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History of Waking Materia

The mystery of the Nascent Age; the empire-building and trade-warring of the First Age; the utter chaos of the Second Age and the dawning opportunities of the Third Age.

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The First Age of Meranthic Man

0 P.M. 611 I.M.

Also known as the Kelpeater Era or the Age of Insurgency, the First Age of Man represents the period of history from the arrival of the First Empire, known as the Kelpeaters, to the arrival of the Second Empire, known as the New Rozsans. Generally agreed to be from 0 I.M. (Intra-Merantha) to about 611 I.M. on the Yasnan Calendar.

Much of this period is characterized by warring between the Kelpeater Gods and the Insurgent Gods, after the latter's arrival around 40 I.M..

  • 0 P.M.

    The Arrival of the Kelpeaters
    Era beginning/end

    An imperial disapora from the faraway plane of Lorgain plane-hops their way across the Void in search of a new home. After nearly four decades of travel, they eventually settle on the backwater plane of Waking Materia. This diaspora was colloquially known as the Kelpeater Empire, and despite their innocuous nickname were a ruthless, militaristic and theocratic federation of multiple Egwithian cultures, under the absolute rule of their God-Emperor and Lord of Lords, the Reiver King Inum'indiron'aravaut.
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  • 40 I.M.

    Arrival of the Insurgent Heroes
    Revolution

    The first Insurgent Heroes, who would later become known as the Insurgent Gods upon ascension, begin to arrive on Waking Materia, determined not to let the Reiver King wreak havoc on an unspoiled and undeserving plane.
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  • 180 I.M.

    300 I.M.

    The Dye Wars
    Military: War

    The displaying of certain colours was an important part of the Kelpeater Empire's caste system, and as such dyes were a significant part of their economy. While the materials to make dyes were common enough on Lorgain, there were more scarce on Waking Materia. The resulting dye prices would trigger a thriving interplanar market centred around the otherwise backwater plane, and with it large increases in piracy, and warfare between different trade guilds. Though such competition occurred before and after these dates, the period of 180-300 I.M. represents the height of the fighting.

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  • 200 I.M.

    The Ascension of the Insurgent Heroes
    Life, Supernatural

    As the Dye Wars raged, the Insurgent Heroes and their multiplying adherents used the chaos to their advantage, further undermining the Colonial Gods. The Wardens of Reis & Merlinkainen and the Sagasingers of V'Shaat & mac-Kenzie grew into populous, multi-societal movements, increasingly worshipful of their now-legendary progenitors. And for all this to happen, the Insurgent Heroes continued to live, now hundreds of years beyond their life expectancies. They had become immortal. They had become the Insurgent Gods.
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  • 215 I.M.

    Establishment of the Sovereign Nation of Iyō
    Political event

    Lichlord and Colonial demigod Io'a defects from the leadership of The God-Emperor of Alanthan'aravaut. He and some tens of thousands of his army and fiefs established an independent society in what is now the Emerald Expanse of modern Marai. They became known as the Iyō.
    Location
    Emerald Expanse
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  • 400 I.M.

    766 I.M.

    The Ap'shetran Era of Sovereign Iyō
    Political event

    After Godlord Io'a's assassination and a string of weak leaders, the vibrant but feral Iyō would stagnate for a few centuries. However around 400 I.M. rulership fell to a previously obscure but brilliant Queen Regent named Ap'shetra of Saulot. She appears to have achieved Lichdom, whereupon she would rule for nearly four centuries until her ascension to local demigodhood and abandonment of her rule, around 766 I.M., whereupon the nation rapidly fell as its predecessor did. Nonetheless under Ap'shetra's rule, Iyō experienced an explosion of prosperity, modernization and territorial expansion, both into proto-Marai on one front and Alanthan'aravaut on the other. Much of the surviving art, literature and architecture of Iyō comes from the Ap'shetran Dynastic Period.
    Location
    Emerald Expanse
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The Middle First Age

612 I.M. 1152 I.M.

Also known as the Elmdorian Age or the Age of Villains, the Middle First Age begins approximately six centuries after the arrival of the Kelpeaters. It, too, represents the arrival of an extraplanar, colonial empire, this time from the plane of Rozsa. It is generally characterized by a waning of influence by the Insurgent Gods as they were now forced to fight two enemies (though to be sure, the Kelpeaters and Rozans were not friends either).

  • 612 I.M.

    Arrival of the Rozsans
    Population Migration / Travel

    A second extraplanar, colonial empire arrives on Waking Materia, this time from the small but relatively advanced plane of Rozsa. It would be called The New Rozsan Empire, led by the Lichlords and twin siblings, Nir and Nef. They would eventually attract the [antagonistic] attention of both the Insurgent Gods and The Kelpeaters, and despite their smaller population would gain significant ground and influence over the following decades.
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  • 720 I.M.

    Establishment of the Sovereign Firstsong Islands
    Founding

    At some unknown point in the later 600s or early 700s I.M., a small but stable population would defect from the New Rozsan Empire to begin an independent nation in a small Voiward archipelago that would become known as the Firstsong Islands. Expeditionary forces under Vierix Echidna first noted their presence in 720 I.M., and soon after their refusal to resubmit to New Rozsan rule. These people would become known as the Noa-Aina-Koroa, and would maintain their independence despite a series of violent campaigns to bring them back to heel. The Firstsongs are the second of only two nations to defect from the First Empires prior to the the Great Fractionation.
    Location
    Firstsong Islands
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  • 750 I.M.

    760 I.M.

    The Galateid Invasion
    Military: War

    Centuries earlier, before the New Rozsan Empire established itself on Waking Materia, the plane of Rozsa fought off a vicious army of metallic Galateids under the command of a rogue Lichlord named Vierix Arcturinox, who hoped to "bless" the plane with inorganic superiority. For centuries thereafter, Arcturinox was presumed dead, eventually forgotten. That is, until the New Rozsan Empire drew his attention to a new target. The last thing the young extraplanar colony would expect was a second visit from the metallic warlord. He had been patiently developing his plan for centuries, and when he sprung this trap he used every ounce of power he had into one galactic sucker punch to the throat of the "Organics'" central leadership, whereupon he would give this new realm the enlightened and immortal citizenry it deserves...

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The Late First Age

1152 I.M. 2850 I.M.

Also known as the Age of Fractionation, the Late First Age is characterized by the Great Fractionation of the major empires due to socioeconomic strain from the Darkest Decade. Dozens of new nations split from their former leaders, forced to fend for themselves amid the plagues and droughts that thrived without bright daylight. Once on the losing side, the Insurgent Gods gain several new allies against the weakened Colonial Empires. It is a time of grat upheaval and rich cultural evolution.

Some scholars instead refer to this period as the Era of Ascension, as more heroes and antiheroes arise from the continued (and now more equitable) wars between the Colonial and Insurgent Gods. The mighty warbodies of the Lichlords begin to fall in combat for the first time. Children were born in free societies that would never know life under the strict gaze of a god-emperor.

  • 1153 I.M.

    The Darkest Decade
    Disaster / Destruction

    The Darkest Decade refers to an unknown amount of time in the First Age, wherein much or all of Waking Materia experienced ceaseless night. The effects on the plane were utterly catastrophic: crops failed, resulting in starvation and malnutrition; new plagues emerged, so virulent even New Rozsan bioengineers struggled to keep up. It resulted finally in The Great Fractionation, where nations were forced to split from their parent empires in order to fend for themselves.

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  • 1160 I.M.

    The Great Fractionation
    Population Migration / Travel

    Though the Darkest Decade had innumerable consequences on Waking life, most important was the Great Fractionation, wherein the near-planewide empires of Alanthan'aravaut and New Rozsa split into dozens of independent nations as remote regions lost Empyreal support and were forced to fend for themselves. Among present-day cultures, the most ancient began during this event.

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  • 1210 I.M.

    1260 I.M.

    The Dragon Wars
    Military: War

    Catastrophic and unexpected, the Dragon Wars began when the extraplanar god of destruction and draconic supremacy, Elir-Otrinax, decided Waking Materia would make an enjoyable buffet-slash-playground. Heavily divided by the Great Fractionation, civilized resistance was disorganized and vulnerable. The overwhelming power and unpredictability of Otrinax and its True Dragon armies were proving too difficult even for the temporarily unified Colonial and Insurgent Gods, resulting in several divine fatalities and an untold number of mortal ones. All seemed lost until another extraplanar god, Tallari-Anaviri-Irallat, arrived...

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  • 1812 I.M.

    The Hemlock Veldt Disaster
    Disaster / Destruction

    The Hemlock Veldt Disaster was the culmination of a short but brutal series of wars between a group of Hecath Queens, most notably the heroic Raggedy Azra, and the cruel, ambitious Lichlord Vierix Euphraxia. The Lichlord sought to subdue the Hecath by unleashing an occult contagion on their lands which would drive the local spirits berserk; though Raggedy Azra was unable to stop the necessary ritual, she was able to "detonate" it early, saving untold thousands but resulting in the death of both demigods.

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  • 1919 I.M.

    The Founding of Nefirot
    Founding

    The great Lichlord and Colonial God of the New Rozsan Empire, Nef, quietly and mysteriously abandons his position despite centuries of loyalty to his sister and co-ruler, Nir. Nireauan accounts believe he began his own, isolated magocracy named Nefirot, but if such a place existed, even these contemporary accounts knew almost nothing about it.
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  • 2804 I.M.

    The Näckros War
    Military: War

    Suddenly and without warning, a massive army (perhaps the entire population) of Näckros mer-giants emerged from the ocean and attacked the continent of Valamon, riding enormous flying manta rays and vanguarded by "land sharks" running on sturdy, crustaceon-like legs. It would take an unprecedentedly broad, multi-species alliance to weather the vicious, seemingly desperate assault, and still with a devastating casualty count.

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    Species
    Kaiju
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  • 2850 I.M.

    The Deluge
    Disaster / Destruction

    Inexplicably and with no warning, untold megatons of demon-infested brine well up from the centre of Waking Materia and cascade outwards in a catastrophic bloom of storms and tsunamis, destroying or submerging nearly two thirds of the plane. Millennia later, life on Materia is still profoundly affected by this disaster.

    Location
    Sunken Expanse
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The Second Age, "The Lost Era"

2851 I.M. 4277 I.M.

Also known as the Lost Era or the Era Best Forgotten, the Second Age was a period of chaos, confusion and vicious territorial warfare after a catastrophic, plane-wide flooding event known as the Deluge. Across the plane, civilizations desperately try to gain a foothold on an unrecognizeable new world. Travelers and diplomats find they cannot return to their home continents as the world's oceans are now haunted by demonic creatures and anomalous weather, forcing them to seek permanent hospitality from their hosts. It was not a time of scholarship, and many surviving records from the First Age (already a small fraction) are allowed to rot and weather, turning many First Age events into vague memories and questionable mythologies. A once bustling, multiplanar hub becomes a backwater once again.

What's more, surviving practicioners of Duskscape-based magic find the Veil between the Waking and Sleeping realms is now nearly impenetrable, making black magic difficult if not impossible. Knowledge of these methods erodes way over the following centuries.

  • 3030 I.M.

    3060 I.M.

    The Second Dragon Wars
    Military: War

    The isolated, Alpha Quarter archipelago of Tiam's Cradle falls into violence as several tribes of the local Ghost Elves declare all-out war on the local Tiam-Anzu population after a major spiritual leader and U'shu'e knowledge-keeper was slain by one of the feathered dragons. The Ghost Elves became sharply divided among the Himadri peace-seekers and the Inquanok dragon-hunters, with the latter taking up most of the population at its height. The local tiam-anzu were driven to near-extinction; the remainder fled.

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    Species
    Anzu
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Everything herein is written by © Alan M. Byers, aka Hallucigenia, save for credited quotes. Artists are credited complete with links: please consider visiting their sites and supporting them. Uncredited images created by myself using prompting software.

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