The Airriders

From RPGwiki

• circa 700 P.C. (Pre-Cataclysm) - There is a fragmentary reference in an ancient ballad to the ‘four families’ who were said to have bound themselves to magic and the four elements for a thousand years. There is an oblique reference to a price to be paid when… and that is all that can be deciphered.

• circa 50 P.C. - The Ballad of the White Bears mentions their allies the Waveshapers and Airshapers in the city of Igraine. It is unknown if they are related to the Airriders.

• circa 95 A.C. - The first Peregrine Airrider leads his first raid on Trilloman, a minotaur city, creating huge devastation and chaos during which he performs a massive robbery from the city’s treasury. The red-robed wizard operates as a privateer and loose agent for the free city of Malton. The city knows it is only a matter of time before the minotaurs reach them and is determined to make them pay before they are crushed. Peregrine raids other minotaur towns and interferes in the minotaurs clashes with the northern barbarians.

• 101 A.C. - The city of Malton is stormed by the minotaur army. Peregrine Airrider fights to the end, but with the city in flames he takes to the air and flies off to the south.

• 102 A.C. - Peregrine Airrider arrives in Waltherdorfe. He still has much of the gold earned in his raids and he buys the plot of land that will become Skywyrm House in the centre of town.

• 104A.C. - Peregrine marries Emilia, the daughter of a local merchant and councillor.

• 105 A.C. - Emilia gives birth to their first child, Raven.

• 106 A.C. - Peregrine is made a member of Waltherdorfe’s council of twelve.

• 107 A.C. - Emilia and Peregrine welcome their second son into the world. He is named Falcon.

• 109 A.C. - The Airriders have their first daughter, Dove.

• 115 A.C. - A man arrives in Waltherdorfe announcing the existence of a new god, Kal, head of a great pantheon. Many people flock to see his miracles and begin donating heavily in return for intercessory prayers. Peregrine is the one who uncovers the fraud and helps run him out of town.

• 124 A.C. - The first priest of Mislaxa arrives in Waltherdorfe. Peregrine prepares himself for another debunking but is surprised when the priest appears to be genuinely altruistic. His constant harassment of the priest loses him popular support and he eventually resigns from the council.

• 126 A.C. - Emilia dies during an outbreak of disease. She is cared for by the priests of Mislaxa whose power was not yet enough to cure her. Still their care and kindness reconciles Peregrine with the new priesthoods.

• 127 A.C. - The two older brothers take the tests of magic and pass, Raven taking the red robes and Falcon taking the white. They decide to imitate their father and head up into minotaur territory. Unfortunately their plans to raid Kristophan as their father had ends in disaster. Falcon is killed and Raven is sold into slavery. No word reaches their father who worries over what has happened to them.

• 129 A.C. - Dove takes the test and takes the white robes. During her test she is exposed to a vision of her brother in captivity and when she returns home she and her father plan how to free him.

• 130 A.C. - Peregrine and Dove recruited two companions, the first paladins to emerge in Waltdorfe. With the aid of these two brothers they were able to infiltrate Kristophan. Whilst there they managed a huge break out at the slave pens in the midst of which they rescued Raven and his lover, a fellow slave, and returned with them both to Waltdorfe.

• 131 A.C. - Within the year there were two weddings as first Raven married Lyssa, an elven woman who had been captured in a minotaur raid on Amarchnesti and whom he had protected in their time in Kristophan. Then three months later Dove married Teucer Thryadin, one of the paladins who had accompanied her in the raid on Kristophan. The year’s end sees the birth of Swan Airrider, Raven and Lyssa’s first daughter.

• 132 A.C. - Talamar Thryadin, Dove and Teucer’s first son is born.

• 133 A.C. - Kite, Lyssa and Raven’s second child is born. Peregrine lives just long enough to see his third grandchild before dying peacefully of natural causes.

• 134 A.C. - Lyssa gives birth to twins, Finch and Harrier. They are soon followed by Tyrna Thryadin, Dove’s daughter.

• 136 A.C. - Rook Airrider is born to Lyssa and Raven.

• 145 A.C. - Dove and Teucer spend the summer protecting columns of refugees from the duchies bordering the minotaur lands as they flee for safer lands. Then in winter that year they were caught in a minotaur ambush and were killed holding off the attackers. Talamar went to live in the Temple of St. Cuthbert, while Tyrna went to live with her Airrider cousins.

• 147 A.C. - There is an attempt to kidnap Finch by a black-robed wizard with a phenomenal control of rock and soil. Raven and Telemachus, Teucer’s brother, track the wizard down and slay him, though without discovering who he is or why he targeted the Airriders.

• 151 A.C. - Swan weds a local historian, Joshua, and pursues a joint career of wizard and archaeologist.

• 154 A.C. – 161 A.C. - Over several years the Airriders and their cousins take the tests of magic. Swan and Tyrna take the white robes, Rook and Finch take the red robes, and Kite takes the black robes. Harrier finds he has no talent for magic and becomes a ranger, while Talamar follows his father and becomes a paladin of St. Cuthbert.

• 157 A.C. - Harrier marries one of his adventuring companions, a spy and infiltrator working for the government of Bissel, Kayta. The two have a stormy, but loving, marriage.

• 158 A.C. - Harrier and Kayta welcome their daughter Kestrel into the world.

• 159 A.C. - Finch marries a black-robed mage named Alabaster, a withdrawn, introverted, sarcastic individual. The rest of the family don’t see what she sees in him.

• 161 A.C. - Talamar marries Erin, the daughter of an ousted lord of Thenol. Her father tried to prevent the marriage, fearing the presence of a paladin in the family would uncover his connections to the Waltdorf underworld. Instead he ended up murdered two months before the wedding. It would later emerge that he had been murdered by Kite, as a ‘wedding present’. Kite would also take over his control of Waltdorf’s criminal element.

• 164 A.C. - Swan gives birth to Peregrine II, her first son.

• 165 A.C. - Scandal rocks Waltdorf as society widow Dian di Taulisch is revealed to be pregnant and Rook Airrider is the father. There is much whispering as he moves in before the birth and it is only three months after Osprey is born that the couple are finally married.

• 167 A.C. - Rook and Dian are blessed with their second son, Skua.

• 172 A.C. - Talamar becomes concerned that there is corruption in the Waltdorf council. He has uncovered links between some councillors and the Waltdorf underworld.

• 173 A.C - Phoenix attack! As the demonic entity sweeps through Waltdorf the Airriders aid the priests of St. Cuthbert in their struggle. Swan though is killed, burnt to a cinder by a blast of flame. Rook is impaled on its claws and Raven dies trying to get his son to the healing hands of the priests. Rook dies of his wounds before the priests can save him. Talamar finally manages to banish the creature for the next hundred years.

• 174 A.C. - Following the Phoenix’s attack Talamar finds his time taken up by rebuilding the temple. With Talamar distracted Kite takes the opportunity to blackmail and intimidate the few remaining councillors he did not manipulate already, with the exception of Talamar. All of a sudden the paladin finds himself outvoted on many major issues.

• 175 A.C. - Talamar is sent as Waltdorf’s envoy to the duchy of Swinn. His appointment was no doubt an attempt by Kite to put his most dangerous opponent further from his plans.

• 177 A.C. - Kite and his partner-in-crime Alabaster have a falling out. Alabaster had become greedy and skimmed from their criminal endeavours. It was when Kite discovered this that he made an evening visit to his wayward colleague. In a nasty confrontation Alabaster tried to hold him off by holding a blade to the one person in the room Kite actually cared about, Alabaster’s own wife Finch. But in a terrible accident Finch was killed and Alabaster fled while her brother held his dying sister. In order to hunt down Alabaster the furious Kite took direct control of Waltdorf. He used its watch as his own personal army and locked up anyone who questioned his commands.

• 178 A.C. - Kite’s underworld lackeys tried to oust him, with teams of assassins brought in from Thenol. Kite raised legions of undead to destroy them, and then assigned his dead warriors to find his former partner. Many of the other Airriders were unnerved by Kite’s insane fury and contacted Talamar in Swinn. The paladin vowed to return and was smuggled back into the city. With the aid of Harrier and the priests of St. Cuthbert Talamar was able to storm Kite’s palace and free the city from his tyrannical grip

• 182 A.C. - Kestrel is the first of the fourth generation of Airriders to take the tests of magic. To the dismay of her elders she followed her uncle Kite into the black robes.

• 185 A.C. - Peregrine II also passes the tests of magic and takes the white robes.

• 189 A.C. - Osprey balances out the family by taking the red robes. Skua is unable to master anything but the simplest cantrip and becomes a paladin of St Cuthbert under his uncle Talamar.

• 195 A.C. - Harrier has spent eighteen years tracking down Alabaster’s lair. When he finally uncovers it he leads the Airriders in an assault on his lair. The attacking force consisted of himself, Kestrel, Peregrine II, Osprey and Skua. While Peregrine II, Osprey and Skua held off Alabaster’s undead guardians Harrier fired arrow after arrow into him, but it was the magically conjured black darts of Kestrel that finally finished him off. Unknown to the Airriders though Alabaster had performed dark rites that would bring him back from the brink of death and into unlife as a lich.

• 196 A.C. - With the search for revenge on Alabaster over Osprey marries his fiancée, Teri, and engages himself in research and study.

• 197 A.C. - Osprey’s first son, Buzzard, is born.

• 200 A.C. - Osprey tries to become a councillor, but the memories of his uncle’s actions are too recent in people’s memories. He fails in his bid.

• 204 A.C. - Kestrel marries Timon, a black-hearted warrior who is her chief ally in her attempts to conquer a small kingdom in Thenol.

• 209 A.C. - At the request of his mother, Harrier leads bands of refugees out of Amarchnesti as the minotaurs invade. While on his third rescue mission though he has to fight too many minotaurs and their axes end his life one dark night. His will leaves Skywyrm House to Peregrine II, much to the disgust of his older cousin, Kestrel.

• 211 A.C. - Kestrel is killed by a vampire in Thenol. She was engaged in a plan to oust him from his lands in Thenol, but was betrayed by a werewolf ally. Her husband dies at her side.

• 213 A.C. - Peregrine II is finally married at the age of forty-nine (though thanks to the elvish blood he still only looks to be in his late thirties). Many think it to be a marriage of convenience and politics as they could not see how he could love the short, plump Ladira. They assume her father’s position as a general in the Waltdorf army is his main reason for the marriage. They are surprised when it appears there is real affection between the two, despite a thirty year age gap.

• 214 A.C. - Peregrine II takes a long trip away from Waltdorf. It is rumoured that his quest is at the request of Ladira’s father, Corbec. He apparently spent some time in Deepmountain but he refused to talk about what he found there. When he returned he was accompanied by a golem of remarkable intelligence and craft. This golem, Edifice, remains a loyal servant to the family to this very day. When he returns he also finds Ladira has given birth to his daughter, Robin.

• 215 A.C. - Peregrine II creates the Staff of the Airriders as his legacy to the family and to his baby daughter. He endows it with the ability to fly.

• 216 A.C. - Peregrine’s second child is born, Eagle Airrider.

• 217 A.C. - Buzzard gets married to Cailin, a young farmer’s daughter. Some of the more snobbish family members are privately dismayed, but Buzzard doesn’t care as the end of the year brings him twins, Jay and Wren.

• 219 A.C. - The Airriders suffer their blackest day as a mysterious group of black robed wizards launch an attack at Skywyrm House. Peregrine, Osprey, Buzzard, and Edifice desperately try to hold them off but find themselves outnumbered. Buzzard and Osprey are killed defending Teri and Cailin. Teri is also slain but worst of all one of the wizards makes it onto the upper floors. With a single curse he kills all five children and is gone before Peregrine reaches the nursery.

• 220 A.C. - Cailin gives birth to the late Buzzard’s child, Raven II. Even though Buzzard is dead she is still living at Skywyrm House, a guest of Peregrine and Ladira.

• 221 A.C. - Peregrine and Ladira are delighted when Ladira finds she is pregnant again. Falcon is the new baby’s name.

• 237 A.C. - Peregrine II dies after seeing his son and grand-nephew pass the tests of magic and take the white and red robes respectively.

• 238 A.C. - Falcon attempts to uncover why Steamwall goblins are raiding out of the mountains. He discovers that a necromancer, Marvolo, has been driving them out, using a force of zombies raised from the dead Orcs of the Plains. He attempted to deal with the renegade wizard, but had to be rescued by a young cleric of Mislaxa. With the help of the cleric, Laisa, he was able to drive the wizard away and allow the goblins to return to their lands.

• 239 A.C. - Falcon and Laisa’s first son, Merlin, is born.

• 240 A.C. - Merlin’s first brother, Kite II, is born.

• 252 A.C. - Raven’s first child, Harrier II, is born.

• 253 A.C. - Falcon and Laisa are surprised when she becomes pregnant again. The child is Peregrine III.

• 255 A.C. - There is further joy when Laisa becomes pregnant again. They are delighted when they get twins, Hawk and Kestrel II.

• 258 A.C. - Raven and Falcon fight in the defence of Bissel City and it is winds and storms conjured by the cousins that contribute to the minotaur retreat.

• 259 A.C. - Merlin takes the tests of magic and opts for the white robes. Kite is incapable of magic and becomes a warrior instead. Their cousin Harrier is also unable to cast any spells. He becomes a tracker and archer like his namesake.

• 263 A.C. - Merlin, Harrier and Kite uncover plots to destroy both Waltdorf in general and the Airriders in particular. Though it takes many months they uncover the source of their troubles as Alabaster. With his plans foiled Alabaster swears revenge but is drawn into the mists of Ravenloft before he can act.

• 269 A.C. - Pez joins his brothers and cousin on their adventures. He initially finds it difficult to cope with the kind of threats they handle and has to learn quickly.

• 270 A.C. - Pez takes the tests of magic and chooses the white robes. Straight after the tests he and his brothers and cousin go in search of the mysterious Waveriders who are rumoured to travel in the eastern oceans. Their travels take them to the mysterious land of Challenga and Peregrine discovered dinosaurs, creatures that would fascinate him for the rest of his life.

• 272 A.C. - Merlin discovers a talent for travelling between worlds. The four adventuring Airriders are involved in his first experiment, which takes them to another world called Telluria. There they helped defeat the plans of an evil elvish empire known as the Drow Imperium, with the aid of a family of wizards and mind-mages, the Creignstone-Cwej (pronounced Cran-Stun-Sher Vay). Merlin and his brothers leave but not before he has fallen in love with Sophie Creignstone-Cwej.

• 273 A.C. - Unable to get Sophie out of his mind Merlin arranges to go back to Telluria. After seeing Hawk and Kes pass their tests of magic and adopt the white robes all five Airriders then return to Telluria. Their arrival was fortuitous as the land was under attack from a warhost of technologically advanced neo-otyugh. After helping the Creignstone-Cwejs drive off the invaders Merlin marries Sophie and retires from the adventuring life to live on Telluria.

• 274 A.C. - Returning to Krynn Peregrine joins the Waltdorf watch and befriends a priest of St. Cuthbert called Hector Smith. Together they uncover the mystery of Smith’s origins and reunited him with his long-lost sister Sandrana. Then the political situation intervenes. As the minotaur armies advance across Bissel all the Airriders heed Baron Rushmont’s call and join in the fight. They operated ahead of the rest of the army as a ‘spoiler’ unit, slowing the minotaurs down by destroying bridges and sabotaging their supply lines. These efforts brought the attention of the Mage of the Vale who thought his successor might come from this family of wizards. They fought to the bitter end in the final battle after all the other wizards fled, but at a bitter cost. Raven is killed in the battle’s closing minutes. This sadness is countered by news from Telluria, where Wren Airrider has been born.

• 275 A.C. - Through his little brother Kite meets Sandrana and the two fall in love, and are married before the year’s end.

• 277 A.C. - Alabaster launches a plan of revenge against Kite. He tricks him into believing his wife is unfaithful and Kite in a mad rage kills her and is caught in the mists of Ravenloft. At the same time Falcon, Hawk and Kes are called before the Conclave. The son of his old foe Marvolo, Varl Dammarrte, was attempting to open a gate to a far off world known as Toril in order to bring evil monsters known as Illithid to Krynn. Hawk and Kes travelled to Toril to stop him, but the vagaries of interdimensional travel meant that though they would only be absent from Krynn for a few months several years will pass on Toril for them. On Telluria Robin Airrider is born. Meanwhile Pez received unsettling dreams of Kite and he and Smith travelled to Ravenloft. There they found Kite and were able to bring him back, but Kite would never be the same again.

• 278 A.C. - Peregrine returns from Ravenloft and straight into Splatterblood’s attack on the Vale. When the Mage of the Vale died he passed the Vale on to Peregrine, who chose to share it with his younger brother and sister. He then travelled with Smith, Schallat, Noman and Hank to the Dragon’s Graveyard to return the dragons to Taladas. Over on Telluria Buzzard Airrider was born. When Hawk and Kestrel returned from Toril they were told by Edifice what their brother was up to and discovered there were great forces arrayed against him. They rallied many of the heroes of Bissel County and co-ordinated a guerrilla campaign against Splatterblood’s forces that kept the draconians from stopping Peregrine and the others. Kes was wounded though and was unable to join her brother for the final battle but Hawk did and was able to help in the final clash with Splatterblood.

• 279 A.C. - The three younger Airriders are now in control of the Vale and despite an attempt by Ravenloft to swallow the Vale look to be in a good position to change the world.