The First Era

The First Era refers to the period of time between the Moundmakers server's release on August 23rd, 2023, and the end of The Dark Age on September 15th, 2023. Below is a summary of the major events that took place during it:

With the server's opening, the kingdoms of Elliom, Aetherreich, Wildlands, ALOT, and Kektania were established. These original 5 kingdoms began, for the most part, peacefully, with all but Elliom and the Wildlands being locked to a state of perpetual peace due to server issues. Even with Elliom and the Wildlands able to battle, the short Elliomer-Wildlandish War showed that such a fight was unlikely. Soon after, the second set of kingdoms, those being Träd, Hardur, and Monastery, were founded with similarly-peaceful tendencies. Barbarian camps covered the landscape, and trade thrived with the construction and completion of the E1 of the Elliom Roadway Network.

This time of peace ended with the repair of the state of perpetual peace, however, and to break the silence, the Kingdom of Elliom declared the Elliomer-ALOT War against the Kingdom of ALOT on September 2nd, 2023 and swiftly annexed them, offering them the option to rejoin peacefully but soon regretting it when former member AirZeus21 instead set fire to the town and left. This war immediately changed the climate of the server, with nearly all other existing kingdoms coming together in an international Anti-Elliom Coalition headquartered in the Kingdom of Monastery while the Kingdom of Elliom's view of other kingdoms soured to distrust. The coalition's efforts were futile from the beginning, however, with one of its founding members, Beet, accidentally inviting an Elliomer soldier, raiisleep, to the coalition's secret meeting place. An attempt was made by KachowMapping and Timmy56 of the Kingdom of Coalition to conquer the Kingdom of Elliom on behalf of the Anti-Elliom Coalition, but this attempt was ultimately halted by Vectronr, and the Kingdom of Coalition was annexed and its residents enslaved. This led to minor invigoration for the coalition until raiisleep was discovered to have been listening in, and the coalition became disorganized and disheartened to the point of de facto dissolution.

Following this, CanineMinecraft, member of the Kingdom of Monastery and the coalition and former leader of the Kingdom of ALOT, and LimitedHistory, leader of the Kingdom of Elliom, met in the historic Summit of LimitedHistory and CanineMinecraft to discuss the future of their relations. With it becoming clear that the Kingdom of Elliom outmatched the coalition's potential, the Kingdom of Elliom declared war on all kingdoms on the server in The Great War while the majority of the members of the kingdoms that founded the coalition went inactive, beginning The Dark Age, a period that saw the server drop to only 10% of its original total playerbase joining in 5 day intervals. The Dark Age took its toll on the world, and by the end of it, every barbarian camp and 6 out of the 8 original kingdoms ceased to be while only one kingdom, the Kingdom of Solely, was founded.

The kingdoms of Elliom, Träd, and Solely emerged still standing after The Dark Age's end on September 15th, 2023, along with the newly-founded Kingdom of Teufort created at the very end of The Dark Age, and are set to usher in a new era for the Moundmakers server, with the Kingdom of Elliom annexing the lost kingdoms of Aetherreich, Monastery, Wildlands, Usaje, and Kektania, ending The Great War, and with Hardur ceasing to be. Whether this era will be peaceful and prosperous or hostile and dark is currently unknown. However, with wealth and power disparity heavily in the Kingdom of Elliom's favor, the new era will likely hinge greatly on their next actions.

An early map of the First Era from the point of view of the Kingdom of Elliom.A mid-First Era map from the point of view of the Kingdom of Elliom.A mid-First Era map before beginning of The Great War.A late-First Era map from the point of view of the Kingdom of Elliom a few days into The Great War and just after the fall of the Kingdom of Aetherreich.A map showing the borders at the end of the First Era.