History of Hejelnik

AN: This page is still under construction so bits and pieces will continue to be added over the coming weeks. It's meant to provide little more than an outline for which relative newcomers can learn about some of the canon history that has been decided so far. I'm also planning on doing a more thorough ongoing timeline page which has the dates for every single event in Hejelnik's history from beginning to end. When we get that up, I'll leave a hyperlink here.

## Stone Age (Before -1,200 TF)

The **Stone Age** is the first major chunk in Hejelnik's history which saw both modern races and their ancestors interact with and shape the environment around them for the first time. It was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make implements with an edge, a point or a percussion surface. It's end was signalled by the advent of bronze metalworking. It is split into three sub-periods: the **Early Stone Age**, the **Middle Stone Age** and the **Late Stone Age** that each corresponded with different societal advancements. Most races lived a hunter gatherer lifestyle until the Late Stone Age when a mass extinction of mega fauna dubbed the **Cataclysm** forced many species into a more pastoral and settled existence. One of the main sources of information later historians have about this early period are rock paintings that could have served a spiritual as well as artistic purpose.

## Bronze Age (-1,200 TF to 1,100 TF)

The **Bronze Age** is a historical period that was characterised by the use of bronze, (in some areas) proto-writing and other early features of urban settlements like currency systems, structured hierarchy and organised religion. The **Three Factions Calendar** also originates from this time period. An ancient civilisation is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by producing bronze through smelting of its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic or other metals or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Bronze itself is harder and more durable than other metals that would have been available at the time allowing Bronze Age civilisations to gain a technological advantage. Whilst iron is naturally abundant, its high melting point placed it out of reach of common use.

## Iron Age (1,100 TF to 2,200 TF)

The **Iron Age** is the final period of the three-age division of the **prehistory of Hejelnik**. By this point in history, most of the functions of complex societies had been formed and larger autonomous areas with local rulers rendering their smaller egalitarian primitive predecessors obsolete. The period is defined by archaeological convention and the mere presence of some cast or wrought iron is not sufficient to represent an Iron Age culture. The Iron Age begins locally when the production of iron or steel has been brought to the point where iron tools and weapons superior to their bronze equivalents become widespread. In some places, this transition took place in the wake of the so-called **Bronze Age Collapse**. The Iron Age is taken to end with the beginning of consistently reliable maritime trade which made faster exchange of knowledge and technology possible (but this usually does not represent a clear break in the archaeological record.)

## Seafaring Age (2,200 TF to 2,900 TF)

The **Seafaring Age** marks the end of Hejelnik's prehistory and the beginning of what is loosely dubbed the **Early Modern Period**. It happened when seafaring technology (specifically the widespread introduction of large outrigger water craft and advancements in cartography of the stars, ocean currents, and wind patterns) allowed for significantly safer travel through oceanic waters and the presence of stable long distance aquatic trade routes. The final waves of discovery and settlement happened on the southernmost isles of Hejelnik during this period as well. There was also a faster introduction of better technologies such as aqueducts, roads and siege engines through improved long distance communication and transport. Literacy rates climbed exponentially through this period (estimated to be as high as between 10% and 20%.)