The First Epoch

prior to year 5000 BCB

 

The Forsaken Age

The First Epoch is also sometimes referred to as the Forsaken Age, and the ruins, temples, shrines, and other remnants of this time are often referred to as Forsaken Ruins. The Forsaken Age is believed to have ended abruptly with the Dark Year, about 5000 years before the founding of Briunida, the First City, but how long the Forsaken Age persisted prior to that is a matter of considerable debate.

Civilizations of the First Epoch

The First Epoch is characterized by the prominence of at least two, and as many as four, Great Civilizations. It is unclear the extent to which these Civilizations co-existed, or were sequential, or overlapped with one another to varying extents, but what is clear is that the Dark Year triggered the three thousand year period of decline known as the Silent Era, in which all of the history, culture and knowledge of these Great Civilizations was lost.

Runes carved into walls, inscriptions on ancient tombs, faces and symbols molded into coins, even the occasional rare scroll or book, are all indecipherable to later scholars. Knowledge and understanding of the arts, sciences, secrets, magics and technologies of these Forsaken Civilizations are highly prized, but seemingly inaccessible.

The Civilizations of the First Epoch are known to have included the Ancient Gnomic Civilization and the Ancient Giant Civilization. From the ruins of their cities, and the artifacts found therein, it is clear that Gnomes in the First Epoch were significantly larger than in later Epochs. Similarly, Giants were significantly smaller. Stairs, roads, tools, structures, and remnants of furniture and other archaeological evidence seem to suggest the Gnomes in the First Epoch may have commonly reached a height of 150cm, while Giants were rarely taller than 3m.

Further evidence makes it clear that these two societies co-existed with one another, and were at least engaged in trade, as Forsaken ruins have been discovered containing valuables from both cultures, however there is no evidence to indicate that Ancient Gnomes and Ancient Giants cohabitated in the same cities.

The majority of Ancient Gnomic ruins discovered as of the Fourth Epoch are located in Tulosz, while the majority of Ancient Giant ruins seem to be located across Golanicja and Marcosta. There is little evidence to suggest that either Civilization was strongly sea-faring, and how these Civilizations conducted trade is not clear.

By the middle of the Fourth Epoch, scholars studying the musical oral traditions of Merfolk became drawn into historical debates about the Forsaken Age. Some of the oldest Merfolk myths and legends - possibly predating the Second Epoch - suggest that Merfolk may have been instrumental in facilitating trade between the Ancient Gnomic and Ancient Giant Civilizations. While Merfolk are, and always have been, scattered and nomadic, and no Merfolk cities have ever been known to exist, several sites have been uncovered along the shores of shores of Tulosz, Golanicja and Senecia that at least suggest the possibility that Merfolk, Gnomic and Giant Civilizations had constructed coastal outposts that may have functioned as ports.

Finally, Eoten are believed to have existed as far back as the First Epoch - though are not believed to have any contact with Giants, Gnomes or Merfolk. The existence of Eoten societies dating back this far is supported by unsubstantiated claims from Spriggan, who can only assert that they ‘know it’, and from what appear to be huge earthworks shaping the terrain of southern Kashdush and central Ayodesh. Geological evidence suggests that these huge earthworks may have once rerouted rivers from the Silver Mountains, carrying spring meltwaters south in order to irrigate the arid plains of the Odeshi Wastes.

Whether or not this proposed Eoten society existed, there is no evidence to support that they built cities or used any kind of technology whatsoever. Further, there is no evidence to suggest that they were in contact with the other civilizations or societies of the First Epoch. If they existed at all, they seem to have existed in geographic and possibly temporal isolation, perhaps in an as yet unnamed era that predates even the First Epoch.

The Dark Year

Regardless of how and precisely when the First Epoch began, most scholars are aligned on the understanding that it ended suddenly, approximately 5000 years before the founding of Briunida. While there is not a great deal of archaeological evidence about what happened, there are a few commonalities discovered in both Gnomic and Giant ruins, separated by thousands of kilometers, that seem to indicate the disappearance of these Civilizations was both sudden and simultaneous.

Firstly, archaeologists have discovered what appear to be harvest calendars carved into the walls of ancient grain stores. In both cultures, most instances of these calendars seem to end in about the same window, between 4900 and 5100 years before the founding of Briunida. Secondly, the final years of these calendars often seem to indicate the presence of a large comet seen in the heavens immediately prior to the halting of the harvest record.

Whether or not the comet is in any way related to the sudden collapse of these Great Civilization is totally unknown, and even in the late Enlightenment - an era known for celebrating reason and verifiable knowledge - the discussion of the nature of the Dark Year remained wildly speculative. Without any evidence at all, some have claimed the Dark Year marked a invasion of undead that swept the world. Others speculate that the Gnomes and the Giants went to war. Still others speculate a great plague. Minor theories range from Infernal invasion, to Celestial judgement to extreme weather disruption, and many others. An ancient theory, based in the early creation myths of the Halflings posits that Chimerism, introduced into the mortal realms by the Goddess Azimzilit triggered the Dark Year and ended the Great Civilizations of the First Epoch. This theory - while divine in nature - at least seems to correspond to some extent with the sharp rise in biodiversity that was characteristic of the Second Epoch.