The Alternative Timeline of World History

This is a long overview of the events of world history, and is by no means complete or concise. Instead, a sprinkling of the major events during various of history's more important ages is given, mostly so players can see how their nations have developed over time. Players are strongly encouraged to add to their histories for their own nation, but to take note where the game world diverges from real history. Each entry is colour-coded by continent; events are blue for Europe, fuchsia for Asia, red for the Americas, purple for Africa, and green for the Middle East .

Furthermore, for ease of use, the timeline has been divided into sections, listed below.

The Ancient World
The Classical Age
The Rise of Rome
The Nazarene Scrolls
The Roman Civil War
The Caliphs of Islam
Charlemagne's Vision
The Pendragons of Avalon
The Crusades
The Golden Horde
The Hundred Years War
Fall of the Byzantines
The Grail Scrolls
Protestant Movements
The Age of Discovery
Revolution and Empire

The Ancient World

2800 BC: The Chinese Emperor Fu Hsi discovers/disseminates the secrets of Chinese magic.

1700 BC: Hammurabi, King of Babylon, conquers Mesopotamia and the last remnants of the Sumerians, and imposes a definitive Code of Laws. Canaanites develop Judaism.

1275 BC: Israelites, followers of the Judaic religion, develop their own magic, and use it to flee Egypt, where they have lived as slaves.

693 BC: Sennacherib, King of the Assyrian Empire conquers Babylon.

625 BC: Rise of the Greek city-states.

563 BC: Birth of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha.

539 BC: Cyrus the Great, King of Persia, conquers Babylon and crushes the Assyrians.

509 BC: Romans arise in the Appenines. Originally part of the Etruscan kingdom, the Romans expand upon the Etruscan magics, developing new techniques and using them to destroy the Etruscans.

490 BC: Athenians defeat Persians at Marathon.

480 BC: Xerxes invades Greece and sacks Athens after the victory at Thermopylae. Greeks defeat Persians at Salamis, and then Plataea.

431-404 BC: Peloponnese Wars between Athens and Sparta.

371 BC: Epaminondas of Thebes defeats the Spartans at Leuctra.

362 BC: Epaminondas is killed at Mantinea.

338 BC: Alexander conquers Thebes and Athens under his father’s command.

336 BC: Alexander inherits the throne of Macedon. The Macedonians go on to conquer most of the Middle East, destroying the Persians, conquering Babylon, but being turned back by the Egyptians. They invade India, but the exhausted troops convince Alexander to turn back. He dies of fever soon after.

264 BC: The rise of Rome. The First Punic War between Rome and Carthage occurs around this time.

246 BC: Chin Shih-Huang Ti, the first true Emperor of China, unites all of China under one Dynasty. Unlike in many places throughout the world, the Chinese Emperors are also powerful sorcerers; in most kingdoms, kings rely on wizardly advisors.

216 BC: Hannibal defeats the Romans in the Second Punic War, but is turned back at the gates of Rome itself.

203 BC: The Han Dynasty arises in China.

168 BC: The Romans conquer the last of the Macedonians in Europe. The Macedonian Empire is reduced to a shell, with scattered holdings throughout the Middle East ruling as independent bodies.

64 BC: Romans conquer the Holy Lands.

51 BC: Caesar conquers Gaul. His fleets are destroyed crossing the English Channel by Celtic druids, who raise the seas against them.

46 BC: Caesar instigates civil war in Rome, defeating Pompey and Crassus and becoming dictator. Queen Cleopatra of Egypt arranges a political marriage between herself and Caesar, resulting in history’s greatest alliance to date.

44 BC: Caesar is assassinated. Cleopatra seduces Mark Antony, and assists him in his war with Octavian.

1 AD: Jesus Christ is born in Bethlehem. The Age of Discovery begins. A cache of technology, advanced concepts, writings and even electronics is discovered in Nazareth, in the Holy Lands. The Romans seize upon it, and soon their technology, already advanced, progresses in leaps and bounds. Over the next few centuries, much of the unrest and constant attacks by barbarians are easily repelled through the combination of Roman sorcery and technology, as Rome becomes the greatest superpower on Earth. (NB. Technology from this point progresses at an advanced rate to the normal course of history.)

33: Jesus is crucified. The Christian religion begins.

42: Peter establishes the Church in Rome, despite constant persecution. He is acknowledged later as the first Pope.

135: Rome subjugates the Germanic states. Christians are persecuted in Rome and flee to other Empires, carrying some of the secrets of Rome’s technology with them. Egypt is first to benefit, soon developing advanced weaponry to ensure its safety from Rome . Christians that reach the Germanic states, under pressure from Roman armies, are executed, and their artefacts puzzled over, but not researched. The Germanic tribes do not take advantage of such mysteries, and are crushed.

244: Using stolen technologies, the Sassanids rebel against Roman rule in Persia. The Emperor Gordianus III defeats the Persians at Resaena on the Euphrates, but is assassinated in a mutiny. The new Emperor (and mutineer) Philippus makes peace with the new Persian Empire.

260: The Emperor Valerian is treacherously seized during a parley with the Persian King Shapur I and flayed alive. The Roman Empire is besieged by Berbers, Franks, Vandals, Goths, and Persians, as well as dealing with outbreaks of disease. The advent of antiseptic techniques in medicine helps deal with the plagues, but Rome begins to lose some of its outermost provinces.

276: The sorcerer Mani is executed in Persia. His followers move underground, founding Manichaeanism both as a religion and a practice of magic.

312: The Emperor Constantine seizes power in Rome’s Western Empire and converts to Christianity. He soon has power over the entirety of the Empire, and declares Christianity the official religion, convening the council of Nicaea and rebuilding Constantinople on the site of Byzantium as the Roman capital.

360: The Huns invade Europe from the Eurasian steppes, massacring the Ostrogoths and Visigoths. They are soon the dominant power in the Germanic region, but cannot crack Rome’s borders.

395: The Emperor Theodosius dies and the Roman Empire splits into two parts, one ruled from Rome and the other from Constantinople.

433: Attila becomes leader of the Huns.

451: The Visigoth King Theodoric offers to join forces with the Western Roman Empire to fight the powerful Huns. The Emperor Valentinian refuses, but the general Flavius Aetius, aware of just how difficult the situation is, accepts, and gives Theodoric the secrets found in the Nazarene Scrolls in return. The allied forces defeat the Huns at Chalons, and Attila dies soon after.

476: The Visigoths, Ostrogoths and Franks, now civilised after hundreds of years of Roman rule, take a much greater hand in the running of the Western Empire. They form smaller kingdoms under the aegis of the Empire, and though they occasionally war amongst each other, there is little further chaos in Europe for some time. (NB. The Dark Ages therefore never really occur; instead, technology and civilisation advance faster.)

517: Emperor Wu of China converts to Buddhism.

528: Justinian becomes Emperor in Constantinople; the Eastern Roman Empire is now often called the Byzantine Empire. His general Belisarius defeats the Persians at Daras.

532: Belisarius massacres 30,000 rebels in the Nika Insurrection in Constantinople. Justinian signs permanent peace with Chosroes, King of Persia, and Ptolemy Novigenses in Egypt.

534: Belisarius leads Byzantine troops to conquer Malta, making it a Byzantine province. There is now civil war between the Western and Eastern Roman Empires. With no clear advantage in technology or sorcery, this is the bloodiest and hardest-fought war thus far in history.

536: The Byzantines conquer Rome.

538: Buddhism is introduced to the court of the Japanese Emperor Senka. Buddhism is not initially popular in Japan, for it conflicts with the Shinto religion that exists there.

539: Belisarius is recalled to Constantinople to lead the conquest of North Africa, the former Carthaginian lands. The Ostrogoth and Frankish kingdoms start to reconquer lands, ostensibly in the name of the Western Empire, but mostly for themselves.

540: Totila, King of the Ostrogoths, reconquers Rome.

543: Belisarius drives the Vandals out of North Africa. Missionaries from Constantinople reach China, and trade begins; the Chinese have already made several advances of technology, but they leap forward when Roman techniques and secrets are traded for Chinese goods and secrets.

552: The Byzantines under Narses defeat the Ostrogoth fleet at Tagina; Totila is killed. The Byzantines cannot retake Rome, however, and it remains in Gothic and Frankish hands. A caretaker Emperor is elected, but he remains a puppet for the feuding kings.

559: An army of Slavs and Huns, given advanced equipment by the kings of the Western Empire, invades the Byzantines, and reaches the gates of Constantinople. Belisarius comes out of retirement to defeat them and drive them off.

569: Birth of the prophet Mohammed.

586: The Japanese Emperor Yomei supports Buddhism, adopting many Buddhist images into Shintoism to give every Shinto deity a Buddhist counterpart.

616: The Persians under Chosroes II sweep across the Middle East, taking the Holy Lands from Byzantine rule and invading Egypt. The Egyptians turn them back after a bloody campaign.

618: The Tang Dynasty arises in China.

628: The Byzantines defeat the Persians at the gates of Constantinople and then at Nineveh, imprisoning Chosroes II. He is then murdered by his son Kavadh, who makes peace with Heraclius, the Byzantine Emperor.

632: Mohammed dies in Medina. The Muslims, under Abu Bekr, rise up in the Holy Lands and overthrow the Persians. Churches in Jerusalem and Antioch are turned into mosques. Abu Bekr dies soon after, and is succeeded by Umar, first of the Umayyad Caliphs. The Egyptian Pharaoh Cambyses declares Egypt neutral, but promises to allow the Umayyad Arabs free passage through and around Egypt in return for continued sovereignty.

635: The Umayyads take Damascus and Jerusalem. A second army invades Persia, and the Persian King Yezdigird III appeals to China for assistance.

642: The Arabs destroy the Persian Kingdom; the Chinese do not assist. The Byzantines do not either; they are hard pressed by the Umayyads also.

656: The Umayyads sail west across the Mediterranean, taking Cyprus and Rhodes. There is a brief civil war after Uthman, the third Caliph, is assassinated; he is succeeded by Ali, Mohammed’s nephew, but there is dispute over the succession. Ali is assassinated five years later, and his successor, a follower of Uthman, moves the Umayyad capital to Damascus. This is the beginning of the split in Islam; followers of the Umayyad and successive Caliphates are known as Sunnis, whereas those that followed Ali become known as Shi’ites.

672: Missionaries from Christian Europe land in England, finding a relatively backward civilisation of Angles, Celts, Picts, Scots and Welsh, ruled by the powerful druids. They introduce Christianity with great difficulty, and also the technology of the Romans.

677: The Umayyads overrun Tangiers, Tripoli, and Carthage, taking the last of the Byzantine holdings on the North African coast. Byzantine sorcery destroys the Arab fleet at Syllaeum, temporarily halting the Arab threat to Europe. Nonetheless, the Arabs range far and wide; their knowledge of astronomy is unparalleled, and Arab traders move into the dark of Africa, passing on knowledge, religion, and goods to the tribesmen therein. Arab sailors reach India, South-East Asia, and China, creating history’s largest economic empire to date. The Arabs also force their subjects to learn Arabic, unifying their Empire with religion and language.

711: Moorish Arabs invade Europe across the Straits of Gibraltar, taking Cordoba and Toledo from the Western Roman Empire and the Visigoth Kingdom. Seville falls soon after, as does Samarkand in Asia, and Sind in India.

732: Charles Martel, King of the Franks, crushes the Arabs at Tours, stopping the Umayyad advance into Europe. This is the first use of gunpowder in battle; handheld weapons are not yet developed, but crude cannons shatter the Moorish advance.

750: The Umayyad Caliphate is torn apart from within by civil war, dividing the Arab world into several kingdoms. The main branch is the Abbasids, who begin the next major phase of Arab history. The first Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur moves the Arab seat of power to Babylon. The Umayyads persist in North Africa and Spain, while other small kingdoms break off in Asia and Persia.

771: Charlemagne becomes King of the Frankish Kingdom. A man of great vision, he seeks to unify all the disparate kingdoms of the Western Roman Empire and recreate the glory of a Christian Europe. He immediately invades several neighbouring kingdoms, forcing them to swear fealty to himself.

777: Charlemagne is defeated by the Umayyads at Zaragoza, stopping his reclamation of Iberia.

790: The Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI is deposed and blinded by his mother, Irene; she becomes the first Empress to rule in her own right.

800: Charlemagne is crowned Emperor of the West on Christmas Day by Pope Leo III, having subjugated the entirety of Christian Europe. The Byzantine Empress Irene refuses to recognise him.

802: Irene is deposed and exiled to the isle of Lesbos. Her successor, Nicephorus, formally abdicates and acknowledges Charlemagne as Roman Emperor, thus founding the Holy Roman Empire. Viking raids on Europe and England intensify. The Vikings, barbarians but with a strong magical tradition in their runesmiths, the skjaeren, are rapidly becoming a dangerous force on the North Sea coasts.

827: Uther Pendragon unifies several disparate English baronies and kingdoms into the Kingdom of Avalon, with the assistance of the wizard Merlin. The Avalonians repel the Vikings repeatedly and establish themselves as the dominant power of the British Isles, subjugating the Welsh, Saxons and Celts throughout England. The Scots and Picts in the northern Highlands continue to fight for their independence, but it is a terrible struggle against the powerful Avalonians.

845: The Taoist Emperor Wuzong suppresses the Buddhists in China, sacking Buddhist temples.

859: Uther Pendragon dies in a Viking raid on Canterbury, beginning a brief Interregnum in Avalonian history.

861: The Vikings attack Cologne, Paris, Toulouse, and Worms. The Scandinavian chief Rurik, ruler of Kiev, founds Novgorod and begins what will become the Russian royal family. The Magyars, the predecessors to the Hungarian kingdoms, begin raiding the German borders of the Holy Roman Empire.

869: Arthur Pendragon ascends to the Avalonian throne with Excalibur in hand and the assistance of Merlin. He swiftly reconquers any lands lost during the Interregnum, converting almost all of Avalon, including Scotland and Ireland, to Christianity.

871: In Japan, the Fujiwara family founds the Shogunate. They have achieved their position of power through careful marriages and politics rather than by conquest, and are the dominant force in Japan for the next three hundred years or more.

877: The Danes, part of the Viking peoples, land in Avalon, and seize Exeter deceitfully while their leaders are negotiating with Arthur. Merlin disperses the Danish fleet with a magical storm, while Arthur’s knights crush the Danes and drive them into the sea. The kingdom of Songhai reaches its peak in West Africa, built largely on the backs of slaves.

898: Arthur Pendragon is slain in battle defeating the rebellion of his bastard son Mordred. It is said that Merlin removes Arthur to a secret place to sleep, ready for the time Avalon needs him again. Throughout the next several centuries, some of Avalon’s bravest knights go on quest to find this place, to join with the battle-brethren waiting there in eternal slumber; some few disappear without a trace, adding to the legend.

927: The Bulgarian Czar Symeon, chief of most of the Balkan tribes, dies, and his heir, Czar Peter, brings the Balkans into the Holy Roman Empire, swearing fealty in Constantinople.

941; Igor, Prince of Kiev, crosses the Black Sea with his fleet and lays siege to Constantinople. The Byzantine fleet is away in the Aegean, but returns in time to drive off the Rus; the Byzantine sorcerer John Tzimisces destroys the Russian fleet with balls of Greek fire.

950: Cordoba, part of the Umayyad Caliphate in Spain, is recognised as the foremost centre of learning and culture in all of Europe, complete with libraries, hospitals, universities and other centres of culture.

1066: William, Duke of Normandy invades Avalon with a massive fleet. King Harold II Pendragon meets him at Hastings, precipitating a great battle. William is killed and the Normans driven from Avalon. The Holy Roman Emperor, Henry IV of Franconia, intercedes to prevent war between Avalon and a kingdom of the Roman Empire.

1070: Knights Hospitaller founded in Jerusalem.

1075: The Seljuk Turks under Malik Shah arise in Persia, and wrest control of the Muslim world from the Abbasid Caliphs. They create the office of Sultan, a secular leader of Islam who coexists with the Caliph, the spiritual heir to Mohammed. The Seljuks conquer Palestine and Syria.

1085: The King of Castile, part of the Holy Roman Empire, takes Toledo from the Umayyads. This city has become the centre of science and industry in the western Arab world, and it is a significant loss to the Muslims.

1095: The Seljuk Turks begin encroaching on Byzantine holdings in Anatolia. After repeated pleas for assistance, Pope Urban II orders the Crusade to reclaim the Holy Lands. Over 300,000 soldiers from all over the Holy Roman Empire gather in Constantinople to begin the Crusade. Knights Templar founded in the Languedoc.

1098: Antioch and Jerusalem fall to the Holy Roman Empire. A kingdom of Jerusalem is installed under the French knight Godfrey de Bouillon.

1138: The German Hohenstaufens take control of the Holy Roman Empire, ending over a century of Frankish dominance. This leads to discord throughout the Empire, particularly during the Second Crusade.

1147: The Sultan Zangi takes Edessa. This precipitates calls for a Second Crusade, coming from the priest Bernard of Clairvaux. Over 500,000 troops come from all over the Empire, but they are divided between Louis VII of France and Conrad III, the Holy Roman Emperor. The Second Crusade has little effect.

1152: Frederick Barbarossa becomes Holy Roman Emperor. He brings a lasting peace to the Empire, balancing politics between the imperialist and papal factions throughout Germany and the Italian peninsula. However, he gives away much of the powers of the Empire to the Electors throughout Germany, setting the stage for its eventual decline.

1159: Avalon invades France to assert the territorial rights of Eleanor of Aquitaine, formerly wife of Louis VII of France, and now wife to Henry II Pendragon of France. The fighting is brief but bloody; it is the first time hand-held firearms have seen combat, and the casualties are terrible on both sides.

1187: Saladin takes Jerusalem.

1191: Richard I Pendragon, the Lionheart, embarks from Avalon on the Third Crusade with over 100,000 troops. Though he gets to within a few miles of Jerusalem, eventually he fails to take it, and instead signs a treaty with Saladin in which the Christians retain the cities they have taken and are given access to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem in return for the cessation of hostilities. The Teutonic Knights are founded in Acre.

1192: Minamoto Yoritomo defeats the Fujiwaras in Japan and begins a new dynasty of the Shogunate.

1209: The crusader Simon de Montfort seizes Carcassonne in the Languedoc, ending the Albigensian Heresy.

1214: Genghis Khan and the Mongol hordes breach the Great Wall of China. Despite the advanced Chinese magic and technology, the Mongols effect in China what centuries of Huns, Slavs, Bulgars and other barbarians could not do in Europe, and defeat a superior civilisation, despite the rifles and cannons levelled at them. The Mongols take Beijing.

1218: The Mongols invade Persia, defeating the Turks and Arabs.

1223: Genghis Khan reaches Russia and invades. Subotai Khan defeats a Russian army at the Kalka River.

1227: The death of Genghis Khan does not stop the Golden Horde; aided now by Chinese weapons, science and magic, they push further into Europe, devastating Poland and conquering Moscow.

1241: The Battle of Liegnitz, in Silesia. Elite Teutonic Knights of the Holy Roman Empire wear carapace armour for the first time, the forerunner of modern battlearmour. Nearly immune to Mongol archery and muskets, they lead the Roman forces to victory, halting the Mongol invasion of Europe. The Teutonic Knights push on into Russia, but they meet unexpected resistance from Russian princes who have sworn fealty to the Golden Horde. The sorcerer and prince Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod defeats the Teutones at Livonia.

1247: Envoys of the Pope meet with the Great Khan at Karakorum.

1258: The Mameluke slaves of the defunct Abbasid Caliphate rise up and end the Caliphate once and for all, ruling Syria and the Holy Lands in their own right. The Mameluke Sultanate begins, and is the only Muslim holding in the Middle East to successfully resist the Mongols. The Seljuk Turks are wiped out by Hulugu Khan, who sacks Babylon.

1260: Kublai Khan founds the Yuan Dynasty in China. Over the next fifteen years, he will send two invasion fleets to Japan; both will be destroyed by the kamikaze, brought down by the magics of the Japanese wizards, most notably Nichiren, founder of the school of the Lotus.

1334: The Shogunate in Japan splits into a northern and southern court, dividing the country.

1314: The Holy Roman Empire is threatened with instability. Two Emperors exist for the first time since Charlemagne; Louis IV of Bavaria recognises the claim of the Avalonians to the throne of France, and is supported by the Elector Princes of Germany. The papacy disagrees, and nominates Frederick of Austria as Holy Roman Emperor, who also supports the French claim to the throne of France.

1337: Edward III Pendragon, Emperor of Avalon, declares war on France, claiming the throne of Philip VI of France by inheritance. The Hundred Years War begins in France. It is a terrible example of trench warfare; bogged down and with little to break the deadlock, the war drags on interminably.

1341: Constantinople is torn apart by civil war, as the sorcerer John Cantacuzene deposes the Regent of Constantinople, Anna of Savoy, ruling in place of her son John V. John Cantacuzene appeals for assistance from the Ottomans, who invade Greece in support.

1345: The Black Death strikes Europe. The war in France stalls even more, as both sides fight against this virulent disease. Millions die, but great leaps in medical science are made during this time, as the existence of bacteria are discovered, and instruments such as the microscope developed. The Aztecs found Tenochtitlan in Mexico.

1347: Frederick of Austria dies, further prolonging the war in France as there is little viable opposition from within the Holy Roman Empire. John Cantacuzene rules as King of Constantinople in his own right, but he is soon deposed by his Ottoman allies.

1369: The Chinese wizard and Buddhist monk Qu Yuanzhang raises an army and drives the Mongols out of China, installing himself as the first Ming Emperor. He begins rebuilding the Great Wall. Tamerlane, descendant of Genghis Khan, takes control of Samarkand.

1371: The Ottoman Sultan Murad I conquers the last remnants of the Eastern Roman Empire; The Balkans and much of Greece and Hungary are in Ottoman control.

1380: Dmitri Donskoi, Prince of Moscow, drives the Mongols out of Russia and wins back Russian independence.

1402: Tamerlane and the Tartars conquer much of the early Ottoman Empire, defeating Murad’s heir Bayazid in Anatolia. The Tartars sack Babylon twice. The Scots and Irish rise in rebellion in Avalon, distracting the Avalonians from the war in France. The rebellion is put down after a long struggle.

1405: Following Tamerlane’s death, the Timurid Emirates recede from their vast holdings, and the Ottomans make a resurgence in the Middle East.

1429: Joan of Arc liberates Orleans.

1431: Joan of Arc escapes from her Avalonian captors and liberates Paris. The popular following behind her is immense, and Charles VII of France does not dare imprison her, despite Avalonian exhortations.

1432: Joan of Arc drives the Avalonians from France. The Incas arise in Peru.

1444: The Ottoman Sultan Murad II crosses the Bosporus, defeating the Holy Roman Fleet and an army of Wallachians and Hungarians, killing the Hungarian King Ladislas VI. Prince Dracul of Wallachia is forced to give his son Radu and grandson Vlad Dracula into Ottoman custody as hostages.

1447: The sorcerer Ulugh Beg rises to rule the Timurid Emirates in Samarkand.

1453: The fall of Constantinople. The Ottomans use ironclad ships for the first time, sailing straight through the chain that keeps them out of the Golden Horn, and besiege the city with 250,000 troops. Giant cannons breach the walls, and the line of Byzantine and Roman kings comes to an end as the Ottomans make Constantinople their capital. For the first time, there is a real threat to the Holy Roman Empire from a similarly advanced civilisation.

1455: The Avalonian King Henry V Pendragon dies without heir. The Wars of the Roses begin in Avalon, as the Houses of York and Lancaster fight for the Avalonian throne. The next few decades sees a succession of Kings in Camelot from both Houses.

1456: The Ottomans conquer Greece. There is real panic throughout the Roman world now. Janos Hunyadi, the White Knight of Hungary, assumes the throne of Hungary in a military coup and resists the Turks. He destroys the Ottoman fleet and defeats their army at Belgrade, forcing them to withdraw to Constantinople for now.

1462: Vlad Dracula, Prince of Wallachia, slaughters 20,000 Turks along the Danube. He is soon deposed and driven from Wallachia by his pro-Turkish brother.

1469: The crowns of Castile and Aragon are joined by marriage, creating the Kingdom of Spain.

1479: The Holy Roman Empire finally stops the Ottoman advance at Venice, bankrolled by some of its most powerful merchant families, including the de Medicis.

1483: Discovery of another store of advanced technology, science and weaponry in Wales. This discovery occurs in secret; the questing knight that discovers it will later claim that Merlin showed it to him. Using the weapons and armour found in what will become known as the Grail Scrolls, the knight, Galahad, begins gathering support to claim the throne of Avalon.

1485: Matthias Corvinus Hunyadi, King of Hungary, expels the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III from Hungary. Strengthened by constant battle and trade with the Ottomans, the Hunyadis are tired of their subservient position in the Empire, particularly since little assistance has been forthcoming in their struggles against the Turk. For a time, Hungary becomes the dominant state in central Europe. In Avalon, the last Yorkish King of Avalon, Richard III, is defeated at Bosworth Field by Galahad, who wears the first articulated powered armour ever seen. Galahad takes the throne of Avalon with the name Henry VII Pendragon, reinstating the Pendragon line in the eyes of many.

1487: Pope Innocent VIII appoints Tomas de Torquemada Grand Inquisitor. In the Aztec Empire, the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan is consecrated with the sacrifice of 20,000 people.

1495: Leonardo da Vinci is invited by the Avalonian Emperor Henry VIII Pendragon to examine the technologies found in the Grail Scrolls. The world’s science advances again by leaps and bounds, and over the next few years Leonardo will develop inventions that no Empire in the world currently has the infrastructure to mass-produce, such as the helicopter, the hot air balloon, the tank and the steam engine.

1517: Martin Luther begins his evangelical movement. It is soon suppressed in the Holy Roman Empire, but continues to gain underground popularity in the German states.

1526: The Ottoman Empire reaches its height under the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. At the present time, it controls most of the Middle East, parts of North Africa and Asia, and much of Hungary, Greece, and the Balkans. The Ottoman armies besiege Vienna but are defeated.

1541: The Japanese capture a Portuguese ship as it founders off Kyushu. The ship is soon stripped of its technology, which the Japanese replicate.

1556: Ivan the Terrible, Tsar of Muscovy, founds Russia. He conquers the Khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan, taking much of Eurasia.

1564: Ottoman forces besiege Malta, but the Knights Hospitaller, wearing the same primitive powered armour that won the War of the Roses, defeat them.

1569: The Mughal Emperor Akbar defeats the last foreign army on Indian soil, consolidating the Mughal Empire.

1571: The Taira daimyo Nobunaga Oda unifies Japan. The Ottoman fleet is defeated by that of the Holy Roman Empire at Lepanto.

1572: The St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. 50,000 Protestants are murdered across France at the orders of Catherine de Medici. Pope Gregory XIII congratulates her.

1588: The Spanish Armada sails for Avalon. Despite outnumbering the Avalonian vessels by nearly four to one, the Avalonians defeat them in the Channel, defeating the world’s current greatest naval power.

1603: Empress Elizabeth I Pendragon dies without heir in Avalon. To avoid another war, the throne is occupied by James I Stuart, a compromise candidate and the son of Mary Queen of Scots. In Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu becomes Shogun, beginning the current dynasty.

1616: The first zeppelins begin to operate in a commercial fashion.

1618: The Thirty Years War begins in the German states between Catholics and Protestants. This war will embroil most of Europe eventually and tear the Holy Roman Empire apart, removing the German states from under its control. This war also sees the use of zeppelin airships in combat, as well as widespread use of firearms, chemical warfare, and even primitive propeller aircraft.

1633: The Japanese Shogun Iemitsu expels all foreign traders from Japan and makes spreading Christianity punishable by death. He allows the Dutch to stay on condition that once a year they visit Edo and spit upon the cross.

1642: The Avalonian Civil War begins as Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentary forces oppose those of Charles I Stuart, the Emperor.

1648: The main part of the Thirty Years War comes to an end, but over the next century, various wars of succession will see the German states become Europe’s battleground, as armies from all major and minor powers clash on any pretext.

1649: Charles I Stuart is executed in Camelot, bringing the monarchy to a temporary close and beginning the Avalonian Commonwealth Protectorate.

1660: Charles II Stuart is proclaimed Emperor of Avalon, ending the Commonwealth Protectorate and restoring the monarchy.

1681: The first trans-European rail link is completed. It is now possible to go by train directly from Paris to Budapest.

1696: The first cybernetic implant is attempted in France, as surgeons attempt to replace a wounded soldier’s arm. It is a failure.

1702: Nadir Shah of Persia is defeated by the Mughal armies at Delhi. The Mughal Empire has defeated invasions from Afghans, Marathas, Avalon, and civil war, and remains India’s dominant force.

1714: Queen Anne of Avalon dies without heir. There are rumblings of another civil war, but Merlin reappears in Camelot, bringing with him a young knight who he claims is a blood descendant of Arthur himself. There are questions, but no Avalonian wants another civil war, and the new Emperor of Avalon is crowned Alexander I Pendragon.

1776: Potemkin, one of Catherine the Great’s generals and lovers, annexes the Crimea from the Ottomans.

1792: Napoleon Bonaparte leads the French armies in the French Revolution, as France declares its independence from the Holy Roman Empire. Over the next twenty years or so, Napoleon’s armies will conquer France, most of the German states, and most of Spain. This war sees the first use of energy weaponry, such as lasers and plasma weaponry; at this time, they are still too large to be man-portable, but the face of war is changed forever more.

1795: Catherine the Great persuades the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II to combine forces to drive the Ottomans out of Greece and keep the Turks from Europe. The Greek War of Independence drags on for some time, but results in the formation of the Republic of the Peloponnese.

1801: The first nuclear reactor opens in the Holy Roman Empire. Napoleon’s armies take Egyptian holdings in North Africa, but are stopped at Egypt’s borders as Spanish fighter jets destroy their naval supply lanes.

1804: Napoleon has the King, Louis XVI, tried for treason and executed. He is crowned Emperor of France.

1805: The Avalonian Lord Nelson defeats the French fleet at Trafalgar. Napoleon conquers the German states and invades Russia. Following Napoleon’s defeat at Borodino, wars of independence flare up throughout his conquests; the German states and Spain are first to win their freedom.

1815: Napoleon defeats the Avalonians under Wellington at Waterloo, consolidating French power in Western Europe. The Holy Roman Empire’s borders recede to those of the present day.

1851: Otto von Bismarck begins the German War of Unification, as Prussian forces seek to unify the German states into one power. With the acquiescence of Ludwig I of Bavaria, the Prussians defeat the forces of the Holy Roman Empire under Franz Josef of Austria and create the Unified German Empire.

1854: The Crimean War breaks out between the allied forces of France and Avalon and Russia, who has initially entered into a conflict with the Ottomans. Two years later, with little ground gained on any side, peace is brokered, allowing the Russians to withdraw from the conflict.

1860: The present day.