History of Alterra

The history of Alterra is bloody and turbulent. There are seven eras of Alterra, each denoting a significant time period and change. By the standard reckoning, recorded history in Alterra is over 17,000 years old.

Mythic Era
The Mythic Era is also called the Age of Beginnings. It is the Age in which time began and the world was formed, carved from the chaos of the Astral Plane. The Mythic Age began with the emergence of IO, and ends with the foundation of the Arkhosian pantheon following the Titanomachy.

The First Era
Also called the Age of Giants, the First Era marks the beginning of recorded history and the birth of civilization as we know it, as well as the rise of the first Gigantic kingdoms. Most mortal races, with the exception of dragonborn, tieflings, and triton, developed their first civilizations during this time. Notable events during the First Era include the founding of the Gigantic kingdom of Old Ostoria, the first recorded appearance of Corellon Larethian, and the exodus of the elves that would come to be called the eladrin into the Feywild.

The First Era lasted 12,323 years and ended with the Dwarrow Rebellion and the beginning of the First Valdic War.

The Second Era
The Second Era, also called The Great Age, was a period of great expansion and prosperity for many of the mortal races of Alterra. It is the era that marks the rise of the first human empires, as well as the first known conflicts between the dwarrow and elves. The Empire of the Sun, ruled by the Taldoran Dynasty, was founded early in the Second Era, and ruled over much of the continent of Umaes. The first recorded tiefling peoples appeared during the Second Era, going on to form the Empire of Bael Turoth in southern Corellos.

Notable events during the Second Era include the foundation of Atlantis in the Covosian Ocean, the Ironwood Conflicts, and the exile of the drow to the Underdark, which would lead to the Underdark Crisis. Artorias Taldora's sacrifice during the Crisis marked both the end of the Taldora bloodline and the Second Era. The Second Era lasted 2,016 years.

The Third Era
Also called the Warring States Period, the Third Era marked a period of sharp decline following the end of the Taldoran Dynasty at the end of the Second Era. A time of great bloodshed and social upheaval, the Third Era saw the dissolution of the Empire of the Sun during the Third Valdic War; the War of the Hive, a prolonged series of conflicts and border skirmishes between the newly-established Kingdoms of Eoriin and the Zzezharran Hive; and the destruction of Atlantis during the crisis known as Spellplague.

The Third Era lasted only 367 years, its ending marked by the defeat of Old Ostoria in the Third Valdic War.

The Fourth Era
Also called the Age of Conquest, the Fourth Era was characterized by many wars of expansion and conquest that would greatly change the Alterran political landscape. This era saw the eradication of the Gigantic kingdoms of North Zelmaya in the Fourth Valdic War, the assassination of the Eoriin High King Valorum and the rise of the Dominion, the destruction of Bael Turath, and the enactment of closed-country isolationism in the newly-reorganized Shogunate of Sole.

The Fourth Era concluded with the exodus of the dwarrow to what would one day become the nation of Tenagra. The Fourth Era lasted 411 years.

The Fifth Era
The Fifth Era, sometimes called the Age of Renewal, is a period of relative stability in Alterran history. It marks the rise of humans to prominence once again with the formation of the Kingdom of Orden after their final defeat of the Giants of New Ostoria in the Battle of Skyfall. It is during this time that the Arav-ro Nadgaj (Uruk: Art of War) was written by the tribal warlord Akrûrz the Unconquered. This era also saw the War of Light and Shadow, a failed invasion of the surface world by the Empire of Lolth, which resulted in the Sack of Menzoberranzan and the scattering of the drow peoples. The first recorded dragonborn came into being in the Fifth Era, founding the Kingdom of Arkhosia along the Sea of Bronze in South Zelmaya.

The Fifth Era lasted 1,454 years, and concluded when the Kingdom of Arkhosia was reorganized into the Empire of Arkhosia.

The Sixth Era
The Sixth Era is sometimes referred to as the Dragon Age by Arkhosian scholars. It marks the rise of the Empire of Arkhosia, the First and Second wars of Orden succession, the War of Draconic Expansion, and the founding of the Great Uruk-hai State of Urujyet on the continent of Umaes.

The Sixth Era is the current era, and has so far lasted 539 years.