Chronology

On this page, we want to try and reconstruct a chronological order of the events in Realms of the Haunting, drawing our information from two main sources, firstly the Timeline which was published in Issue 65 of PC Format Magazine and secondly the Journal of Claude Florentine, while also taking into consideration other documents and objects that reveal something about the game's lore and history.

Please be wary of spoilers.

12,000 BCC

• The Soulstone is cast into Hell and the gate of the Abyss is formed from the Soulstone. The Soulstone creates the power called Abaddon. Abaddon becomes the Keeper of the key to the Abyss (the Shrive) and in his inception the seven Seals of the Gate to the Abyss are bound to time.

3,000 to 300 BC

• Druids use the stones as a place of pagan worship.

1264

• Claude Florentine is born in Lyon, France. The Power of Belial takes form at Florentine's birth.

1294

• Florentine arrives at the stones.

1316

• Initiation of the Temple of the Morning Star. It is their intention to destroy the Seven Seals in order to open the Gate to the Abyss and call upon Satan's power. Thus, the Power of Satan can take a physical form on Earth before the Power of God.

1330

• January 15: Florentine mentions a Gardener who aided one of his acolytes in escaping the Ire in the Tower. According to Belial the Gardeners had perished at the Fall of the Stone.
• January 24/25: Breaking of the first Seal "by word and Power" in the Chamber of the Soulstone which entailed a great fire leading to the destruction of the Temple of the Morning Star.
• January 26: Florentine mentions how he cannot touch the Sword as it burns his hands, neither can Belial.
• January 28/29: The Sword has disappeared from the safeplace where Florentine had put it.
• March 15: Florentine mentions a French Magician from the 13th century who had travelled the Tower.

1336

• The Tower is located by Florentine. The Lesser Power of Galziel [sic] is formed. The first Stone and Seal of Abaddon are broken by the Temple. Florentine removes the Shrive from the Soulstone. The Temple burns to the ground due to traps set in the Seals. Florentine survives with the aid of Belial. The Shrive disappears, taken by Aelf (St. Michael) who divides the two pieces. He deposits the top piece in the Temple under the house and the sword in his keep on the Realm of Arqua. Florentine learns of the Gardeners, the keepers of the Tower and the Seals. The Watchers - Gaul and Hawk - wake as the sword is removed from the Soulstone and begin their separate journeys in quest for the Abyss.

1420

• The second stone and Seal of Abaddon are broken. The Temple burns down once again when the Second Seal is broken. Florentine survives. Florentine and Belial go to Israel to find a device that will halt the fires.
• January 14: Florentine and Belial travel to Plymouth where they intend to set off to Israel on a merchant ship; mentions of the old Templar Order; in Israel, they intend to meet with the Minions Gaziel, Fecor and Anaragel who are adept in seeking out the impossible and locating what is hidden (Belial spoke of an otherworldly device that may aid the Order).

1431

• Florentine meets the Powers known as Fecor and Anarazel in the ruins of Krak des Chevaliers and they head for the Carpathians where they hope to find the elusive device.

1490

• The Mirror of Solomon is located. Florentine pays a visit to Madrid to find papers on the Tower, then goes to the Temple of the Morning Star.
• November 7: Merchant ship Osprey bound for England, currently sailing off the southern point of Bornholm in the Baltic: trek through Europe successful
  Recruitment of new Order members
  At some point, Florentine was in Madrid, speaks of an old manuscript a friend of him had saved from the library before the Inquisition could impose themselves.

1521

• The Power of Abaddon is conjured into the Mirror. Abaddon is forced to tell Florentine of the traps within the Seals on the Stones.

1521, June 19

• Florentine mentions Abaddon, and Raysiel as guardian power of Raquia. Florentine plans to speak with Raysiel. He, however, lacks the device to enter Raquia, which would be Aelf's Dagger.

1529

• The third stone and Seal of Abaddon are broken. The Power of Vine appears at the temple.

1588

• Florentine has apparently completed exploration and charting of the Tower, if we trust the signature and date on the Map.

1666

• Florentine chairs the Grand Meeting of Magicians in London. The Power of Pyrichiel is summoned causing the Great Fire of London. The fourth stone and Seal of Abaddon are broken.

1670

• The evil of Florentine's mind creates the Lesser Power of the Dodger.

1672

• The Dodger escapes into the Tower.

1673

• Attempts to find the Dodger begin.
• October 18: Florentine mentions the disappearance of the Dodger into the Tower.
• October 28: Florentine sends six acolytes into the Tower to hunt the Dodger down; none return.
  Mentions of Vine. Florentine has dreams of the Sword.

1760

• The smoke-damaged map of the Earth which we find in various parts of the Mansion is dated 1760 (or 1780, it's a little hard to make out).

1779

• The Telescopes that we find inside Florentine's Observatory are engraved with the following words, probably indicating their date of fabrication and their manufacturer: 1779. Fleur and Maison.

1783

• The fifth stone and Seal of Abaddon are broken. Florentine learns that the Dodger is able to control the Ire. The Temple sends in Yielders and Urges to locate the Dodger but they fail.
• October 1: Florentine says that the Dodger must somehow control the Ire. Florentine mentions he has been dreaming of a castle where the Sword lay guarded from him and unattainable.
• October 2: Breaking of the fifth Seal.

1895

• After unsuccessful attempts to kill the Dodger, the Power of Belial informs Florentine that the Gardeners may have returned to the Tower. American Temple member James Jonson is killed after locating an entrance to the Tower. His family perish in the fire. The Temple are attacked by the Dodger and the Ire as they try to move the Mirror.

1912

• Florentine summons the Powers of the Slanderers to guard the Temple grounds. Hawk arrives at the Temple but is captured by Belial and bound in chains through the neutral Power called Raysiel by Florentine's will. Hawk is incarcerated in an 'otherwordly' jail, the entrance to which is behind the sarcophagus in the Study.

1929

• Florentine explores the Mausoleum and draws a map of the place, which remains incomplete though, as he is not in possession of the Shrive and thus could not pass beyond the double-winged door. Hence his desperate note on the map, "Qu'y a-t-il de l'autre cote [sic] de la Porte?"
• Rebecca dwells in Paris, her stay lasting into the year 1930, after which she moves to Washington.
• The homes of the richest members of the Temple are guttered in a series of fires. Florentine blames the Dodger. The Temple abduct six women for the sacrifical breaking of the sixth Seal and stone of Abaddon. The sixth stone is broken. Belial escapes the Temple with the six pieces of the Seals from the Chamber of the Soulstone and flees to the catacombs of St. Michael's.
• December 2: Florentine states that "with the breaking of the Sixth, the Seventh and last will be revealed to us," thus every successive Seal is only revealed after the breaking of the preceding one.
• December 6: Breaking of the sixth Seal.

1930

• As addressed by Rebecca in one of her letters to Florentine, her acquainted librarian from the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris died in a fatal accident.
• June 23rd: Rebecca dwells in (the fictional city of) Arkham, Massachusetts.
• According to the above-mentioned Letter, the last time Rebecca and Florentine entertained any correspondence or contact was in November 1929.
• August 7th: Rebecca returns to the Temple of the Morning Star after an extended stay in Washington.

Up to present day

Charles Randall discovers the house, but is silenced forever and tied to part of the Soustone. Charles becomes Belial's servant. Belial finds Adam Randall's address and arranges a visitation to give him the Seals. Their proximity begins a change in Adam's soul. He has visions and is drawn to the house. Charles Randall reaches out with his soul and taps into Rebecca Trevisard who tries to contact Adam through dreams. Adam and Rebecca arrive at the house more or less the same time. Belial and Florentine work independently on the same aims. The Temple wants to use Adam to find the Shrive and Sword, then use him to smash the last Seal. Belial and Florentine both want to be the one to free Satan. Within the last Seal lies the very heart of the Soulstone. But where are the Shrive and the Sword, the artefacts that can save or destroy mankind? Can Adam find them before Belial or Florentine, and will he be able to banish the Power of Satan? The final episode begins...

References