Alternate Dimensions Presents: Vaasa - An Alternate History

The Bloodstone Lands are an area relatively untouched by events in the rest of Faerûn. What follows is an alternative vision for the land of Vaasa which should be similar and yet distinct at the same time.

Timeline

• -31,000 DR: The Tearfall: A meteorite falls in the midst of the giant kingdom of Ostoria in the lands known today as Vaasa. Deep in a chasm caused by the meteor strike the primordial Telos begins to grow, leeching magic and life-force from the area around him.

• 934 DR: Zhengyi spends several years studying the Black Star artefact in Escalant.

• 1038 DR: The Great Glacier is entirely absent from the lands of Damara, Vassa, and upper Narfell by spring of this year and does not return in winter. This prompts a wave of migration of Impilturan and Narfelli settlers that claim the lands of Damara for their own. The orcs and other monsters claim Vaasa.

• 1064 DR: Feldrin Bloodfeathers is accused of piracy by a fellow noble house of Sembia and is found guilty. The young man in his early twenties flees with the entire wealth of his family to the settlement of Ravensburg in Damara, where his family has owned land for centuries since before Sembia existed.

• 1074 DR: Zhengyi the Red Wizard flees Thay in exile.

• 1077 DR: At the urgings of Higenzi the Witch, Damara mounts a campaign to free Bloodstone Pass from the clutches of the monsters of Vaasa.

• 1079 DR: Bloodstone Pass is secured and prospecting expeditions extract large numbers of precious gemstones named Bloodstones in honour of the king.

• 1152 DR: Orcs pour out of Vaasa through Bloodstone Pass and lay waste to much of northern Damara. The disparate orcs are quickly eliminated but the people call for Vaasa and the Bloodstone Pass to be secured for the future prosperity of Damara.

• 1153 DR: King Veldrin I declares the land that will later be known as Vaasa to be crown property of Damara. The land is open to settlement to all that can keep and hold an area of land for a year with appropriate proof provided of continued dwelling to the crown. This attracts adventurers and settlers from across Faerûn.

• 1154 DR: A noble scion of House Belmaris is one of the first to enter Vaasa and claim land along the river running through the centre of Vaasa. The name eventually becomes corrupted to Beaumaris River.

• Settlers and adventurers in Vaasa endure nightly attacks by demonic forces that severely hamper growth and settlement in the region.

• All settlers in Vaasa disappear over the course of a week. Secretly they are enslaved by the forces of Vaas, a marilith demon released from her imprisonment nearly two centuries earlier and has been busy building her tanar'ri forces and enslaving the local grey orc tribes. The humans are kept with the orc slaves which quickly creates a large population of half orcs.

• 1158 DR: Scouting expeditions into Vaasa all disappear without a trace. A demonic envoy proclaiming that Queen Vaas of Vaasa now rules the lands beyond Bloodstone Pass. The heads of the Damaran scouting expeditions are delivered to the Damaran Court on gigantic platters.

• 1160 DR: Beginning in this year groups of twisted demonic orcs from Vaasa attack Damara in ever greater numbers. Damara beseeches Impiltur for aid using the exiled Feldrin as an ambassador. Queen Ilmara is reluctant to engage in a war on foreign soil after what happened to her brother Imbrar.

• 1171 DR: With aid finally arriving from Impiltur the forces of Damara and Impiltur march on Vaasa. The human armies are met with innumerable hordes of tanar’ri and twisted half demon spawn.

• The battle quickly turns in favour of Queen Vaas until Higenzi arrives behind Vaas’ forces with several thousand half orcs. Together the allied forces win the day and Vaas is forced to flee the field of battle.

• Damara claims Vaasa as crown land and then awards the half orcs the land around the former settlement of Cinnabaran. The orcs quickly rebuild the ruin into a fortress which they call Palischuk.

• Higenzi once again gains favour with the Damaran court.

• 1347 DR: Zhengyi the Witch King; devotee of Orcus, arrives in Vaasa to locate Telos and use his power for Orcus’ will. Using rituals he creates a link between himself and Telos allowing Zhengyi to draw on the primordial’s power directly. His first act is to create Castle Perilous in a single day.

• 1357 DR: Zhengyi and his armies slay King Virdin and conquer Damara. Puppet rulers are installed in many of the baronies and duchies of Damara.

• Telos begins to rouse from his eons long slumber when Mystra perishes during the Time of Troubles and all magic in Faerûn goes awry.

• 1359 DR: Zhengyi is slain and his spirit is drawn to Telos instead of his phylactery because of the link that the two beings share.

• 1360 DR: The Red Wizards of Thay dispatch another diplomatic envoy to Vaasa to learn what they can of the Witch King. Upon their arrival they learn that Zhengyi has been slain.

• 1361 DR: Red Wizard research teams are sent to Vaasa to discover what Zhengyi was doing in Vaasa. One member of the team is a tiefling with an uncanny resemblance to Zhengyi himself which the Red Wizards hope to use to their advantage.

• 1362 DR: The Red Wizards locate an artefact belonging to Zhengyi; a tome of creation. Using this tome they create a replica of Castle Perilous north-east of Palischuk. The Red Wizards also learn about the presence of Telos beneath the Clefts of Razack and of Zhengyi’s plans to tap the primordial for limitless resources of power and magical energy.

• 1363 DR: The Red Wizards create a mining settlement atop the Clefts of Razack by the Beaumaris River, intending to plumb the depths to locate Telos the primordial. Miners from the settlement find many veins of a strange ore containing a hard, dull metal that is icy to the touch. This metal is dubbed Shade-steel for its unique properties and its strange ability to absorb light.

• 1365 DR: A team of Red Wizards enter the depths of the Clefts of Razack and encounter Telos; who is fully conscious and aware of his surroundings. Telos destroys the Red Wizards in an instant, draining them until all that remains is dust. Telos keeps one Red Wizard alive and transforms him into the Voice of Telos by erasing his personality and implanting the soul of Zhengyi into the soulless husk.

• Zhengyi begins wandering the wastes of Vaasa converting people to the “Will of Telos” by performing miracles and rescuing the common folk from the savagery of Vaasa.

• 1371 DR: The forces of the Zhentarim begin an invasion of Vaasa using a pass through the Galena Mountains known as Garumn's Climb. They quickly secure the southern plains of Vaasa known as the Plains of Haatar Baen. Banite priests use magic to cleanse the poisoned soil of the corruption of Telos. The area under Zhentarim control soon becomes known as the Plains of Haatar Bane.

• Orcs from Thesk still secretly loyal to the Zhentarim begin migrating to Vaasa.

• 1372 DR: Orc migrants from Thesk integrate themselves into the north-east of Vaasa, particularly the settlement of Palischuk.

• Zhentarim forces seize the trade towns of Maur Eturo and Avang in southern Vaasa giving them significant control over trade entering and leaving Vaasa.

• 1373 DR: The Rage of Dragons strikes Faerûn causing widespread destruction across the land as dragons lose control. The flight of dragons around Castle Perilous destroys itself. Many settlements in Vaasa and Damara suffer repeated dragon strikes.

• 1374 DR: In the wake of the Rage of Dragon's the Warlock Knights manoeuvre themselves into prominent positions in the settlements of Vaasa outside Zhentarim control.

• 1375 DR: The Warlock Knights declare themselves rulers of Vaasa and begin marshalling their forces for war.

Vaasa in the 1360s is a period of flux for the land. After the death of Zhengyi the humanoids that made up his armies are dispersed across the land and plague the fortified settlements. Monsters are as plentiful as ever thanks to the increased lawlessness in the region after Zhengyi's fall.

Then as the years progress nefarious organisations begin to insinuate themselves into life in Vaasa. The Cult of the Dragon set up criminal cells across the land exploiting the independent farm-steaders. The Red Wizards create a number of settlements in order to mine the Clefts of Razack. The Cult of Eltab see a growth in the region as the demons trapped in demoncysts beneath the surface whisper to the people above. Finally a new cult arises in Vaasa; the Warlock Knights, a seemingly benevolent organisation with a dark secret that seems to stand for law and order in the region.