The Ages

The Archaic Era - The Tenter's dictation

A forgotten world, all the way from the times of Ancient Egypt to the day of the Automation extinction event, the Archaic Era is everything we would consider to be 'normal.' A normal Earth, controlled by normal Tenters. All history of this world is now wiped off of the face of the Earth, with the only remnants being rock fossils of ancient technology, rarely found buried beneath the newly shifted turf of the world.

During this time, magic was practically nonexistent. To commoners, it existed as a mere metaphysical ideal, a fantasy in which individuals could cast spells, shift mountains and ride creatures of legend. All of these were commonly found in fantastical literature, or video games, but were never seen present out of extremely secretive scientific knowledge.

See, magic existed in this time. It existed before the Age of Astrix (Now known as the origin of magic to every individual in the new world), and was used to preserve the most important of substances and architecture throughout, and following the Great Decay. This world had no pantheatic influence, no major shifts in power dictated by who was more or less magically strong.

Just a normal world, inhabited entirely by mortals, Tenters and Wildlife alike.

The Great Decay - A lost period of time

The Great Decay is a period of time in which nobody in the current world knows about. This time came from before the unknown extinction, during and after the Archaic era, one of which wiped the previous world of sentient organics to be replaced anew. The name for this age is fitting, 50 years where the natural world went on a complete downfall (2014 - 2064).

During this period, a great incursion occurred. Nature vs Humanity vs Machines, a large battle in an effort to preserve the already existing world. The persistent technological and industrial development coming from humanity had already proven fatal to the world, and so conservation projects began to 'invent' a new world following the present one.

They couldn't influence the future world much, if at all, and they wouldn't be alive to know if their attempts of building a new world had ever worked, but they were certain on their ideals of needing to try. This is when the first automation period began, a period where professional programmers and tech experts, along with professionals in the metaphysical sciences, developed long lasting structures and artificial intelligence which would act as a wireframe for the new world, taking inspiration from existing myths and legends in the hopes of making a world driven more by mythology and magic, than industrialisation. One which wouldn't destroy the world.

Only time would tell if they were successful in their efforts.

The Age of Astrix - The origin of magic

The age of Astrix is a widely known era of time, approximately 3000 AE, in which magic first began to appear within individuals. This magic was weak and basic, and didn't have much practical use at the time as many of the beings around during this time were merely microscopic, or individuals of folium essence (plants). It was this magic which began to rapidly change the course of human evolution and the course of the world. This natural presence of the world helped to preserve ruins of the old world from the Archaic Era, keeping what would've been degraded millions of years before the present era around, albeit in a heavily deteriorated state.

The magic is thought to have sprouted from the appearance of functional essences within the world, and although unknown when the essences first began to evolve, it's clear that they've been within the essence of life for a much extended period of time, longer than anyone in the present world would be capable of comprehending.

This presence of magic, while quickening the rate of evolution and the world itself, seemed to also affect the brain capacity of the creatures which had been living within the world. While it's thought to have taken up to 4.5 billion years to reach a state of high technological grounding - though still mediocre and heavily limited, it only took a total of 1.7 million years for the present time to reach a state that even exceeds the Archaic era. Technology and magic flourished together within the world, both having their own respective uses, but it arose controversy.

The people of the world became divided into three: Those who showed devotion to the natural laws of magic, those with a love for technology and the artificial constructs they could make, and those who wished to combine the two. This continues to plague the world even today, although it's much more quiet and riots are no longer a common occurrence- many people have begun to accept the views of different people, especially with the introduction of the metal construct species family Metallics, the world now living in a fairly harmonious mix of technology and magic.

The Resurgence

The longest age of which current life has ever known, The Resurgence is a time when evolution was at its strongest. Present day theorists came close to discovering the Archaic era and the great decay thanks to the history and traces found within animals and organic matter during this period of time: Robotic influence. Of course, a world at the time uninhabited by magical technology couldn't hold traces of robotic influence, no machines had ever come into contact with these.

So how did it happen? That remains a mystery to this day.

Evolution was extremely accelerated during this period, lasting up until approximately 60,000 years ago when the influence of sentient humanoids, the most common species found dwelling the world to this day, began to uprise during the second Automation Period. Magic and technology began to become more and more prevelant, but this era focused more on settling in a society.

The world, it shifted and changed, a lot. Balancing hierarchies changed, species moved up and down the food chain within months as new, different species appeared at least once every 10-20 years. The shifts were drastic, but the moment that sentient humanoid influence began, it stopped. It seemed to slowly back off and stall, new species became less and less common, and then the era ended with a complete blackout of evolution. It almost seemed to stop.

Of course, evolution can't actually stop, but no longer could it be visually seen by individuals with long life expectancies. It went from months, to millenia in a matter of weeks, but much like the mystery of robotic influence: It's still unknown how, or why.