Global History

Age of the Crown

Hythean Era (13,805 AC - 2,764 AC)

Defined by the global dominion of the Hythean Empire. Humanity used highly advanced digital technology, in addition to a majority of the population being genetically modified. During this time, Aliffrüme was called “Kal’hamaq” by the Hytheans, meaning “all-source,” with this meaning persisting in many Aliff languages. This era ended with the Great Gimyndization, which saw the spontaneous end of Hythean records and the earliest confirmed appearance of dyed gimyndine samples known to date. These gimyns would gradually be broken up, buried, and scattered by the forces of time, with the most powerful gimyns being located around major gatherings of the erudite, like old underground cities or metropolises.

Age of Twilight

The Great Gimyndization (2,763 AT)

The event which changed humanity forever, and the first day records of dyed gimyndine are dated to. The event is believed to have been caused by a planetary-scale pulse of gimynfire resonant with the Progenitor, killing every artificial ascendant it touched. All that remained of life on Aliffrüme was plants and animals incapable of harnessing soulfire, and the lower class of hytheans which had no eternity to interfere with.

Twilight Era (2,763 AT - 1 AT)

A period in history where the lowborn humans who worked the factories and lived short lives in the Hythean era began to rebuild civilization, without the aid of firekeeping or the knowledge to create technology.

Crude semi-medieval societies emerged and fell, with very few finding the power or organization necessary to maintain a lasting presence.

Age of First Light (0 - 432 AL)

Day of First Light (0 AL)

The origin point for many nations, each for separate reasons. Each reason, however, has its roots in when the local discovery of gimyndine’s use in scriptlighting took place. For some this means a legendary inventor creating marvels of technology, for others it means the appearance of royally powerful flamebearers. But curiously, all of these “first contacts” with modern firekeeping were recorded to occur within the same cycle, a fact currently explained as coincidence.

Kindling Period (0 - 93 AL)

In the early medieval society still inundated with fear of possibly returning to rule by those capable of scriptlighting, it took a long time for the practice to take hold. But as the stories of terrible tyrants shifted from history to legend, peoples all over the world began to once again scale the mountain of ardent light.

Age of the Wanderflame (93 - 394 AL)

As certain people came to realize they could control a certain degree of power, many took to becoming “wanderflames,” firekeepers who traveled from place to place and used their comparatively-miniscule powers of flameless optimization to get by. Many legends and religions have their basis in embellished stories from this period, the true nature of the deified’s abilities slipping through the fingers of oral tradition.

The Dwindling (395 - 431 AL)

Without any kindlegems or flamescribes, the practice of firekeeping was extremely limited, and the decentralized nature of society made documentation difficult. As such, the age of the wanderflames was gradually overshadowed by physical development. In addition, with the wanderflames beginning to sink into legend, religions began to form around the tales of their deeds. Notable examples include the Brytho's Disciples: later evolving into Emrallism, the Roseine Squires: later Rusacavanism, and Those of the Trifold Thunder: later Guravyanism.

Age of Second Light (432 - Present)

Founding Period (432 - 467 AL)

Gimyndine and its resonating properties were rediscovered, and the results were controversial. Some saw the power of legends descended to do good, while others saw evil's temptation to false divinity.

Sensing a possible loss of control, the former Order of the Roseine Knight–now called the Rusacavan Ascendancy–adopted the Stoneghost Doctrine . The doctrine contained much of the current system of Carvers and Wraithtamers in Monêfor, and denounced gimyndine as "shards of temptation itself" to be handled only by professionals, and only for the purposes of combating "heretical" wanderflame imitators and containing the "great plague" of gimyndine. The program worked well, and to this day only licensed carvers and wraithtamers are allowed to handle gimyndine in the majority of the Monêforan countries, and even some in West Anndalor.

In addition to a religious upheaval, or perhaps in tandem with it, many noble structures were reformed as gimyndine became the major resource of power. Many old thrones changed hands, and many borders were pushed and pulled to capture crystallized power.

Age of Conquest (468 - 829 AL)

As power began to solidify, many nations began to grow larger than ever before, with the skill of great gimynkeepers nurturing nascent empires. In particular many powers pushed outwards from Lake Provenance, such as Ayangatal and Daksinaranya.

The center parts of the age include the Halanian Gimyn Wars, wherein Monêforan colonies in Halisan sought to conquer the westerly Kuthjïuman tribes using their gimyndine advantage. Beginning in 608 and concluding in 612, Drüten Alwathend Witafjürgen led the combined forces of western Halisan to victory, resulting in the creation of the modern Jïumannian states and the Reijëngäd.

Kingmaker Period (830 - 971 AL)

Marked by the discovery of the first kingstone, this period saw firekeeping power, resources, and knowledge become self-congregating, leading many nations to rapidly expand into great empires. Some of the more notable include the Ceauvian Kingdom, the Jinzuhai Empire, and the Ayangatalan Empire.

The Ceauvian empire was the first to rise, with Queen Senne VIII’s discovery of the first kingstone. During her reign of the next 17 cycles, the Ceauvian Kingdom added numerous colonies and states to their dominion, including much of east and central Halisan, southern Tohnipras, and the entirety of the Monêforan continent. Their economy was largely based on their dominion of trade in the entire western hemisphere, assisted by the harvesting of dreamleaf, gimyndine, and torhith in the colonies.

The Jinzuhai Empire was the next to form–largely in response to the economic domination of the Roseine–in 472 AL with the uniting of the greatships under Lung Xuan Zhe and the Jinzu trade company. Functioning more like an alliance than an empire, it was nonetheless headed by powerful flamepairs descended from the Zhe family, though officially decided by vote. Through sheer economic power, and a domination of naval affairs, they controlled virtually all trade in the surrounding waters. Due to this, they frequently entered into conflict with the Roseine’s colonization efforts, and funded many of the later independence movements.

Finally, the Ayangatalans rose in central Anndalor from the Thundering Hills in a union of various nomadic villages, the cultural implications of which are still felt in the high value of independence and travel in many Ayangatalan cultures today. In the ages before, the Thundering Hills were only home to many tribes of scattered nomads, but this changed in around 753 AL with the Grand Conquest. A movement that was started in the center of the plains by the “Sharpened Thunderstroke” Khünudai Ayaskaagan, an unnaturally talented scriptlighter and martial leader, the Grand Conquest was a large-scale unification war which brought all the Thundering Hills under his control.

Industrial Period (972 - Present)

The current era of the central calendar, roughly 1008 cycles (7 grandcycles) after the Day of First Light. Tools that can make advanced use of gimyndine are available to those with the ability to use them, but due to the rarity of strong gimyndine and the ability to use it, many get by with gimpowder technology. This makes any sort of scriptlighter, one who can utilize colored gimyndine to light flamescript, a very powerful and valuable person to many towns and even nations. Those that cannot tolerate gimyndine, however, are forced out into the wilderness or the company of the various copperleaf tribes.

Jïumannes

The Day of Gilded Daggers

In 806 AL, Emperor Voyétol III sent an expedition to the Eastern coast of Halisan to investigate the “uncivilized lands” for potential resources. They were greeted with pleasantries by the native Áren, and peaceful relations existed for a long while, until the discovery of the Áren’s rich gimyndine reserves. The mandates of the Stoneghost Doctrine took over, and in 813 AL, a greatship full of carvers and wraithtamers arrived on the coasts of Halisan with empire in mind.

Jïumannian Wars of Expression (832 AL)

The Jïumannian Wars of Expression, otherwise called the Jïumannian Revolutionary War, was a war fought between the then-Colonies of Casulon and the Gran Monarché du Roseine. The war was instigated by rising tensions in the firekeeping colonies from the repressive Stoneghost Doctrine, and was one of the events accredited with the beginning of the Resurgence.

It originally began with the native colonies fighting the royal colonies, sparked emotionally by the Roseine’s severe regulation of firekeeping, and kept practically-minded by a desire to protect their own land. The royal colonies were reluctant to allow the natives to escape colonialism, as it would mean their lucrative trade relationship with the Roseine mainland would cease.

A key turning point in the war was the Jinzuhai Empire agreeing to assist the native colonies. If Casulon were to turn independent, the royal colonies would be forced to give their trade to Jinzuhai instead, and it would give casus belli for an alliance with the Ayangatalan against the Roseine’s colonies and general over-expansion.

A special Jinzuhai interest was the Roseine colonies in southern Tohnipras, which is one of the few locations capable of growing soulspice, a powerful psychedelic that boosts the gimynfire which one could draw from a gimyn. The Knights made use of this drug to maintain their grip on the populace, but it would turn a profit on the open market, or even be useful in the fight against the Roseine.