Fourth Age

The Fourth Age was a period of time in the history of the universe.
This age is remembered as a time of peace and harmony following the destruction of the Third Age. During this age, much of the progress achieved in the Second Age was recovered: New civilizations and powers arose to occupy the void left by the fall of the Divine Empires. Regardless, the Divine Council was forever extinguished and the Divines who survived the Godfall withdrew into permanent exile in the Outer Planes.
The comparative peace of this age was suddenly disrupted by the Dragon War, during which the nascent Draconic Imperium seized rulership over the world.
== Timeline ==
=== The Exile ===
* 2,918 PE. The Last Battle is fought and won by the new Divines in Nivelor. The Nameless One vanishes, his spirit ostensibly consumed by the Divines.
* 2,918 PE. The remaining deities gather in the final Divine Council. They decide that they must exile themselves from the Material Plane in order to permanently prevent any possibility of a new Godfall. The Primordial and Elder Gods thus retreat to the Outer Planes, never to return. Before their departure, the Divines sanction the Divine Concord, by which they agree to continue offering their power to those who worship and revere them. The Concord becomes an organization of its own, established in order to ensure that the worship and reverence of the Divines, and the virtues they represent, endures even after the gods themselves go into self-imposed exile in the Outer Planes.
** Dalos, heir of Soros, withdraws into the tranquil waters and gardens of Elysium.
** Nerevariol, heir of Sinvariol, departs to the magical realm of Anarchia, building her home in the city of Vas Cresio.
** Mzund, heir of Tzulft, his father, retires to Odengard, creating his home in the city of Tzulftenhand.
** Neftis, the Goddess-Pharaoh and Bloodmother, enters her permanent abode in the depths of Tartarus.
* 2,918 PE. The reconstruction of the world begins.
* 2,918 PE. The reverence and worship of the Divines begins as it is classically known. Now that the deities do not walk the earth as in the past, many temples, chapels, and shrines begin to be erected throughout the land.
=== The Reconstruction ===
* 2,920 PE. The world is in ruins, and Nivelor in particular has been devastated by the Last Battles. The Elves of this continent set to the difficult task of rebuilding their nations with great industry.
* 2,922 PE. The Accord of Harmony is signed by the Elven nations of Nivelor. By such a writ, the great Elven nations of the continent agree to avoid war or hostility for the next 800 years (the duration of an average elven life) in order to allow an entire generation to rebuild the damage of the Godfall.
* 2,952 PE. Kezpoac the Elder attempts to restore the Uxal through diplomacy. However, many discrepancies in the interpretations of the final texts of Soros erupt throughout the Coldbloods, and Kezpoac's attempts backfire. The subsequent discussion escalates into the First Doxological Conflict in Uxalon.
* 2,955 PE. After the death of Sigwald IV, Morania collapses into a succesional war, which leads to the fragmentation of the Kingdom into its constituent duchies. The royal demesne, centered around Neveringen, is seized by the Dukes of Grunwald.
* 3,722 PE. The Accord of Harmony expires. Oseilon immediately declares war on Avaras, hoping to overturn the independence of the city-state, leading to the
=== The Middle Years ===
* 3,923 PE. Finvariol's Expeditions commence. The Expeditions will eventually lead the Nivelorians to establish several outposts in the coasts of Uxalon, ostensibly to engage in trade with the Uxal, but in reality to begin establishing a bridgehead into the Cold Continent.
* 4,382 PE. The Nivelorians attack the proto-Aldian nation in Erideon, going so far as to burn and sack Roulan. The Aldians, led by Pascal de Gavard, are thrown back nearly all the way into Mzundelft. The Elves of Oseilon thus acquire great territory in Erideon.
* 4,582 PE. The Great Dwarven-Elvish War begins. The war, pitting Mzundelft and its vassals against the Elven realms of Nivelor, will further cement a rivalry between both races that lasts to this day. The war will be marred by many great tragedies and human rights abuses, forever tarnishing the combatants, and will be bloody and terrible enough that it will last until the beginning of the War of the Holy Flame (into which it will merge, with the Dwarves gladly fighting for Mzund and the Divine Concord).
* 4,622 PE. At around this date, Noldorant, knowing the power that can be commanded by the alliance of dragons metallic and chromatic following the Godfall, and disturbed by the war crimes and other excesses of mortals, begins to plan the rise of the Draconic Imperium. He will begin to collect allies and signatories to the Alliance of Dragons Chromatic and Metallic.
* 4,917 PE. Oseilon interferes with the selection of the new Shogun, leading to the selection of Shogun Ichigo the Intolerable amidst allegations of election interference. However, Ichigo orders the ballots destroyed, and proceeds to declare that his term as Shogun would have no limit. This, of course, leads the Daimyo to open revolt, splitting the Shogunate into two factions: the Autocratic faction, led by Ichigo, and the Institutional faction, led by Lord Hiro Matsushiro. Thus begins the War of High Office.
* 5,232 PE. The College of Avaras launches an expedition into Ahnkhaset, seeking to unearth the fabled riches buried with the corpse of the God-Pharaoh under the Great Pyramid of Khalanset. Such conduct, however, is rejected by the Khem, who capture the Avarese infiltrators. The infiltrators are mummified alive. Avaras and Oseilon utilize this as a casus belli to launch the War of Reprobation.
* 5,429 PE. The Divine Concord formally presents an injuction against the Nivelorians, ordering the Elves to cease their expansion throughout the world. Though the Sinvariol and Nerevariol-dedicated clergy protests, the Magisterium overwhelmingly overturns such individuals. The Elves reject this, citing it as a flagrant misuse of clerical authority. In a disputed turn of events, they are rumored to burn alive the Pontifex of the Concord, Saint Honorarius the Unburnt. However, Saint Honorarius survives such a trial, ostensibly thanks to the intervention of Dalos himself, and proceeds to excommunicate the top Nivelorian leadership, thus launching the War of the Holy Flame.
=== Noldorant's Conspiracy ===
* 5,874 PE. With the evident weakness of both the realms of Nivelor and of the exhausted Pontifical Divine Concord, Noldorant determines that the moment is right, and thus the Usurpation begins. The Alliance of Dragons Chromatic and Metallic, now public, launches a series of attacks to seize control of Vaer, the Eternal City, and many other critical locations throughout the world.
== Historiography ==
The fourth age is frequently believed to be an era of complete peace. This is false. Many conflicts took place in this age, especially between the Elves and the other races.
Category:Fourth Age
Category:Ages
Es:Cuarta Edad
Category:History