History of Tear

 

The history and prehistory of Tear covers a timespan of nearly 15,000 years divided into four epochs.

The First Epoch is considered to have begun in the year -13531, otherwise known as 13531 BCB (Before the Chartering of Briunida). This date is chosen as the start of the First Epoch because is a year of a major astronomical conjunction of all of Vehira's moons, and there is no evidence of societies on Tear that pre-date this. The First Epoch ends with a time called the Dark Year, which was a period of mass extinction that may have eradicated the ancient gnomic and ancient giant populations sometime around the year 5000 BCB.

The Second Epoch is generally agreed to begin in the year 5000 BCB. This is a period of approximately 3000 years in which new humanoid species and societies form suddenly, establishing themselves globally, and engaging in many regional wars known only by the ruins and archeological evidence left behind. Another major astronomical conjunction in the year 2050 BCB coincides with a probable massive geological event - likely the explosion of a supervolcano in the Senscian Archipelago - this leads to a three hundred year period of glaciation known as the Ash Winter which devastates and fragments many emerging empires around the world.

The Third Epoch begins in 1700 BCB. This period sees the end of the glaciation and resettlement of fertile lowlands around the world. A global population explosion sees the emergence of many new societies. The year 0 marks the establishment of a centrally governed state surrounding the city of Briunida and the adoption of the calendar that will go on to become the global standard. In the early 4th century orcish armies in Golanicja unite, leading to a destructive series of conquests that last nearly 350 years, stretching most of the way around the globe. The orcish conquests come to an end in 471 with the rise of seven major nation states.

The Fourth Epoch is the current epoch. With the emergence of seven major nation states following the orcish conquests, an Imperial Era emerges. Destroyed cities and regions are rebuilt, major factions are formed by order of various states using the wealth of an emerging nobility, and inevitably, wars begin again. The Imperial Era ends with the fragmentation and dissolution of most of the imperial nation states, and a shift back to a city state model, with large factions acting as the socio-political stabilizing force in most of the world. By the mid thirteeth century,a nd continuing on into the early fifteenth century, Tear is in a prolonged period of relative peace known as the Enlightenment.