Time is generally reckoned by the primordial Elven calendar of twelve months, each having 28 days. The elves called this the Dreamspell calendar. It is a lunar/solar calendar. The names of the months tend to vary from country to county, and the origins of these names have generally been lost to time. The name of the calendar derives from the early elves belief that existence on the Prime Material was a sort of a dream, just an inconsequential time before they could ascend to the plane of the elven creator gods.
Pre-History
The otherwise unnamed period before the coming of the elves is shadowy and dim. The world was created, along with the sun and other planets. How long this took will probably never be known. Only wild animals and plants existed before the coming of the elves and the beginning of the first age.
The First Age – 01-2200
During this period, one of the more powerful gods (there was only one ‘mythos’ at this time) grew jealous of the power wielded by the creator. He fled into the world, where he built a dark dominion on a continent of his own creation. He worked to destroy and prevent the works of the rest of the gods. The appearance of the elves marks the beginning of the year 1. The Enemy created demons, dragons, and other creatures to be used in a war to destroy the elves. The most powerful elf-lords and the demi-gods spent their time and lives’ energy creating the artifacts of law and good. Unbeknownst to them, the Enemy was doing the same for artifacts of Chaos and Evil. Nine tenths or more of the artifacts of magical power existing today date from this period, even though most of the magical artifacts from this period were destroyed by the end of the third age. Finally, in first age 2030, the gods went to war. The Enemy held out for 170 years. Eventually most of his servants were slain or banished, and he was forced to do combat with the gods of law and good, who overthrew him. He was banished forever, and can never affect any living thing or facet of this plane. When the gods battled, the Enemy’s continent was destroyed and sank beneath the waves.
The climate during this age was very warm, and there was at least half again as much inhabitable land as there is now on the planet.
The Second Age 2200-3700
The highest servant of the Enemy, called the Necromancer, managed to survive the destruction of the continent. He took form again, and began rebuilding his armies in a desolate desert. The gods of good created dwarves, but their imperfect knowledge failed to make the dwarves lawful. Orcs appeared in this period also, first in the area near the lands the Necromancer claimed, then all over the world. This period saw the first permanently walled cities and permanent armies. In 1350, the elves and dwarves began a campaign against the Necromancer. Finally, the orc armies were destroyed in the desert they came from, and the Necromancer was overthrown by several lesser demigods. It was about this time the elder gods disappeared, and the deities known as Elf and Dwarf gods ascended.
The climate during this age was slightly cooler, with about ten percent of the land lost to ice.
The Third Age 3700-5400
The Necromancer escaped his bonds with the help of several turncoat lesser deities (long suspected to be those now known as demon princes, devil lords, and daemon princes) and set up a kingdom of sorts in a mid-continental jungle. He remained nearly unseen for 1540 years, then armies of hundreds of thousands of orcs, thousands of trolls and ogres, hundreds of demons and over a hundred full-grown dragons struck south. The entire southern half of the continent was swept clean of elven and dwarven life (not to speak of all wildlife and plant life). The what would have been the last days of the Northern Elf empire, a seeming miracle occurred – a star fell from the sky and destroyed the Necromancer in his abode. The resulting crater, fifteen miles across today, is known as Meteor Lake. The Necromancer, his body destroyed and his soul shattered, could not keep his army ordered, and it turned in rout 54 years after the war began. The forces of Law and Good pursued them relentlessly, and few evil creatures survived. Halflings appeared during this period of vendetta, but were hardly noticed in the war period. The Necromancer was finally destroyed by the machinations of the newly-formed White Council. The hand of the Old Gods was not seen again for many ages.
The climate during this age remained static, with no change in the amount of inhabitable land.
The Fourth Age 5400-7800
This period was most marked by the appearance of men early on. When men learned the art of magic, many turned to evil (often pushed by the evil powers of artifacts). These men created many of the evil creatures that still exist. Five of these men formed the Black Council, a chaotic evil band of men devoted wholly to the overthrow of order. The White Council began a war against the Black Council in 2290. For eighty years they were unable to make any headway until man’s powers developed into clerical, druidical and psionic areas, and men developed weapon specialization. Twenty years later the Black Council was defeated, four of the five were slain and destroyed, and the armies they had raised were scattered.
This age also marked the arising of many new religions, as the reputed creator gods became less known, less worshiped, and weaker, as elves became fewer and scattered, and men spread to cover much of the world.
The climate during this age remained static, with no change in the amount of inhabitable land.
The Fifth Age 7800-9200
The fifth age saw the spreading of civilization as never before. Most of the world was explored and mapped, and two thirds of the world was one kingdom, free of monsters and evil. If fifth age 1360, explorers began disappearing. In fifth age 1370, an armada flying the flags of the surviving Black Council member landed at major seaports all over the world, plundering them and putting them to the torch. Millions of creatures were killed or driven from their homes to die in the wilderness. Caught unprepared, the White Council was forced to scatter. Three of the eight members were killed, and the remaining five had to hide for years. Gorthar, the Black Councilor, slew all the men of power he could find. Few humans since have achieved the power they once had.
During this time, the continent now known as Pendria (where the players are based) was ruled by five large, stable kingdoms of men, which gave it the name still used today. None of those kingdoms exist any more, though Folaria is somewhat like one of them. The others all fragmented into smaller kingdoms, or disappeared entirely, during the war or after.
During this time, the climate grew warmer, revealing all the lands that had not been seen since the first age.
The Sixth Age 9200-10800
The White Council reformed in secret and began building an alliance with several small countries not yet crushed. This process took 1460 years, as Gorthar destroyed nearly every object of Lawful or Good power, from the android servant army of Leuk-O (of which only one reputedly survives) to most elven mail and elven blades in existence at the time. Finally, the White Council and their allies struck in force at Gorthar’s abode. The White Council trapped Gorthar, and at the cost of three of their lives, slew him and destroyed his soul. This began a more evenly matched war which lasted 135 years, eventually resulting in the routing of the armies of evil and the destruction of all but seventy or so of the balrogs left over from the third age (which only the Necromancer and the Enemy could create).
During this time, the climate grew cooler, returning the world back to the amount of inhabitable land known during the fourth age. In 1365 Sixth Age, the town of Bahaumutost, or Kingslair, was founded.
The Seventh Age 10,800 – 13,400
Little of note occurred in the seventh age. The age was ended when a thirty-year long war ended. The war was a series of disorganized attacks by small groups of orcs almost weekly for twenty years. The White Council, determined to take no chances, ended a 2600 year isolation to head the forces of law to a swift victory in what was thought to be the total destruction of the orcs. This was not to be so.
During this time, the climate grew even cooler, reducing the amount of inhabitable land by at least ten percent.
The Eighth Age 13,400 to present
The Eighth Age had been without major confrontation until 1163. Prior to that, the whole first millennium saw nothing greater than two international conflicts, neither lasting longer than a decade. These were both wars between an elf and dwarf kingdom to the east of Pendria, around 624 through 632 and again from 872 to 880, and were settled by the formation of kingdoms with rigid boundaries, which have shrunk somewhat since, as the populations of both kingdoms have declined. More recently there has been one war involving three nations in central Pendria, and a series of raids by orc war bands in several parts of the world in the early 1140s whose organizer was never discovered.
In late 1161, the creator god Eru awoke from a sleep of many millennia. According to the priests who spoke to their gods, he became displeased with the many of what he perceived as lesser beings who were calling themselves gods, some of them even claiming to have created the cosmos. He began attacking, usually through powerful agents such as beings like planetars and solars, to attack these gods, and killed a number of them. Some of the gods began fighting each other, and a period now known as the Judgement War began. (See September 1161 for more detail.)
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During this age, the climate grew even colder, allowing the ice to advance to the point it stands at today.
The two remaining members of the White Council have let it be known that they do not believe the various conflicts are related in any way. It is rumored that these two are considering, however, adding new members to their Council, and various names have been suggested as possibilities, including those listed below. Note that these are all relatively local, and the White Council could recruit from anywhere in the world, so the odds are that few if any of these are actually under consideration.
Finarfin, cleric of Finarfin castle
Alterein, mage of Finarfin castle
Thirin, ruler of Elvenhome
Queweuh, halfing fighter (and probably other classes), one of the most powerful fighters in the world
Cirle, Calendriahn king, a ‘fourth age’ throwback, reputedly deceased
Artel, mage of Artel castle
Iari, mage of Alhar
Estri, the dwarven king
Zolar, illusionist of Brindel