This will have to be marked forever as a work in progress because the facts on Chernarus are hazy and for the most part unforthcoming. What I have been able to determine so far is the following:

Bohemia Interactive invented it. It’s a fictional world somewhere on the coastline of Soviet Russia. While Chernarus does not exist in the real world it’s terrain is based on a geographically similar stretch of land in Czech Republic. Hence the existence of albums such as this where the pictured appear to be in DayZ’s Chernarus. The real world landscape, featured below and here, is not coastal but can be made out as the chunk of land north of the river Labe (thanks Mugen42).

Though its existence is fictional (whether that makes it less real is debatable) Chernarus has a history dating back to as far as the 5th Century B.C.

According to records it was around this time that small tribes inhabited the Burnaja and Svetlaya river valleys. The dates are unclear but it has been proposed that these tribes over time came to form the basis of two nations native to Chernarus. These recorded early inhabitants were the Takmyr and Karzeg nations. Again the records are unclear on these people and their livelihoods but what can be postulated according to similar histories of people in the area is that these nations were descendants of 3rd century B.C. southern migrations of Celtics and 1st century B.C. migrations of Germanic tribes the Marcomanni and Quadi. In the 6th century A.D. Slavic people from the Black Sea-Carpathian region, stimulated by an influx of Siberian inhabitants, moved south to settle as well in Chernarus.

The majority of the middle ages saw the reign of Dukes, each divinely appointed as heads of various areas of Chernarus called dutchies. Some dutchies, also known as dukedoms, were sovereign while others were constituent of the overarching Kingdom of Bohemia. This point in history is still widely debated as it is uncertain whether the Kingdom of Bohemia, its origins in middle ages Czech Republic, had influence as far south as Chernarus. Nonetheless it remains a distinct possibility that a Kingdom of some kind held rule over the Dukes of Chernarus between the 5th and 13th centuries.

Rog and the infamous Devils Castle were built during this time by Duke Kozlov and remain as ruins visible in Chernarus today. The following is an extract from another written history of Chernarus and relates to these two iconic ruins.

The Devil’s Castle received its name sometime during the end of the 13th century. After the fall of Kozlov’s Principate at the beginning of the 13th century, the fortress system fell apart; fortresses that weren’t burned down were taken apart stone by stone, as needed for the structure of surrounding estates, or for different purposes.

The former Kozlovo Castle, now called the Devil’s Castle, was supposedly inhabited by the yeoman Jakub Čert (Devil) from Gorka. His bandit campaigns started here at the castle. He enlarged the keep of the castle, using the loot from these raids and the castle holds his name to this day. According to legend, the Devil’s Castle was burned down during the zagorian Karzeg’s rebellion, Jakub Čert burned in the castle’s main tower after he refused to surrender to Ataman Simurg. Only burned walls remain of the castle, haunted to this day by the spirit of Ivan Kozlov.

In the 13th century Chernarus’ dutchies were united under the Kozub dynasty which remained in rule until 1631 when Chernarus joined the Russian Empire. There is record of a 1917 revolution which saw Chernarus become an autonomic federal republic, though there is no real detail to this recorded time of unrest. Twelve years prior to this date however was when the 1905 Russian Revolution took place and it seems plausible that there may have been either an overlap or a misnaming of the cited 1917 revolution. In any case, modern day Chernarus gained independence in 1991 as a result of the demise of the USSR and has progressed until 2012 as a democracy. The current democracy has not been without difficulties however as the Russian military instalments abandoned by the Red Army after independence fell partly into the hands of rebel factions of the Chernarussian army.

It was in this circumstance of moderate conflict that the outbreak of an uncontrolled blood borne virus occurred. The virus’s complete nature as well as its origins still remain undetermined. All that is certain is that there is no known cure and the crazed human remains of Chernarus’ inhabitants roam the destitute cities and towns. History here halts as the last records of humanity struggle to overcome what is surely Chernarus’s darkest hour.