The Years of Absence

The Years of Absence lasted longer than any other age, 5000 years by common reckoning. It was not long after the absence of Ilar before the Three Sins of Eiar began and darkness would come to creation. In The Drowned Mountains, the dwarvic peoples were prosperous. Their towns were happy, their harvests were plentiful, and peace reigned. But soon the peoples of the Vordain grew covetous, and yearned for the possessions of their kin. Argument turned to squabble, squabble to skirmish, and before long the realm of the Vordain was engulfed in The War of a Millennium, where brother killed sister and none were safe in the land.  And so, Greed was the first Sin of Eiar, casting the race of dwarves into darkness. 

In Haeldwynn the men of the Vale fought no wars and stole no land, and the realm stood in harmony for more than a millennium. But there came a time when the Kings and Queens of Haeldwynn grew so satisfied with their success that they felt they had supplanted Ilar herself. Temples to their creator were cast asunder, and the people of the Vale came to worship their own leader as God-Emperor of the world. It was not long before creation itself rebelled against the faithless Men of Haeldwynn. Fields of wheat died overnight, rivers and springs ran with saltwater, wine turned to blood in the mouths of the faithless. The desperate people turned to human sacrifice and blood magic, hoping it would bring relief, but none came. And so, Faithlessness was the second Sin of Eiar, casting the race of men into darkness. 

For millennia, the Eldarien of Ewenach looked to their brother and sister races in horror while their own lands prospered. The forests of their lands expanded, and so did their kingdom, until the lands of the Eldar reached all the way to the edges of the ruined kingdoms of Man and Dwarf. A few Elves began to enter the lands of the other realms, hoping they could share their knowledge, and ease their kin's suffering. But when nothing seemed to help, the Eldar offered to rule on their behalf. At first, modest improvements came, and small villages of the Vordain and Yrrdar began to reemerge. But soon, the goodwill of the Eldar would turn to pride, and their pupils would become slaves. Men were turned to beasts of burden, forced to labor in the fields for their elvish leaders. And Dwarvic craftsmen fashioned only statues and crowns glorifying the Eldarien. And so, arrogance would become the third and final sin of Eiar, casting the Eldar and all of creation into darkness. 

It was in chaos and darkness that Ilar would find her beloved creation after her long absence ended, and so deep was her heart's sorrow that she began to weep. Her tears grew into a great storm over the world until all the lands of Eldar, Vordain, and Yrrdar were cast asunder, swallowed up by great oceans. A few faithful to her will were allowed to escape, but they would be scattered to new continents, speak different languages, and never again see their sister peoples. But in consolation to her few faithful, three gifts she placed on her wayward children. on the Eldar she placed the gift of decay, so that all new Eldar would diminish and die. She hoped that decay would teach her firstborn of modesty and the preciousness of life. On the Vordain Ilar placed The Gift of Humility, keeping Dwarves small in stature and cut off from the use of magics. She hoped this would teach her secondborn patience and harmony. And finally, on the Yrrdar she placed the Gift of Absence, so that they would never know again their goddess and creator. She hoped this would teach them independence, and virtue for virtue's sake.

Ilar realized she had erred in abandoning her creations to their own free will in their infancy, but her sorrow was too great to remain with her scattered, broken peoples. Before she retired again to the void, she gave to her world "The Promise of Ilar", a foretelling of her return to once again separate faithless from faithful. She cast one of her last tears into the sky as a token of this promise, and the moon rose for the first time, and so began the First Age of the world known as Blimnor.