Age of Dusk

A bleak era in Dormelia's history filled with famine, war, and strife.

Manifestation

According the what little record survived the Age, the Dusk was as if life itself had abandoned much of the land. Drought and famine plagued much of the continent, crippling many once great kingdoms and cities and ravaging small villages. The precious few settlements that could still grow crops were sadly left little better as they drew the ire of neighbors who were forced to either turn to banditry or starve.
With taxing effort needed to see each new day and scarcely enough food to sustain oneself, deaths from illness and starvation quickly came to rival the count of those slew by warring blades.

End of the Age

The Age of Dusk was ended with the arrival of Edmund the Wise. Through his efforts, he was able to secure the last handful of fertile land and organized distribution of crops amongst neighboring settlements who would vow fealty in exchange. With conflicts lessen and peace beginning to be rebuilt, life slowly began to return to the land.
By the time of his passing, Edmund had established the Kingdom of Meriden as a thriving bastion of peace and community against the strife the Age of Dusk had created. The Church of the Eternal Dawn soon followed as a means of supporting and maintaining the spiritual wellbeing of the people.

Long-Standing Effects

The Age marks a considerable gap in historical accounts as records from and especially before the era are exceedingly rare, leading to knowledge predating the Age and what may have potentially lead to it largely unknown.
The end of the Age directly lead to the establishment of both the Kingdom of Meriden and the Church of the Eternal Dawn, which both survive and function to present day.
Despite the continent and its populace long since recovering from the Age, the legend of the Dusk still strikes fear in many.

Controversy and Debate

One question that has long laid at the heart of many a discussion about the Age of Dusk is what caused it in the first place. Historians and agriculturists alike struggle to fathom how a natural source could have affected such vast swaths of land. In a similar vein, no one knows of a magical or supernatural means that even begins to scratch the magnitude the Age inflicted.
The lack of historical accounts during or before the Age do not help matters as there is debate on how long the Age even was.

Type

Natural