RHoD Addendum - The History of Eslir Vale

RHoD Masterpost 

Hey folks!

Elsir Vale's history is scattered throughout the book. On top of that, I'm grafting on several other modules! So today, we'll be going through both the original history as represented in the module as well as integrating the Goblinblood Wars and the Hellriders into that timeline. Originally this was going to be a joint history and politics article (looking at Weimar Germany as a way to better understand the Hand), but I'm not a historian, so that meant it was never going to be published! I might wrap up some of that into an article on Themes later on, but for now we'll just be going through fictional history, not real world history.

The Misty Mountains

Let's jump in!

Established Timeline

Here's what info I could find on the history of Elsir Vale before the events of the module.

• Thousands of years ago: an ancient Serpent-empire rule the Thornwastes.
• Before recorded history: Ancient human druids lived in the Witchwood. It is said their spirits now haunt it.
• Over a thousand years ago: a Dwarven Kingdom built the Dawn Way and tons of other structures
• Sometime before the rise of Rhestilor: The Tiri Kitor split off from the elves of the Westdeep, settling in the Blackfens instead, near where Rhest would soon rise.
• 500 ish years ago: The City of Rhest controlled the Vale, eventually growing into the Kingdom of Rhestilor.
• Before Rhest Falls: Rhestilor hunted a sacred lion of the Thornwaste nomads, triggering a war! They won easily, but the Hellriders were decimated by the ghosts of the fallen. This isn't true - the nomads were sadistic cultists who responded to the diplomatic advances of Rhestilor with violence, and both sides were decimated by the fighting.
• A few years before Rhest falls: Amery Vraath inherits Vraath Keep.
• 200 ish years ago: Goblins burned the now under-defended city of Rhest, signaling the end of Old Rhestilor.
• Shortly Thereafter: Vraath waged war with the Twistusk giants to claim the Witchwood, forced them into the mountains, and were promptly slaughtered in vengeance (though the giants mostly stayed in the mountains).
• 100 years ago: The Dwarsbridge in Drellin's Ferry washed out in a flood, and Drellin hammered together the horse-drawn ferry.
• 17 years ago: Jarmaath battled Regiarix in the Marth Forest, driving him to the Blackfens. 

If I'm missing anything, please let me know! It's all pretty scattered about haha (some in the History section, some in individual location summaries, some in the chapters themselves), so I definitely might've missed something.

The rest of this post deals with fitting in The Fall of Plaguestone and Descent Into Avernus - if you aren't connecting either of those adventures, feel free to stop reading here! Though either addition could help flesh out your game world either way, so who knows, you might find something valuable.

The Goblinblood Wars

I've previously given advice on connecting the Fall of Plaguestone to Red Hand of Doom, including what happened with my 1st party, but I went a little further this time!

The Goblinblood Wars serve as our World War I analogue: the Great War, the War to End All Wars. It lasted for 5 years, and only ended about 10 years ago.

Pathfinder Cannon

This timeline differs from the one given in The Fall of Plaguestone. In that, the Plague was shortly after the Goblinblood Wars (which would've been 18 years prior, since it ended in 4701 and FoP came out in 2019, e.g. 4719), and says on page 51 that the Plague was 20 years ago (which feels slightly inconsistent). At the same time, Peri is said to have been a child when her brother died in the wars, which would make her more than 20 - this feels too old to me! I made her 15, though you could go as high as 17 I think and have her sneaking around still make sense. So, in my revised timeline, the Plague hit about 20 years ago. About 15 years ago, the Goblinblood Wars started, and they ended about 10 years ago.

Many of the NPCs in Etran's Folly have a direct relationship to the Wars (the first 3 are in the book, the rest I added):

• Noala is a war veteran, who didn't know how to put down her bow when she came home.
• Peri's brother died in the war when she was very young.
• Targen Fulst lost most of his family to the wars (and Delma therefore did too, though she was only a teenager at the time)
• Sheriff Rolth was probably the only one of his siblings who didn't fight in the war, in part to help care for his uncle Targen and in part out of fear. He still has a lot of survivors guilt that the people who should be sheriff instead of him all died in a war he didn't join.
• Sir Lawren Krent was a war veteran before going on a crusade against the Ghostlord and losing his whole unit (I added this as I'm not running FoP in Golarian - plus it means the PCs will already know who the Ghostlord is!)
• Hallod probably fought as a mercenary in light skirmishes, but avoided any signs of heavy fighting and mostly used his status as a veteran to push civilians around.
• Phinnick wasn't alive during the original wars, since he's only 7 (goblins reach adulthood around 5), but his tribe was scattered by the Kulkor Zhul about 3 years ago and he's been running further and further south ever since.

NPCs in Elsir Vale probably fought in the wars as well!

• The Tiri Kitor stayed out of the fight (that's why Noala left them, she couldn't stand idly by).
• The Hammerfist Holds took great losses.
• Jor and Sorranah in Drellin's Ferry are both war veterans, as are all the important military figures in Brindol.

The Hellriders

"But my memory reaches back even to the Elder Days... I have seen three ages in the West of the world, and many defeats, and many fruitless victories." (The Fellowship of the Ring chapter 2, The Council of Elrond)

Even the Goblinblood wars were only the echo of past wars, a pale shadow of the heroics that came before. This was not the first time goblinoids decimated the Vale (see the Fall of Rhest), nor are goblinoids the greatest foe the Vale has ever faced. Back before the founding of the Kingdom of Rhestilor, the Riders of Rhest were renowned throughout the lands for their noble deeds (they are currently the subject of Arthurian-esque myths and legends). They followed an Angel into Hell itself, and those that survived were called Hellriders, and their legend spurred the expansion of Rhest!

We're taking both the true history of the Hellriders (interspersed with details about Elsir Vale) and their legend from the Alexandrian Remix of Descent Into Avernus. In many places, the truth and fiction are quite different, so I've included both, with the truth in italics when it contradicts the known history.

• Several hundred years after the fall of the ancient Dwarven kingdom, the Riders of Rhest were legendary peacekeepers and protectors. This is not true - in that day, the Riders were but a small company, and most towns protected themselves through small militias. It was Yael of a small town called Idyllglen who turned her small village militia into a region-spanning force, and the Riders did not join this coalition until later. They wore a badge of twin suns in honor of Zariel and Lulu, their angelic saviors.
• Just over 500 years ago, the Riders of Rhest and their allies followed an Angel into hell in a legendary crusade! This is when Olanthius, leader of the Riders of Rhest, first pledged his aid to the growing coalition, as did Haruman, Lord Knight of the Far Hills (now called the Brown Hills).
• Many fell in Avernus, but those that survived returned in glory, sparking the Rise of Rhestilor as the Riders of Rhest - now called the Hellriders, and later known as the Knights of Old Rhestilor - took charge of the remnants of the coalition. They sought to cover up the true history with legend and myth, as much as possible.
• About 250 years ago, the Hellriders rode against the lion cultists of the Thornwastes, and both were decimated in that struggle. Another glorious, and doomed, charge. Many defeats, and many fruitless victories.
• Within the next few decades, Rhest fell, their military might decimated and various political intrigue and corruption tearing them apart from the inside, finally being overrun by the goblins of the Wyrmsmoke Mountains.
• Over the next hundred years, the Hellriders were scattered companies, usually heroes trying their best, though occasionally reavers or despots when times were hard (these were all disavowed in time as traitors).
• During the Goblinblood wars, all the Hellknights came out of the woodwork to defend their homes, and in so doing inspired dozens to join, swelling their ranks for the first time in centuries! Their old citadel in Brindol was refurbished, and after the wars ended, they decided they needed a new crusade to prove their mettle!
• They rode once more against the Ghostlord, hoping to end the evil that had destroyed their forebears. Unfortunately, their lances were no match for his undead minions, and they were once again scattered to the corners of the Vale (and some beyond it!)
• Now, only a handful of hopefuls maintain the Citadel, the most driven of which is the young Reya Mantlemourn. I'm not sure if I'll be making Gideon Lightward a Hellrider, and if he'll become their leader, but if so they'll find him later.

An optional plotline (that the PCs are already really buying into, after Sir Lawren in FoP was a Hellrider and gave the Champion his Helm, and doing a revised Delian Tomb where the goblins became graverobbers desecrating a Hellrider's tomb) will be the PCs gathering the Hellriders back together! Details aren't super fleshed out yet, but there's probably one in the Witchwood chilling with the druids or giants, and then a mix of knights wandering/alone and living in other settlements (especially with the Tiri Kitor and/or the Hammerfist Holds? but maybe as a retired grumpy person in some other village). Might also put some in the Ghostlord's dungeon as either an additional thing the PCs can negotiate for (likely at -1 Influence as a tradeoff) or to tempt them to try to heist them out (it likely won't go well).

Revised Timeline

Here is that timeline again, but this time with details from the other modules 

• Thousands of years ago: an ancient Serpent-empire rule the Thornwastes.
• Before recorded history: Ancient human druids lived in the Witchwood. It is said their spirits now haunt it.
• Over a thousand years ago: a Dwarven Kingdom built the Dawn Way and tons of other structures
• Sometime before the rise of Rhestilor: The Tiri Kitor split off from the elves of the Westdeep, settling in the Blackfens instead, near where Rhest would soon rise.
• 500 ish years ago: The City of Rhest controlled the Vale, eventually growing into the Kingdom of Rhestilor.
• They were rumored to be legendary peacekeepers/protectors of the Vale before this. This was actually Yael of Idyllglen who formed a coalition to keep the Vale safe the Riders were mostly just Rhest's strongest military asset.
• The Riders of Rhest did join the assault on Hell itself, following the Angel. Those that survived (fled) claimed great victory, and used that prestige to extend Rhest's influence over the entirety of Elsir Vale!
• Before Rhest Falls: Rhestilor hunted a sacred lion of the Thornwaste nomads, triggering a war! They won easily, but the Hellriders were decimated by the ghosts of the fallen. This is only partially true - the nomads were sadistic cultists, though Rhest's diplomatic party did still kill a lion (which was inadviseable, to put it mildly), and both sides were decimated by the fighting.
• A few years before Rhest falls: Amery Vraath inherits Vraath Keep.
• 200 ish years ago: Goblins burned the now under-defended city of Rhest, signaling the end of Old Rhestilor.
• Shortly Thereafter: Vraath waged war with the Twistusk giants to claim the Witchwood, forced them into the mountains, and were promptly slaughtered in vengeance (though the giants mostly stayed in the mountains).
• 100 years ago: The Dwarsbridge in Drellin's Ferry washed out in a flood, and Drellin hammered together the horse-drawn ferry.
• 20 years ago: A plague spread through Etrans Folly (only relevant to The Fall of Plaguestone).
• 17 years ago: Jarmaath battled Regiarix in the Marth Forest, driving him to the Blackfens. He would later meet Saarvith during the Goblinblood Wars.
• 15 years ago: Goblins of the Wyrmsmoke Mountains began raiding Elsir Vale, leading to what become The Goblinblood Wars.
• 10 years ago: The Goblinblood Wars ended, leaving devastation in their wake. 
• 5 years ago: The Hellriders tried once more to put an end to the Ghostlord, but were badly defeated and scattered to the corners of the known world.

I think that just about does it - I may edit this page if I find more details in the book, or if I revise important details that I'll want to reference for my own timeline. Let me know if there's anything you would add!