5 years Before Death - Hob seeks out the hag Hekt for a blight to curse his neighbor's fields with.
Year of Death 0 - Fed up with the lack of visible effects, Hob modifies the blight hex into a month long ritual. At the conclusion of the ritual a tear to the negative energy plane formed and bonded to Hob, cursing the land and himself.
YD 1 - "Year of the First Pilgrimage" Hob wandered the land in search of a way to break the curse, inadvertently spreading it everywhere he went. Over the course of the year he wandered the entire kingdom, killing everyone who approached him. At the end of the year he was captured by the ascended Hekt for study.
YD 2 - Following the Year of the First Pilgrimage, the residents resurrected as various kinds of undead. King Ricker and Queen Susaria tried to reassert their authority, but without the need for food and the ability to grow it they lacked any leverage to enforce taxation, and so needed an external source of control. The King and Queen, along with the High Priest of Ciron, Meritamun, the royal hunter Lysander, and General Sigismund, called upon the greatest mages from across the kingdom to craft for them a way to assert control over their newly undead subjects.
YD 3 - Through the combined efforts of the Council of Two, the Triumvirate, the Quintet, and the Heptad, the ruling regalia were created, one for skeletonkind, one for ghostkind, one for the preserved dead, one for the blood drinkers, and one for the flesh eaters, leaving themselves free. Apologetically they explained that creating one regalia with the power to control all undead was beyond even them, and that King Ricker would have to rely on the bonds of loyalty to keep the kingdom together.
YD 4 - Beginning of the mage wars
YD 5 - Jesters appear and insinuate themselves into court life.
YD 8 - Driven by their hunger and thirst, Vampire Lord Lysander and Ghoul Prince Sigismund send their people out into the mountains to find a food source, against the command of King Ricker. Recognizing the threat to the stability of his kingdom, King Ricker ordered a combined force of skeletonkind, ghostkind, and preserved to pursue and reclaim them, starting the first of the Dead Wars.
YD 15 - Bolstered by reinforcements from their successful hunting forays, Lysander and Sigismund push King Ricker's army back and assert their independence as the Kingdoms of the Hungry Dead.
YD 30 - Mage Wars end. Council territories are decided upon. Port town is established as neutral territory belonging to the mage councils jointly.
YD 90 - Ghoul King Sigismund is killed on a hunting foray by the hero Zig, who claimed the Royal Regalia.
YD 91 - Zig, after having been driven to cannibalism by the regalia, crossed the mountains in search of a way to destroy it. The journey was hard and he arrived at the ghoul fortress near death. Giving into despair, he requested a comfortable bed to spend his last night in, inadvertently drawing on the authority of the regalia, which was recognized by the guards. Dying in his sleep that night, he awoke the next morning as a ghoul and was informed of the function of the regalia. He proceeded to take his place as Ghoul King, forbidding every ghoul he could find from hunting across the mountains. Word quickly spread that any who had not yet met him had best avoid him to escape that order.
YD 100 - Ghoul King Zig is assassinated by vampire assassins at the request of the ghoul Nix, who claimed the regalia from his body and when he rose the next morning, Ghoul Queen Nix ordered him to walk west forever, as punishment for his betrayal of his subjects.
YD 179 - Vampire King Lysander chooses to abdicate his throne for an apprenticeship with the Heptad, granting the regalia to his lover Janus as a parting gift. Having learned all she can by studying Hob, and being unable to destroy him, Hekt frees Hob.
YD 181 - Vampire King Janus, out of anger at his perceived abandonment after receiving no word from Lysander for over a year, orders his retrieval, interrupting his studies at a crucial stage. Upon arriving, Lysander tore out Janus throat and reclaimed his regalia. His first order upon reassumption of the throne was to have Janus entombed in the foundation.
YD 203 - Vampire King Lysander sent a request to the Council of Two for a way to stave off the thirst for all of his people, in exchange for his notes taken of the Heptad and a year of service from every vampire under his command.
YD 205 - Vampire King Lysander invited Ghoul Queen Nix to see the completion of the blood fountain that will maintain his people without need for hunting over the mountains. She is impressed and takes the idea back to ruminate on.
YD 250 - After nearly a quarter millenium of peace, and recognizing that any authority he may have once had over the other rulers is gone, King Ricker officially declares the three kingdoms independent. Meritamun returned to his temple with a suspicious haste. (dc30 to learn that this was the first time he had been back in person since the curse fell.) Queen Susaria gave King Ricker a jeweled goblet to symbolize her undying love and left to her own castle. King Ricker ordered a small castle to be built on the border between their lands to house the cup.
YD 310 - Vampire King Lysander was defeated in ambush by the vampire Valentina, who proceeded to establish the method of succession as successful ambush.
YD 315 - Ghoul Queen Nix is killed on a hunting expedition. Her regalia is retrieved by Badrosian, the only member of the hunting party to return. (DC35 to learn of the suspicion that he arranged her death with the mortals they were hunting).
YD 400 - Ghoul King Badrosian, after perusing Queen Nix's diaries, sent a request to the Council of Two for a way to feed his people without hunting. His envoy, Chil!k'az, not having been instructed on what kind of compensation to offer, made a poor presentation and was sent back with a box that produced up to ten pork buns an hour and a comparable amount of fresh water. Giving up on it as a dead end, it was placed in storage.
YD 410 - Chil!k'az, out of resentment for the abuse suffered after his failed mission, arranged for King Badrosian's incapacitation by trap, taking the regalia for himself. He declares hunting to be beneath the dignity of the King and sends his underlings over the mountains. He refuses to leave his castle.
YD 412 - Vampire huntress Gwyar tracks and turns the nightmare dragon Desdemona deep in the mountains, keeping her a secret from Valentina and using her to hunt further into the lands over the mountains.
YD 415 - Vampire huntress Gwyar defeats Queen Valentina with the assistance of Desdemona and orders the mass of her followers into torpor, leaving only a handful active.
YD 500 - King Chil!k'az notes that the lands near the mountains are becoming depopulated due to predation and emigration to safer regions. He sends a sealed letter to Grand Marchioness Gwyar, requesting her assistance in resolving this issue.
YD 605 - King Chil!k'az and Grand Marchioness Gwyar reach an agreement that outside agents are the best chance of returning life to the Dead Kingdoms. King Chil!k'az issues the order that any prey that survive the journey are not to be killed.
YD 644 - Players arrive.