The Shepherd's Timeline

Centuries ago

• The Harbingers begin having visions of "backwards stars"
• The Harbingers are subverted to The Shepard's will

20+ Years Ago - The Great Drought Begins

• Severe drought threatens multiple peoples, especially The Dwarves
• Traditional water sources begin failing across the land
• This drought will last twenty years, serving as an early sign of the coming entropy

5 Years Ago - The First Cooling

• Strange reports from the far north: entire glaciers appearing overnight
• First recorded incident of temporal stuttering (a village experiences the same day three times)
• The Dwarves notice their deepest mines are colder than they should be
• The twenty-year drought ends when dwarves (with Ale-ore's family's help) dig incredibly deep wells
• Dwarves profit by selling water to desperate neighbors, creating wealth and enemies

4 Years Ago - The Shepherd Emerges to the masses

• First confirmed sighting at The Battle of Burning Ridge
  • Both armies freeze mid-charge, soldiers aging to dust or reverting to youth
  • The entity speaks its first recorded words: "I have seen the last tick"
• The Orcs lose three entire war camps to spontaneous entropy
• The Stillness Choir forms from survivors who "understood the message"
• An entire mountain range is destroyed, creating The Dust Bowl wasteland
• Void Titans begin to appear in areas where matter has been completely removed
• The Ash Dancer is created when Surtur the Fire Giant attempts to burn the Shepherd

3 Years Ago - The Proof of Concept

• The island nation of Thermax vanishes - not destroyed, but "never was"
• Void Titans multiply and spread to other areas of complete entropy
• The Elves notice stars going out in strange patterns
• The Eternal Hearths begin requiring twice as much fuel to maintain

2 Years Ago - The Great Withdrawal

• Multiple kingdoms close their borders, trying to conserve resources
• Blackwharf increases their ringing schedule to constant, 24-hour peals as defense against entropy
• First "Last Day Festivals" begin spontaneously in frontier towns The Last Day Festival
• Farmers report entire harvests aging to dust overnight
• The Ember Thieves spring to life from burned-out Heat Giants
• Time storms with temporal anomalies become increasingly common
  • "Pockets where past and futures glide throughout the lands"
  • time itself destabilizing

1 Year Ago - The Acceleration

• The Perpetual Engine in The Clockwork City stops completely
• Time storms become common - pockets where past and future collide
• The Stillness Choir grows from dozens to thousands
• Heat becomes a tradeable commodity; "warmth wars" rumored to begin between nations
• Mass crystallizations begin - whole districts & country-sides frozen in temporal amber
• Heat death spreading visibly - fires dying, hearts slowing, thoughts freezing
• The Dwarves rumored to be losing their legendary crafting skills

6 Months Ago - The Pattern Emerges

• Scholars realize the Shepherd isn't randomly attacking
• The Theory of Concentrated Preservation spreads

3 Months Ago - The Last Summit

• Final meeting of the Great Nations in the City of Bells before travel becomes too dangerous
• The Fellowship doctrine is formally announced at the summit - five champions requested to represent their peoples
• The Dwarven: The Eternal Hearths reduced from seven to three still burning
• Discovery made that new creation (songs, friendships, births) disrupts the Shepherd's minions power
• Rumor starts: The Elves seeking a non-aggression pact with the Shepard
• Ale-ore wins the dwarven crafting tournament (secretly using orc alloys from Kurg)

1-2 Month Ago - The Shepherd's Ultimatum

• The Entropy Shepherd appears simultaneously in five capital cities
• Delivers the same message: "Choose preservation or dissolution. The middle way is gone."
• Fellowship members begin their individual preparations and journeys toward Blackwharf

1 Week Ago - The Bell Crisis Begins

• Two of the Seven Great Bells of Blackwharf are damaged
• The Ember Thieves begin chaos in the city, stealing warmth and inciting fear
• Fellowship arrives in the city as the crisis increases

Yesterday - The Last Bell Tolls

• The Stillness Choir openly recruiting in Blackwharf
• Reports claim the Shepherd himself was seen touching The Master Bell
• A third bell tower threatens to fall as the next session begins

Key Character Moments in Recent Timeline:

• Ale-ore drunkenly gave Mortimer a medium barrel of dynamite in a Blackwharf tavern
• Kurg secretly supplied orc alloys to Ale-ore for the tournament, seeks forgiveness for weapons destroying a harbinger monument
• Mortimer has been grooming Ulion's unicorn Kifu and taking blacksmith lessons from Maker
• Ulion taught Nyx elven animal speak and captured Ale-ore's criminal cousin for the elves