Out of Oz: The Final Volume in the Wicked Years (2 page)

Charting the Wicked Years Chronologically

“Oh, as to time, wel, no one in Oz ticks off tocks very systematicaly.” Each dot or upstroke represents a year … more or less.

WICKED

OUT OF OZ

The story begins six months after the end of A LION AMONG MEN.

Lir is about 30; Rain is 7 or 8, give or take.

Maps

THE CITY OF SHIZ, GILLIKIN

THE EMERALD CITY

Significant Families of Oz

Key

= marriage (~) romance sans wedlock

THE HOUSE OF OZMA

—
The Emerald City
—

THE THROPPS OF MUNCHKINLAND

—
Colwen Grounds in Munchkinland
—

THE UPLANDS OF GILLIKIN

—
Frottica in northwest Gillikin
—

THE TIGELAARS, ARJIKI CHIEFTAINS OF THE VINKUS

—
Kiamo Ko on the slopes of Knobblehead Pike, the Great Kells of the Vinkus
—

A Brief Outline of the Throne Ministers of Oz

Augmented with notes about selected incidents of interest to students of modern history.

THE OZMA YEARS

• The matrilineal House of Ozma established.

The Ozma line descends from a Gillikinese clan. The Ozma line claims legitimacy through a purported divine relationship with Lurlina, fabled creatrix of Oz. Depending on the argument,
historians recognize between forty and fifty legitimate Ozmas and their regents.

• The last Ozma, Ozma Tippetarius, is born of Ozma the Bilious.

Ozma the Bilious expires through an accident involving rat poisoning in the risotto. Her consort, Pastorius, becomes Ozma Regent during the minority of Ozma Tippetarius.

• Pastorius rules over central Oz.

The Ozma Regent renames the hamlet known as Nubbly Meadows, near the ancient burial ground of Open Tombs, as the Emerald City (EC). Declares the EC as the capital of united Oz.

• The Great Drought begins.

• By baloon, Oscar Zoroaster Diggs arrives in the Emerald City.

Diggs successfully mounts a Palace coup d’état. Pastorius is murdered, and the infant Ozma Tippetarius disappears. She is presumed slain, perhaps in Southstairs Prison (built over the Open
Tombs), though an evergreen rumor claims she lies enchanted in a cave awaiting her return at Oz’s darkest hour. Diggs becomes known as the Wizard of Oz.

THE WIZARDIC YEARS

• The Emerald City renovation is completed.

• The Wizard of Oz orders construction of the Yelow Brick Road.

This serves as a highway for the armies of the EC and aids in the collection of local taxes from previously independent populations, especially in Quadling Country and on the eastern flanks of
the Great Kells of the Vinkus.

• Animal Adverse laws enacted. (The “Animal Courtesy” acts.)

Social unrest deriving from the Great Drought promotes an atmosphere of scapegoating and hysterical patriotism.

• Munchkinland secedes from Loyal Oz.

Under the rule of Nessarose Thropp, Eminence of Munchkinland, the secession of the Free State of Munchkinland is conducted with a minimum of bloodshed. The “breadbasket of Oz” maintains
an uneasy trade relationship with Loyal Oz.

• Nessarose Thropp dies.

The arrival in Oz of a visitor, a Dorothy Gale of Canzizz (sometimes transcribed as “Canzuss” or “Kanziz”), results in the death of the Eminence. Though rumor suggests her sister, Elphaba
Thropp, will return to Munchkinland to mount a more aggressive campaign against the EC than Nessarose ever did, such predictions prove baseless.

• Elphaba Thropp is vanquished.

The so-called Wicked Witch of the West, one-time agitator, now recluse, is subdued by the powerful Dorothy Gale.

• The Wizard of Oz abdicates the throne.

The Wizard has held power for almost forty years. The causes of his departure remain a matter of speculation.

THE TWIN INTERREGNUMS

• Lady Glinda Chuffrey, neé Upland, is briefly instaled as Throne Minister.

The Animal Adverse laws are revoked, to little effect; Animals remain skeptical of their chances of being reintegrated into human society in Oz. Many refuse to return to Loyal Oz from
Munchkinland, where they have taken refuge.

• The Scarecrow replaces Glinda as Throne Minister.

The Scarecrow, a figure of uncertain provenance, is often assumed to have been installed as Throne Minister by Palace apparatchiks sympathetic to Shell Thropp, the youngest of the three
Thropp siblings. The Scarecrow proves a weak figurehead—a straw man, figuratively as well as literally—though his elevation allows Shell Thropp to avoid having to challenge the popular Lady
Glinda for the leadership. The Scarecrow’s whereabouts following the end of his abbreviated realm are never revealed.

Some historians hold that the Scarecrow serving as Throne Minister is not the same Scarecrow who befriended Dorothy, though this assertion is based on circumstantial evidence.

THE EMPEROR APOSTLE

• Shel Thropp instals himself as Throne Minister of Oz.

Shell claims rights of ascendancy through an adroit manipulation of Palace power brokers. He styles himself an “Emperor Apostle” by dint of formidable piety and sacred election.

In retaliation for a sortie into Loyal Oz by a band of Munchkinlander guerrillas, Shell authorizes the invasion of Munchkinland for the purpose of appropriating Restwater, Oz’s biggest lake.