I have managed to find mention of a small nuclear attack dated to the year 2022 CE. I could not discern the combatants involved, only that the attack occurred on a different continent, far from large population centers, in a cold climate. This leads me to think it was a show of strength rather than an act of war, if something so foolish can be believed. However, it does mean, when taken in conjunction with the radiated-ashfall dating, that at the very least the year 2000 OE in our calendar may have been the equivalent of the year 2022 CE in the pre-Calamities calendar. But, if pressed, I would assume that some time separates the two, perhaps a decade or even a century. The research is slow going, but I very much feel that these steps are in the right direction, and the information I’m able to find will be vital to our future.

If anything were to happen to the vaults of Horn Mountain, our own civilization would lose any link to the past and what warnings it left us. Therefore, I will be spearheading an effort to translate, to the best of our ability, as much of the later volumes of the preserved texts as possible. If nothing else, world leaders should know what befell our ancestors, so they can avoid such disaster in the future. I am particularly concerned by man-made climate change, an easy trap to fall into, especially for advancing societies. I speculate that it has already begun in pieces, but I’m hopeful that our nations can avoid what our ancestors did not.

I have included a translation on the next page, albeit incomplete. It paints a stark picture of the sword hanging over all of us.

New studies <UNTRANSLATED> current drought in the Middle East (?) is the worst in the region <UNTRANSLATED> last 900 years <UNTRANSLATED> Exacerbated by global warming <UNTRANSLATED> Rainfall down 40% <UNTRANSLATED> Deep wells draining aquifers <UNTRANSLATED> crop failure <UNTRANSLATED> millions flee into already strained cities <UNTRANSLATED> political instability <UNTRANSLATED> civil war <UNTRANSLATED> refugee crisis across region <UNTRANSLATED> into bordering nations <UNTRANSLATED> political fallout worldwide

This is an integral piece of the puzzle we must finish if we can hope to understand the world that came before ours, and how we came to exist in the world now.

* * *

I am simply one curious man, but perhaps I can take at least a step forward into the fog surrounding us, so that others might follow. You have some of your mother in you, Cal, enough to delight in the knowledge of how things work. Hopefully these copies of my studies are of some interest to you. Hopefully you’ll join me in clearing the fog.

—Uncle Julian

* * *

I’m aware you’re well versed in the history of your house, having taught you some of it myself. But I thought you’d like to keep these for your own, instead of relying on the survival of the Nortan libraries, as well as your own flawed memory. Yes, I said flawed. I apologize that the record of my own house and your mother’s family is not so extensive, but I was regrettably uninterested in my heritage in my youth. And my bloodline is not so well documented as a line of kings for some reason. So strange. —Uncle Julian

Jacos Family Tree

Monarchs of House Calore

* * *

The history books haven’t quite caught up to you, though I doubt you mind.

—JJ

* * *

CAESAR I

JANUARY 1, 0–OCTOBER 3, 37 NE

So dedicated to his new dynasty, nation, and image was Alexandrus Caesar Calore that he waited a full two months after conquering Norta to coronate himself at the stroke of midnight on the turn of the year. He declared a new age with the beginning of his reign. Therefore, the Nortan calendar starts at the exact moment the crown touched a Calore’s head. Though a warrior first, King Caesar was a skilled diplomat. He married his daughter Juliana to the High Prince of Piedmont, cementing a long-standing alliance to protect Norta’s southern border. King Caesar also created the rite of Queenstrial. Except under extraordinary circumstances or when marrying outside the kingdom, any Calore heir to the throne would wed the strongest suitor who presented him-or herself. King Caesar also founded the new capital at Archeon, building Whitefire Palace and the Nortan seat of government. The king died in a dueling “accident,” struck through the heart. The blunted training sword of his opponent had been replaced with a sharpened blade. Legend says the last word King Caesar ever spoke was “Fyrias,” the name of his youngest son, who had died in a skirmish along the border of the Disputed Lands. Following an investigation, his dueling partner was executed, but historians postulate that Caesar’s own son arranged his father’s murder.

CAESARION

OCTOBER 3, 37–JULY 20, 44 NE

Filling the footsteps of a great father proved difficult for Caesarion, who grew up with little knowledge of war and less military skill than his father. He was more preoccupied with the luxuries of the monarchy, and began building the summer palace: the Hall of the Sun. Before its completion, he died at sea when his pleasure yacht sank off the Bahrn Islands. Witnesses say the king drowned due to the weight of his jewels and crown, though there are reports of sharks feeding on him as well. It’s possible the sinking of his ship was orchestrated by those loyal to his father, the murdered king.