A simplified timeline of Avernian history that was (a) deemed relevant to Historians at the Modron Outpost, and so recorded, and (b) likely to be of interest to The Levellers:
The Blood War and Zariel’s Crusade
- By the 10th century DR, the tide of the endless Blood War was turning in favour of the Abyss. Demons had sailed all the way up the Styx as far as Avernus, and the forces of Hell were at risk of having to fall back to Dis, the second level of the Nine Hells.
- Into this war came the Celestial Zariel, accompanied by her hollyphant steed, her three trusted generals, and legions of mortals. In a complex three-way battle they forced the Abyssal army of Yeenoghu back to the river.
- However, the Zarielite Crusaders weren’t equipped to hold their ground sandwiched between the Abyssal forces and an advancing Infernal army, flying the banners of Terza’reg and Baalzephon (two of the Dark Eight; Hell’s elite generals). Part of Zariel’s forces were routed and retreated through their portal as it closed. The remainder fought fircely, even cutting down General Terza’reg, but were defeated. This was the end of the Battle of Avernus.
Zariel of the Dark Eight
- Zariel was either captured or else switched sides during the battle, because she next turned up as Terza’reg’s replacement, continuing her fight against the Abyss but now in the service of the Nine Hells.
- At least two of Zariel’s generals – Haruman and Olanthius – were captured and continue to work for Zariel in Avernus. Haruman was last thought to reside on a hill overlooking the Styx, Dis-ward of Fort Knucklebone, and is tasked with rooting out traitors in Zariel’s army. Olanthius attempted suicide but found that his oath to Zariel transcended his life, and was last seen guarding the Crypt of the Hellriders (beyond the Plains of Fire, beyond Uldrak the Tinkerer).
- An excellent commander, Zariel recaptured the far bank of the Styx and sacked the Demonic war palaces that had been built there. By the middle of the 12th century, though, the Blood War was once again at a stalemate, but with most of Avernus fully under the control of Devils.
Reckoning and Betrayal
- In the 13th century DR, the Nine Hells became wrapped up in a complex political implosion known as The Reckoning. Here in Avernus, Zariel allied with Tiamat – the God-Queen of Evil Dragons – and laid siege to Dis, the second level of Hell. When the siege was broken, Zariel was captured and imprisoned in Tiamat’s dungeons. The Blood War continued on with Archduke Bel in charge of Avernus’s legions of devils.
- The surface of Avernus is periodically rent with massive rifts as the plane pulls itself apart. In the 15th century such a rift opened up on the contested side of the Styx, and out from it poured countless Baatorians. Baatorians were for untold aeons the original inhabitants of Hell, from a time before the Devils, and they still sometimes seem to spontaneously emerge from the very rock of the Avernal plains.
- Bel failed to manage his forces adequately to both counter the Baatorian threat and the front-line against the Abyssal armies, and even though there was no alliance between his two enemies, he lost ground to both of them. Soon, Baatorians and Demons alike were crossing the Styx and recapturing Avernus.
Liberation and Industrialisation
- Zariel was liberated from her prison: it’s unclear whether she escaped or was released, and who else was involved in her freeing. In any case: she rallied the routed Blood Legions and pushed back against the Baatorians and the Demons in the Battle of Lost Memories, reclaiming the near Styx bank. Linking up with Dagos and Furcas – two of the Dark Eight whose armies had been cut off – she laid siege to the Baatorian rift and, pushing the Baarotian horde back, sealed it.
- Asmodeus, Lord of all Hells, punished Bel for his failure by demoting him and promoting Zariel to Archduchess of Avernus in his place.
- Now uncontested, Zariel industrialised the Hells’ war machine, churning out new and powerful battle technologies: wheeled and tracked vehicles and flying fortresses. To add humiliation to his punishment, Bel was put under Zariel’s command, running the volcanic workshops where infernal iron was cast into Zariel’s machines of destruction.
Recent History
- Since then, the front line of the Blood War has pushed out, beyond Avernus and into Gehenna and perhaps further still. The mainstay of Zariel’s army, and Zariel herself, are only seen here when they return to refuel and rearm their flying fortresses. Much of Avernus has become a lawless wasteland, roamed by gangs of devils “left behind” by Hell’s armies.
- Over the last century or so, Zariel’s administration has begun another new and innovative strategy to enhance Hell’s forces: the kidnap of mortal cities and the population within, such that their souls are delivered directly to Hell with no chance of redemption or deliverance to the peoples’ rightful gods. Even the souls of the Good end up in the Styx, and Evil souls will often sink even deeper into the Hells where they’re forged into Soul Coins. Either way, they either become fuel for war machines or are reincarnated as Devils to join Zariel’s legions.
- Elturel is the fourth, and largest (so far), such city the Modron watchtower has observed. The remains of several of the others can be found contra-Abyss of Elturel.
The Levellers 