Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, this region is the scenario for the Transylvania Chronicles, and therefore, some of the major events of the World of Darkness.
History[]
Prelude to the Transylvania Chronicles[]
271: Emperor Aurelian withdraws Roman troops from Dacia.
896: Magyar tribes conquer the Carpathian Basin. The gyula's tribe occupies the area that will one day be Transylvania. Soon, the territory becomes part of a system to defend against threats from the east. The Pecheneg tribes are the most immediate threat.
997 - 1038: István I rules as the King of Hungary. Transylvania is recognized as part of Hungary. With the support of the Roman Catholic Church, he helps spread Western feudalism and imposes Christianity on the inhabitants of Hungary.
1022: Goratrix of House Tremere discovers a method of inducing immortality through ingesting vampiric blood. Tremere and seven followers become Cainites.
1128: The Order of the Templars is recognized by the Pope.
Mid-12th Century: Tremere begin changing select mages of House Tremere into vampyrs; the Tremere create the first Gargoyles.
1133: Tremere diablerizes Saulot; Tremere begins falling in and out of torpor. His seven personally chosen councilors, all bound to him by Blood Oath, spread throughout the known world.
1141: Géza II encourages Saxons to colonize Transylvania. The term "Saxon" is a generic name for German settlers, including peoples from Flanders, Luxembourg, and Moselle. Their first colonies are in the Sebeș basin and Olt and Hirtbalu valleys. Later, they colonize Bistrița.
1150: Árpád Ventrue create the Council of Ashes and formally recognize seven domains in Transylvania with seven princes to rule them.
- The Kingdom of Hungary grants Saxon peasants hereditary titles in exchange for financial obligations. In many areas, the political leader of a village is given the title of Count and gets a larger plot of land.
- The Szeklers, an ethnically mixed Turkic race, fight in the vanguard of Hungarian armies entering Transylvania. Later, they become the nobility in the feudal system of eastern Hungary.
1190: The Order of German Hospitalers, an offshoot of the Templars, is founded. In 1198, the society is transformed into the Teutonic Order.
1197: Nova Árpád is captured; Ruxandra of Clan Nosferatu takes her place. Within a year, however, Nova is freed by an opportunistic coterie.
Through Transylvania Chronicles I: Dark Tides Rising[]
Several Cainites are summoned to Buda-Pest by their sires, and instructed to scout out the territory surrounding Tihuţa Pass. By winter, a fortress is erected there.
1204: Fall of Constantinople.
1205: Pope Innocent III instigates the Fourth Crusade, rooting out heretic Cathars in the Languedoc. It turns into a full-blown Inquisition.
- Goratrix, responsible for France, is angered by Church intrusions. He begins infiltrating the Church.
1206 - 1227: Genghis Khan becomes chief prince of the Mongols.
1211: Teutonic Knights are brought by Andreas II to defend the southern borders of Hungary from the Cumans. They help expand the Christian feudal system and continue to spread into Transylvania.
- Teutonic Knights inhabit and develop Bran Castle. A cabal of knights inhabit a tower in the Tihuţa Pass with a slightly different agenda.
1223: Mongols invade Russia and begin their forays into Eastern Europe.
1225: Teutonic Knights are expelled from the Transylvanian region when they attempt to establish a state within a state. By then, the construction of Bran Castle is finished.
1241: Mongols invade Transylvania using the Tihuța Pass as their primary invasion route. Hungary regains control of these territories within a year, but by this time King Béla IV loses control over much of his land.
- The Tihuța Pass Cask is overrun by the Mongol horde.
1247 - 1291: Szeklers repopulate the Aranyos area; Saxons repopulate the area around Mediaș.
1252: The Inquisition begins using torture.
1260: Constantinople recovered from the Normans.
1283: Teutonic Order completes subjection of Prussia.
1284 - 1285: Mongols invade Transylvania again.
1288: Transylvanian nobles form their own legislature (or diet) in Cluj-Napoca. Note that before this time, much of Transylvanian justice had been maintained by the "wise old men" of the villages. Many serfs and peasants continue to think their own laws are more valid than the rulings of the diet...
- By this time, the formation of guilds has a strong effect on the Transylvanian economy. Guilds allow merchants to set consistent prices, communicate trade secrets, and raise quality standards. Money, another gradual development, becomes a more common substitute for barter.
- After the formation of the Diet of Transylvanian nobles, feudal lords demand increased crop yields from the local serfs. When these quotas are not met, many Szekler lords seize the debtors' lands and redistribute them. Some impoverished serfs either flee the country or become outlaws.
1291: Mamelukes conquer Acre. End of the Crusades. The Holy Land is lost.
1291: At a meeting in Alba Iulia, Andrew Ill allows Vlachs to attend. Hungarian nobles, Saxons, and Szeklers are also present. Many peasants consider this promising.
1301: Andrew III, the last king of the Árpád line, dies.
• In early 14th-century Transylvania, landowning boyars begin renting their lands to peasants.
Friday, Oct. 13, 1307: Templars of France are arrested on the order of Philip the Fair, King of France. Within the next few years, Templars are tortured and tried for heresy.
- According to some legends, 33 Templars escape. Their famed treasure is smuggled out of France, most of it going to Scotland; some is taken east.
1312: Templar Order banned and dissolved.
- Two ships (also unaccounted fur) containing vast wealth set sail, presumably with survivors or agents of the Templars seeking refuge in other lands. Numerous splinter groups are formed, explaining why the Ventrue, Nosferatu, and other unseen masters all control the Templars at the same time.
1314: Jacques de Molay, supposed last grand master of the Templars, is burned at the stake in Paris for alleged heresy; King Philip IV of France and Pope Clement die within the year.
1330: Prince Bassarab defeats the Hungarians and establishes Wallachia. It becomes a land of refuge for the Vlachs.
1348 - 1349: Plague sweeps through Transylvania and the Hungarian Kingdom.
1349: Bogdan establishes a new state along the Moldava River. Within a decade, it becomes the sovereign state of Moldavia. The princes of the nation are meant to be elected by a council of boyars and clergy. Fierce struggles for such positions eventually make the area vulnerable to invasion.
- The Eastern Lord Ventrue vainly try to set up a number of Saxon princes as part of another council. Many are killed; some are eaten; all are abused.
• Noriz, the Corrupter of Legions, sends his progeny to Moldavia to maneuver for position in the Reclamationist struggles.
1366: Louis I begins an effort to convert the Romanian Vlachs to Roman Catholicism.
1381: Peasants revolt in England under Wat Tyler.
1382: Turks capture Sofia.
1385: Târgoviște becomes the capital of Wallachia.
1387: Turks clash with Serbs at the Battle of Kosovo. This is a major turning point in the Ottoman Empire's invasion of the Balkans.
1391: The Turks cross the Danube into Wallachia. Mircea the Old allies with the king of Hungary to repel the invaders.
1393: Bajazet, the Emir of Turks, subdues Bulgaria.
1394: Pre-Camarilla, the first inter-clan meeting occurs to deal with Anarchs.
1395: Tyler's attack against Hardestadt of Clan Ventrue begins the Anarch Revolt.
1405: The Lasombra Antediluvian dies at the hands of his childe.
1412: Joan of Arc is born.
1417: Mircea signs a peace treaty with the Turks, allowing for Wallachian independence. Eastern Orthodoxy is formally accepted as the state religion. The ruler must pay a tribute of money and goods each year to the Ottoman Sultan.
1418: Mircea the Old, grandfather of Vlad Țepeș, dies after a 32-year rule. He is historically noted for having adding the duchies of Amlaș and Făgăraș, building up fortifications along the Carpathian foothills, and calling for the construction of the fortress of Giurgiu on the Danube border to repel the Turks.
- Two noble lines struggle for control of Wallachia. The Danesti line – that is, the descendants of Dan II – has the support of Sigismund I, the Holy Roman Empire. The Draculesti line – that is, the descendants of Vlad II – is its fiercest rival. Vlad II has two illegitimate sons, Radu and Vlad (who will later be known as Vlad the Impaler).
1420: Ottoman Turks successfully attack Transylvania
- Anarch movement gains ground. The Vinculum comes into common use.
1431: Vlad II is living in Nümberg. The Hungarian king chooses him to take the throne of Wallachia. He is summarily "elected" by anti-Danesti boyars (with the covert help of Traditionalist Tzimisce) and invested as a Draconist in the Order of the Dragon.
1431: Joan of Arc burned at the stake at Rouen; Vlad II's son, Vlad Dracula, is born.
1435 - 1437: These revolts lead to the formation of the Union of Three Nations. Magyars, Szeklers, and Saxons then crush the rebellion (with one swift stroke). The Union declares that these three races are the only ones with recognizable privileges.
- After the rebellion, the overlords demand serfs to work one day a week for their feudal lord without compensation. If tools or animals are required for this work, the lower classes have to use their own. At harvest time, the serfs are forced into six days of uncompensated work a week.
- In the wake of the rebellion, Romanians are barred from holding public service, holding public office, or living in Saxon or Magyar towns.
The 15th century[]
1441: János Hunyadi assumes the title of voivode of Transylvania. He then goes on to defeat the Turks at Alba Iulia and Hermannstadt.
1443: János Hunyadi, Hungarian national hero, defeats Turks at Nish.
1446: Hunyadi elected regent of Hungary.
1448: Vlad Dracula, a member of the Basarab dynasty, occupies Târgoviște and occupies the throne of Wallachia.
1453: Turks capture Constantinople.
- In a very different society, several powerful mages meet a the ruins of the Covenant of Mistridge in Southern France. The Nine Traditions are established.
1456: János Hunyadi dies after repelling Turks at Belgrade.
1458: Matthias Corvinus, son of Hunyadi, becomes king of Hungary.
- The Malleus Maleficrum is distributed and the Inquisition reinvigorated.
1486: First global convocation of the Camarilla meets.
Oct. 23, 1493: The Convention of Thorns ends the Anarch Revolt; a Tremere ritual prevents Assamites from continuing to diablerize Cainites.
- The Cainites attending the Council of Thorns refer to themselves us the Kindred for the first time.
Geography[]
Map of Transylvania (Dark Ages)
Cities of Transylvania:
12th c. Saxon name (12th c. Romanian name)
- Bistritz (Bistrița). Ruled by Radu (Tzimisce).
- Kronštádt (Brașov)
- Klausenburg (Napoca). Ruled by Mitru (Gangrel).
- Mediasch (Mediaș). Ruled by Nova Arpad (Ventrue) until 1420 CE, though some of the time it is secretly ruled by Marusca's childe Ruxandra impersonating her.
- Mühlbach (Sebeș)
- Hermannstadt (Sibiu). Ruled by Marusca (Nosferatu), childe of Zelios until 1349 CE when she is replaced by Otto the Just (Ventrue).
- Schaäsburg (Sighișoara)
- Bălgrad (Alba Iulia). Nominally ruled by Dragomir Basarab (Tzimisce).