History of the World of Éran

The History of Éran is rich and the recorded history of the elven libraries stretches itself over 22.000 years. The Elves and classic scholars divide the past of Éran into 3 ages: The Age of Immortals, Theras' pre-history, The Foundation Age, before the coming of mankind, and the Age of Man, when humans became the dominant race. These are furthermore divided into eras to reflect the dominant traits of those periods in time. Most scholars tend to narrow their scope to the Third Age, the Age of Man, and define history according to the eras of this age. Modern History began with the founding of Brennèl over 2500 years ago which ushered in the Third Era of the Third Age - The Age of Man and this is the time of which scholars have a fairly accurate and whole picture of events. Prior to this, knowledge is more scattered, mainly due to the Second Magewar which destroyed the ancient world and ushered in the Age of Darkness, where knowledge of any kind became an increasingly rare commodity. Nonetheless, here follows a brief overview of the Great Ages of Éran up to the present as they would be known to a common Brennae historian:

The years are organized after the common calendar of Éran, the Calendar of Bren. Thus the years before Brennèl's founding are PC (Prior to Crowning) and those after are AC (After Crowning). The detailed timeline, particularly of the time before the third era of the third age, contains information not generally known to modern scholars.
The Age of Immortals: Nothing certain is known of this timeperiod. Theras itself was fashioned at this time, it belonged to the immortal races and the gods themselves walked Theras freely. How long this Age lasted no one knows, but eventually the gods and immortal races withdrew from Theras and allowed the less powerful mortal races to make their mark on Theras.

The Foundation Age: Scholars estimate that at least 18.000 years ago, the elves founded the first civilization on Éran and quickly expanded to form a great empire. At some point, around the time the dwarves first emerged from the underdark, the great elven civilizations were torn apart in a huge civil war, which ended elvenkind as a unified race. With the elves in decline, the developing dwarven civilizations claimed the surface world for their own and became the dominant race on Éran. Some 10.000 years ago, the humans began arriving in great numbers from the east and south to Éran and settled the lands unclaimed by the dwarves and elves, in what is known as the Migration of Man. Around the same time, the dominance of the dwarves came to an end in a great war between elves and dwarves and from this vacuum, humankind began to emerge as the dominant power in Éran, most notably through the rise of Isandor, some 9000 years ago.

The Age of Man:

The First Era - Ancient History: In the central plains of Éran Isandor was formed. Over the centuries it grew into perhaps the greatest, most spectacular empire in Éranni history. To this day, it remains a legendary fabled place, a haunting dream of what mankind is capable of, and at its end, a terrible nightmare of the same. For millennia, it stretched across all of Éran from its northwestern tip, to the edge of the great desert in the southeast. Sitting in the great and fertile basin in the centre of Éran, what is now the Sea of Sorrows, Isandor was powerful in both learning, resources and most of all: Magic. Wizards ruled Isandor and under their rule, magic soared to heights never seen before, creating wonders modern wizards can only dream of. It is said flying cities were commonplace in those days, common people wielded magic and magic items to ease their workload and powerful arch wizards conquered even the planes beyond Theras, summoning and creating strange creatures never seen before to do their bidding.

The Second Era - Dark History: Eventually, the Empire of Isandor fell, and with it the civilizations of the ancient world. The Second Magewar ended spectacularly when the central heartlands of the empire sank into the sea in a great magical mishap, wreaking havoc across the entire continent as earthquakes and huge killer-storms changed the face of Éran permanently. What is more, the magic which Isandor relied on in all facets of its society ceased entirely to function and left the helpless citizens entirely at the mercy of the elements. Isandor died in less than a week as the mages who had brought this disaster upon mankind were virtually wiped out and the surviving people found themselves at the mercy of a incredibly hostile climate, all the servitor races and monsters which had been enslaved by the Isan arch wizards free to roam the lands and with no magic to protect them from any of it. Life on Éran changed virtually overnight as The Era of Darkness descended upon its people. For more than 1000 years, human civilization was little more than a footnote in the annals of the elven and dwarven scholars who continued to record history, learned knowledge among humans a precious commodity preserved only in the few fortified cities that survived.

The Third Era - Modern History: This ended 1400 years ago, when Devon Bren I founded the kingdom of Brennèl in the fertile southwestern plains of Éran and set out to draw the finest learned minds to his kingdom to make it the finest in all of Éran. He succeeded in abundance and by the time of his death, left behind the greatest human kingdom since Isandor fell. It was to become much more. Within the next 850 years, Brennèl expands and grows to encompass all of western Éran. Brennèl become the second-largest empire in human history and continues to be recognised as the centre of human civilization to this day.

About 800 years ago, Brennèl was to lose its standing as the supreme power in western Éran for good, when the province of Erro broke away and formed the independent kingdom of Errion. Over the next 200 years, Brennèl lost all of its northern territories and Errion established itself as the dominant power in Éran, as it grew into an empire in its own right. It sustained this standing for the next 200 years, before it peacefully began to cede away provinces to establish themselves as independent kingdoms in their own right, as it proved unable to hold such large territories together on its own.

Some 500 years ago the world was shaken by the 3rd Magewar as the powerful wizard guilds of the west began to war among themselves. When the Crown of Kings was stolen from Solman Empire, the east became embroiled in the conflict as well that eventually escalated into a continental war. Before it was over, the once proud Solman Empire had been reduced to ruin as the end of the war ushered in the Shadow Years.

What followed the war a backlash of wrath against all things magical not seen since the Age of Darkness and for the next 200 years wizards were persecuted throughout the west. Though tensions have eased since then, many still regard spell casters with suspicion and hostility today.

Since then, new kingdoms have begun to spring up in the aftermath of shattered empires, trade began flourishing again and Éran is slowly coming to terms with a new political landscape of diversity and growth.