Athas Timeline
“The rise, ruin, and slow death of a world burned by defiling magic, sorcerer-kings, and survival at any cost.”
| Year | Event |
| Before Time | Athas is green, oceanic, and rich in life; primal magic is abundant. |
| -15,000 BY | Rajaat discovers arcane magic; defiling magic is developed, draining life to fuel spells. |
| -14,000 BY | Rajaat begins “perfecting” humanity; non-human races are declared enemies. |
| -13,000 BY | The Cleansing Wars begin: genocidal campaigns against dwarves, elves, halflings, giants, and others. |
| -12,000 BY | Rajaat creates his Champions by transforming humans into near-immortals using sorcery and psionics. |
| -11,000 BY | Champions become the Sorcerer-Kings; city-states are founded across the Tyr Region. |
| -10,500 BY | Champions realize Rajaat intends to exterminate humanity next. |
| -10,000 BY | Rajaat is imprisoned in the Black by his Champions; the Cleansing Wars end prematurely. |
| -9,500 BY | Sorcerer-Kings betray one another; several Champions are slain or transformed into abominations. |
| -9,000 BY | Remaining Sorcerer-Kings begin slow transformations into dragon or avangion forms. |
| -8,000 BY | Continued defiling devastates Athas; seas dry up, forests vanish, climate collapses. |
| -7,000 BY | True gods vanish or are cut off; clerical magic becomes elemental rather than divine. |
| -6,000 BY | Psionics become ubiquitous as a survival adaptation among Athasian peoples. |
| -5,000 BY | The Tyr Region stabilizes into isolated city-states ruled by Sorcerer-Kings. |
| -3,000 BY | Metal scarcity becomes extreme; bone, obsidian, and chitin weapons dominate. |
| -2,000 BY | Borys, the Dragon of Tyr, enforces the ancient pact that keeps Rajaat imprisoned. |
| -1 FY | Rising unrest among slaves, templars, and merchant houses across the Tyr Region. |
| 0 FY | Tyr overthrows and kills its Sorcerer-King Kalak; the Free Year calendar begins. |
| 1-5 FY | Tyr experiments with freedom; neighboring Sorcerer-Kings respond with paranoia and repression. |
| 5-10 FY | Regional instability spreads; trade routes fracture; wars and revolts increase. |
| Present Era | Athas teeters between slow extinction and violent, uncertain change. |