A "Brief" Discourse on the Historical Ages of Antediluvian
Well Met Travelers,
Welcome to another world building session.
Again, sorry for being scarce this week. Between work and the risk of being flooded twice, I haven't really had the time to finish this off.
Today, I am going to discuss the major Historical ages and Events in the World of Antediluvian.
Antediluvian has a long and complex history dating all the way back to the dawn of mortal life.
This History can be broken down into Seven Ages:
The Age of Dawn is the first era of Existence for the mortal races of Antediluvian. This is the age when the gods and Immortals of the world created the mortal races. This is also the age when the gods most directly interfered with mortal affairs. This was an age of peace and Harmony among the mortal races, but not as much for the gods. While the gods enforced protection and aid to their favored creations, this often angered other gods whose chosen were thwarted by the actions of the other god.
While this did not escalate to violence among the Gods, The High Triumvirate (Evelune, Abbot, and Nekros) foresaw that it would eventually lead to gods fighting gods, so the Triumvirate made a declaration that all Gods were to return to Elysium. Once assembled in Elysium, all Gods were made to swear an oath not to Directly interfere/intervene on Antediluvian. This Oath of Divine Non-Involvement is the event that Marks the End of the Age of Dawn. While the gods still travel to Antediluvian and still answer prayers, they never directly shape the course of mortal affairs.
Age of Titans- 30,000- 83,500 BDC
The second age of Existence is marked by the departure of the Gods at the end of the Age of Dawn and the rise of Titans. Titans are the creation of a few different gods. Bugrash, lord of orcs and giants, gave them form and personality. Evelune gave them life and Nekros, her brother made it so death could scarcely touch them. The Titans were pseudo-immortal, for they could live forever, but they could be killed. Abbot, the god of knowledge, shared his teachings with them.
During this age, the Titans were given governance over the mortal races. The gods thought it best that the Titans guide the fledgling races. This system worked well for a while. The Titans and their giant children benevolently ruled over and taught the mortal races. There was a war between Dragons and Giants, the Draco-Jotun war, where dragons sought to claim the right to govern mortals. They lost; this is where two factions of dragons developed, benevolent and malevolent.
The Giants won the war, but the war had brought out the worst aspects of the Titans. Ymir, the titan king, began a reign of terror and oppression. This lead to the dwarves organizing a rebellion against their overlords. This war, known as the Whurain Rebellion, is the beginning of the end of the Age of Titans.
The gods took notice of the rebellion, and when the Giants took action against the Dwarves and their assembled allies, the gods sent their wrath. This is the only time in history that the Gods broke their vow. It is believed that because the gods were responsible for the Titans' position of power, they were responsible for dealing with the Titans' Oppression. The gods took the Titans and their Giant children and Imprisoned them within a new plane of existence, one designed specifically to house the enemies of the gods, the Eldritch Plane. To prevent the Titans from plotting their own release, the Gods imprisoned each Titan separately, splitting the Giant tribes apart among these Titan Realms. To prevent the Ogres from trying to ascend to the Titans' role as rulers, they were stricken dumb, all forms of higher learning stripped from their minds.
And thus ended the Age of Titans.
The Age of Magic- 83,500-95,500 BDC
After the reign of Titans ended, The mortal races began to organize, forming their own governments and Societies. Those who had studied under the Titans (Mages, Clerics, and Druids) quickly ascended to places of power within societies, usually as advisors to Kings and Emperors, but sometimes as leaders of their own nations (ie. The Mage Kings of Highthorn, The Theocracy at Leigeheim, and the Mythical Druid Nation of Entlarian).
For nearly 12,000 Years, Magic and these three different forms of Magic users kept the world in a near Utopian Society, making it far beyond the memory of even the long-lived elves. Unfortunately, as with all things, this peace would end. For a few hundred years prior to 95,485 BDC, tensions had been brewing between clerics and mages, for clerics found it irreverent and heretical that mages could harness magic without intervention from the Gods. In 95,485, these tensions reached a boiling point. The Mago-clerical War began with the attack on the Dragon Scholars in the City we now call Warcloak's Rest.
This war would last until 95,500 BDC when the Mages made a final desperate attack against the City of Rynovgrad. For the Last couple of years, the clerics had been trapping the souls of mages (a fact that has only recently been uncovered, as it had been hidden by the Church until very recently), in direct violation of the Laws of Magic. This last ditch attack was a singular mage sent on a suicide mission to Rynovgrad with a spell scroll of Extraordinary power; it was so potent that it was assumed that the flow of magic through the caster would be so great that the mage would just be vaporized.
When the spell was cast, a blast magic engulfed the entire city of Rynovgrad, destroying the soul anchor and freeing the souls of the fallen mages, as well as killing every living creature in and around the city. The magical fallout of this event reanimated every corpse that was in the blast zone. These corpses still enact a sad pantomime of their lives the day of the Blast, the blacksmith still forging, vendors still trying to silently hawk their wares to skeletal passers-by. This area is now known as Deathpointe.
This event brought about a vast distrust of magic among the people of the world, leading to the collapse of most mage-led societies, including the Mage-Kings of Highthorn. This also caused the Gods to turn their backs on all but their most faithful. With this, many of the Druids withdrew into their sacred city of Entlarian, and the city disappeared.
These three events marked the end of the Age of Magic.
The Age of Darkness- 95,500-100,000 BDC
This age begins with the collapse of the Age of Magic. Magic had once been a uniting force in the world, but with the events of the Mago-Clerical War, most had come to distrust most forms of magic. This lead to the collapse of many societies and those that did not collapse became introspective and suspicious of others.
This would lead to the Dwarves sealing themselves away within their fortresses, Elves disappearing into their forest and desert homes, and so on. During this time, diseases and violence were rampant, as anyone outside the protective walls of civilization ran the risk of encountering roving marauders and infected plague victims.
Due to everything listed above, very little is known about this era.
By far the shortest full age, this age's end is marked by the Rise of a Dragon Lord named Corduth, self-proclaimed Dragon King. Thus ends the age of Darkness.
The First Age of Dragons- 0-10,000 Post Draconic Conquest (PDC)
This age is marked by the Rise to Power of Corduth the Dragon King. At this point in time, he was the oldest and largest black dragon to walk the face of the Planet. He had been defeated by the Giants, and nearly killed during the age of magic, but seeing the mortal races in a state of weakness, he found the opportunity to strike was upon him. He amassed the greatest army of dragons that anyone has ever seen, it is unusual for more than three or four dragons to cooperate, yet he had hundreds of dragons working together in his name.
His army began a series of attacks against the bastions of mortal society, which in turn began to reunite the splintered mortal alliances. This would begin the war that we call the First Dragon War. During this time, the mortals and dragons fought a pitched war, but without many mages and no clerics, the mortal races were little match for the Dragons.
Around 8,465, Corduth Was slain at the Temple of the Stars, a Grand Structure in the Region that is now known as the Draconian Empire. He was reanimated in 8,470 by a dragon cult.
The last resistance was slain in the year 9,998 PDC when Lord Malcer Hrador betrayed his allies in exchange for his own life. He gave up secrets as to where the resistance was hiding, but dragons, being the creatures that they are, care not for traitors. They killed Hrador where he stood and cursed him to stand eternal watch over the lands that he betrayed. He is one of the few fallen Paladins to roam the lands.
After the rebellion was crushed beneath his feet, Corduth Claimed rulership over the entire plane of Antediluvian. He appointed his most trusted generals, four other dragons, to rule over the farthest fringes of his empire. This power grab is the event that we denote as the end of the First Age of Dragons.
The Second Age of Dragons- 10,000-28,657 PDC
This era begins with Corduth's rise to power at the end of the first Dragon War. This era is marked by the Draconic oppression that the dragons were after from the beginning. Everyone suffered under the reign of Dragons, except for the Dracons (my name for Dragonborn).
This reign of Dragons lasted until about 28,655. This is when the Brotherhood of the Whispering Ring rose out of obscurity. These misfit heroes sought out and killed three of the four Draconic Generals, turned the third to their side, and raised an army. During this uprising, The brotherhood was able to awaken the Gods to the plight of the mortal races, thus clerics and other divine casters were able to enter the world again.
They then set out to attack the Heart of Corduth's empire. They laid siege to the city and waged a massive battle against the Draconic army. It was a pitched battle, and many were lost on both sides. Eventually, the Brotherhood was able to breach the citadel in which Corduth was dwelling and defeat him.
This marks the end of the Age of Dragons.
The Age of Restoration- 28,657-Present
This age is so named for the return to the old ways. The dwarves have come out of their mountains, and the elves have emerged from their forests. The Brotherhood of the Whispering Ring's members were made immortal by Echos to defend the realm from massive threats like the Dragons and Titans.
The world is returning to normality. Unfortunately, the tensions between clerics and mages have risen again. It has not yet come to blows; the mages do not want another war, thus all mages have either gone into hiding or returned to one of the two magocracies. Both the mages and Clerics have begun stockpiling magic items in a similar manner to how the US and USSR stockpiled nukes during the cold war.
I think that is it for the History of Antediluvian.
As always, let me know what you think in the comments, and if you liked this, click the follow button.
Until next time,
Farewell and Safe Journeys, Travelers.
Welcome to another world building session.
Again, sorry for being scarce this week. Between work and the risk of being flooded twice, I haven't really had the time to finish this off.
Today, I am going to discuss the major Historical ages and Events in the World of Antediluvian.
Antediluvian has a long and complex history dating all the way back to the dawn of mortal life.
This History can be broken down into Seven Ages:
- The Age of Dawn
- The Age of Titans
- The Age of Magic
- The Age of Darkness
- The First Age of Dragons
- The Second Age of Dragons
- The Age of Restoration
The Age of Dawn is the first era of Existence for the mortal races of Antediluvian. This is the age when the gods and Immortals of the world created the mortal races. This is also the age when the gods most directly interfered with mortal affairs. This was an age of peace and Harmony among the mortal races, but not as much for the gods. While the gods enforced protection and aid to their favored creations, this often angered other gods whose chosen were thwarted by the actions of the other god.
While this did not escalate to violence among the Gods, The High Triumvirate (Evelune, Abbot, and Nekros) foresaw that it would eventually lead to gods fighting gods, so the Triumvirate made a declaration that all Gods were to return to Elysium. Once assembled in Elysium, all Gods were made to swear an oath not to Directly interfere/intervene on Antediluvian. This Oath of Divine Non-Involvement is the event that Marks the End of the Age of Dawn. While the gods still travel to Antediluvian and still answer prayers, they never directly shape the course of mortal affairs.
Age of Titans- 30,000- 83,500 BDC
The second age of Existence is marked by the departure of the Gods at the end of the Age of Dawn and the rise of Titans. Titans are the creation of a few different gods. Bugrash, lord of orcs and giants, gave them form and personality. Evelune gave them life and Nekros, her brother made it so death could scarcely touch them. The Titans were pseudo-immortal, for they could live forever, but they could be killed. Abbot, the god of knowledge, shared his teachings with them.
During this age, the Titans were given governance over the mortal races. The gods thought it best that the Titans guide the fledgling races. This system worked well for a while. The Titans and their giant children benevolently ruled over and taught the mortal races. There was a war between Dragons and Giants, the Draco-Jotun war, where dragons sought to claim the right to govern mortals. They lost; this is where two factions of dragons developed, benevolent and malevolent.
The Giants won the war, but the war had brought out the worst aspects of the Titans. Ymir, the titan king, began a reign of terror and oppression. This lead to the dwarves organizing a rebellion against their overlords. This war, known as the Whurain Rebellion, is the beginning of the end of the Age of Titans.
The gods took notice of the rebellion, and when the Giants took action against the Dwarves and their assembled allies, the gods sent their wrath. This is the only time in history that the Gods broke their vow. It is believed that because the gods were responsible for the Titans' position of power, they were responsible for dealing with the Titans' Oppression. The gods took the Titans and their Giant children and Imprisoned them within a new plane of existence, one designed specifically to house the enemies of the gods, the Eldritch Plane. To prevent the Titans from plotting their own release, the Gods imprisoned each Titan separately, splitting the Giant tribes apart among these Titan Realms. To prevent the Ogres from trying to ascend to the Titans' role as rulers, they were stricken dumb, all forms of higher learning stripped from their minds.
And thus ended the Age of Titans.
The Age of Magic- 83,500-95,500 BDC
After the reign of Titans ended, The mortal races began to organize, forming their own governments and Societies. Those who had studied under the Titans (Mages, Clerics, and Druids) quickly ascended to places of power within societies, usually as advisors to Kings and Emperors, but sometimes as leaders of their own nations (ie. The Mage Kings of Highthorn, The Theocracy at Leigeheim, and the Mythical Druid Nation of Entlarian).
For nearly 12,000 Years, Magic and these three different forms of Magic users kept the world in a near Utopian Society, making it far beyond the memory of even the long-lived elves. Unfortunately, as with all things, this peace would end. For a few hundred years prior to 95,485 BDC, tensions had been brewing between clerics and mages, for clerics found it irreverent and heretical that mages could harness magic without intervention from the Gods. In 95,485, these tensions reached a boiling point. The Mago-clerical War began with the attack on the Dragon Scholars in the City we now call Warcloak's Rest.
This war would last until 95,500 BDC when the Mages made a final desperate attack against the City of Rynovgrad. For the Last couple of years, the clerics had been trapping the souls of mages (a fact that has only recently been uncovered, as it had been hidden by the Church until very recently), in direct violation of the Laws of Magic. This last ditch attack was a singular mage sent on a suicide mission to Rynovgrad with a spell scroll of Extraordinary power; it was so potent that it was assumed that the flow of magic through the caster would be so great that the mage would just be vaporized.
When the spell was cast, a blast magic engulfed the entire city of Rynovgrad, destroying the soul anchor and freeing the souls of the fallen mages, as well as killing every living creature in and around the city. The magical fallout of this event reanimated every corpse that was in the blast zone. These corpses still enact a sad pantomime of their lives the day of the Blast, the blacksmith still forging, vendors still trying to silently hawk their wares to skeletal passers-by. This area is now known as Deathpointe.
This event brought about a vast distrust of magic among the people of the world, leading to the collapse of most mage-led societies, including the Mage-Kings of Highthorn. This also caused the Gods to turn their backs on all but their most faithful. With this, many of the Druids withdrew into their sacred city of Entlarian, and the city disappeared.
These three events marked the end of the Age of Magic.
The Age of Darkness- 95,500-100,000 BDC
This age begins with the collapse of the Age of Magic. Magic had once been a uniting force in the world, but with the events of the Mago-Clerical War, most had come to distrust most forms of magic. This lead to the collapse of many societies and those that did not collapse became introspective and suspicious of others.
This would lead to the Dwarves sealing themselves away within their fortresses, Elves disappearing into their forest and desert homes, and so on. During this time, diseases and violence were rampant, as anyone outside the protective walls of civilization ran the risk of encountering roving marauders and infected plague victims.
Due to everything listed above, very little is known about this era.
By far the shortest full age, this age's end is marked by the Rise of a Dragon Lord named Corduth, self-proclaimed Dragon King. Thus ends the age of Darkness.
The First Age of Dragons- 0-10,000 Post Draconic Conquest (PDC)
This age is marked by the Rise to Power of Corduth the Dragon King. At this point in time, he was the oldest and largest black dragon to walk the face of the Planet. He had been defeated by the Giants, and nearly killed during the age of magic, but seeing the mortal races in a state of weakness, he found the opportunity to strike was upon him. He amassed the greatest army of dragons that anyone has ever seen, it is unusual for more than three or four dragons to cooperate, yet he had hundreds of dragons working together in his name.
His army began a series of attacks against the bastions of mortal society, which in turn began to reunite the splintered mortal alliances. This would begin the war that we call the First Dragon War. During this time, the mortals and dragons fought a pitched war, but without many mages and no clerics, the mortal races were little match for the Dragons.
Around 8,465, Corduth Was slain at the Temple of the Stars, a Grand Structure in the Region that is now known as the Draconian Empire. He was reanimated in 8,470 by a dragon cult.
The last resistance was slain in the year 9,998 PDC when Lord Malcer Hrador betrayed his allies in exchange for his own life. He gave up secrets as to where the resistance was hiding, but dragons, being the creatures that they are, care not for traitors. They killed Hrador where he stood and cursed him to stand eternal watch over the lands that he betrayed. He is one of the few fallen Paladins to roam the lands.
After the rebellion was crushed beneath his feet, Corduth Claimed rulership over the entire plane of Antediluvian. He appointed his most trusted generals, four other dragons, to rule over the farthest fringes of his empire. This power grab is the event that we denote as the end of the First Age of Dragons.
The Second Age of Dragons- 10,000-28,657 PDC
This era begins with Corduth's rise to power at the end of the first Dragon War. This era is marked by the Draconic oppression that the dragons were after from the beginning. Everyone suffered under the reign of Dragons, except for the Dracons (my name for Dragonborn).
This reign of Dragons lasted until about 28,655. This is when the Brotherhood of the Whispering Ring rose out of obscurity. These misfit heroes sought out and killed three of the four Draconic Generals, turned the third to their side, and raised an army. During this uprising, The brotherhood was able to awaken the Gods to the plight of the mortal races, thus clerics and other divine casters were able to enter the world again.
They then set out to attack the Heart of Corduth's empire. They laid siege to the city and waged a massive battle against the Draconic army. It was a pitched battle, and many were lost on both sides. Eventually, the Brotherhood was able to breach the citadel in which Corduth was dwelling and defeat him.
This marks the end of the Age of Dragons.
The Age of Restoration- 28,657-Present
This age is so named for the return to the old ways. The dwarves have come out of their mountains, and the elves have emerged from their forests. The Brotherhood of the Whispering Ring's members were made immortal by Echos to defend the realm from massive threats like the Dragons and Titans.
The world is returning to normality. Unfortunately, the tensions between clerics and mages have risen again. It has not yet come to blows; the mages do not want another war, thus all mages have either gone into hiding or returned to one of the two magocracies. Both the mages and Clerics have begun stockpiling magic items in a similar manner to how the US and USSR stockpiled nukes during the cold war.
I think that is it for the History of Antediluvian.
As always, let me know what you think in the comments, and if you liked this, click the follow button.
Until next time,
Farewell and Safe Journeys, Travelers.
Comments