Astral Isles
On the Ages
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Our history is broken into 5 ages: Pre-History, Age of Ink, Age of Horizon, Age of Conjunction, and the Modern Age. Each age covers a thousand or more years and marks a major development of innovation or discovery. Dates are written as an 'A', followed by a number indicating the age, then by the number of years since that age started. Example: A2:1200 is roughly when iron was discovered, which was 1200 years after the start of the second age.
Pre-History
Pre-History marks all of our history before the invention of writing. Artifacts from this era were teeming with primal magic, but not as refined as today. Common materials worked include copper, glass, wood, pottery, and stone. In the southern part of the Mother World, our ancestors built large pyramids to channel energy to increase harvest yields by redirecting light. In the northern parts, our ancestors built stone walls spanning hundreds of miles and imbued them with runes to ward off enemies. Because we do not know the true beginning of this age, the years component marks how many years before the invention of writing (e.g., A1:500 is 500 years before writing).
Pre-History marks all of our history before the invention of writing. Artifacts from this era were teeming with primal magic, but not as refined as today. Common materials worked include copper, glass, wood, pottery, and stone. In the southern part of the Mother World, our ancestors built large pyramids to channel energy to increase harvest yields by redirecting light. In the northern parts, our ancestors built stone walls spanning hundreds of miles and imbued them with runes to ward off enemies. Because we do not know the true beginning of this age, the years component marks how many years before the invention of writing (e.g., A1:500 is 500 years before writing).
This age marks the invention of writing. The oldest writings started in the southern part of the Mother World. With knowledge no longer being bound to word of mouth, we saw an explosion of innovation. Writings of this time cover basic potions and wand enchantments. Goldsmithing first appeared in the north around A2:900, and ironworking in the south around A2:1200. Artifacts from this time became more ornate. This age lasted 3919 years.
This age marks the discovery of the edge of the Mother World. It had long been taken for granted that the Mother World was a sphere. This seems intuitive: if everything is pulled down by gravity, it should end up like a suspended droplet of water. However, the edge of the Mother World was discovered in the north. Many scribes of the time made pilgrimages to the edge to verify this claim. It took hundreds of years before the truth became part of our collective knowledge.
The Age of Conjunction begins with Samos, who charted the edge of the Mother World against the stars and showed that it, and every world beyond it, turns upon a single filament. Scholars gave up the dream of one round world and set about measuring the many.
It was an age of instruments rather than conquest. The great observatories of the north were raised by no crown, but by guilds of lens grinders and clockmakers who sold their charts to sailors and farmers alike. Every chart carried its maker's mark, and a maker whose charts sank ships did not sell another.
Toward its end the age grew lean. The magical substrate of the Mother World, drawn upon for millennia, ran thin, as the records of A4:1546 show. Harvests failed and the old wells of power dried. Some say it was in that thinness that the walls between worlds grew thin enough for Benz to find a door.
It was an age of instruments rather than conquest. The great observatories of the north were raised by no crown, but by guilds of lens grinders and clockmakers who sold their charts to sailors and farmers alike. Every chart carried its maker's mark, and a maker whose charts sank ships did not sell another.
Toward its end the age grew lean. The magical substrate of the Mother World, drawn upon for millennia, ran thin, as the records of A4:1546 show. Harvests failed and the old wells of power dried. Some say it was in that thinness that the walls between worlds grew thin enough for Benz to find a door.
The Modern Age began in A5:0, when Benz projected to another world and home again. Within a century, any village with a projection circle could trade with any other.
The worlds that prospered were not the largest or the strongest, but the most industrious: those that kept honest weights, trained apprentices, and made things others wanted. The Arcanum was founded by such crafters, sworn to make things with their own hands and defend the realms that made this possible.
Not every world welcomed trade. Some believed that whatever one world gained, another must have lost. From that belief grew the Monolith, which teaches that possession is the root of all discord and that the worlds must be made smooth and equal, even if it means unmaking them.
Today the two stand opposed. The Arcanum discovers the worlds. The Monolith absorbs them.
The worlds that prospered were not the largest or the strongest, but the most industrious: those that kept honest weights, trained apprentices, and made things others wanted. The Arcanum was founded by such crafters, sworn to make things with their own hands and defend the realms that made this possible.
Not every world welcomed trade. Some believed that whatever one world gained, another must have lost. From that belief grew the Monolith, which teaches that possession is the root of all discord and that the worlds must be made smooth and equal, even if it means unmaking them.
Today the two stand opposed. The Arcanum discovers the worlds. The Monolith absorbs them.