The Mythic Age was a period of roughly 4000 years spanning from the departing of the Gods from the material plane during the War in Heaven and lasted till the fall of the Giant's in the battle of Naarkalon. The term "mythic age" was only granted to this time period millenia later. Since linear time wasn't experienced as we understand it during the Dawn Age, contemporary Giant empires simply called it "the time."
This time is so distant in the past and the cultures so primitive that there is very little archaelogical evidence for any key events. Rather we rely on the elgends of various cultures, and specific ruins. Sadly, much of the evidence of what existed in the Heartlands of the continent were lost during the Second Soulthek War.
Early Mythic Age (ma, 0 - ma, 850)
The Early Mythic age was chaotic time. Cultures from this time were largely nomadic and disparate, as the notion of linear existence was new. Many structures and texts from this time have been lost to time, with wars and natural errosion losing much of the knowledge held. We can only be certain of specific cultures during this time.
The Early Giant kingdoms have left much of their ruins nad evidence intact. These kingdoms were centered in the current Northwest. Krowrethia was based in modern Cape County, Surgoth in contemporty Tumbria and Westaxe, Ulmat in the rest of the Eldrian Heartlands, of Gurzz in contemporary Marcia. The Giants were given specific blessings by their God Annam All-Father meant they had specific advantages going into this era. Their kingdoms formed impressive centralised settlements, usually with a one ore two key city states ruled by a king that worked in confedaration with each other. The other races in these lands, mainly humans and lizarfolk, were easily subjacted and used as slave labour. Those that weren't slaves lived hunter gather lifestyles in small tribes, usually worshipping the First Gods.
The Elves in the North were also able to adapt quickly. They formed city states high in the vale of the vale of the elves, which birthed the Primal Elf culture. Elves here were united by their cities, and their religious temples formed the heart of their lives with high priests governing each city.
The Dwarves in the Dwarven Mounts began to form underground clans and villages, trading with nomadic humans and goliaths on the surfaces. These regions were dominated by hunter gatherer lifestyles, and some records of ancient Dwarven settlements remain and are incredibly simple compared to modern dwarven feets.
In the south, groups of gnomes and halflings worked harmoniously in small villages, trading peacefully with one another and living subsitence lifestyle of the land they had. In the heartlands, humans formed simplistic cultures. We only have traces of a few of these, namelyt he Derrians in the Selodin Mountains, who formed small stone villages. Some of these have been uncovered beneath the snow, and show they had basic stone technology. In the fertile heart of the continent, we have records of Marians, a spirtualistic agrarian people who developed the early goose religion. And in the east of the Heart, the Hannic people formed a horse born culture, with their famous Horse Lords rulling the various clans.
The Eastern lands of Sargon were fertile, and were dominated by the dragons. During the early age, they began to create Dragonborn to serve them, and many kobolds happily submitted themselves to them. The Dragons began building the 12 cities, one correpsonding to each type of dragon. The ruins of these can still be found in Sargon, many of them being built upon by later cultures and some buried beneath the sands.
The Orcs lived in the tempremental Orcusian Peninsula, a geoloigcally unstable territory. The Orcs here worshiped Grummush, alongside various elemental spirits that dominated the land. The Orcs were divided, often fighting amongst themselves or being raided by the Dragons to their south.
In North Sargon, Lizard and Birdfolk tribes formed around the swamps, often waging war on each other. The legends of famous warriors of this time are passed on in contemporary tribes, and amongst the stories of those that migrated to the west in following centuries.
The later period of this age saw the Giant kingdom of Krowrethia grow the strongest, and move up into Gwenydd after centralising under the city of Soorgothica, contemporary Saunton. Their Gwenyddian expansion saw the Deal of the Grove, where the Old Gods met with the Giant King Ageroth II, where they played a game of riddles. Ageroth outwitted the Gods, and as such they allowed him to settle the lands, but warned that if any Gwenyddian was taken as a slave his empire would be toppled and his people would never rise again. Ageroth heeded this warning at the time, but many of his successors did not.
Krowethia began expanding into rival kingdoms, and the Dwarves began to form deep underground cities for the first time. But this early period came to a catestrophic end with the arrival of the illithids.
Time of the Mind Flayers (ma, 852 - 995)
In approximetly Ma, 852, the Ilithids arrived on Prima Terra. They attacked the Southern Lands, building Vh'Eltha in the heart of these lands and expanding out, enslaving the Halfings and Gnomes, sending an exodus of these peoples northwards. The Ilithids likewise arrived in Krowrethic lands, building the grand city of Shuggilbh, stretching from the surface to the underdark. Great wars broke out between the giants and ilithids, as their kingdoms were sent into chaos by the fleeing smallfolk.
In the Heart, the gnomes and halflings fleeing through the Selodin Mountains pushed Derrian humans northwards too, sending the overpopulated heartlands into years of strife and disease, with only the Hannic culture surviving. Some humans fled into the Silverwood, founding Atheria, a spiritual civilisation dedicated to magic.
The Ilithid Wars saw the Giant kingdom of Gurzz fall to the ilithids, and the giants there salughtered or turned into Gigantic Mind-Flayers. The Elves intervened under warnings from their Gods, and joined the giants in fighting the Ilithids. The best the allied forces could do was force the Ilithids into a stalemate.
The East was largely unaffected by this, with the Dragons exerting their dominance and finishing their grand cities. However, disagreements began to emerge amongst the dragons, with a rift emerging between the Chromatic and Metallic factions. The Northern lands saw the Dwarves build deeper and deeper underground, their proto-cities emerging into full blown city states.
The tide began to turn in the war when Shuggilbh was turned by the Elder God Ucothah, who twisted the mind-flayers into worshipping his form and bringing him back from the Dark Void and into the material plane so he could consume it. This division in the Ilithid invasion allowed the Elves and Krowrethians to destroy Shuggilbh, sealing it deep in the underdark. This victory allowed them to began a counter attack on the Ilithids, retaking Gurzzian territory.
The fall of the Ilithids occured at the battle of Vh'Iltha, when Elven Wizards cast the city deep into the underdark. This new order saw the Primal Elves and Krowethians emerge as dominant powers in the west. To the south, the halfings and gnomes began to reform their societies, and in the Selian mountains the Derric civilisation began to form.
Rise of Krowethia (ma, 996-1780)
Krowethia finished the Ilithid war at a high. Their rivals were significantly weakened, and they inherited all of Grunzzian land. They rebuilt giant settlements, and commisoned the Wall of Triumph, a ruin near modern Irrano that details the events of the fall of the Vh'Iltha and the legendary warriors that destroyed the ilithids.
The Krowethians turned their attention to weaking the states of Surgoth of Ulmat. The Congress of Dunnan's Sons was a 7 year long diplomatic meeting that tried to determine the fate of the Giant kingdoms. Surgoth claimed they were the most spiritual, Ulmat that they were the wisest, and Krowethia that they were the strongest. The Congress ultimately ended unseccuessful, and the Giant Wars errupted between the three states. The best record we have for the destructiveness of these wars is the ruins at Unicaar, where the Ulmattian kingdom was destroyed by Krowethia in the final days of the war (circa 1401). A large monument was errected dedicated to a peace treaty, which saw Krowethia inherit all the Giant lands.
In the Elven Vale, the second and third generations of Primal Elves inherited a prosperous and victorious land, their High Priests led them to a golden age where they expanded into the Dwarven Mounts and subjugated many of the Dwarven cities there. Those that survived fled to the western kingdom of Drohan, a burgoning Dwarven civilisation that prided themselves on their bronze weaponary and magical inventions.
The East saw the War of Words begin, a thousand year long conflict between the various dragons and their dragonborn. At the same time, Geological events calmed, allowing the orcs to develop their first towns, including the sacred ancestral site of Grummar Dun.
Krowethia spent this new found hegemony in the west building vast infrastructure and repairing the damage done by centuries of war. Total stabilisation was acheived by the time of King Hagot the Magnificent, who built a grand palace in his capital that now functions as the primary sewage system for Saunton.
Krowrethic Golden Age (ma, 1781-2450)
The Krowrethian civilization was the first great empire in the west. Ruled by giants, they developed a strict caste system amongst their people, with the smaller humans and lizardfolk acting as slave labour in their cities. More and more tribes of humans were subjgates and forced into labour to ensure the Krowrethian economy of mining and lumbering was maintained. They held strong relationships with the Elves in the Vale, seeing them as equals, and offering them assitance in their subjugation of the Dwarves.
The Primal Elves were at their height in approximetly ma, 1812. They held much of the Dwarven Mounts and Snowy Crag, and they had centralised their government under the rule of a single Theocrat Supremator. They specialised in large mountain top cities, building vast temples and palaces and developing novel agricutlural practices on terraces on the hillside. In this time, Dwarves in Drohan were developing a steady kingdom in retallation to the Elves, proving themselves resiliant time and time again.
The Krowrethic golden age saw their most impressive cities be built, the ruins of which can be found dotted across the North-West. They even began to colonise surrrounding lands, settling areas in the south, and the Aeedrinaran islands where they founded the colony of Jotun, a colony which would eventually outlive their founders.
In the heartlands, the humans and their new halfling and gnomeish settlers formed new cultures together. The Derrian civilization built impressive obilisks and complex tombs in the mountains, utilising the most ingenious elements of each of their constituent races. The Hannic civilisation began to raid the Dragonlands, seeing weakness during the War of the Words. They became the premminent power in the east, and even incured on some Orcish lands.
Fall of the Primal Elves and High Krowrethia (ma, 2451-3000)
The Krowethian golden age officially ended with the passing of Grozgat the Great in 2451. His 356 year long reign saw Krowethia enter its greatest period of art of and sculture, the remants of which fetch a hefty price amongst traders today. THe High Krowethian period began after this, where a long process of stagnation began. Expansion into the south halted, and the lack of population growth would see these colonies in the southern lands completely abanonded by the 2800s. The first major shake-up to the empire occured in roughtly 2520, when the humans of Albion rose up in rebellion during the first Servile War. This was a gurellia war where the Lizardfolk of the empire were conscripted as soldiers to hunt down rebellious human slaves. Oral legends speak of the brave human warriors Carthunan, who valiantly fought the giants for the freedom of all humans, but ultimately was executed along with all his followers following the battle of Sunken Church.
The Primal Elves, however, entered a sudden period of decline. Their ruling class grew decadent and power hungry, and a breif civil war errupted by Theocrat Supremator Necroanamor started to utilise powerful necromantic magic. Elven society struggled to recover from this 65 year conflict, and this decline was furthered when the Drow seperation began. Their colonies in the Dwarven Mountains were next to fall, as Drohan united the final Dwarven kingdoms and invaded the Elven territories.
The Dwarves had grown into a militaristic people out of necessity. Drohanic culture had evovled into a martial focused empire, with their King's people powerful generals. It is from this time the traditional animosity between Elves and Dwarves was born, as Drohan pushed further and further into elven territory. It ultimately took till the 2900s when the Primal Elves finally lost their homeland to the Drohan. Their pleading for assistance from the Krowethian Empire fell on death ears, as the brutal Bleeding Lung disease was spreading through their kingdom.
Following this, elves began a great migration southwards. Krowethia allowed them to settle in contemporary Marcia, due to its decimation at the hands of the plague. Elven legend speaks of this exodus, with various waves of elves fleeing across the world. One legendary odyssey apprently left the continent all together, searching for an untamed land to claim for themselves.
Some elves found themselves in the Silverwood, where they came into contact with the Atherian civilization. By this time, Atheria had grown into a powerful and isoalted kingdom, tampering in natural magics and portals to other planes, they sent many of their new enemies into the Fey Wild.
In the East, the War of the Words ended, with the dragons decimated. a peace was declared, and the New Dragon Empire born, led by the Dragonborn who ensured a peace would last between their Dragon lords. They retalliated against the Hannics, and founded the colony of New Draconia in their land. They began to push against the Orcs and northern tribes too, sending many of the exiled Green Dragons to the swamps there.
During this whole period, the Krowethians were generally stable, bar the servile war and Blood Lung plague, but they had managed to endure. However, the loss of a safe ally to the north and the decline of their population was of grave concern. The kingdom needed strong leadership and modernisation, but none was to be found. The decline of Krowethia began in ma, 3000 when the Civil War errupted at the death of King Ageroth IV, who infamously broke the Gwenyddian accords and enslaved the Gwenyddian people.
The Fall of the Krowethian Empire 3000-3945
The Interegnum lasted for around 300 years, with the empire divided in two. During this time, Drohan siezed the Northern mountains of Drohan. They then funded the slaves to organise the second Servile War, which lasted 24 years and was ultinately unsucsessful, but did plenty to damage the already in crisis empire. It wasn't until Roth I, a bastard grand-child of Ageroth IV, reuinited the empire. He succeeded in breifly stabilising the empire, and even allowed greater freedom to the human populations. He was responsible for withdrawing from modern Marcia, and granting it to the Elves in what became known as the Hycenian Compromise, an article written on elvish tapestry that can be found in the Grand Museum of Neapia.
This succeeded in temporarily stabilising the empire, however upon Roth's death his son failed to continue his father's reforms, and infamously punished the Gwenyddian people for their role in the short lived Third Servile War. The Old Gods allegedly sword to destroy the empire, with the God Bellenus darkening the son for 20 years. During this time, the Illusive Drow emerged and fought both the Krowethians and Drohanians.
The Empire split again in civil war, allegedly encouraged by the Old Gods Nuanta and Morrigan, and Gwenyddian legends state the Dagdha caused Krowethian crops to fail. This crisis saw contact with the colony of Jotun ultimately lost. During the darkness, Drohan invaded Krowethia for resources, but this ultimately saw both empires damaged. The Fourth Servile war errupted, and the human slaves eventually succeded in toppling the Krowethian empire at the Battle of Naarkolon in 3945. King Lusat the Fallen was slaugthered and his limbs scattered across the west by the heroes of the war. As the city crumbled, the Gods appeared before the vitors, and announced the begining of a new age, known as the First Age.
It is important to note that during this time, legend states the first Avatars of the Gods were created. These were created from the Old Gods merging their essence with sickly human children, merging their souls. The human this child grew up to be would essentially be a demi-god, their soul in constant contact with the god who had helped form them. These legendary figures live on in secret Gwenyddian cults and myths.
The East was ultimately unaffected by this, with the Dragonic Empire standing strong, and the Chromatic Dragons slowly feeling their homeland for elsewhere. A golden age was entered here, with the Dragonborn becoming the most powerful empire in the east, subjugating the Hannics and pacifying the central tribes. It is beleived that one of these fleeing dragons ultimately destroyed the kingdom of Derria, as archaelogical evidence from this time shows shattered buildings and numerous mass graves.
Cultural Impact
The Mythic Age has had an important impact on the foundation of cultures into the third age. This period saw the races of the world step into a new landscape and navigate as best they could. Heroes and demi-gods were rife, and the foudnations of many future cultures were born. The fall of the Krowethian Empire set the lanscape for the early human civilizations to form and develop, and the mark the kingdom made on the landscape can still be seen in its ruins and infrastrcutrue, which has withstood the ages longer than their creators could have ever dreamed of.
The East saw the Dragonic Empire born, a kingdom which would leave a powerful legacy for kingdoms to come. The role of this kingdom in creating the dragonborn and in holding back the orcs allowed western cultures to grow and develop, and ultimately their position in informing Dragonborn mythology and theology has lingered to the third age.
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