The Formation of Nations - A look at Mistria's historical texts and creating a timeline
We wanted to take a moment to look at the in-game documentation of the history of Mistria and beyond! What do the people in this world know about the past, and what can we learn about the town of Mistria, the Kingdom of Aldaria, and the Caldosian Empire from them?
Some of the uncertain bits of the timeline are likely to be made clear with the upcoming update finishing the mines storyline, so it seems useful to get in order what we do and don't know currently! Join us on this little journey into the past...
(Spoilers post level 60 of the mines!)
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If you've paid close attention while wandering into people's houses, you'll have noticed that there are a number of research texts sprinkled around. (After looking at each one I am going to update a little timeline using what we learn to try to form a better understanding of what happened when!)
Eiland's office contains a book titled "The History of Aldaria" which tells of the formation of Aldaria as a singular united nation.
The Alda tribes are described as "fractured," so they were seemingly initially a single civilization before being split up. The time when they were split is referred to as the "Dark Ages." Finally, we establish that the Alda tribes coming (back) together to form the Kingdom of Aldaria is what ends the Dark Ages. Dark Ages/Alda tribes > present era/Aldaria
Errol's house has a book titled "The Sister Kingdoms" which gives us some information about the Caldosian Empire in relation to Aldaria.
There is a nation to the east called the Caldosian Empire which we hear bits and pieces of through the characters in this game. This book posits that Aldaria and Caldosia, due to similarities with the early Alda, may have originated from "a single pre-Alda civilization," which may confirm that the Alda tribes had been united before (although, as the book says, there is little knowledge about this). This would mean that when that civilization split into tribes, one (or several) of them became the Caldosian Empire while the rest eventually became a single entity. Pre-Alda (one civilization) > Alda (many tribes, including the proto-Caldosian empire) > Aldarian Kingdom and Caldosian Empire coexisting
Juniper also possesses a historical text, this one called "The Legend of the Forgotten Queens."
Given Juniper's interest in the Witch Queens we can assume that this text is referring to them, but while she is clearly deeply familiar with them, this book says they are a recent discovery. This would seem to mean that modern day magic users already know about these historical queens but there is not much public knowledge of them just yet; Eiland knows a bit about them through his research (and has attempted to get Juniper to share what she knows with little success), and Maple is interested in anything queen related but, beyond these specially interested individuals, the queens seem to be an unknown. We could also potentially assume that Mistria is the "western Aldaria" area mentioned here, as the discovery of the artifacts in the Western Ruins is recent due to the earthquake uncovering the area (as confirmed by Valen in her 8-heart event) and that is where the artifacts associated with the Witch Queens are found.
Juniper's book posits that these Queens ruled the area prior to the Dark Ages, likely putting them in the time of the singular united pre-Alda civilization. Pre-Alda (singular nation ruled by Witch Queens) > Dark Ages > Aldaria and Caldosia
While we're talking about the Witch Queens, it is likely that the queen in the queen berry story told by Eiland is about one of them!
Between the ancient queen and the returning berries (confirmed to be magical by Juniper's comments during the festival), this seems to be pretty clearly a story from the time of the Witch Queens, the pre-Alda society. (The word "sworn" here also piques my interest, as that makes me think of the Dragon Sworn. "Ashes" also brings to mind fire, like that of dragons' breath... However, this might mean nothing.) (Also if this is from the age of the Witch Queens its interesting that this story has survived so long. You'd expect it to have gotten berried in the past!! Okay moving on)
Besides the war in that story, there was a more recent one from sometime after the Kingdom of Aldaria and the Caldosian Empire had formed called the War of the Lilies! We hear very little about it, but we know that both the Caldosian and Aldarian artifact sets have swords and armor, that the Aldarian Sword is stated to likely be from that war, and that the Lost Crown of Aldaria disappeared after the Caldosian Empire invaded. It would seem that the empire invading was the start of the War of the Lilies, but it is unclear why they invaded or how this conflict ended. (We will save our theories about past conflicts until the end of the post!)
Speaking of unclear timelines, Caldarus does some digging into the past of his own, so let's look at what he learned! (This is a series of dialogues over the course of a few days sometime after Caldarus has taken on human form, studying the scrolls in his temple!)
I am currently reading a scroll about the history of this temple. "A civilization predating the Alda constructed the exterior areas prior to the Dark Ages, but the cave itself existed long before that." I am not familiar with the "Dark Ages" mentioned. Perhaps I missed it...?
It's interesting that this is a scroll about the history of the temple but it speaks of "the cave"! The history of Caldarus' temple and the cave are implied to be intertwined then, which does make sense as we are fairly certain the dragons come from the realm that is connected to Mistria through the gate, beneath the seals in the cave. This text speaks of a civilization predating the Alda/Dark Ages, meaning that the temples (exterior areas) were probably built in the pre-Alda/Witch Queen era, and we learn that the cave is very, very old. We will get back to that soon!
I have been recovering much information from these old scrolls. It seems that the "Alda civilization" mentioned was formed from fragmented tribes at the end of the Dark Ages. Strangely, I can find no records that they had queens, kings, or any nobility at all. I vaguely recall that queens ruled the human tribes at one time. How mysterious...
What he refers to here as the "Alda civilization" is almost certainly the formation of Aldaria as presented in the first text we looked at - one of his next dialogues has him expressing a lack of familiarity with "Aldaria" and "Caldosia", as they seem to have formed after his sealing. He also seems to know the "Alda", meaning that he may have still been around when the tribes were fragmented (only being unfamiliar with the term "dark ages" due to that being a term applied to the period later). References to the Witch Queens are hard to find, not just in modern Aldarian historical literature, but even in the preserved scrolls that the Dragon Priestesses recorded, which is especially interesting as this is information that is seemingly familiar to Caldarus.
[Player]! I have uncovered something most interesting. Finally, a scroll referencing the queens that ruled the human tribes prior to the Dark Ages. The timeline surrounding my long slumber is starting to slot into place but... What happened, I wonder? I wish that I could remember more. I must continue my research.
Fascinating... "The Caldosians and the Aldarians are known to share a common ancestral origin." Caldosians... and the Aldarians. Descendants of those who lived and worshiped here during my time, I am sure of it. And yet, those who would become the Caldosians sailed east to form their empire while the Alda remained to found Aldaria. Why...? Ah, my head is beginning to hurt. Perhaps that is enough reading for today.
And so his research concludes! This document confirms what Errol's text surmised, that the Aldarians and Caldosian originate from the same tribe. Caldarus seems to draw their origin specifically to Mistria, and worshippers of Caldarus (and potentially the other dragon, given the second temple). The formation of the identities of "Caldosia" and "Aldaria" are also placed after the Caldosians sailed east. This would place the War of the Lilies after that point, and "sailing" also implies that the Caldosian Empire is across the sea on another continent.
Let's go back to that bit about the caves by looking at something Eiland says shortly after the mines are reopened:
You want to know about the history of the Mines? We don't know too much, but there is evidence a pre-Aldarian society once utilized underground chambers for cultural and religious activities. Pre-Aldarian, Pre-Alda, its origins likely predate even the rule of the Witch Queens. There are surely artifacts yet to be discovered that will reveal more about them.
This again emphasizes the age of the caves - possibly built before even the reign of the Witch Queens (which here is implied to be before what we think of as pre-Alda..?). The cultural and religious practices obviously link to the ritual chambers and artifacts that can be found down there, and a piece of dialogue from Caldarus talks about prayers offered from "above and below the ground" long ago.
Information about the origin of the caves is one of the things we are most excited for in the upcoming story update! We made a post about the evidence we have regarding the Dragon Sages and Clerics, and to learn more about them and the Witch Queens and the origin of the dragons and the other realm will be very cool!
Our finalized timeline looks something like this: Unknown civilization (the caves are formed, the gate likely opened during this period) > Witch Queens (> or =) Pre-Alda (the creation of the temples) > Dark Ages (tribes split, eventually proto-Caldosians went east) > Aldaria and Caldosia (War of the Lilies)
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A brief aside about archival and study in Aldaria:
The Mistria Museum was established quite recently - the building was renovated from some other purpose, likely mining related given its proximity and how important that enterprise seems to have been to the town. There are occasional references to other museums, libraries, and historical scholars in Aldaria, especially in the Capital, and communication between these locations is open and collaborative, and also maybe just a little competitive!
Notably, while the Mistrian Museum of History and Culture is by no means the only archive in Aldaria and is likely no more recent than the earthquake that preceded the story, it has played a large part in studying its past! The existence of the Witch Queens is a recent local discovery, and while many of the characters don't realize it just yet, there is quite a bit of evidence of the magic that permeated Aldaria's past. They have rapidly become a well known repository of artifacts and information known throughout the kingdom.
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Alright theory time! Both of us (Petra, the one writing this post, and Galena, who did much of the evidence gathering) think the conflicts mentioned above had to do with the dragons.
Here's the idea: The Caldosian Empire is associated with the east, both in that their land is off in that direction, and in Mistria the artifacts associated with them are found on the Eastern Road. Within Mistria (and Mistria itself within the kingdom if Juniper's book does refer to this town) Aldaria is associated with the west, with the Aldarian artifacts being found in The Narrows, just shy of the Western Ruins. Along with these two civilizations, the two dragons in Mistria are also associated with the far east and west of Mistria. The Statuette of Caldarus is even a part of the Caldosian set! Could the War of the Lilies have been something to do with the dragons...? We would guess that there was a power struggle over the gate and the magic it metes out in the past, maybe the battle mentioned in the story about the queen berries, that split the pre-Alda civilization into polarized tribes based on worship of one or the other dragon (or potentially there was also a third party vying for power, such as the Witch Queens). This battle resulted in the sealing of the gate, and the two dragons with it. The Caldosians moved east, consolidated their power, and then returned to continue this fight, leading to the War of the Lilies.
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We've made it to the end! I think that the way this game creates and interacts with its historical aspect is very interesting. There are places where you clearly can't quite trust what the characters or documentation say (they don't know that magic is real!), or where there isn't much information available so we have to make guesses or take something at face value that may not be true simply because there's so little else to go off of... It does frustrate me a little bit when, say, someone talks about reading an interesting book about the War of the Lilies and then they don't share anything about it, Eiland. But anyway it's fun to figure out what we can, it simulates the experience a little bit, figuring it out alongside the characters!
I hope that we were able to communicate things clearly and that this is reasonably accurate! There's stuff that I wanted to cover but couldn't; we don't have screenshots and the wiki doesn't have records of certain things we know we've seen, like dialogue about conflicting first hand historical accounts, and some things just fall outside the purview here.
If you noticed anything we missed or have ideas, let us know! We can't figure this all out on our own, and besides... You can’t spell museum without us :)
⯌Petra (& much help and theorizing from Galena⯎)
P.S. (Petra Snote) Have we ever mentioned where we get our cute little emoji dividers from? It's this page from Kaomoji Kuma, they have a fun little grab bag selection that it's a treat to look through each time we make a post!
