The World is merely a side effect, produced by the Void. The Void has existed for ever, the World is transient at best. The Void hungers. One day, when all the whales in the sea have died, and all the stars in the sky have gone out, the Void will be all there is once more. Until then, the World is populated by a number of interesting civilizations, and a vast array of amazing wildlife.
The characters on these pages generally live in the current era (the mid-1800s according to the calendar system), the fourth civilization built on the ruins of the prior ones. Most information about the earlier civilizations is long lost, however some bits of it might remain in the form of relics, runes, bonecharms, and physical ruins to explore. Since the continent of Pandyssia has not been the focus of the games, anything goes there. It is inhabited, sometimes by tribal types, more often by highly advanced peoples who have not yet been met by explorers from the tiny Isles. Those Isles are where most of the characters will be from, but some may seek to explore elsewhere later!
The Void's representitive, The Outsider, has existed for over four thousand years, well into the prior civilizations. The current dates begin when he is already the Outsider for more than 3000 years. He is bored, and at times desperate to leave the Void, but can only touch the minds of the sleeping or the dead; however the Void sees through his eyes, he knows what it knows, and he becomes curious about individuals who entertain him here in this endless place. He places his mark, his name written in the ancient script of those who sacrificed him into the Void, upon these rare people, and gives them a direct conduit to the power of the Void. Precious few of these people exist. What they do with their power is entirely up to them. Sometimes they create world-spanning disasters, others seek to prevent that. But magic in general, in its rawest form, still exists in the World and stems from the Void. Manipulating it are both witches and seers, shamans and priests. Even those Oracular Sisters in the Abbey use this magic, though they fervently deny that fact.
** Collected characters have an 'age in date' format, and may vary based on what era they were intended to be mature in - 'current' date in the World is 1855, with a few set in the late 1830s originally. However, several noncanon or head-canon aspects distinguish these characters and their lifetimes from the video game Dishonored as follows:
| Date | Event |
| ~-3000 | A young man is sacrificed using a twin bladed knife, ripping his name from him and set into a space between the Void and the World, which is guarded by the Envisioned |
| 0 | The Great Burning occurs and ends this date, a huge rift beween two factions of cultists forms: those who become the Abbey (much later), and those who remain loyal to the Envisioned and thus to the Outsider Witches as a term and social aspect are more defined at this point in time, and references to them occur more and more negative as time passes - since most of history is thus written by those who became the Abbey |
| ~800 | The prior civilization, based where Dunwall is built later, dies out along with several sites in future Serkonos that it had invaded and fought against |
| 1837 | The events of Dishonored 1 occur: Daud the assassin kills Empress Jessamine Kaldwyn and kidnaps her daughter Emily, Corvo Attano is framed for the event, and is sent to Coldridge Prison, 6 months later Corvo escapes and is Marked by the Outsider Daud spares both Billie Lurk and Delilah, one of those things he lives to regret Corvo spares many assassination targets but does kill the Lord Regent, none of those 'spared' targets prefers their nonlethal outcome... |
| 1837-40 | The late 1830s is when some characters here are set, and would be present (if still alive) in the current era with 'history' added |
| 1840s | Granny Rags, once known as Vera Moray, dies, and her hand is found by Paolo Spector Club and other fronts for the Eyeless formed in Karnaca Addermire Institute established in Karnaca |
| 1847 | Theodanis Abele dies, Luca is now Duke Howler gang organized by Paolo Jindosh begins creating Clockwork Soldiers |
| 1848 | Stilton Manor built in Batista Mining District (which is later dubbed Dust District) |
| 1849 | Twin Bladed Knife is found (earlier^) and makes its way to Karnaca at some point Duke Luca Abele and his group retrieve Delilah from the Void, causing a time rift later |
| 1850 | Crown Killer begins their assassinations as Delilah plans to take over the Empire |
| 1851 | Eyeless start noticing the Void spilling out from Shindaerey North Quarry Whalers without Daud or Thomas to lead them drift apart over the course of a few years ^The events of The Return of Daud do not occur in this timeline in the same manner of the book - while Daud does discover the twin bladed knife and is injured badly enough to be dying when Billie Lurk finds him once more, there is no time travel or other nonsense involved |
| 1852 | Events of Dishonored 2 occur - Corvo must rescue his daughter Empress Emily, takes another nonlethal route for all but Delilah, so rather than allowing her to continue to corrupt the Void with her personality, she is now completely out of the picture
The events of Death of the Outsider occur only marginally - the Outsider remains safely and reasonably happily in the Void thanks to having Delilah removed earlier; however now he seems more free to move about without being bound specifically to either the Void or the World The Eyeless Gang are put down or scattered by Billie Lurk The Envisioned cult are killed, also by Billie Lurk but with some help from others Shindaery North Quarry, the location of the Ritual Hold where the Outsider has been placed for over 4000 years, is still a bit wonky, but not nearly as bad as it was during the recent years; it is actually possible to enter the Void physically at this place, however its secrets are still kept by a new group who replace the Eyeless/Envisioned The events of The Veiled Terror do not occur in this timeline - while the Abbey still exists they are curtailed and kept more in check, however are also well aware of the sudden change in the Void's influence over the World |
| 1855 | The Outsider, now calling himself - or approving of being called by others - Leviathan Shindaery, has made contact with the Nexus. Specifically there are worlds which have caught his eternal eye's attention, not the least of which is Carramba High School - but also he enjoys watching heroes or villains in a place distant in time and space, as well as other more odd realms where his Whales make regular contact with other Whales. It's possible that they are the ones who actually connected the Void to Xen or to realms between, but even they keep their secrets, no matter how much they sing about it |