History of Haven

Haven -> General

Travel into and out of Haven has always been ‘funny’ . . .

First Wave - The Gnomes

08/30/1491 DR

Haven is accidentally discovered by an anonymous gnomish wizard. When he tried to return home he instead brought his entire gnomish community of 131 individuals to Haven. After that, they found it impossible to leave. Attempts at creating a gate or portal repeatedly failed. Those attempting to plane shift were never heard from again. After a few months, they started having some successes, but the gates would open up to random, uninhabitable worlds. At this point, a very hard winter was setting in.

Second Wave - The Danarians

01/10/1492 DR

What food stuffs the gnomes gathered in the fall were running out. Gnomes aren’t considered the best hunters and their efforts here were less than encouraging. At this time the gnomes managed to open a portal to the fabled city of Danar, or at least what was left of it. Danar was a powerful, walled metropolis on the Sword Coast when the Spellplague began. The city vanished overnight. What was not known was that a rift opened up that transported the entire city of Danar to Avernus, the first level of Hell. Hell was having its own share of problems during the Spellplague and the weight of Danar caused a section of Avernus to collapse, crashing through Dis and landing in ruins in Minauros, the third level of Hell where any sort of gate travel was impossible. Of the 4,600 residents, an estimated 800 survived the trip and more than a century later a little over 300 of their descendants remained when the gnomes found them. There was a quick debate as to which location would give the best chance of survival. Despite the problems with Haven, the alternative was, quite literally, Hell. A battle ensued for control of the gate as a significant portion of Hell’s population descended on Danar, but almost everyone made it through before the gate closed. The winter continued to deepen. The death toll that first winter was high, but would have been much worse had it not been for the Danarians, who brought with them quite considerable survival skills.

The First Spring

03/21/1492 DR

In all, 146 people died that winter and no winter since has been nearly that severe. Spring had begun. Hunting was becoming fruitful, as was foraging. The gnomish and Danarian mages were starting to understand a little of Haven’s strange planar travel problem. At the urging of many of the Danarians, the settlement began building the first wall around the settlement. More than that, they were building a home, a home paid for in the lives of so many of their loved ones. The name they chose for this place, Haven, was what the Danarians had been calling it since their arrival.

Third Wave - The Adventurers

07/16/1493 DR

The wizards of Haven finally discovered a way to compensate for the erratic effects Haven has on planar travel. Their first stop was the gnomish population’s original community, only to find it taken over by others: an odd assortment of sylvan creatures with hardly a gnome among them. All of their possessions were gone. The only home they had to go back to now was Haven. Their next stop was the Waterdeep marketplace. When the gnomes were first transported to Haven, they had only what was on them at the time. Gnomes are ingenious, but still there are limits to what you can do with sticks, stones, and spiderwebs. The Danarians had only a short time during the Evacuation, but brought what they could. They mostly worked with iron, steel, and leather, crafts the gnomes took up with some trepidation so the markets at Waterdeep represented an incredible opportunity. The gnomes, with wide-eyed and bewildered Danarians in tow, fanned out through the various shops and stands in search of things they had been so long without, such as brass and the tools to work it, tools for carpentry, weaving supplies, and items for general tinkering. The gnomes didn’t have much money, but the Danarians brought some gold with them from Hell and were shrewd negotiators. While gnomes tend to be tight lipped around strangers, Danarians talk. It wasn’t long before the marketplace was filled with stories of a strange new world, an uninhabited wilderness, a place that could lead to new and inaccessible worlds beyond imagination. Soon people were offering coin, barter, or service to go there. They were all adventurers in a sense, some looking for fame and fortune, others looking for a new life. This group included among them adventurers like Thoradin Kolar, Simon Hallmar and wizards like Hendor Holbart, Cassandra, and Mykazhin Longreen.

The Tearing of Haven

05/31/1495 DR

The population of Haven rose dramatically. The wooden, pallisade wall was taken down and used in other buildings. A stone wall was erected, expanding the size of the settlement. This is when most of the current buildings were constructed. Hendor Holbart constructed a wizarding tower near the top of a lone mountain three days south of Haven. At the peak he built a teleportation circle to test out his latest theories on the causes of and potential solutions to Haven’s planar travel problem. No one remaining in Haven knows exactly what happened next. There was a light from the south that temporarily blinded many in Haven and a roar like all the thunder throughout time erupting at once. The ground shook, some buildings and parts of the new wall collapsed. Many were killed or injured. Nowadays, all that is left of the wizarding tower is a deep lake the locals called Mt. Holbart. Over the years, the rivers that now run into it have populated it with a number of fish species. There’s been talk of building a fishing village there, but since nobody knows where the mountain went and when or if it’ll ever return the idea’s never gotten much traction. The effects on the demiplane of Haven were severe. Rifts would open up, swallowing people, never to be seen again. Others were dropped in from various other worlds. There is a sinkhole that somehow opened up into the Underdark. The self-appointed Mages’ Triumvirate announced temporary restrictions on much of the use of magic as they endeavored to repair some of the damage. Some suspect that things were released into Haven that never should have been.

The Present

06/18/1497 DR

Major planar travel is still heavily restricted but most of the restrictions on magic have been lifted. Random rifts are still occurring, but at a drastically reduced rate. One odd phenomenon reported by some who’ve been taken is that after spending weeks or months on this other world, a rift will open up, seemingly to come after them. Even if they try to avoid it, the rift manages to swallow them up and deposit them back in Haven. No one has been able to explain this. Otherwise, life is slowly returning to normal for the settlement of Haven.

Whatever normal is.