How do You Feel About Retcons?

[khyron1144]

I was working a bit on Terra recently, trying to shape it for another audience, for one thing, and this occurred to me:

Revised Early History of Terra

There was a time when all of Terra belonged to Dragons, Jotuns, Goblinoids, Beastmen, Dwarves, and Gnomes.  The Chromatic Dragons organized the Goblinoids and Evil Beastmen and Jotuns into the Dragon Empires that ruled Terra.  Scholars and historians claim this was over a hundred-thousand years ago, but this figure is much debated.  Then, Men and Elves came to Terra in sailing ships across the Great Eastern Sea.

The Elves claim that they arrived first and significantly disrupted the Dragon Empires.  Humans dispute this.

There were among the Humans arriving in Terra, two major peoples.  One came from the Northern Homelands and settled Northern Terra; these people worshiped the Aesir and Vanir and came to ally with the Dwarves and quarrel with the Jotuns.  The other people came from the Southern Homelands and settled Central Terra; these Men worshiped the Olympian Gods and befriended the Elves and destroyed the last remnants of the Dragon Empires.

The Goblinoids and Evil Beastmen scattered without the leadership of their Dragon Emperors.  Flint I of the Humans received the Artifacts of Rulership and married the Lady of Emeralds.

As a replacement for the earlier parts of this already existing timeline:

More Ancient History
Approximately 100,000 years ago
The first great empire in the known regions of Tera was that of the dragons and their scaley kin.

Approximately 85,000 years ago
The dragons were too divided among themselves and complacent to hang onto their empire when the elves invaded from across the Eastern Sea.

Approximately 80,000 years ago
Humans were the next race to invade.  The elves fought back hard, but had  an additional problem when a faction of their own race turned to worshipping dark powers including Lolth the Spider Queen.  Eventually the elves and humans came to an agreement to drive the newly christened Svartaelfs into the Dwarven Mountains.

The Good Aelfs and the humans agreed to split the known lands of Tera Nova.


Approximately 70,000 Years ago
A planar portal opened spilling the Horde of the Great Halfling Khan onto the broad fields claimed by The Teran Empire.  Another war breaks out and then a peace is brokered allowing the Halflings to settle.

Approximately 60,000 Years Ago
The First Dark Age begins.
It starts with the Terror of Yeenoghu's Chosen as the arrival of the gnolls and flinds comes to be known.

Next comes the Northward march of the Goblinoid races from their distant southern home.

Next the Giants or Jotuns march south from their lands in the north.

Just when the situation seems to have hit bottom, the Hell Armies of Demons and Devils arrive from their home plane.

Finally the Gods war among themsleves again.

Some of these situations are resolved fairly quickly, but their coming so quickly upon each other (some possibly within the same decade, and all definitely in the same century) causes a certain amount of technological and magical progress to be lost.  Not to mention the uncertainty of safety caused by having goblinoids and gnolls all in such close proximity to the civilized lands.

As things go downhill, The Ragnarock Prophecy is given.


Approximately 30,000 Years ago
The First Dark Age ends when the Gods bestow on the mortal races the Artifacts of Rulership.  The basic racially-based divisions of territory are established and The First Alliance is created.

Flint I of the Humans receives The Axe of Might, The Crown of Emperors, and Throne of Rulership (humans are big on useless symbols, but nothing says rulership like a big, heavy battle axe and the will to use it).

Hurn Ironhands, a dwarf, receives The Hammer of Might, Helm of The Dwarf Kings, and Mail of the Great Warchief (dwarves are a practical people and believe that headgear should be functional.  A dwarf king is as apt to sit on a bar stool as a throne, depending on what's available at the time.)

Jordan the Wheelright, a halfling, receives The Daisho of Greatness, The Helm of the Khans, and Thunderhooves, a magic war pony (45,000 years in Known Tera have done starnge things to the halfling race.  Once they were a warrior Horde born to the saddle, now they are mostly farmers.  They still have the best cavalry of any nation, however.)

Shining Leaves, an elf, receives The Bow and Quiver of Excellence, Cloak of the Forest Born, and The Tome of Great Magics (Elves prize archery and magical ability.)

27,000 Years Ago
In reaction to the peace and stability the humans and demihumans now have, the Shadow Pantheon creates its own alliance of mortal champions and servitors (with the exception of Yeenoghu and Lucifer; both get lumped in with the Shadow Pantheon because of their common history in The Fall, however both have different aims than the rest of the Shadow Gods; Yeenoghu wants to kill all the other Gods; Lucifer wants to try and lead the world away from power and influence, including the power and influence of the Gods).

Hasan the Slayer, a human assassin, receives Old Man's Blade and The Black Armor (perfect tools for an assassin).

Martin Shadowen, a human shadow mage, receives The Shadow Book and Staff of The Shadow Wizards (his subsequent actions in the northern lands may account for some of the superstitious dread barbarians have of wizardly magic).

Kruk, an exceptional hob-goblin, recieved the Short Sword of Might, The Armor of Glory, and The War Drums of the Great War Chief (Hobgoblins respect functionality as much as dwarves do and war drums are the only way to get the lesser goblinoids all marching in the same direction at once).

In secret, Yeenoghu delivers to his champion, an unnamed Flind, The Flind Bar of Might, The Cape of Yeenoghu's Chosen, and Bonechewer, a most exceptional Hyenadon (Because of Yeenoghu's madness, gnolls and flinds are fanatical montheists who hate all other sentient races).

Lucifer, Ssendam, and Ygorl secretly collaborate on The Cosmic Joke, a unique spell/ disease/ non-corporeal entity that can accomplish much with the right corporeal host, yet which is not under anyone's control, particularly not the entities that created it; They believe that to be part of the punchline.

25,00 Years Ago
The Age of the Great Artificers starts.
Martin the Conjurer creates the Ring of Servants.
Hermes Spacebender creates the Temporal Palace.
After he comes into possession of the Ring of Servants, The Golem Maker creates the staff of servants as a companion piece.

20,000 Years Ago
Second Dark Age Begins.
Shadowen the Lich-King's undead legions march on the Teran Empire.

17,000 Years Ago
Shadowen's armies are driven off by General Iron who has displaced the Flint Emperor and seized the artifacts of rulership.  
The Shadow Book and Staff of the Shadow Wizards are lost but almost definitely not destroyed.
Second Dark Age Ends.

15,000 Years Ago
Arcanum Secession:
Athough it meant a loss of Empire lands and native magical talent, the Iron Emperor allowed it because the lands the wizards wanted included a number of mad wizard's keeps, lich lord's crypts and other udnesirable properties would now be Somebody Else's Problem

10,000 Years Ago
The Second Gnoll War

8,000 Years Ago
The Land of The Northern Barbarians is officially recognized as a political entity seperate form the Empire.  The Iron Emperor recognizes it as a way to make the Jotuns Somebody Else's Problem.

7,000 Years Ago
Draconic Resurgance/ Third Dark Age.
Lasting after-effects include: Therion, Scaleytown, Scaley Common, and the bloodline that leads to Martin Dragonblood.

5,000 Years Ago
Third Dark Age ends.

3,000 Years Ago
Age of Rust.
Iron Emperors become ruthless, decadent, mad, or combinations thereof.  Empire starts losing territory, beginning with unofficial annexation of certain northern villages.

800 Years Ago
Castle Granite is lost to goblinoids.

150 Years Ago
The Sorceress appears and creates a forest for herself in the southern portion of the Empire.
 
100 Years Ago
Manus Iron begins trying to halt rust with what might be called an Age of Polish.  Campaigns extensively against Barbarians, Goblinoids, and Beastlanders.

Appendix: Dwarves: A Race That is Eternal
As far as the Dwarves are concerned they have always ruled the world and their empire has never failed because their world is The Dwarven Mountains.  They have some challenges, yes; mainly fighting the Svartaelfs and thier own dark cousins and the illithid and others who contest their underground realms, but they are still where they were meant to be, in the mountains.


Apendix 2: So What about Gnomes?
Dwarves of both the normal and Duergar variety and Gnomes of regular and Svirfneblin types are probably the only races native to Known Tera.  The gnomes have always just sort of been there.  They haven't really had the urge to establish a kingdom of their own.  They are perfectly content living under the rule of dwarves, humans, halflings, or elves.

First, is the revision change for the better?
Second, does it matter that it actually contradicts/changes previously established ancient history?
Third, if I decide the revised version is officially official for my version of Terra, is it worth preserving the old version as an example of how the world has changed and evolved?

[Seraph]

I would say that if the new version is more satisfying for you, then it is a good change.  Would there be a real need to change anything more recent than the 85,000 mark?  If not, then it's mostly just more detail.  The rest of the original is good.  Name-dropping figures from history gives lots of fodder for legends, artifacts, and potential plot-lines for adventures.

Unless we are dealing with a published setting where certain events and characters are "canon" then I would not say that there is anything wrong with Retconning.  Hell, some PUBLISHED works retcon earlier materials.  I might suggest keeping a note around of an earlier version somewhere, as sometimes I like to go back through discarded materials, finding a nugget that I threw out with the slough.  But I don't think there is necessarily a need to display the old version in a "before and after" sense.

[Elven Doritos]

In my opinion, the only time retconning is really retconning with homebrew settings is when you're running a game and disrupting the established continuity of the game with new information or changed information. Anything else is just editing and revising your content to suit your newer tastes and needs.

[Elemental_Elf]

You should always keep your notes from your initial works post-revision/retcon. Not to display to the general audience but for your own records. The original information may be fresh in your mind today but what about five or six years from now? Some day you'll want to go back to your original vision and desire to be inspired by it. Also, from a commercial standpoint, if you ever monetize your setting, having your original vision preserved can be a cool addition to any box set, or even a product line all its own. Look at what George Lucus is doing, he's turning his original draft of Star Wars into a comic!

[khyron1144]

One thing is that I can see Terra being the sort of lifetime project for me that Middle Earth was for Tolkien.  Saving my old notes, could allow my fans that whole Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, Book of Lost Tales experience.



Not that I am anywhere near Tolkien's level.