How Old Is Valorim?

[Donald Hebb]

At the time of A3, how many years- as a guestimate- would you say that the Empire was present on Valorim? My guess is somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 years.

[Alorael at Large]

I'd guess longer. The number of very permanent stone cities and interconnected road networks suggests at least a century of occuptation.

 

There's also the first university being established in Lorelei (I think), large areas of almost untouched wilderness, and so on. It probably hasn't been occupied for much more than a century.

 

—Alorael, who is further puzzled by the fact that settlement doesn't seem to spread out from Blackcrag like it would if settlers came from the north. Krizsan and Sharimik have enough towns surrounding them that it looks like there may have been some coastal settlement as well. Either that or there have been people in Valorim long enough that the time between the first and last cities built is no longer noticeable.

[Ephesos]

Well, don't forget about the Keep of Tinraya area, that's got a few cities in it. Still, the distribution is a bit weird there... particularly when you consider the isle of Bigail.

 

Could just be a matter of indigenous people who had already settled the southern coasts before the Empire arrived...

[VCH]

Do we now for sure that the Empire built all the cities? Perhaps they were already there and the Empire simply improved them slightly. I would guess the Empire has had soldiers present for at least 50 years, however most areas probably only saw Empire control in the last 15 years.

[Alorael at Large]

The Empire is the only state in existence on the surface (as far as it knows), and there doesn't seem to be any evidence of there having been any other states of any size in the recent past. There's no evidence of conquest, no sign of any indigenous inhabitants of Valorim who still haven't been incorporated into the Empire, and no other signs of any takeover. It's possible that unofficial settlers preceded the Empire's official control of the continent with armies, but I'd say it was the Empire's people there from the beginning.

 

—Alorael, who supposes the nephilim make a reasonable group of opressed natives. That may, howerver, conflict quite a lot with the complex history of Avernum (or Exile, as the case may be) already created by certain others

[Ephesos]

Quote:

Originally written by Compost Stellae:
It's possible that unofficial settlers preceded the Empire's official control of the continent with armies

That's kind of what I meant...

Actually, I'm curious about the Anama's presence in Valorim pre-Empire. I wonder how much of a hand they had in things...

[finlay]

There's a pargraph in one of the books you can read in A3 which suggests aroundabout 50 years, maybe a bit more.