Shaizaar's "year," defined by climactic variation induced by regular
energy-fluctuations in the surrounding dimensional barrier, lasts for
357 and 2/17 "days;" every seventeenth year is considered a "leap year," with
two days inserted between Dawnbreak and Metallium--these are considered an
addition to the Feast of Metallia and an excuse for more celebration among
those already inclined.
The year is divided into three seasons and fourteen months, as follows:
| History of the Dark Kingdom | |
|---|---|
| YEAR | Event |
| 0: | Arcadian army rifted to Shaizaar; Metallia siezes mana wells before going comatose. Death Phantom incites Exile khr'vorll to attack; Beryl sets up force-barrier while troops seek shelter, discovering cave system. Founding of Kel Shaizaar; establishment of the Dark Kingdom of Arcadia-in-Exile. |
| 0-26: | Exile War. Khr'vorll have the initial numerical advantage, but can no longer match Arcadian magic; humans gain ground steadily throughout this period. Genetic alteration of Arcadians begins. |
| 27: | Dark Kingdom territory at maximum the current population can defend: roughly half of modern Ghur'dokh. Humans andkhr'vorll settle into an uneasy, heavily armed truce. |
| 48: | Obvious genetic alterations begin to appear in the third-generation Arcadians; the Generals also manifest first signs of youma transformation. Growing unrest among portions of the population. |
| 63: | First fourth-generation children born, many clearly non-human. Returner Faction organized in secret. |
| 79: | Returner seers predict brief natural integration with Earth-plane. Returners covertly silence or co-opt all others who might report this to Beryl (who knows about it already, but doesn't care since this breach will not lead to Earth). |
| 81: | Integration begins. Returners provoke war with khr'vorll, using the resulting chaos to cover their escape; they leave Shaizaar for an unknown destination. |
| 81-97: | Second khr'vorll-human war. DK territory extended into northern tundra. |
| 98: | Khr'vorll abandon open confict and retreat to well-hidden refuges scattered across the continent. All their efforts are now directed toward retaking Shaizaar's mana wells. |
| 98-235: | In the absence of khr'vorll interference, the Dark Kingdom spreads over the remainder of the continent. |
| 135: | Kel Fashon founded. |
| 169: | Rich diamond mines discovered in the Infernal Reach. Founding of Kel Vurak. |
| 235: | Oolite, an exceptionally powerful and overly ambitious underling of Kunzite, forms an alliance with a renegade coven of khr'vorll wizards. Oolite's own mages are able to feed power to the more experienced aliens. |
| 237: | Oolite's island fortress completed. Youma-khr'vorll alliance plots assassination of Beryl. |
| 238: | Assassination attempt fails; Oolite's conspiracy is exposed. Loyalist forces lay siege to the fortress. |
| 239: | Siege ends when Beryl enters the fray. Oolite is sealed in the first Eternal Sleep Crystal and left in his castle's highest remaining tower. All other members of the alliance are killed, with the exception of two khr'vorll wizards who escape to the Zahgenmire enclaves with much of Oolite's mana feed research. |
| 268: | Khr'vorll perfect mana-theft techniques. Enclaves across the continent kidnap youma mages and begin tapping their power. |
| 273: | Khr'vorll wizards channel enough stolen mana to break Beryl's control over three mana wells. Restored to full power, the aliens launch a world-wide blitzkrieg. |
| 273-276: | The Final War. Khr'vorll estimates of youma power levels prove woefully inadequate (the latest generation, born since the end of Oolite's rebellion, is the end-product of Metallia's manipulations and at least twice as deadly as their parents); the superior magical knowledge of the alien wizards proves no match for the raw power of the Dark Kingdom armies. Khr'vorll enclaves across Shaizaar are utterly destroyed. |
| 275: | Unexpected khr'vorll military success in Velkarth prompts founding of the fortified city of Kel Karthenax. |
| 278: | The last surviving Zahgenmire enclave turns its efforts toward a desperate attempt to break the dimensional barriers and summon the Death Phantom to Shaizaar. Scant minutes before Beryl's forces break through their defenses, the khr'vorll succeed in opening a minor breach to their Abyss; lacking time to complete the summoning ritual, the wizards settle for channeling the death-energies of their race back through the portal, creating the Great Curse. Beryl is able to blunt, but not fully counter, the Curse's effects. |
| 278-456: | Great Curse causes several dozen Shaizaarian species to evolve into youma predators. |
| 279: | Fearing the possibility of a successful summoning, Queen Beryl orders all traces of khr'vorll presence purged from Shaizaar. All bodies, structures, and artifacts are to be destroyed, and the existence of the aliens erased from Dark Kingdom history.
Metallia begins a new program of genetic alteration, ensuring absolute loyalty to herself and Beryl. |
| 281: | First reported hidebehind attack. |
| 283: | Deadwalker beetles swarm out of the Zahgenmire. Hundreds of youma are killed by a handful of possessed victims before the tiny abominations are discovered and protective measures enforced. All youma settlements in the Mire are abandoned, and a series of fortifications constructed in the passes through Metallia's Fangs. |
| 285: | Modern territories of the Dark Kingdom laid out. Beryl delegates control of the outlying districts to the four Generals; after some political maneuvering, Kunzite takes Velkarth and Zoisite Sherath. Jadeite surprises the others by ceding Khelnar to Nephrite and volunteering to maintain the increasingly-dangerous Zahgen garrison. |
| 289: | Zahgen jade mines opened. Building of Kel Jhaide begins. |
| 509: | Youma researchers discover a means of freeing Metallia. Unfortunately this requires vast quantities of human psychic energy, currently unavailable as the last true humans on Shaizaar died centuries ago. Beryl is extremely displeased; the new research staff concentrates on dimensional reintegration.
Metallia begins a third reengineering program. Conversion of youma to humans is impractical, but giving youma the ability to drain and store psychic energy is an acceptable alternative. |
| 754: | Loyalty programming judged complete. Beryl rescinds ban on knowledge of khr'vorll. |
| 2015: | Birth of Magnesite (Freezeblood 15). |
| 2032: | Birth of B'dekka (Arcadia 18).
Birth of Pyrite, son of Byran and General Kunzite (Berylium 9). |
| 2033: | Birth of Calcite and Titanite, children of Metrenar and General Nephrite (Arcadia 7). Ti is placed in stasis. |
| 2034: | Birth of Margrave (Metallium 1).
Birth of Azurite, daughter of Yvranel and General Jadeite (Inferno 24). |
| 2035: | Birth of Chrysolite, daughter of General Nephrite (Nephrium 15). |
| 2041: | Titanite released from stasis (Metallium 3). |
| 2046: | In the aftermath of a failed coup, youma underboss Vekris tries to destroy all his enemies' relatives. This includes Cal and Ti's mother. Calcite goes berserk and wipes out Vekris's forces.
Calcite and Margrave meet. |
| 2049: | Beryl's wizards bring Shaizaar into temporal alignment with the Earth-plane, but cannot yet locate Earth itself. |
| 2052:
(AD 1989) |
Terran wizard Michael Maxwell is transported to Shaizaar as the result of an unsuccessful attempt to unseal Earth's mana wells. |
| 2053:
(AD 1990) |
Maxwell creates one-shot warpgate to Earth and flees; Beryl's researchers decrypt 60% of his spell before the matrix self-destructs, providing the key to dimensional integration. |
| 2054:
(AD 1991) |
Exile dimension is successfully spatiotemporally integrated with the Earth-plane. First exploration parties sent through D-point.
Existence of synchronous zones at the North Pole and Tokyo confirmed. Warpgate to Tokyo built. Youma activity in Tokyo triggers Artemis's hibernation capsule. Aino Minako becomes Sailor V and begins harassing Dark Kingdom activities in Juuban; Calcite assigned to distract her. |
| 2055:
(AD 1992) |
"Lord Calcite" moves operations to Wiltshire protozone.Sailor V follows.
Jadeite is assigned to energy-draining operations in Juuban. Luna awakens from hibernation and contacts Tsukino Usagi. Chiba Mamoru becomes Tuxedo Kamen. Mizuno Ami and Hino Rei become Senshi. Robert Davis recovers memories of all his previous lives and adopts the Trenchcoat-Mask identity. Jadeite is sentenced to Eternal Sleep; Nephrite takes his place in Tokyo. Hunt for the Ginzuishou begins. Nephrite betrays the Dark Kingdom and is killed by Zoisite's minions. Nephrite's daughter Chrysolite experiences a vision of the destruction of the Dark Kingdom and flees to Earth. Metallia regains the ability to speak and informs Beryl of the true fate of the Silver Crystal. Zoisite, the Sailor Senshi, and the Masks compete for possession of the Nijizuishou. Kino Makoto becomes Sailor Jupiter. Beryl ends Sailor V operation; Magnesite assigned to kill Minako and nearly succeeds. With "Lord Calcite" gone, Minako moves back to Tokyo and becomes Sailor Venus. Beryl realizes Tuxedo Kamen is Chiba Mamoru, and the reincarnation of Prince Endymion. Zoisite's challenge to Tuxedo Kamen backfires; the Ginzuishou is reassembled and Sailor Moon revealed as Princess Serenity. Mamoru is taken captive. Zoisite is killed for his attempt on Mamoru's life; his place is taken by the brainwashed Prince Endymion. |
| 2056:
(AD 1993) |
Kunzite is killed in battle with the Senshi.
As Metallia stirs, the Senshi discover North Pole D-point and assault the Dark Kingdom. The DD Girls kill Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus before the Senshi can reach the warpgate. Prince Endymion recovers his memory and falls protecting Sailor Moon from Beryl. The mortally-wounded Beryl merges with Metallia. Usagi becomes Princess Serenity; backed by the souls of the Senshi, she annihilates Beryl, Metallia, and the entire world of Shaizaar. The Renegades escape to Tokyo through a pre-prepared warpgate. Margrave and the imprisoned Jadeite, entering the gate at the last possible moment, are dimensionally displaced to Mega-Tokyo in an alternate BGC universe. Magnesite survives the destruction of the Exile dimension, transformed into an entity of pure psychoplasm. |