The Ages of Thelemar
Historians split the long road of Thelemar’s history into a handful of great ages — the broadest strokes of time, first laid out in The World of Thelemar. Each age is in turn divided into finer eras: an age can hold several eras, but every era belongs to exactly one age. Every dated event in the wiki is tagged with both its age and its era, and links back here.
For the full narrative see the History of Thelemar; for the calendar itself (12 months of 28 days) see General-The Heavens of Thelemar.
Reckoning
Years are counted AC — After the Cataclysm — with Year 0 being the fall of the old Empire. The present campaign opens in the Age of Exploration, around the year 1541. Spans are thematic and approximate; they blur at the edges.
Age of Myth
Before the Empire. The world before memory. It is agreed the world was made long before the Empire rose, but of this age almost nothing is known — only guesses, and tales that contradict one another. No dated events survive.
Age of The Empire
Until Year 0. For some three thousand years the Empire ruled the whole world, a magical utopia where every want was met and any could work magic as easily as breathing. It ended in an instant with the Cataclysm (Year 0), when the mages’ hunt for endless magic tore a hole in creation.
Age of Chaos
Roughly Years 0–600. The Cataclysm’s aftermath: magic fled the world, demons infested the land, the Twisted Races were born, and mortals lived by the sword through centuries of war and despair — until, in Year 500, the gods revealed themselves and the first lasting kingdoms began to take shape.
The Age of Chaos & First Kingdoms
Roughly Years 0–600. Unstable, deadly magic and kingdoms that rose and drowned within a generation; the gods revealed themselves in Year 500, and the earliest fragile realms and faiths took hold.
Age of Resurgence
Roughly Years 600–1540. Under the watch of the returned gods the endless chaos calmed. Over the next thousand years the world grew and changed: countries rose and fell, magic became more than a tool of war, a new god appeared, and the great powers of the present day were forged — down to the devastating War of Horrors that closed the age.
The Rise of the Old Powers
Roughly Years 600–900. Lasting institutions emerged — the monk monasteries, the sealing of Mauran and the wizard traditions, the founding of the Kingdom of Clairnia (789), and the rise and fall of early powers such as Loreshia and the Polytheistic Republic.
The Swadian Age
Roughly Years 900–1100. Dominated by the rise of Kios and the Kingdom of Swadia on the central coast, the forging of the Lexalian Republic in the frozen north, and the founding of the Holy Theocracy of Olympus (1000).
The Long Decline
Roughly Years 1000–1267. A slow fracturing: sultanates crumbling into successor states, the Swadian Civil War, and the long, grinding decay of the old order in the decades before the great wars.
The Worldshaper Wars
Roughly Years 1267–1340. The Lexalian Republic, under Ostagar Worldshaper, broke out of its frozen north and conquered much of the known world. The era saw the making of the first Horrors — chief among them Ma’ar — and ended in 1340 when Ma’ar slew Ostagar in battle.
The Modern Age
Roughly Years 1360–1540. The era of the Trident Wars, the Cat Feuds, and above all the War of Horrors; it closed with the Verra Treaty, the neutral shared cities of the Hub, and the first expeditions across the sea that opened the Age of Exploration.
Age of Exploration
Year 1541 onward. The uneasy peace after the War of Horrors. A new port on the western shore has sent expeditions across newly crossable seas to a whole New World, and its mystery now draws the eyes of adventurers and nations alike. This is where the party’s story begins.
The Present Age
Year 1541 onward. The world in relative peace after the Horrors, poised between the old mainland and the New World. See the present state of the world.