Timeline of the Eras of The Crossroads

The First Era:
The Quiet Centuries

Note:
BF stands for - “Before Founding” of The Crossroads.
CE stands for - “Crossroads Era” after The Crossroads was founded.

Approximate span: Countless generations before the Thinning
Crossroads Dates: pre 800 BF
World Dates: pre 499 AD

  • Humanity lives largely unaware of the true nature of the spirit-realms.

  • Old rites exist, but only as folklore: salt at thresholds, offerings in forests, fires left burning.

  • The ancestral spirits are present but veiled. They whisper in dreams and omens but their influence is faint.

  • The spirit-castes exist in potential only, their essence still hidden within the human bloodlines.

  • Earliest Hearth Rites (c. 2000 BF / 701 AD): Families first begin placing salt and ash at thresholds, a tradition later recognized as the faint echo of spirit-warding.

  • The First Animal Oaths (c. 1500 BF / 201 AD): Stories from multiple regions describe hunters swearing to beasts and receiving safe passage of luck in return. These tales are later understood as the earliest contact with the ancestral spirits’ memories.

  • The Silent Fires (c. 1200 BF / 99 AD) Rural settlements develop the practice of leaving lamps burning in crossroads overnight. Some say these fires guided lost spirits, others claim they were to keep them away.

The Second Era:
The First Signs

Approximate span: Several generations before the founding of The Crossroads
Crossroads Dates: 800 BF to 500 BF
World Dates: 499 AD to 799 AD

  • Subtle anomalies spread. Infants are born with strange marks or eyes that glow faintly.

  • Weather and harvests shift in response to strong emotions of entire villages or clans.

  • Promises, when spoken with true conviction, bend fate in ways beyond reason.

  • These events begin to convince some that the boundary between the mortal world and the unseen worlds is not as solid as once believed.

  • Birth of the Marked Child (c. 780 BF / 519): The earliest recorded case of a child born with eyes like starlight in the settlement of Drelan’s Ford. Oral traditions claim she spoke to shadows before she could walk.

  • Storm of Grief (c. 690 BF / 609): Following the massacre of a clan war, a storm lingers for nine days. This is later interpreted as one of the first weather-events tied directly to communal emotion.

  • The Binding Song (c. 600 BF / 699): A shepherd’s lullaby spreads across five valleys and is recorded as calming herds at great distances. Later scholars recognize it as one of the first spirit-carried songs.

The Third Era:
The Thinning

Approximate span: The age of awakening, lasting several centuries
Crossroads Dates: 500 BF to 200 BF
World Dates: 799 AD to 1099 AD

  • ‘Thin places’ appear: high mountains, crossroads, groves, burial sites where the worlds draw close. Mortals begin to feel the presence of the ancestral spirits in these places.

  • Communion deepens. Humanity awakens to its ties with the spirit-realms. The spirit-casted emerge:

    • The Fenrah wolf-spirits

    • The Vorrn bear-spirits

    • The Mirith feline-spirits

    • The Echoed shapechangers

    • The Kaari fox-spirits

    • The Oruun coyote-spirits

    • The Nocthra owl-spirits

    • The Chronar alligator-spirits

    • The Umbrith blood-drinkers

    • Influence grows. Dreams become visions shared by whole families. Landscapes feel heavy with unseen presence. Communities adapt to the new reality.

  • First ‘Thin Place’ Marked (c. 480 BF / 819): A grove near Caelthorn is declared “heavy with presence” and fenced off. Pilgrims visit, reporting visions of ancestors.

  • Rise of the Kaari Healers (c. 430 BF / 869): First gatherings of what would later be named Kaari fox-spirits begin to appear, treating wounds with a mix of spiritual magics and herbal medicine.

  • Moonflight Vigil (c. 400 BF / 899): The Nocthra owl-spirits are first spoken of in records when a community in the highlands reports “owl-eyed watchers” guarding their dead.

  • The Fox’s Bargain (c. 360 BF / 939): Tales spread of trickster spirits who offer guidance or ruin. These are later recognized, and at first miss identified, as the first Oruun coyote-spirit appearances.

  • The Shattered Feast (c. 280 BF / 1019): A blood-oath sworn at a chieftain’s table ends in half the clan entering an enraged berserker state. The story marks the first widespread fear of spirit-gifted fury.

  • Recognition of the Spirit-Casted (c. 220 BG / 1079): Local councils begin recording those born with recurring traits and abilities, grouping them into lineages that would later be called spirit-castes.

The Forth Era:
The Founding of the Crossroads

Approximate span: The generations of trail following the founding
Crossroads Dates: 0 CE
World Dates: 1299 AD

  • Forgotten bargains resurface. Whole families and towns are bound to promises made centuries before.

  • The Severance Rite is devised, a costly ritual of last resort to restore balance when the influence of the spirit-realms becomes overwhelming.

  • Disputes between spirit-casted and mortals arise, some violent, but The Crossroads begins to stand as proof that cooperation can prevail.

  • This era tempers The Crossroads through hardship, forcing it to evolve beyond hope into true stability.

  • The Accord of The Crossroads (0 CE / 1299): Mortals and spirit-casted sign an agreement to build a neutral settlement where disputes can be judged fairly. Considered Year 0 in The Crossroads Calendar.

  • First Council Elected (0 CE / 1299): The practice of rotating leadership terms is established. Early Councils sit for six months at a time before shifting to the current three-month cycle.

  • The First Medical Hall (2 CE / 1301): Built by Kaari and mortal physicians together, blending herbal remedies with spirit-guided healing.

  • Founding of the Undertaker’s Society (7 CE / 1306): Undertakers are formally recognized as guardians of burial and rest, no longer mere gravediggers.

  • The Oathkeepers’ Oath (15 CE / 1314): The first group of Oathkeepers and Wardens swear to uphold law with both mortal authority and spirit-born gifts.

The Fifth Era:
The Present Age

Approximate span: Current era
Crossroads Dates: 0 CE to 600 CE
World Dates: 1299 AD to 1899 AD

  • The Crossroads stands as the heart of coexistence.

  • The Council governs with checks and balances, rotating officials to prevent tyranny.

  • The Medical Order flourishes, allowing covens, clinics, and private healers to practice freely.

  • The Undertaker’s Society safeguards the dead and oversees disputes of burial and funerary rites.

  • The Oathkeepers and their Wardens serve as peacekeepers, mediating between mortals and the spirit-casted.

  • The ancestral spirits are openly honoured as keepers of memory and lineage, ensuring that no history, triumph, or betrayal is forgotten.

  • The Winter of Oaths (c. 44 CE / 1343): Entire villages are nearly undone when ancient bargains resurface, demanding payment in blood and service. This is one of the greatest crises of the early Councils.

  • First Severance Rite (c. 79 CE / 1378): Performed to quiet a dangerously unstable ‘thin place’ near Caelthorn Grove. Three participants die, and two more lose all memory of their lineage.

  • The Mediation of Ironfield (C. 126 CE / 1425): A major conflict between mortals and Vorrn is settled without bloodshed through Oathkeeper arbitration. This event secures the Oathkeeper’s reputation as peacekeepers.

  • Codex of Burial (C. 200 CE / 1499): The Undertaker’s Society publishes a set of standards for burial and funerary rites, adopted across much of The Crossroads.

  • Charter of Rotating Terms (c. 276 CE / 1575): Councils shift to three-month cycles to prevent corruption.

  • The Great Healing Plague (c. 342 CE / 346): The Medical Order contains a widespread disease using both mortal medicine and spirit-guided cleansing, proving its worth to even the most skeptical.

  • The Lantern Rebellion (c. 411 CE / 1710): A popular uprising breaks out after a Council overreaches its authority. The revolt ends peacefully, and leads to further checks on Council power.

  • The Mourning Watch (c. 502 CE / 1801): The Undertaker’s Society holds vigils across The Crossroads to honour the dead of a devastating famine. This tradition becomes an annual remembrance.

  • Current Year (600 CE / 1899): The Crossroads thrives as a diverse and fragile but enduring society. The Council, Medical Order, Undertaker’s Society, and Oathkeepers form the pillars of governance and culture.

Legacy and Future

  • The barrier between the mortal waking world and the unseen spirit-realms remains thinner than in the Quiet Centuries, though less unstable than during the Thinning.

  • Coexistence if possible, but fragile. Forgotten bargains and lingering echoes of imbalance remaining dangers to The Crossroads.

  • The story continues. Each oath, each healing, and each life lived on the threshold adds a new chapter to the ongoing history of The Crossroads.

Note:
BF stands for - “Before Founding” of The Crossroads.
CE stands for - “Crossroads Era” after The Crossroads was founded.