World Timeline
Era of Myth (1000 BEU and Earlier)
The Era of Myth (EM) spans back to before there were written accounts. The dwarves and elves are said to have first met in 1,320 BEU, and while initially each race was distrustful of the other, they found enough cultural similarities and common ground to coexist peacefully enough.
Era of Blood (790 to 999 BEU)
The first year of the Era of Blood saw the declaration of war between the elves and dwarves, a vicious conflict that lasted well over a century of off-and-on violence. This was, noteworthily, the last major conflict between the two elder races.
Around the time the dwarves and elves were signing the peace treaty that would last millenia to come, the humans and halflings formed a cohesive alliance against the orcs and began repelling the powerful race and their giant allies from the central Eremian farmlands. This would lead to a prolonged period of bloodshed that lasts the remainder of the Era of Blood before eventually settling down to a quiet simmer.
Era of Founding (674 to 789 BEU)[
The exact start of the Era of Founding varies depending on the historian, but it is marked by the colonization of Denuterra by humans. By the more common Imperial count, EF 0 begins with the first real colonization efforts by the human settlers.
By ER 25, the humans had established a large city and a handful if smaller settlements in the northernmost tip of Denuterra (meaning “new land” in the tongue of the settlers). Relations with the local elves and dwarves was strained until they discovered a common enemy in the hobgoblins.
Within half a century the humans had fully colonized northern Denuterra, and both halflings and orcs had made their way over. Elves spread north and began founding their icy castles, and dwarves turned covetous eyes towards the mountain ranges in Western Erema.
Era of Chaos (553 to 673 BEU)
The start of the Era of Chaos (EC) is marked by the beginning of the rule of the first witch king. During his reign, he enslaved much of northern Denuterra, and viciously ruled it with his magics. Several other sorcerer kings, witch queens, and other magical warlords began dividing up the rest of Denuterra, Algida, and even some of Erema.
Those who opposed their despotic rule banded together, and using divine power granted by the heavens, brought the rule of magic to a forceful and bloody end. These holy warriors were the first worshippers of the One True God, and began attempting to purge the land of magic. With the rulers suddenly violently removed, the land devolved into civil war, with every shattered nation arguing over who owns what land.
While Denuterra and Eastern Erema fell into chaos, a young began her quest to find a great castle dwelling beneath the waves, as prophesied in her dreams. She, after many trials, found the castle and awakened it, and it lifted her to the skies. The young woman, now in possession of the legendary castle of the storm king, travelled to the island of the storm giants. They recognized her authority, and joined her cause. She returned to northern Erema and claimed it, declaring herself to be Empress. This was the founding of the great empire, and marked the start of the Era of Legends (EL).
Era of Legends (268 to 552 BEU)
The Empress, with an army of storm giants, quickly unifies much of Erema before traveling across the ocean to Denuterra. She offers the dwarves the opportunity to create a colony in the rich mountains of Erema, and in return they join her empire before her forces even arrive. From there she moved her castle into the land that would come to be known as Edeir, where she set up a secondary capital (now known as Algieth).
She allied with the warriors of the One True God, who were burgeoning into a powerful religion, and managed to create treaties between them and the remaining magi, creating an era of peace that would last almost two hundred years. But then came the meteor, infested with demonic spores, which led to the infected forest, and the invasion of the demons from the sky – the Qlippoth. The future of the mortal races seemed bleak, as many were consumed by the darkness and turned into Qlippoth themselves.
But a few brave heroes stood against the oncoming wave. The stories differ, but there are said to have been as few as four or as many as eight of them. Against impossible odds they struck back against the demons, and protected the city of Algieth while the great magi of the city and the powerful priests of the Church worked a powerful magic to repel the unnatural creatures from the universe. In doing so, they purged the world of many unexpected things, including magic itself.
Era of Faith (55 to 267 BEU)
The moment magic disappeared marks the beginning of the Era of Faith (EF). Without magic to propel it, the flying castle crashed to the earth, killing all inside. With the emperor and the flying castle gone, and the giant army dispersed, the empire crumbled.
Without magic, much of the innovations society relied upon vanished. Without magical communication or transportation, it became nearly impossible to maintain a single country across geographical boundaries. The half of the empire located in Erema broke off from that in Denuterra due to disagreements about who should rightfully claim the throne of the empire (the emperor's wife was favored in Erema, while Denuterra backed the emperor's uncle). In Denuterra, the Church stepped in to maintain law and order, and continued to maintain the piece of the empire left to them. The dwarves quickly broke off from the minuscule empire, and founded the Democratic Republic of Dwarsteim. Heigarth, Alethea and Edeir were all that remained.
Magic had supplied the healing for the injured, the cures for diseases, the enchanted tools that made trades easier, and more. Without it, society regressed, and was forced to reinvent their technology. Suddenly the world needed to replace the magical solutions it had relied upon. Alchemy grew exponentially, and other non-magical inventions became commonplace.
Blast furnaces became necessary, and helped to keep steel available throughout the country. Steel crossbows and compound bows replaced the magical bows of centuries previous, and things such as windmills and waterwheels replaced the magical automatic machinery. Early clocktowers appeared across the world, keeping precise time without the use of magical divination. But disputes between Northern and Southern Denuterra regarding who deserves the throne lead to the separation of the northern countries from Edeir in 146 EF.
Nonetheless, the Era of Faith was a time of great power for the Church of the One True God, who spread throughout Denuterra and even into Erema. They allied with the Alchemists Guild, who still had some abilities (due to their poultices using many naturally potent ingredients). They burned texts of arcane writings, and fervently assaulted the last of the Mage's Guild.
It was in 213 EF that the church began what they imagined would be the last battle with the magi, in the fields of Edeir. The warlocks had used what remaining magics they had hoarded (in the form of ancient artifacts with dim sparks left in them), to create a powerful weapon to oppose the Church. They unleashed its vast power, and tore a hole in reality itself. Through this hole appeared an angel of stunning beauty, and a demon of untellable horror. Suddenly others appeared, and a war between factions of celestials and fiends began over the fields of stunned mortals. On top of this, magic itself suddenly returned, like the sun rising over a darkened world. This moment marked the first day of the Era of Rebirth (ER).
Era of Rebirth (0 to 54 BEU)
With their magic newly returned, the magi were able to flee the site of the battle. The Church contained the area, and watched as the few surviving celestials and fiends fled in all directions. The magi retreated to their home in the northernmost city of Denuterra, Cyrilla. There, the institutions they'd founded to preserve and teach the theory of ancient magic were suddenly in control of very real magic. Those who were wealthy enough to attend these institutions were able to cast at least basic magics, and continued learning and teaching. The country known as Alethea separated itself from Heigarth in 18 ER, and became a full-fledged magistocracy by 22 ER.
Even with the return of magic, few had any mastery over it. Mundane technology continued to be relied upon, which lead to the almost simultaneous invention of the printing press in both Alethea and Edeir. Rotating tower windmills rose to catch the natural energy of the air, and the great clocktower of Cyrilla was created in 31 ER. In Edeir, experimentation with black powder has begun yielding results, and their newfangled “cannons” are said to be weapons of awesome power that do not rely on magic. By the end of the era, Edeir had developed a portable version of their cannon, and other countries were beginning to take interest.
ER 54's end is marked by the Ascension, in which the heroes known as the Exalted gained their divine power, and subsequently became the subject of worship.
Era of Unity (EU 0 and Onwards)
The first year of the Era of Unity (EU) saw the most devastating war seen in centuries, the War of Blood.
While it lasted only months, the number of casualties was staggering. Ultimately it resulted in the creation of the United Nations council.Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
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