03-10-2011, 10:33 PM
Ugh. I thought I'd take a stab at mergining some of the ideas regarding the Wizards Cabal and so forth with the timelines out there, particularly Mr. Ross outstanding work. Figured it would take me a few hours, since its clear Dustin et. al. used Ross’s timeline when they wrote TWC timeline. Ha! It's turned into a major project. And is NO WHERE NEAR completion particularly with references. But I figured its a good time for feedback/hey that can't be right kind of comments.
Basically I'm working on the assumption that the TWC history is propaganda, but broadly correct, except about the date of the Mage Wars - "scribal error" as we have discussed.
I'm also adding in info not available when Mr. Ross did his, and the focus is on an FFC style Blackmoor. So I tried to peg campagn years to real years where I had the info.
Also, I think Ross is wrong in one key interpretation. In the "Blackmoor Castles History" section the first paragraph describes periodic barbarian invasions that have been occurring since before the time of Robert the Ist. One such is called the “Great Benn Hassock invasion during Pissaic’s time. The second paragraph describes a later invasion in which “barbarians” are let into the castle in an act of treachery by the newly appointed Baron “the weasel”. Treachery accomplished the Weasel flees to “the Land of the Benn Hassocks”. Taken together, it seems almost certain that the Ben Hassocks and the Barbarians are one and the same. Perhaps the Benn Hassocks are the leading tribe.
What trips Ross up is the phrase "second coot invasion, some 40 years ago", used to describe this invasion. Ross dismisses this date as impossible for the coot invasion, and everybody agrees.
The problem is that he just assumes it’s the date that’s in error. However, “some 40 years ago” can hardly be a typo, but “Coot” on the other hand, could very well be the mistake. I believe it makes more sense in context to assume Arneson meant to say Second Great Benn Hassock invasion and that it’s the “coot” bit that’s wrong, not the 40 years ago. In fact its easy to see why the slip up occurs. In the Ben Hassock incident, The Weasel allows a 10 “Barbarian” delegation into the castle who then execute a surprise attack in the Black Hall. A few paragraphs later we are told how The Weasel turns traitor to the Egg , in what must be the First (not Second) invasion. He meets with a single representative of the Egg of Coot in the library who later kills all the servants the Weasel sends there. I realize these two different stories once could have been the same thing in Dave’s mind and he might have seen the Ben Hassocks as servants of the Egg, but, going by the text, it makes more sense to keep them separate incidents in separate invasions. That changes a number of things in Ross’s version, and makes more sense of some others I think.
The other odd thing that Ross does regarding the "50 years ago" and "some 40 years" that appear in the section mentioned above is that he measures them from the end date of the DA series - 1025, or later. Ra-All first builds his hall "50 Years ago" and Weasels treachery is "some 40 years ago". Ross dates the founding of the hall at 985, placing the "present" in 1035 but he adds the cryptic note that 40 years ago is ten years before the first Coot invasion, placing the present in 1025!
Ugh again.
The FFC was written in 1976, but has material that dates to 1971. The "present" when the FFC was written was therefor circa 1000 on the Blackmoor calender. I went with 1001 minus 50.
- Anyway, here goes: (Italics indicate non Canon material)
edit: TIMELINE REVISED AND REPOSTED BELOW.
Basically I'm working on the assumption that the TWC history is propaganda, but broadly correct, except about the date of the Mage Wars - "scribal error" as we have discussed.
I'm also adding in info not available when Mr. Ross did his, and the focus is on an FFC style Blackmoor. So I tried to peg campagn years to real years where I had the info.
Also, I think Ross is wrong in one key interpretation. In the "Blackmoor Castles History" section the first paragraph describes periodic barbarian invasions that have been occurring since before the time of Robert the Ist. One such is called the “Great Benn Hassock invasion during Pissaic’s time. The second paragraph describes a later invasion in which “barbarians” are let into the castle in an act of treachery by the newly appointed Baron “the weasel”. Treachery accomplished the Weasel flees to “the Land of the Benn Hassocks”. Taken together, it seems almost certain that the Ben Hassocks and the Barbarians are one and the same. Perhaps the Benn Hassocks are the leading tribe.
What trips Ross up is the phrase "second coot invasion, some 40 years ago", used to describe this invasion. Ross dismisses this date as impossible for the coot invasion, and everybody agrees.
The problem is that he just assumes it’s the date that’s in error. However, “some 40 years ago” can hardly be a typo, but “Coot” on the other hand, could very well be the mistake. I believe it makes more sense in context to assume Arneson meant to say Second Great Benn Hassock invasion and that it’s the “coot” bit that’s wrong, not the 40 years ago. In fact its easy to see why the slip up occurs. In the Ben Hassock incident, The Weasel allows a 10 “Barbarian” delegation into the castle who then execute a surprise attack in the Black Hall. A few paragraphs later we are told how The Weasel turns traitor to the Egg , in what must be the First (not Second) invasion. He meets with a single representative of the Egg of Coot in the library who later kills all the servants the Weasel sends there. I realize these two different stories once could have been the same thing in Dave’s mind and he might have seen the Ben Hassocks as servants of the Egg, but, going by the text, it makes more sense to keep them separate incidents in separate invasions. That changes a number of things in Ross’s version, and makes more sense of some others I think.
The other odd thing that Ross does regarding the "50 years ago" and "some 40 years" that appear in the section mentioned above is that he measures them from the end date of the DA series - 1025, or later. Ra-All first builds his hall "50 Years ago" and Weasels treachery is "some 40 years ago". Ross dates the founding of the hall at 985, placing the "present" in 1035 but he adds the cryptic note that 40 years ago is ten years before the first Coot invasion, placing the present in 1025!
Ugh again.
The FFC was written in 1976, but has material that dates to 1971. The "present" when the FFC was written was therefor circa 1000 on the Blackmoor calender. I went with 1001 minus 50.
- Anyway, here goes: (Italics indicate non Canon material)
edit: TIMELINE REVISED AND REPOSTED BELOW.