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The Ages Past
Domin's history is roughly divided into four or five different epochs (or ages), depending on exactly who one is talking to and how they choose to divide the 'first' age.
- The Age of Myth and Legend
- The Age of Empire
- The Age of the One God
- The Age of the False One
The Age of Myth is sometimes divided into two ages, commonly called the Age of Myth and the Age of Legend. The division is largely between one of stories and heresay, and wonderous events beyond the current scope of the world that did occur without any question or doubt.
the Age of Myth and Legend''
The Age of Myth is considered the very primordial dawn of the world, and little is known concretely about this exact period of time. The Church of the One God teaches that the One God created the World, and all it's creatures and wonders, and then settled into a long rest from his efforts. The Old Faith holds that the World was created from chaos by beings of infathomable power, who were later chased off by the very beings they created. Once one moves away from Creation, the more recent myths become somewhat more clear. The Elves believe that their kind were created from the heart of the wild, along with the races of the fae, a mortal race to protect and guard the woodlands where the Sylvan beings held their power. The Dwarves have ancient tales of their birth in the heart of the world, and their slavery at the hands of a powerful magical being called Mora`den, where they suffered for untold aeons before throwing off their chains and winning their freedom. Humans believe they were crafted by the One God from clay, and set into the world to find their way into the graces of their father. The few civilized are quiet on the tales of their origins, only speaking such tales to those they trust.
Mythical Events:
- the First Halfling: The Hin (as the 'Halflings' call themselves) do not have a creation story, per se, but they do acknowledge the first of their number. Almost universally among their people, the first Hin was a Wandering Hero from a land beyond called Alliar Farwanderer who was exiled from his (forgotten) homeland as some great injustice. With little but a walking stick, he Alliar went to wander the world -- having a great many adventures and performing a great many legendary deeds: he is credited with stealing a Gem from a Dragon's Horde, tricking a pair of trolls into eating each other instead of him, toppling a minor Kingdom, and many other impressive deeds besides.
- The Hammer of Minrath: There circles a tale among humans all across Domir, East and West and even lands beyond the unnamed continent. It tells of a great hero, Minrath, who was gifted with a mighty hammer by a forgotten God that imbued him with a terrible strength. There was no force, it was believed, that could stand against the blows of his mighty hammer. He wielded this mighty weapon in numerous occasions, most notably to break a mighty dam crafted by Giants and flood their city below. What happened to the Hammer, if it ever existed, is not known.
- The Destruction of Dalaria: The first great Human Kingdom, Dalaria, was said to have discovered some forbidden secret that brought about it's destruction. Rumored to have been a place of great power and learning, growing close to the power of the Gods, these wonderous people reached too far too quickly and brought about their ultimate destruction -- unleashing a horde of horrible demons and fell monsters of shadows, which utetrly wiped out their great civilization. None claim to know the actual location of this lost kingdom and no ruins have ever been found but now and again a great and powerful artifact is found that is believed to be of Dalarian origin. These items are usually as dangerous as they are potent, and seldom is such a discovery a welcome.
The Age of Legend is held as a much more concrete time-period, and the events that took place there are more certain in the details than those of the far off Age of Legend. Some of them even have dates attached, though many more are only very loosely ordered between other events. The most common dividing line between 'Myth' and 'Legend' is the discovery of the Stones of Power, however, which unleashed magic into the world. Both Elves and Humans have claimed credit for the discovery of the stones, each having their own (quite dissimilar) tales for the first contact with the alien and powerful magical forces. Some savants who have studied both tales extensively (mostly Half-Elves) have pondered the idea that both Humans and Elves made independent contact with different Stones. Regardless, both races are known for their magical practice. It is widely believed, however, that Elves were the first to truly master the energies of the Stones -- while humans developed more sorcerous talents, letting the power of the stones run wild and unchained through their bloodlines, the Elves instead more carefully and cautiously learned to direct and utilize the power. Even to this day, Elves remain potent wielders of magic and only a few magical bloodlines exist in Elven lands.
Legendary Events:
- The Prophet: High in the Khaolir Mountains, some four hundred or so years before the founding of the Empire that would end the Age of Legends, there lived a strange man with eyes the color of the sky. He was one of the first Sorcerer's, blessed and cursed with magic running through his veins. Yet he is not known for the power of his magic or the potency of the his spells, but instead for his other curse -- that of foresight. It was this nameless Prophet that laid out the Prophecy of the Dark Child, the ending of the World, and numerous other prophecies that have long since come true.
- the Druids Circle Forms: The first gathering of the Druids Circle is generally believed to have occured some time after the Prophet's arise and before the Great Calamity. The first true religion of Domir, the Druids are perhaps not given as much credit in these days as they should be for all the deeds they performed that allowed humanity to prosper and the world to come into blood. Most importantly, it was the Druidic Circle that first allowed Elves and Men to cooperate and trade lore and secrets of magic. In addition, the Circle is largely credited with the safe-guarding of many sites of power that were unstable and dangerous in the time immediately after the Creation of the World.
- the Fall of Tir:: The Fortress-City of Tir was ancient when the first humans discovered it, created by some unknown race during the time of Myth. The great hero Minrath had destroyed the Serpent-Beasts that had occupied it prior to the humans discovered it, but it was not generally believed that they built the city either but had merely been there before the first humans. The City of Tir was the home of the greatest of the first Kingdoms of Humans, for it's walls were said to be impossible to breach. The greatest enemy of the Nation of Tir during this period was the rival nation of Landri -- ruled by a potent Sorcerer-King, widely agreed to have been the most powerful magic user in the world (at least among the humans). In the year -1677 MT (Minitirith reckoning; the date that the One God visited the world), the two lands went to war, and the King of Landri himself took the field. With the uttering of a single word, "Ruin", the great walls of the city were destroyed and the cities destruction was assured.
- The Great Calamity: 17 years after the fall of Tir, the capital of Landri was consumed in a powerful spike of epic power that was visible across the entire world. The palace was ripped asunder, and the city itself collapsed and fell into a hole that seemed to have no bottom. The earth shook and cracked for thousands of miles around, creating natural features (such as the Cleft of Aeries, in Ambyrl) that survive to this day. Once the earth settled, Elven and human magicians went upon the great hole that was once Landri's capital. It was later determined that a powerful sorcerous working had gone out of the Sorcerer-King's control and consumed him. The Druids and the Elves, worried of the potential of such magic gone uncontrolled, began a long-lasting purge of Sorcerer's that persisted well into the time of the Great Empire.
The Age of Empire
The Age of the One God
The Age of the False One
The current age (or most recent age?) need not be recounted here in detail, as the details of this age have been described in other locations. None the less, despite the name, the vast majority of this age has been one of peace and a overall lack of great calamity and horrible destruction. Most consider the prospect that dark times might be ahead to be unlikely, though people in the East are perhaps a little more apt to be prepared for such than those in other more distant parts of Domin.
See TheCurrentAge for a detailed look at some of the mechanical effects of this age.
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