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War of the Lance Timeline | DragonLance Saga
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ธ.ค. 2022
- The War of the Lance would only last five years, but its planning goes back a millenia. Let’s examine the War of the Lance Timeline.. Buy War of the Lance: www.drivethrur...
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Transcript
Within five years, the Queen of Darkness had near total control of Ansalon, let’s take a closer look.
Intro
Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today we are going to talk about the War of the Lance Timeline. I would like to take a moment and thank the members of this channel, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate links. I am referencing DL11 Dragons of Glory, Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home, and War of the Lance sourcebooks for this information. If I leave anything out or misspeak, please leave a comment below!
Discussion
The first event that pops into the mind of anyone who knows Dragonlance must be the War of the Lance. It’s the seminal event that introduced us to the campaign world, its colorful cast of characters and for some the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game. But as much as is known about the War of the Lance, many are not sure when it started, what events preceded it and exactly how it ended. For example, if you are a gamer, there were many possible endings, with the journey to them filled with a continent of exploration and danger, mass combat with the Battlesystem supplement and immersion that has never been fully realized up to that point in AD&D. For novel readers, you got one ending which excluded much that the modules presented so as not to spoil the possible AD&D encounters. Because Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen is now out, I would like to explore the official War of the Lance timeline and hopefully educate those who are new to the world in the process.
The seeds of the War of the Lance were planted at the end of the forty-two year long Third Dragon War in The Age of Dreams at The Time of Knights in 1018 Prae Cataclius, when Huma banished the Queen of Darkness. He extracted a promise from her to forever leave the mortal realm and take her dragons with her to the Abyss. She complied, and to maintain balance, as it is an essential world element of Dragonlance, the good dragons also left, returning to the Dragon Isles to sleep. As Dragons traveled into the realms of myth, an empire rose in the absence of the Dark Queen’s shadow. The great empire of Istar led by their Kingpriest rose to prominence and for the next thousand years, righteousness would reign. Well, almost. In the absence of the balance of evil, good will inevitably look for evil, even if it has to manifest it. They began with racial groups, then classes and eventually the edict of thought control. The gods of every alignment were upset by this and ultimately joined by Takhisis who saw her opportunity to return and dominate the world, they sent a mountain crashing into Istar, punishing those who believed themselves to be better than the gods themselves.
The Queen of Darkness needed a gateway to reenter the world, and at the center of Istar was the Temple of Istar. This holy structure held the inherent power to allow her to pass through the Gate of Souls, creating a portal to the mortal realm. Just as the mountain reigned down on Krynn devastating the continents of Ansalon and Taladas, the Dark Queen stole the Temple into the Abyss, and planned to raise its mirror in Neraka, a region of darkness, filled by warlords and her own mortal creations, the Ogres. For the next three hundred and forty-one years, disease, famine, war and despair would descend upon Krynn as the gods left their mortal creations to their own designs. Could you imagine the immense folly of Istar that the Age of Despair was its balancing act? In 141 Alt Cataclius, the Dark Queen planted the sacred Foundation Stone, the core of the Temple of Istar in Neraka and for the next decade, she wandered the land in disguise, waking her dragons in secret. In 152 AC two siblings would come upon the Foundation Stone, and as Berem the brother was stealing a green gemstone from the Foundation Stone, he accidentally killed his sister Jasla as she tried to stop him. This trapped Jasla’s soul into the Foundation Stone, and the gemstone became magically embedded in Berems chest, granting him immortality. With her gate now closed, Takhisis would send her minions searching for the Everman so she could once again enter Krynn...
Thank you for watching todays Dragonlance setting episode. What do you think about the timeline of the War of the lance? Does it fit well with the Shadow of the Dragon Queen adventure? Leave a comment below!
This whole story of the War of the Lance, along with the Legend of Huma, was my first introduction to the world of Dragonlance some 20 years ago. I instantly got hooked and remain hooked to this day :)
Awesome, you and me both!
Thanks for this ❤
My pleasure
Of course it's fair to give credit to the Golden General for turning the tide of the war. Having good weapons and powerful allies is meaningless without bold, creative leadership to properly employ them, and it was the Golden General who provided that leadership.
Laurana was the one that devised and executed the strategy to successfully utilize the Dragonlances at the High Clerist's Tower. (Absent her use of the Dragon Orb, the lances would have been worthless because the dragons wouldn't have ever been in range of the lances.) And of course without the victory Laurana won at the High Clerist's Tower, the war would have been lost before the good dragons even returned.
Likewise as to the good dragons, Laurana was instrumental in getting the people of Solamnia to even agree to work with the dragons.
"It wasn't until Laurana herself walked out of the city gates and straight into the arms of a man who had been riding one of the beautiful silver dragons that the people began to think there might be something to this children's story after all."
-Dragons of Spring Dawning, Book I, Chapter 8
And then once the good dragons had been accepted into the Whitestone cause, the short story "The Vingaard Campaign" shows it was the Golden General that insisted the Whitestone forces take the offensive rather than just defend Palanthas (as the remaining senior knights wanted her to do), and it was also the Golden General who devised the battle plans that let the Whitestone forces employ the good dragons to such devastating effect.
So yes, Laurana's leadership was essential to the Whitestone victory.
Thanks for watching!
Great points! I haven't read that short story Vingaard Campaign in awhile, I have to check that out thanks
@@CANDROU1 It is a great story.
One other thing to consider in evaluating the Golden General's importance is the fact that when Kitiara (the most capable of the Dragon Highlords) needed a way to turn the war in the Dragonarmies' favor, she didn't seek a counter to the Dragonlances or the good dragons but instead sought to neutralize the Golden General. And both Kitiara and Takhisis believed the war was won after they captured Laurana. Thus there is no question that the Dragonarmy high command itself considered the Golden General to be the greatest threat to their attempt to conquer Krynn.
Well posted!
Gunther wisely made her the center point for the north to rally around.
She came from nobility so the Knights of the Rose liked that. As an Elf, her Race was created by Paladine so the Rose really liked that.
The Knights of the Crown really liked Strum, and he was great friends with her. Indeed, she and two others were the sole survivors of the battle of the High Clerist Tower.
The Knights of the Sword are about the glory of just and honorable wars. The Field Officers and and Junior Officers most likely really wanted to take the fight to the enemy, so they really liked her.
She wasn't a Knight so Erogoth and other kingdoms liked that.
She's a really likable person. 😊
One of the major themes of Dragonlance is that nothing bad can come from love.
She left the Army, which is horrible and selfish at first glance, but it set things in motion for Tanis to destroy Lord Arkerios, The baddest Dragon HighLord.
Great point in that the Dark Queen and Lady thought they had the war on lock when they had the Golden General!
TH-cam algorithm wins again, first time viewer. I like your narration! Time to learn about DragonLance!
Welcome to the channel, and thank you for watching!
This is a video I have been hoping to see. Now, as to how Shadow of the Dragon Queen fits in, there’s several ideas I have. One is that the events there are in the early spring, with the end of that adventure being before the Blue Wing successfully takes Kalaman by several months.
The option I will go with for my story is moving the conquest of Kalaman and the rest of Hinterlund and Knightlund to autumn of 351, giving six months between the end of Shadows of the Dragon Queen and the invasion by the Blue Wing, since practically it would take longer for such a campaign and to give the dragon armies time to create more flying citadels.
Ultimately though, I suppose any dnd campaign should remain disconnected from the books, since in the end, players make the story and the world they want to play in.
Yea they really have to be disconnected.
At session zero you can find out if the players have read the books.
Very very doubtful nowadays.
If someone has read the books, you can still honor the books by having a campaign in another location.
I'm going to change things up.
I'm going to make it seem like it's a blitzkrieg.
Things happens must faster.
The Dragon Queen has a series of portals she uses to transport thousands of personnel.
She uses ships over years to transport personnel to regions where they lay hidden.
She ues strong magic to prevent the Mages in the Tower of High Scorcery from knowing stuff.
She spends decades assissanting the right people and running the reputation of political figures.
And bam!
Everything happens at one time.
So not years, but months. Everything happens 12 tikes faster.
The Dragon Armies don't spend much time in Silvensti, because Lorac activates the Dragon Orb earlier.
Almost a perfect plan if not for the Master of the Past and Present.
.
I've been trying to parse where it would be myself. Couldn't be before part 2 of Dragons of Winter Night, with Lord Soth not having joined the war until after the Lost Chronicles book 2...
The question is sorta off and clicky. In the end it was everyone that made it happen. Sorta seem to recall that a certain mage called Fisban did a lot to keep hope alive before hand. Tanis and Berm both put a end to the return of the Goddess. Strum reinvigorated the knights and his death altered Kitara’s plans. Yea the golden general helped (most particularly because she told the good dragons to work together and the evils ones couldn’t. It is a group thing. Everyone doing a part to make the magic happen.
Great points!
Love your content. Thank you so much
You are so welcome!
Good Dragonlance information! Your videos are great and I've watched almost all of them.
Wow, thank you very much!
One of these days I hope you get around to doing a video about plot elements left out of the novels and maybe alternative endings to the cannon. Thank you for another great video Adam.
I could do that… eventually:)
Bucket list :)
Great video my friend!
Thank you very much
I remember quite a few computer games based on War of the Lance, including a board game featuring the Dragon riders of both metallic and chromatic dragons. Dragons of Flame being the first introduction to the Dragonlance series. I think it was based on the novel of Dragons of Autumn Twilight, since Sturm didn't die yet. I started getting into D&D shortly after that first game.
DragonStrike is a great game! The Nintendo version was not so much. All the old Gold box and Silver box PD games are available on Steam and GOG, including DragonStrike.
This was epic! Great vid. I was obsessed with the War of The Lance war simulation video game as I've mentioned way too many times because I'm annoying. But this makes me want to play that again! I'm interested to see how the Shadow of the Dragon Queen boardgame looks too. Do you think you'll incorporate that in your live play campaign eventually? Or maybe down the road as a separate video? Thanks again!
I am going to incorporate it. If it arrives in time.
Excellent work!
Thanks!
Thank you for watching!
The Golden General was as Laurana said herself, a firgurehead for the forces to rally behind. In addition that she herself was one of the ppl responsible for the re-emergence of the dragonlance, yes she shpuld definitely be given some credit.
Thanks for watching!
The Golden General was more than just a figurehead though as she also devised the battle plans that led the Whitestone forces to so many victories in the Vingaard Campaign.
Great write up.
The pendulum did swing back after the Cataclysm!
Sadly the Knights of the Rose, the Champions of Ansalon, who got their Wisdom from Paladine failed to put the Kingpriest in check.
Lord Soth was reminded by the Elven banshees every night for 360+ years.
I think even when the Dark Lady commanding him to do her bidding, he has to go sit on the throne and listen to their song.
Soth is tormented nightly.
I LOVED watching this! What comic book is featured in the backgrounds?? I'd like to find and buy it
There are the Dragonlance Saga comics and Dragonlance Chronicles comics.
@@DLSaga thank you!!
@@lancedolan
DC Comics produced comics for the Forgotten Realms, Spell Jammer, & Dragonlance settings.
I'm not too happy with the timeline.
If it all happens within months, then that would be fine.
But it happened over years.
Kalamin was just west of the war and never new anything? It's a massive harbor, and trading post. No Rangers could stroll into town and start chatting about the Dragon Armies to the East.
The Mages in the Tower of High Scorcery just didn't really give a darn about telling the continent, but then again they did their job by forging Raistlin who stopped the Queen from entering the material plane, so I guess they are fine. 😅
I get Solace and Taris not being prepared.
One good thing about it being over years is that it makes for lots of potential adventures.
So that is a plus.
Yea, but you can alter the timeline to fit your game needs.
I think the good dragons were the epitome of gullible. They agreed to make a promise to chaotic and evil aligned beings knowing full well that no way that the other parties could or would hold up their end of the deal. Maybe the lawful evil parties sure as even being evil they are still bound by contracts but the chaotic and neutral forces it would be completely against their nature to honor any agreement.
It’s always a situation where ‘if you don’t think about it, it makes perfect sense’.
@@DLSaga yeah it’s like the metallic dragons were Neville chamberlain and the chromatically were the Germans.
It was an hostage situation of, "If I don't do X, Z is guaranteed to happen, but if I do X, Z may not necessarily happen." & the lives of unborn children were on the line. What parent wouldn't seek to delay the harm of their children?
@@19Pyrus70 Bahamut/paladine knew what was going on, he was trying to placate Takisis like the damn british did with ol Adolf. I mean besides it being completely stupid, how else would we get the novels.
@@chrisg2739
The way the situation was originally portrayed, the good dragons were sleeping when Takhisis had the eggs stolen & that no one knew (but some dragons suspected) Takhisis broke her promise until the draconians started appearing.
Similarly, when Takhisis "stole" the world in Dragons of Summer Flame, not even the other Gods noticed that it was Takhisis that moved Krynn's location or even knew where it was (even though the star of Reorx could apparently still be seen in Krynn's sky) until that novel where the Gods & everyone on Krynn were summoned to Godshome for Takhisis' trial.
How did they manage to steal the eggs of the good dragons?
I have a video on creating draconians. It goes into it there.
@@DLSaga Great! Thank you! Lots to catch up with. Thanks for the content
What is the music you using in this video?
It's a TH-cam music selection.
Is it true the gods dropped the mountain on Istar because Istar thought they were better than the Gods? I thought in the creation myth, the good gods knew that mortals could be better than the Gods. I'm sure I'm missing something.
It is true that the Kingpriest believed he was equal to the gods and after many signs and warnings, including true clerics being rescued from Krynn, the gods dropped a mountain on the world.
@@DLSaga thank you for the reply. I love your videos. Hearing the timeline while seeing the map was very helpful.
@@Mike-hj6mv
The first book of Legends does a great job of explaining this.
@@Mike-hj6mv
The basics behind the Cataclysm:
1. The Kingpriest was too "good" for his own good: He came to believe he had enough power from the gods to make the whole world good & make evil non-existent & failed to notice the evils that his intentions & arrogance were enabling.
2. The Elves intended to use the Kingpriest's trust in them to order the world to their liking, with humans being their willing servants; evil races being killed off; & the sub-races "gently" eased into dying out.