TY 610, 8th month, 17th day - King Aldus IV dies leaving no descendants

TY 611, 1st month, 1st day - Four of the remaining five noble houses in Irondel decide to remove themselves from the endless war. They reason that with their king dead Irondel's allegiance to the crown of Theros is broken. Any new king would be expected to swear a allegiance to one of the great powers, so they agree to rule by oligarchy. They announce their plans by sending messengers to the capitol cities of each of the three great powers. The signatories to the proclamation include Lord Jacob of house Danton, Lord Makis of house Cossel, Lord Pias of house Larkin, and Lord Gregory of house Maddock.

TY 611, 3rd month, 15th day - Although the house of Firman refused to sign the proclamation Lord Theodore appears at the first council meeting to demand his rightful place. In the interest of peace he is given a seat at the council.

TY 611, 8th month, 21st day - After a group of drunken mercenaries en route to a border dispute further south rape and murder Jasmine Tanner the council raises a militia and proclaims that foreigners under arms are not permitted in Irondel. The great powers take little notice of this, although many mercenary commanders working in the sea of nations learn to accept and even make use of this. In one memorable event Norvin the Swift led his routed and exhausted men to the Irondel border where they threw down their weapons and continued on to the capitol. When their pursuers led by Hoshi the Bitch reached the border they refused to surrender their weapons or turn back and suffered significant causalities at the hands of the well rested, and very recently well armed, Irondel militia.

TY 612, Harvest Feast - A child, Eric Kwan, falls into a crevice in the woods not far from Ironhold during a game of black foot/white foot. A posse is sent in to recover the child. The party recovers the child. Inside the crevice they also discover a very large and deposit of cold iron.

TY 612, 9th month, 1st day - The deposit is found to be on land belonging to house Danton. Lord Jacob sends men to determine the extent of the strike. Although they determine that it is vast they are unable to determine its extent.

TY 612, 9th month, 13th day - Mining begins on what is now known as the harvest strike. Lord Jacob of House Danton hires many men to work on the site.

TY 612, 10th month, 20th day - The majority of the infrastructure for the harvest mine is completed. In an unprecedented move Lord Jacob turns the mine over to the kingdom of Irondel on two conditions. (1) His investment in infrastructure must be repaid and (2) the mine must be used to benefit the people. Each member of the council is given a 15% stake in the mine with the remaining 25% used to raise an army, build roads, and provide social services.

TY 613, 1st month, 12th day - The harvest strike proves so rich and pure that Lord Jacob's initial investment is recouped after only 19 working days.

TY 613, 2nd month, 29th day - An emissary from the court of King Langdon of Theros arrives at the home of Lord Jacob to convince him to swear allegiance to Theros and claim the crown of Irondel for himself. He is summarily dismissed, but is seen in the ensuing weeks at the homes of several other council members.

TY 613, 6th month, 15th day - The council meeting is overrun with messengers and emissaries from the great powers as well as many other smaller kingdoms. The great powers each seek to convince the council to swear allegiance to them and thus benefit from the harvest strike. The lesser kingdoms seek favors, allegiances, and other boons. They are all expelled from the meeting and after much deliberation the council announces that Irondel will remain independent. The emissaries return to their kingdoms with news of this insult.

TY 614, 1st month, 4th day - Theros is the first to strike at the kingdom of Irondel. They view the rogue kingdom as one of their principalities since King Aldus IV has sworn to them before his death. King Langdon orders all mercenaries in the area to strike one of the smaller towns as a stepping stone to Ironhold. The mercenaries are routed at the Battle of Sparrowvale. They greatly underestimate the strength of Irondel's now well funded forces. Several famous mercenaries fall at this battle including Rusk son of Kaden.

TY 614, 3rd month, 2nd day - King Landon of Theros and King Marmion of Castalla reach and agreement about the division of wealth from the harvest strike and agree to send generals to attack Irondel on the first day of midsummer.

TY 614, Commencement Day - King Valas of Xeria acting on intelligence indicating that his enemies had allied against him sends his second legion on an incredible forced march to Irondel.

TY 614, 4th month, 14th day - The exhausted 2nd Xerian legion easily takes the weak city-state of Genovia, previously a protectorate of Castalla, directly to the south-west of Irondel. The legion seizes every building in the town and tremendous amounts of food in order to prepare for battle with the Irondel militia.

TY 614, 4th month, 15th day - As the refugees pour in from Genovia the council understands what is happening and sends the majority of their forces to strike the still exhausted legion. An unusual amount of magic is exchanged in the Battle of Genovia's Revenge, which is notable because Irondel had not employed any wizards of note. Although it proves costly for Irondel the Xerian legion is defeated. After the battle a man in elaborate robes is found on the field. He proves to be none other than Armon the Purple.

TY 614, 4th month, 22nd day - Unbeknownst to the other great powers Theros pulls nearly all of its forces from its southern border leaving it almost defenseless. The forces are sent to Irondel.

TY 614, 5th month, 28th day - The women of Irondel refuse the council's orders to flee to the north until the outcome of the impending battle is known. Instead they take up arms and join the militia. Many citizens follow suit.

TY 614, 1st Day of Mid-Summer - A vast force of Theran and Castallian soldiers arrives at Irondel and overruns the militia. Although the invaders suffer more losses than expected their victory is assured by their numbers. Magic is again used to great effect in this battle although exclusively to the benefit of the foreigners. Almost none of the defenders are spared, including the women who, while executed with less frequency are raped to death or sold into slavery more frequently. The depopulation of Irondel is so complete that the battle becomes known as the battle of Grandmothers' Labor, because so few parents remain to care for the children.

TY 614, 2nd Day of Mid-Summer - All the surviving members of houses Danton, Cossel, Larkin, and Maddock are executed in the town square.

TY 614, 3nd Day of Mid-Summer - While the Castallian soldiers are happily raping and looting Irondel the Theran soldiers remain well regimented. The reason for this becomes clear to them too late when more than three legions of additional Theran soldiers arrive and help to slaughter the disorderly Castallian forces. Theros claims Irondel and the harvest strike as its own.

TY 614, 5th Day of Mid-Summer - The City of Genovia welcomes the refugees from Irondel into its Mid-Summer celebration in gratitude for their earlier hospitality and freeing their city from the Xerian legion. In the following weeks many refugees avoid starvation thanks to the generosity of the citizens of Genovia.

TY 614, 6th month, 8th day - Lord Theodore of house Firman, as the last surviving native Noble, is coronated King Theodore of Irondel. He rapidly swears allegiance to Theros in the presence of General Townsend of the first Theran Legion. Although the Therans initially mistrust him for taking part in the council he will prove an excellent puppet dictator in the ensuing years.

TY 614, 9th month, 28th day - King Theodore of Irondel declares a standard wage for working in the harvest mine. The wage is significantly lower than that paid by the council and many miners have difficulty making ends meet. A black market in iron develops almost immediately.

TY 622, Commencement Day - Over the years smuggling cold iron out of Irondel has become more than a (lucrative) job. Many of Irondel's merchants who were out of town during the Battle of Grandmothers' Labor view stealing as much iron from King Theodore and the Theran authorities as a sacred duty to those that fell in defense of Ironhold. Unfortunately rumor has it that King Theodore's tax collector has hired an enchanter to "interview" people about the smuggling routes. In response a successful smuggler and "legitimate business-man" by the name of Cain Merton is seeking a group of adventurers, explorers, cartographers, and academics to find new smuggling routes, devise ways around magical detection, and generally solve problems. Are you up to the task?