All times are in years after the fall of the Seleucarian Empire (AF).

5th of Sarapin, 191 AF:

Achaea is still in flux from the recent appearance of Eris, Goddess of Chaos, and Gaia, the Earthmother. Rumours abound that Haidion, the Wanderer, may have finally located the long-lost racial home of the Tsol'aa race, and that there is still a civilization there. Since the discovery of the Azdun complex by Azhrarn, many have attempted to rid the world of the fell Lachesis, the Spider Queen, but all have fallen before her might.

Cercamon is the Secretary of the Sentaari, and they have no guildmaster. Grandmaster Morpheus is the Secretary of the Kharon but they too, have no guildmaster. With Galadriel's recent demise, the Druids have no secretary, but Lord Buckthorn reigns as the Druid guildmaster, titled the Lord of Nature. Gawain has recently attained the guildmaster rank in the Templars, titled Grand Champion of the Innocent, while Sir Agamemnon is the secretary of that guild. Alanna, Queen of the Desert is the secretary of the Serpentlords, but they have no guildmaster. Luthius, Prince of Decay, is the secretary of the Occultists guild, but with Servelan's recent Ascension, there are none that have attained the rank of guildmaster in the Occultists. Father Odysseus is the guild secretary for the Priests and they too, have no guildmaster.

23rd of Lupar, 218 AF:

Achaea is in turmoil, dominated by a war between Ashtan and Shallam over Church placement of shrines in territory that Ashtan calls its own, as well as in Ashtan itself. Strange sightings of undead have been sighted far to the northeast, well away from the only previously known source of undead: Azdun.

The city-state of Ashtan is led primarily by Nimos, Mordyval, and Mausolus, with Morlana playing a supporting role as a relative pacifist. The fifth Archon, Changcoix, is often absent and his authority and ability to competently perform his job has been questioned much of late. Ashtan seems to have a mission, and that mission is domination.

Shallam, as a city-state, is much less organized than Ashtan at the moment, as its Viziers are not as active as they could be. The Viziers of Shallam are Isildur, Agamemnon, Elsdragon, Mical, and Treant. Shallam is starting to organize itself, defensively at least, but has a long road ahead of it. The Viziers rarely communicate, and seem to act individually rather than as a unit.

The Sentaari monks are led by Grandmaster Elsdragon, who recently, with the aid of Daedalus, moved the guild from the mouth of the Zaphar river to inside the walls of Shallam. Treant leads the Sentinels, but has been rather ineffective lately. Though Grandmaster Mesmer is guildmaster of the Kharon monks, Gijan and Laergon seem to be the dominant forces within them. Though the Druids have recently been through a period of turmoil in its leadership, Charnley seems to have stabilized things for now, at least, and may grow into a strong leader. Isildur has recently regained leadership of the Templars, and has vowed to give them a more militaristic bent. Darthus leads the Serpentlords, though as a guild, the Serpentlords seem to have no goals except the freedom for their members to do as they wish. This is best illustrated by the fact that Darthus supports Shallam in the war, while his guild secretary, Angelo, supports Ashtan. Mordyval leads the Occultists, despite challenges from Mausolus. Topaz is guildmistress of the Priests, and seems to encourage them to stay in the background as healers. Finally, Nimos leads the Shadowsnakes, who are located in Ashtan, and support Ashtan in political matters.

5th of Lupar, 240 AF:

Achaea is currently in a rare period of peace, following the end of the Death's Heart saga (see the chronological history starting at the year 240 AF). Regardless, tensions pervade. The Council of Oakstone worries about Hashan's discussions regarding occupying the forest around their city. The Serpentlords and Shadowsnakes are at odds over the selling of illegal venoms, and religious tensions between the followers of the various Gods always threaten to disrupt internal guild or city unity.

Currently, the Sentaari are led by Mical Selvaetiim, and patroned by Daedalus. They seem unable to find their place, and though Mical would like to sever relations with Shallam, following Maran, Sultan of Shallam's, decision that all guilds residing within Shallam and thus being protected by Shallam be bound to Shallam by treaty, the guild as a whole has indicated no mandate to sever relations. The Sentinels have largely broken their vow of loyalty to Shallam and moved to Hashan. They are led by Blackleaf and patroned by Vastar. The Kharon have moved from Ashtan to Hashan and Element now leads them. Lupus is their patron. The Druids had finally found a strong leader in Sog, but the pressures of office caused him to soon step down. Mandrake, a well-respected Druid, has replaced him, and of course, Gaia is their patron. Zaklin has recently replaced an inactive Pierce as guildmaster of the Paladins, and Aurora still patrons them. Likewise, she is patron of the Priests, which has been led by Maran for some time. The Serpentlords are led by Elentari and patroned by Twilight while the Shadowsnakes are led by Misral and patroned by Eris. The new Infernals guild is led by Sinistar and newly patroned by Aegis, but so far has been unable to fulfill its threat or promise of domination over the (in their view) weak people of the light. The Occultists are led by Morlana and patroned by Eris.

Perhaps the most capable leader of a city-state currently is Elentari, the Seneschal of Hashan. Her constitution for Hashan, called the Canon, is widely regarded by the intelligensia as the finest document of its kind yet written. It was Hashan, under Elentari's leadership, that began the trend of formally binding guilds to cities. Elentari is assisted in her management of Hashan by the other Regents, Blackleaf, Drakul, Othello Amara, and Frogg Kaer-Leigh, who is probably the most financially successful individual in Achaea currently, and seems intent on driving Rurin the Crafter out of business. Twilight, the patron of Hashan, is an active part of its government, often guiding it personally through its governors. Hashan is probably the best organized of the city-states.

Ashtan rejoiced recently with the return of its former patron Eris, and the Overseer, Napoloen, immediately replaced Lupus with Eris as patron. Napoloen is assisted in his leadership by Mistral Blue, Malaclypse Thorn, Skarash, and Irontounge Diamante. Without question, Ashtan remains the most aggressive of the three city-states, as is fitting considering that the three guilds which call Ashtan home are perhaps the three darkest guilds in Achaea. Ashtan currently is under a bit of a seige mentality due to the power of convocation wielded by the Church.

Shallam is led by its Sultan, Maran and patroned by Aurora, though she appears to be less involved in the government than Eris or Twilight are with their cities. Maran is assisted by Zaklin, Echo l'Altro di Rienzi, Willin Askani, and Cardinal Thalen. Shallam suffers from internal strife that Maran has been unable to solve. The Sentaari often refuse to involve themselves with city matters, and often feel marginalized by the Church, whom the Sentaari have a difficult time seeing as citizens as well as members of a guild that is involved with the Church. For Shallam to survive another war, it will need to unify itself internally, a goal towards which Maran appears to be steadily working.

In other matters, the Council of Oakstone is, of course, patroned by Gaia, and its Hierophants are Mandrake Diamante, Mysti, Galdrion Longshanks, WarMaster, and Pinth Vandras. Oakstone worries about Hashan's potential occupation of the forest, and preserving the plantlife in the land from those who would overharvest its bounty for personal profit.

In terms of experience, no one has yet reached the highest level attainable (80), or level 79, though 4 have reached the level of Transmortal (78): Mical Selvaetiim, who is currently ranked #1, Perseon Longshanks, and Naiad.

In the future, this historian expects to see the further solidification of the legal codes in city-states, and further, that once the recently returned Lorielan and Aegis have attracted more followers, there will be intensified competition among the various religious orders for control of the various guilds and city-states. I would also expect that when the cities begin to another phase of military expansion, Oakstone will assert its control over the forest considerably more strenuously than previously.