### The History of Lymbus
**Prehistory – The Infernal Scars**
Millennia before steam or scripture, **rogue infernals** slipped the leash of the Seven Circles. For a century they walked Lymbus unchecked, **cursing the land** with **Blood-Echo**, **Lunar Rage**, **Grave-Hunger**, **Echo-Binding**, and **Soul-Forge**. When the **Heavens** finally intervened, the demons were banished, but the curses **rooted deep**. The five undead races were born, and the **Sommerisle Legion** rose in secret to contain them. **Humans**, the only mortal species, remained blind.
**Age of Dust (0–400 AR – After Reckoning)**
A single calendar begins with the **First Gear**, when a human smith in the northwest forged the first steam piston. Small clans coalesced around **coal rivers** and **silver veins**. The **Redlands** were settled by exiles who rejected centralized rule. Trade was barter; war was knives and muskets.
**Rise of Rebmos (400–700 AR)**
**House Northington** monopolized ether-crystal refining in the northwest. **Kaldius** became the first factory-city, its skyline a forest of smokestacks. **King Douglas I** crowned himself with a **gear-wrought circlet**, declaring **“Progress is Sovereignty.”** The **Iron Aristocracy** was born. Child labor laws were written but never enforced.
**Birth of the Anointed (500–750 AR)**
In the northeast, **alabaster quarries** birthed the **Holy Order of the Anointed**. The **First Pontiff** built the **Staircase to Heaven**, claiming divine mandate for industry. **Purity Through Progress** became gospel. Rebmos tolerated them as useful zealots; the Redlands spat at their white robes.
**The Covenant’s Seeding (620 AR)**
A circle of witches, fleeing Anointed purges, vanished eastward. They founded **The Vine** on the **Darkened Plains**, weaving **violet magic** into politics. Their first act: curse a Rebmosian duke to love a thorn-vine. The duke’s suicide seeded their legend.
**Red Suns Schism (710 AR)**
Rebmosian tax collectors reached the Redlands. A caravan was burned; the **Red Suns** were born under a **blood-red flag**. Warlords united in **Opulent Spire**, vowing **“No chains, only dust.”**
**The Ashen War Begins (750 AR – Present)**
Rebmos launched the **First Iron Fleet** to “civilize” the Redlands. The **Ashen Ocean** turned toxic from alchemical barrages. The **Shatterchain Archipelago** became a pirate haven. **Trenches**, **ether-bombs**, and **steam-tanks** defined a century of stalemate. The **Undying Plague** erupted in 820 AR, dismissed as “trench fever.”
**Legion’s Silent Century (800–900 AR)**
The **Sommerisle Legion** perfected the **Trial of the Crucible**, relocating to **Mt. Soren**. They began **night-hunts** in Kaldius and Opulent Spire, leaving no witnesses. Vampires and werewolves learned to fear the **black-and-silver cloaks**.
**Modern Era (900 AR – Present)**
- **Rebmos**: King **Douglas III** rules from a **brown palace** of gears.
- **Anointed**: The **Staircase to Heaven** reaches its 47th tier.
- **Red Suns**: Warlords broadcast from **Opulent Spire’s** radio spire.
- **Covenant**: Witches topple three Rebmosian ministers in one season.
- **Legion**: Wardens number fewer than 300; each kill is a prayer.
- **Undying Plague**: Contained to no-man’s-land, but **zombies** still rise.
The war grinds on. **Humans** blame rust, politics, and plague. The **supernatural** smiles in the dark, and the **Legion** sharpens its silver.