes her name and becomes Jan ca’Ostheim.
YEAR 552: Kraljica Allesandra, despite the protests of the Faith and A’Teni Semini, declares that the Numeteodo may not be prosecuted or harmed for their beliefs within the Holdings. Semini commits suicide in protest. Soleil ca’Paim is named the new A’Teni for Nessantico. Jan and Brie’s first child is born, a girl named Elissa.
YEAR 553: Pauli ca’Vorl, Allesandra’s estranged husband (and Hirzg Jan’s vatarh), becomes Gyula of West Magyaria when his vatarh dies.
YEAR 554: Due to diplomatic efforts by Kraljica Allesandra and Ambassador Karl ca’Pallo, the Isle of Paeti rejoins the Holdings. A son Jan (nicknamed “Kriege”) is born to Hirzg Jan and Brie.
YEAR 556: West Magyaria secedes from the Coalition (but does not rejoin the Holdings. Caelor (son) born to Jan and Brie.
YEAR 557: The army of Firenzcia invades West Magyaria. It quickly becomes obvious that the army of West Magyaria is no match for the Firenzcians. Gyula Pauli is assassinated by his own Council of Ca’ when he refuses the terms of surrender. West Magyaria returns to control by the Coalition.
YEAR 558: Nico ce’Morel, an extremely charismatic e’teni with radically conservative views, begins to gain a following in the Holdings and the Coalition.
YEAR 560: Eria (daughter) born to Jan and Brie.
YEAR 560: Nico Morel defrocked by the Concenzia Faith. However, his popularity continues to grow. He espouses a fundamentalist, harsh reshaping of the Faith.
YEAR 561: Nico Morel comes to Nessantico. War again breaks out in West Magyaria, as a pretender to the Gyula’s throne, Stor ca’Vikej, supported by the Holdings and Nessantico, attempts a coup. Firenzcian troops are quickly involved. The Holdings forces, undermanned, are forced to retreat. Stor ca’Vikej is killed.
YEAR 562: Nico’s popularity is growing, which doesn’t sit well with Kraljica Allesandra and her rather secular government. There are violent conflicts between the followers of Nico (called “Morelli”) and the Garde Kralji.
YEAR 563: A Magic of Dawn begins…
ALSO FROM S.L. FARRELL:
The Nessantico Cycle
A MAGIC OF TWILIGHT
The Cloudmages