Overview of The Darkest Days

This is the onset of the Darkest Age. Having reached unimaginable heights of culture with the aid of magic and with the help of beings from beyond this world, humanity has unwittingly unleashed powerful enemies into our midst. Monsters that once lived in the remotest lands and which never dared show themselves by day have come forth from the darkest reaches of the underworld by the legion. The Holy Roman Empire, and the papacy that supported it, have become a tool for monstrous oppression. Humanity's faerie allies, having resisted the hellequin onslaught for as long as they could, have now withdrawn to their old hiding places and distant lands. Unlicensed magic has been outlawed by the Empire and the subjugated Church. Those who practice it must do so in secret, or risk being exposed, tortured for information, and brutally executed. The following chronology lists major events leading to the end of the Eldritch Flowering and the beginning of the Darkest age.

History of the Darkest Days
Year Event
940 On Perchtanacht, December 21, monsters were seen riding through the sky in the regions of Bavaria and Swabia.
For the next twelve nights, hellish monsters attacked men, fey, and livestock, burned crops, and stole women and children.
979 Holy Roman Emperor Otto II defeats the half-Fey French king Louis and claims the French throne. He institutes church reforms that ban the use of magic to all but licensed agents of the Holy Roman Empire. Jews and all persons with Fey ancestry or association become outlaws, losing protection of both the law and the Church, and are tortured and executed on a large scale. Rumors circulate that Otto II is himself some sort of half-fey shapeshifter.
980 At Christmas, Otto II crosses the Alps and is crowned with the Iron Crown of the Lombards, gaining sovereignty over the Kingdom of Italy and its subjects.
982 Otto, in his war against the Byzantine rulers of southern Italy, enlists the aid of a fearsome band of Lizard Men, thought to have been killed off long ago by Lombard warriors. The lizard men are held back by Saracens from Pagania and Malta. It is rumored that the Byzantines are in league with dragons, also long thought to be extinct, the last one having been killed by Saint George at the beginning of the fourth century.
983 Thinking their Emperor dead, Otto's troops bury him in Rome. However, he proves that he is far from dead by returning the next night to his feast hall, executing all his generals, and eating the entire funeral feast himself.
989 The Holy See is moved from Rome to Cologne. The Eastern Patriarch declares the papacy to be under his jurisdiction. A bitter, protracted war breaks out between the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire.