Lore: The Six Eras

 The Six Eras

Human historians, in Rukkarim and Periandor, and formerly in Tavertine, track past ages with a melange of elven and dwarven ideas. While most dwarves continue to count the years forward, with numbers of increasing size, from the supposed beginning of time, elven scholars of Olhuiriar's cities measure the years backwards and forwards from the collapse of their old empire. This elven system of counting years is overlayed in human scholarship onto the dwarven ages of the world.

The Era of Awakening (1^st Era)

There is only the Void. Time and space have not yet come into being. The void is formed of the Gray Man, whose essence is split between Beladar and Nerophet, avatars of movement and stillness respectively. Through the intertwining of Beladar and Nerophet's powers, the stars burst into being. Strands of starlight wrap around the gods, who had previously slumbered formlessly, giving them shape and spirit. Time and space have begun; the Void is now Eternis.

Era of Creation (2^nd Era)

In the first act of divine creation, Beladar intermingles his fires with starlight to form Vodoniathan. Separately, over eons, Ostic forges the world from the elements of stone and air. Into this barren place, Nerophet surges forth the seas, and Beladar engenders the element of fire. Tumnus and Jostara seed Thindul with life, and several gods place mortal peoples upon it.

Era of Divine Strife (3^rd Era)

The creators of mortalkind walk Thindul with their children, while belligerent gods become attracted to Thindul as a plaything. There are wars between the gods, and eventually most of the interlopers are bound or driven out by the benevolent pantheon. The Pantheon agrees to The Divine Accord, which limits their interference in mortal affairs.

Era of Corruption (4^th Era)

Beladar and Iandor are bound beneath the earth for their refusal to comply with the Divine Accord. Civilizations begin to rise and fall organically, without the direct oversight of the gods. Sensing his moment to strike, Nerophet reveals his true intentions and makes war on the Pantheon, while his servant Ansadyr assails the mortal realm. At last, Nerophet is defeated and retreats to the deepest seas, while Ansadyr hides beneath the earth. For a time, Thindul has peace.

However, the protector god Xogoth, whose followers distinguished themselves in the war against Ansadyr, is fed to the crocodile spirit OshmOsh and is driven mad. In the material world, the elven alliance that fought against Ansadyr becomes an ever more tyrannical empire, with corrupted Xogoth as its primary deity. Out of fear, Xogoth's elven priests curse dragonkind, transforming most dragons into Draegar. The Draegar, in retaliation, establish a brutal empire of their own, seizing elven and dwarven lands.

Beneath miles of stone, the Thulgrähbar are slowly turned to evil by the servants of Nerophet. They begin to make war on the other peoples of the Deepings, primarily gnomes and dwarves. The Ironhearts and Steelbrights largely recuse themselves from the world above to fight this long war against their kin.

This era ends when Qoth rebels against the Pantheon, spurred by the whisperings of Skalla, in an attempt to claim Thindul for himself. This former champion of mortalkind is defeated by Geledron and retreats to within the moon.

Era of Empires (5^th Era)

The elven and Draegar empires (Naihurin Etarl and Z'Irada Aurautha) rise to their heights as warring hegemons. While the elven empire controls the greater swath of territory, it is less internally unified and is hampered by the logistics inherent to its size. The two powers remain roughly equally matched for around two thousand years.

Over time, however, a confluence of factors eventually weakens the elven empire. When the empire finally breaks with the cult of Xogoth, it is drawn into a long series of religious wars against factions of giants who remain loyal to their creator god. Meanwhile, plague and internal conflict rot Naihurin Etarl's foundations. As the strength of the empire fails, horrific war beasts of its own creation proliferate, first in the deepest wilds, then into more ostensibly civilized lands.

Recently cursed by Xogoth, driven by his divine power to unhinged fury, orcish society collapses. The survivors arrive in northern Naihurin Etarl; under the guise of sanctuary, they are conscripted by the region's governor to rebuild the empire's degraded infrastructure. Still very much suffering Xogoth's curse, the orcs rebel and sweep as one through the ailing empire, destroying it.

Era of Monsters (6^th Era)

The Draegar's empire holds on for a few hundred more years. However, under increasing pressure from the monsters that are surging out of formerly elven lands, their territorial control is progressively eroded. The empire begins to fortify the Secluded Isles as a last redoubt, while radical internal factions gain increasing influence. In 308 SR, an unknown Draegar cult, for unclear reasons, summons Vodoniathan to their capital city, causing destruction on an catastrophic scale.

This event precipitates chaos across the empire, which the Draegar's enslaved peoples, especially humans, take advantage of. Mass uprisings lead to the slaughter of the majority of Draegar. The surviving Draegar flee to the Secluded Isles or to isolated pockets of the empire still within their control. Halflings, who had enjoyed a measure of friendship with the Draegar, largely fall back to the South Wold.

In the former elven empire, a variety of new civilizations claw their way to stability – Norquii, The Empire of Steel, Ostregvaza, and the remnant of Naihurin Etarl. The free state of Gerash Ro'vainan becomes a haven against the resurging regional imperium of Naihurin Etarl. Gradually, humans gain preeminent control of Periandor and Rukkarim, while elves and dwarves resettle some of the adjoining territories.

The years march on until the present, 997 SR. Mortal peoples war both amongst themselves and against the monstrous echoes of former empires. The world takes its current shape.