Age of Dragons

Age of Dragons

11,249-4780 years ago (0-6,470 II)

Preceded by the Age of Titans

Followed by the Age of Heroes

Secretive wars breaks out between the Chromatic and Metallic dragons as Xorvintaal begins.

Human explorers set sail colonizing the uninhabited lands to the South and the West including the Farwest continent. Many humans begin migrating in mass to this new continent to flee from the xorvental dragons. Those outside of the major cities must contend with living humble nomadic lifestyles to avoid luring dragons.

Elves, cut off from their gods and stranded on Ord, begin to acclimate to their new home. Elven cities make contact with the men of Farwest.

The dwarven city of Kolzamor is deemed a high prize by dragons and becomes a target of Xorvental. Dwarves retreat to defend their underground kingdom.

Moon War / The Tarnishing of the Cele'Ældon

The Elven race is sundered into the High Elves, the Wood Elves and the Dark Elves.

Humans from the arcane cities of the Farwest sense a power vacuum and return to form the Norlund, the Kingdom of Man. The Farwest humans bargain with the native Yupik'yod humans to assist them in hunting dragons.

The Farwest is infiltrated by Vashar.

Reckless Human archmagi, deluded by Vashar, reach out to bargain with otherworldly forces and work to weaken the Material plane's dimensional membrane causing Fey creatures and Aberrations to pour into the Farwest.

Jilin and many aberrant creatures take a foothold in the Farwest region.

The cities of Farwest are destroyed by a mighty coalition of dragons and giants lead by Bahamut and a Storm Giant chieftain Boleros Béimnech. The remaining humans are driven to the East into the fledgling Kingdom of Man as the Coalition of Thundering Clouds attempts to scour their remaining archmagi from the world.

The Kingdom of Man works to retake the Northland and expand across the landscape, displacing the nomadic peoples.

Draconic populations dwindle. Xorvental begins culling weaker dragons en masse.

## Cultures

### Dwarves

Dwarves live as they had for millennia. Their cities rose high and their treasure hoards grew. This attracted unwanted notice however, and dragons made war on the dwarves. Many of their human allies fled to the Farwest and left the Dwarves to mostly fend for themselves. The Dwarves dug in, and the mansions of the dwarves slowly transformed into brutal fortresses.

### Elves

Elves are more numerous in this age. They have spread out to farther lands and some differences begin to be apparent. All Elves venerate the great lights of the world though many elven families begin to follow one to the exclusion of others.

Copper Elves - The Aira'Ældon (Our family who follow the tree's light), also known as Copper elves are the most populous of the elven races in Ord. A more primal subculture of elves living in the wilds. They had little love for the Silver Elves, and allied with the Gold Elves after the Silver Elves purged them from the Eastern forests. They broke from their kin after the first Moon War, travelling West to live a more aesthetic lifestyle in the forests of the Silver Reach and Deep reach. Most Copper Elves lived in very small, druidic communities in the wilds and formed close relationships with the natural forces of the forest. Copper Elves kept their dead in there communities, imbuing their remains and immortal spirits into the trees themselves. This practice begins as a religious honor, but eventually evolved into a ritual for all the dead. The trees become known as Chorus Trees and are a central point of Copper Elf culture. Many tribes travelled south and disappeared into the sand.

Gold Elves - The Malda'Ældon (Our family who follow the golden light) are a culture of elves in the northern coasts of the Silver Reach and the island of Goldenglade. These elves have brought fourth great cities of white stone on the coast through the power of the arcane. Gold Elves are often xenophobic, or mistrustful of outsiders at best. They are allies of the Dwarves, rarely tolerate any non-elves into their territory. As the human communities grow, Gold-Elf wizards are often hired as tutors for noblemen against the urging of the Silver Elves. The hostile attitude of the Silver Elves brings war between the Gold and Silver Elves, deepening the divisions among their cultures. Gold Elves devised a terrible curse and brought it down upon their Silver Elf adversaries. The Shay'ri curse would have lasting effects on the elven peoples. While they eventually did success, driving their enemies off, they would suffer terrible losses, and be forced to reach out to humans for assistance. Trade between Goldenglade and the Far West proved integral to both nations.

Silver Elves - The Cele'Ældon (Our family who follow the silver light) were a stoic race of sages and skilled warriors. They were never as numerous as their kin, although they were the most militant. These elves lived in the Silver Reach lands around the Sapphire Sea and were skilled sailors. The Silver Elves of this age bore the brunt of hostility from the Goblin-kin and had a growing resentment of their kin, especially the Gold Elves, who refused to assist in the ongoing conflict. This ongoing conflict drove the Silver Elves to make lasting oaths to defend the Silver Reach and began to lead them down a dark path. After the conflict with the Goblin-kin, these elves turned their ire towards their kin and purged the Silver Reach of all other humanoids. This began the first Moon War which drove hard lines between the elven cultures. The other Elven cultures banded together to purge the Silver Elves claim of kinship. A new curse was devised and put upon the Silver Elves. The Shay'ri curse rent many tribes from their cultural identity as elves and drove the new "dark ones" to hate their former kin. This event and decline was known as the Tarnishing.

Grey Elves - The Mith'Ældon (Our family who follow the stone's light) also known as grey, mountain or stone elves were a small clan of Silver Elves lead by Peralas the Pale. These elves allied themselves with dragons and were spirited away by Bahamut himself deep into the mountains at the start of the Moon War. Their mountain citadel became known as Mith'Taern and would exist in secret for another age. By the time they were discovered by the other Elven races, they had deviated from their kin to a degree that they were no longer considered Silver Elves.

### Orcs and Goblin-Kin

Goblin-kin are driven by infighting. Centuries of constant warfare slowly came to an end as one powerful warlord gained power. Mahg'daern Bonemouth rallied and untied several of the largest legions of hobgoblins and was proclaimed the first emperor of their people. His veneration sparked previously unheard of powers and he became the first demi-god leader of the goblin-kin of Ibyth. During this time, many of the Orcs were exiled to the Northern or Eastern mountains and the Goblin-kin focused more on expansion of their territory in the South.

### Humans

Humans are founding great kingdoms across the world.

The Farwesters - The culture that would eventually become the Thessans arose as the Northern villages fled across the sea to escape the war between Dragons and Dwarves. Along the way they would encounter the Gold Elves and were taught the arts of Wizardry. These skills allowed them to found a great magical kingdom on the Farwest continent. Here they would expand and grow powerful, but prideful. Their skill in the magical arts was not tempered by the wisdom of age. These human magi would return over the sea and found a great Kingdom of Men with the assistance of the Yupik peoples who had remained for centuries evading the dragons. The Farwest kingdoms, infiltrated by Vashar, brought forth reckless arcane powers that threatened the destruction of the entire sphere and would eventually be lost, destroyed by a powerful union of Giants and Dragons. The survivors returned to the new lands of Thessan, displacing their former allies the Yupik people.

The Yupik - The men of the North lived for generations evading the notice of the Dragons. After most of their kind fled from the war of Dwarves and Dragons, those who remained forbade the use of magic, or the hording of wealth out of fear. When the Farwesters returned after the Moon War, the Yupik viewed them with suspicion, but welcomed their aid against the dragons. After the dragons were driven from the northlands, and the Farwest was lost, hosts of Farwesters colonized the Northlands, displacing the Yupik peoples to eke out a living in the harsh lands left.

The Yonguren, Shanren, and Kenkaren - The men of continent called Danasia flourished in this time, though most of their history is apocryphal and shrouded in myth. Endless cycles of war and peace left scars across the land and powerful god-like spirits broke the continent in two, separating the Kenkaren from their kin and isolating them in the arid Eastern half.

The Hulese - The men of the South had risen to become powerful trade-princes and have colonized the island continent of Hara Dhuna. They traded freely between the continents and often kept knowledge of other cultures secret, making sure that nobody in the West knew about the East, and vice versa, in an effort to capitalize on the trade of exotic materials. As time went on, the Lands of Hara Dhuna would grow increasingly more threatened by a cartel of rakshasa lords from Desolarn and trade with the western continents slowed. In Hul, revolution overthrew the trade princes and returned much of the society to their former agrarian lifestyle. The surviving trade princes travelled north and re-established themselves as the Quisiri on the Sunsir coast.

The Vashar - The Vashar worked to engrain themselves in all cultures, driven by the malevolence of their patron they infiltrated the courts of the trade princes of Hul, tempted the Farwest magi to catastrophic ends, fueled warfare in Danasia, and brought low all the greatest works of men and giants. Vashar were unknown to the world, but were everywhere in this age. Back home in Jang, the Vashar worked to master their unique arts. The Tengu had been broken and enslaved, degenerating in to the Kenku. The Kenkaren of the Bloodlands served as a training ground for young Vashar to test their beguiling abilities, turning them forever toward war with themselves. In the Farwest, the Vashar had convinced powerful mage-lords to cut open the veil between worlds and the resulting influx of alien forces resulted in the destruction of the great kingdoms.