Timeline of the Northern Deno’qai
How the Deno’qai came to live in the northern forests, north of the Blackwater Fens and inland from the coast, is not recorded. But the Deno’qai lived here for time immemorial, largely in peace (it is said), before Cha’mutte established himself in Pandar in the 1400s.
Cha’mutte and the Great War
DR 1400 - DR 1545
Overview
After Cha’mutte established himself in Pandar, the K’eye river became the de facto border of Deno’qai territory, and for many generations minor skirmishes were frequently fought across the river border. Deno’qai scouts raid fight hobgoblin camps in the forests south of Pandar, and hobgoblin troops occasionally cross the river to raid Deno’qai villages.
- 1536 DR: Cha’mutte launches a full-scale assault against the lands between the K’eye and Pandar. Keeping dragons in reserve and not ready to show his full might, an army of hobgoblins marches south from Pandar, rapidly establishing full control over the forests between the K’eye and Pandar.
- 1536 DR - 1541 DR: Cha’mutte’s armies clear the forests, using the timber to construct massive war machines and as fuel for vast forges to arm his troops.
- 1542 DR, fall: The first campaign of the Great War is launched across the K’eye. The Deno’qai fought a hopeless rearguard action, trying to keep the enemies at bay for as long as possible, with some minor successes until Cha’mutte begins calling in extraplanar forces, hobgoblin mages who can control the magic of the Shadowfolds, and great demons from the Abyss and from Pandemonium.
- 1543 DR, winter: The Deno’qai are hopelessly outmatched as hellfire and dragonfire burn vast swathes of the forest. The Tanshi and a few heroic Deno’qai warriors, such as Balati, fight a rearguard action to allow the surviving Deno’qai to flee east and south, into the Sentinels. Cha’mutte’s armies cross the Yemo’te. Many Deno’qai die of exposure and starvation in the harsh winter.
Years of Isolation
DR 1545 - DR 1640
As Cha’mutte’s army proceeds south, the surviving Shu’anra and Ko’zula people are cut off, isolated without help or hope. The events of the Great War, and the Conclave War, and the challenges of the Blood Years, pass without notice in the lowlands while the northern Deno’qai hide in the mountains. Many die of exposure and starvation in the difficult years that follow, and many who survive are saved only by the aid of the Stoneborn and the Dwarves.
Recontact
DR 1640 - DR 1700
Overview
It is not until the 1640s that the isolated northern Deno’qai tribes begin to slowly, cautiously leave their mountain redoubts. The forests north of the Blackwater Fens are deeply changed, cursed and corrupted by Cha’mutte’s armies, the demons of his horde, and none can live there. The elves are now gone, or hidden, and the Deno’qai cannot find them again. Loose trade connections to the Deno’qai living to the southeast of the Blackwater Fens are established, but these are tenuous, at best. Whatever people survive along the coast are far away, isolated by the fens themselves and the corruption of the forests south of Pandar.
Still, slowly connections grow, and over time more rumors come to the Shu’anra and Ko’zula tribes, of safer places to the south, warmer and easier to live, further from the haunted reminders of Cha’mutte’s wars. Some flee, but many stay.
Recent Events
After DR 1700
Overview
In the past four generations, the tribes have grown in relative safety. The Shu’anra have drifted south, living mostly to the east of the Blackwater Fens, in the low passes of the mountains, trading with dwarves, kenku, and stoneborn. The Ko’zula have kept the peaks and icy pine forests on the high slopes. Both tribes have prospered to a certain extent, and no major wars or catastrophes have struck.