One reason I love thinking about Dorbleys, isn't just because goo, but they're the first of my ideas where all the historical lore makes sense, is fun to write and is really interesting. So yeah, it's been a big rocky road towards the lovable Aver gooper.



980 AD – The Algan arrives halfway between multiple dimensions. Sends out semi-autonomous terraforming drones to prepare the planet for its arrival

982 AD – The Algan becomes trapped, stuck between dimensions and would never be able to take advantage of the world being created for it. Gives its terraforming drones full autonomy and observes them as entertainment.

995 AD – The drones live tribally. Several clans emerge as differences in governance and how to worship their creator, create hard divides.

1015 – The Clans go to war – The Pre-Dorbley Territorial War
- Lands are seized, villages are raised for, natives displaced
- Farms and breeding grounds created en mass. Fighting was won by numbers alone.
- Any small or peaceful tribes are wiped out

1020 – The Pre-Dorbley Cold War
- Roughly 6 major clans remain. Food and breeding potential reaches a plateau without dangerous expansion or destroying the other clan
- Looking within, the most skilled amongst them could use their terraforming powers to also transform other living beings
- Each clan shows off what they can create with their mastery of their powers, trying to outdo each other. Peaceful uses are quickly ignored…

1025 – The War of The Dark Sculptures
- A monster was created with the use of several native bodies formed into one giant monster and it easily destroyed one clan
- An “arms race” formed. Fighting amongst themselves physically was impractical and the only way to win battles and take land was for one monster to be more powerful and horrifying than the others.
- The Pre-Dorbleys either hunted for natives to capture or researched their powers to outdo the production of the rival clans
- Expansion into new territories was trivial with these monsters. Natives no longer ignore the threat, but are no match and are harvested just the same

1065 – The Meeting of the Marshes
- The Algan finally fed up with the war it was seeing, removed their ability to breed and nearly all of their powers. Defenseless and without the ability to control or create more monsters, the Natives were to wipe the Pre-Dorbleys out in a massive extermination campaign
- A small alliance of peaceful Pre-Dorbleys and natives negotiate a ceasefire, and with one exceptional Pre-Dorbley can communicate with the Algan directly and all the Clan leaders meet in a marsh
- Over the course of 3 months, a new culture, identity, shape, religion, language, values, etc is work shopped with the leaders, the natives, the Algan. Lands returned and recompense for 1000 years.
- The Natives cease their campaign, accept the terms. The Algan lets 1 in 10 000 eggs become viable and only those worthy, proving over decades these new values, do their powers get restored
- The Dorbley is born

1066 – Age of Recompense
- Dorbleys, few in number now, but desperate to survive, begin to rebuild and fix what had been destroyed
- Remaining monsters from the war, hunted down and destroyed to eradicate any threat left from the War
- Relations rebuilt and trust slowly gained, but not everyone will forgive

1200-1300s – Dorbley Dark Ages
- Over-compensation and fear have made Dorbleys exploited by the Natives. Dorbley slaves, mercenaries or otherwise acting like tools are commonplace. Resisting feels more dangerous what they are made to do, knowing the Algan could destroy what little they do have in an instant.
- Small isolated villages prop up where natives cannot access easily
- Faith in their path keeps them bonded and their culture becomes intimate and familial

1408 – Dorbley Civil War
- Dorbleys are dying faster than they can breed and are weaker after each generation
- Resentment of their new culture and the exploitation from the natives has made many Dorbleys form into a new army. They want the power from the War of The Dark Sculptures, but many want to stay the course
- The war is fought Dorbley on Dorbley, with native mercenaries, through politics, through sabotage, anything and everything is used

1415 – Treaty of (haven't thought of a name yet)
- In a way both sides were correct, so their culture is tweaked to include training of some of the old forbidden techniques and the ability to transform native volunteers into Dorbleys to steady their population
- A period of relative peace as the new balance is perfected and limits established

1500s - Dorbley False Golden Age
- With the strict limits abolished, the transmuting powers of Dorbleys quickly became for sale
- Natives from every corner of the world either requested resources or took a skilled Dorbley for themselves and their whole economies rested on what a Dorbley could produce for them
- Dorbleys became a status symbol for a nation or powerful person if they had one in employ

1650 – Dorbley Human War
- Dorbleys have become the main source of wealth for too many nations. The overly decadent, yet caged life style for too many Dorbleys meant the connection with the Algan and the ability to learn advanced transmutation powers was rare again
- Nations fought each other for these dwindling elder Dorbleys that still held the knowledge
- Dorbleys quickly fled to their few remaining villages and returned to their ways of extreme isolation

1600s-1800s – Disruptive Age
- Minor in conflicts amongst Dorbleys about what to teach/train for, how many natives to change, their place in the world, the will of the Algan, etc.
- Nations’ economies balance out and the world seems to forget the Dorbleys. Only ever seeking them out if things become dire
- Too often, any Dorbley intervention results in a poor nation becoming rich and then becoming arrogant and violent. Gestures of good faith turn into curses on the world.
- Some gestures do help however. So slowly a balance of how involved the world stage is developed
- A small standing, specialized “army” of Dorbleys is created to defend themselves against threats that might disagree with the Dorbleys’ decision to help or not help.

1900s-present – True Dorbley Golden Age
- A balance is finally struck. The number of Dorbleys, the amount and how worthy of natives to be transformed is at a good number. The average Dorbley knows enough of their power to benefit themselves and others who ask, but not on a global scale. The darkest of powers scantly taught and known only by the most noble and good of elders.
- Most Dorbleys live in their small isolated villages, but many life with the rest of society, bringing joy and continuing to mend the relationships of solid and liquid folk
- Secret Dorbley police squash any rogue elements, Dorbley or otherwise that disrupt this balance
- Dorbleys are now just a fun guest on the planet and very little animosity remains, despite lots of old wounds

The Future?
- As like all liquids… something might slip through a crack and a mess might start to form
- There will always be those curious about the powers from the War and how far they go