Age of Magic¶
Contested
This page is named in the open questions War dates in the three histories, Current date and calendar, Numbering of the Ages, and Is the Age of Magic the Fourth Age?. Dates below follow the newest source, the 2020 history (S386); the 2014 compendium's dates are given beside them where they differ.
"The age of Magic began with the Breaking of the World: the shattering of the Worldstone. This cataclysmic event devastated the planet, wiped out entire populations and simultaneously released magic (Mithius) into the world." — Terrun Compendium (S372)
The Age of Magic is the era of the MA calendar, counted from the Shattering in 0 MA. With the Worldstone in pieces, "Mithis became available to all beings, not just those with a birthright to it"; it was "the golden age of Arcane Magic, when great orders of magicians were formed and magic was commonplace" (S208). It is also the first age of recorded history: "history prior to the Shattering is pieced together from the few relics that survived" (S372). The surviving record is almost entirely that of one shattered continent, called Numenia in its histories and South Astia in its gazetteers, and the age is told here as its chroniclers told it, war by war.
The treatise on magic gives the age "nearly 6,000 years" (S208). The newest history gives the current date as 2713 MA (S386); the 2014 compendium gives 3221 MA (S372, S384). The ordinal is not ruled: the treatise calls this the Fifth Age, the compendium the Fourth, the 2020 history the Third. Whether this age is the Fourth Age of the Marshford and Demonlands documents is likewise unruled.
The Post-Shattering Period¶
"Every race struggled after the Shattering." The compendium estimates that "over 98% of the world population perished in the event or the direct aftermath" (S372). The surviving Primal Dragons went into hiding with their broods; with the great powers destroyed, hidden, or fled to the Astral, "the mortal races rebounded quickly. Mortal casters learned the secrets of spell casting and for the first time, magic became commonplace among the races", with "many backlashes and abuses from both sides (magic-user and mundane)". The races that managed the transition best were "Draconians, Trolls, Elves, Goblins, Orcs, Dwarves and Gnomes" (S386). The Dwarves weathered the Shattering better than most, losing about 70 percent of their population where surface races commonly lost more than 95 percent, because "their superior engineering in many cases allowed entire dwarf-holds to survive" (S386).
Not everything the Shattering left behind was benign. Across the continent lie regions of Earthblight, also called the Withering, Kalar's Bane and the Red Plague: lands "that have died and are no longer able to sustain life of any kind", which the most respected theory attributes to "a complete exhaustion of local Mithius energy" where massive destruction and magic-use broke the Mithius cycle (S387, S498).
The continental wars¶
The 2020 history records seven wars that it treats as continent-wide or marks as regional; the compendium records six of them with different dates. Each has its own page.
| War | S386 (2020) | S372 / S384 (2014–15) | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goblin Wars | 541–617 MA | 541–617 MA | Uta-Bek against the dwarf holds; marked "REGIONAL" in S386 |
| Second Dragon War | 851–922 MA | 951–1092 MA, "The Dragon Wars" | Pravustiratel's draconic hordes; the Battle for Gor'Turra is dated 1078 MA in S372 |
| God Wars | 1005–1611 MA | not recorded | The Izhtarus and the Kalari; Kalar sleeps; the last Primal Dragons die |
| First Rift War | 1689–1804 MA | 1689–1804 MA | Thu'karam opens the first abyssal rift |
| Nexa-Vinian War | 1864–1895 MA | 1864–1895 MA, and 2270–2271 MA in its regional chronology | The wizards' civil war |
| Second Rift War | 2270–2311 MA | 2670–2711 MA | The rift at Halath; the fall of Amarin |
| War of the Moradrim | 2413–2431 MA | 3013–3031 MA | The dark elves' invasion; the Thyssal Empire forged |
The Dragonspine Wars of 788–809 MA, a regional war with a year-by-year record, have their own page as well: Dragonspine Wars.
South Astia: the regional chronology¶
The 2019 overview of the gods and the 2014 compendium preserve a period-by-period history of "North-Central South Astia", the lands of Thrace, Zurat, Aeslar and Kydann along the Dragonspine (S429, S372). Its periods are given here in the compendium's spelling, Mithiu-Antus.
Early Devastation (0–200 MA)¶
"In the aftermath of the early devastation of the Shattering, all races fought for survival. Many fled south to regions suffering less devastation. For those that remained, conflict over food and water sources was common, and groups migrated to wherever they could find food and water. Only a handful of stationary settlements were able to sustain themselves" (S429).
The Dark Age (200–809 MA)¶
"Orcs, Ogres, Goblins and other dark creatures thrived in the conflict, and controlled a majority of the region." Small kingdoms rose as "islands of stability" and fell to the Dark clans. The races began to discover Mithis magic; elves and gnomes "embraced and easily put it to use", while humans "became extremely distrustful of it, especially as it was so often used by their foes", and many human nations forbade it on pain of harsh punishment (S429). The period ends with the Dragonspine Wars and the death of the warlord Gorthak in 809 MA.
The Age of Lords (810–1260 MA)¶
"Human kingdoms and populations explode during this period. Minor territorial conflicts are nearly constant between kingdoms, warlords and clans. Larger kingdoms form, only to be split up again by civil conflict." Mountain Giants extended their rule to the Ghanari Highlands and its orc and goblin clans; humans settled Aeslar and Kydann; Pictish kingdoms spread across the Pictish Jungles (S429).
The Demoncaller Wars (1261–1315 MA)¶
The orcish demoncaller Drez'okmal united the orcs, goblins and ogres of Ghanari and overthrew the Mountain Giants "with the aid of swarms of demons that he summoned and controlled. His demon armies conquer all of the mainland, including Zurat. Only the dwarf-hold of Esragol is able to hold against the onslaught." Drez'okmal enslaved the conquered "using them as tools and occasionally fodder for his demons", until, "while preparing a fleet to invade Aeslar, Drezok summons a massive sea-demon beyond his ability to control and is consumed". Part of his swarm vanished at once; the blood-bonded remained. The orcs were driven back to the highlands, "and any orcs with magical abilities are rooted out and killed. For hundreds of years, the mere rumor of a magic-wielding orc will lead to an expedition of warriors to destroy them" (S429).
Age of Kings (1315–1763 MA)¶
"Human Kingdoms go through a period of consolidation and stabilization. The long-lasting mainland kingdoms of Thrace and Sulati are formed during this period" (S429).
Abiding Mists (1764–1910 MA)¶
"In 1764 MA, Mists enveloped the entire region up to the Dragonspine mountains. These mists persist to today." The region had always been misty, but this was "the first year when there was not a single day of direct sunlight". Visibility is usually a mile to ten miles, "but the sun never directly shines", and scholars blame causes "which range from dark magic to titans". About a century into the mists, a civil conflict between the nobility of Thrace and the clergy of Arya ended with the nobility victorious and "the Raven Order of Arya was eliminated at the end of the War of the Raven (1872)" (S429).
The Thyssal Occupation (1911–2192 MA)¶
The Thyssal invasion of 1911 annexed Thrace, Aeslar, Kydann and Zurat, with the occupying legions concentrated in central Thrace and "very little footprint in the outlying kingdoms". Rebellions were put down quickly. "The Thyssal Occupation was ended in 2192, when the Thyssal envoys were removed in a coup by King Thovim of Thrace. The three occupying Thyssal legions are unaccounted for. Legends of magic used in their disappearance is widespread and varied." Three attempts to retake Thrace and one to retake Aeslar each ended in "catastrophic defeat", and the empire settled into "cold, but stable relations" (S429). The regional chronology runs on to a "Present" of 2192–2269 MA and a Nexa-Vinian War of 2270–2271 MA in which Nexa-Vinian legions of undead "destroy every Pictish city state except for Txacali" (S429).
Rhovun and the War of the Warlocks¶
West of the Dragonspine, the human kingdom of Rhovun had annexed its neighbours by 250 MA and grew proficient in magic; "wizards were somewhat common inside the kingdom". "In 641 MA, the Necromancer Vinias, led a group of wizards in rebellion against the kingdom. A long and brutal civil war ensued, which dragged on for 50 years. Vinias was eventually defeated, and magic was outlawed across the kingdom." The compendium calls this the War of the Warlocks when it describes the ruins it left: the Tower of Ithuil, "the home of a powerful warlock, allied to Vinias", and Meraethe Castle, "the seat of power of Vinias" where "many wizards, including Vinias, were killed within its walls" (S372). A plague struck Rhovun in 645 MA, and in 647 MA the draconian empire of Pherox "conquered and enslaved the population of Rhovun", a slavery that lasted a thousand years until King Rodruk II of Dalmar broke Pherox in 2016–2017 MA (S372). Vinias also appears as a founder of the Nexa-Vinian Order twelve centuries later; the compendium's gods section explains that "he has been imprisoned and killed several times, but has managed to escape or reform" (S372).
The great fire of ignorance¶
The Wizards of Lhan, an order of mage-hunters ruling a small island kingdom "on the western edge of the Ruined Sea", attempted "about two hundred years ago" a coup "to insert themselves as direct rulers over most of the nations of Numenia. The plot was discovered early, and while many wizards sided with the kingdoms, the city of Lhan was razed to the ground and its great libraries burned. Almost 90% of the known wizards were hunted down afterward. This event is referred to as 'The great fire of ignorance' by arcane academics and is generally held to be responsible for setting the development of arcane magic back nearly a thousand years" (S499, S548). Several kingdoms expelled the order and founded their own; those that kept it "demand more representation on the Red Council" (S499). The gazetteers give no MA year for the fire, only its distance from their own undated present.
Earlier accounts¶
The 2014 compendium (S372, S384) is the source of the MA calendar and of most of the detail above, but the 2020 history (S386) revised its dates: the Dragon Wars moved from 951–1092 to 851–922 MA and were renamed the Second Dragon War, the Second Rift War from 2670–2711 to 2270–2311 MA, the War of the Moradrim from 3013–3031 to 2413–2431 MA, and the current year from 3221 to 2713 MA. The compendium names the continent Numenia in its histories, Pevathor in its ethnographies and South Astia in its gazetteers; the 2020 history calls its subject "Numenian / South Astia history". The compendium also puts the dwarves' loss in the Shattering at 70 percent in one place and 50 percent in another (S372, S429).
Gap
No source says when or how the Age of Magic ended, or how many years passed between the latest MA date and the Age of the Dark Sun. The Fifth Age gazetteers describe the Dark Sun as falling on a world of Thyssal provinces, the kingdom of Pesh and the dynasty of Thrace, all of them MA-era powers (S324), but no document bridges the two counts.