The Lost Age

The Lost Age is so named because not much is known about it, only oral tradition from the time of Tige, as well as some bits that modern science has put together.

After the Last Landbound War, travel between regions was made impossible. The reasoning for this is remembered as twofold: the iron-claw grasp of the dragons and the treacherous tides of shallow and rock-strewn sea floors between regions.

No one knows what started the conflict among the dragons. The best theory is that dragons, being an intelligent, feeling people of their own, must therefore have their own strife and conflicts the same as any other intelligent, feeling people. This conflict came to be known as the Last Continental War.

The end result came when the lava vent that would become the Caldera erupted for the first time and, in the process, completely obliterated a subterranean glacier. The resulting melt, as well as the displacement caused by the formation of a new volcanic island, caused dramatic sea rise that decimated the population and further divided the continent from seven regions, to scores upon scores of islands.

In their narrow, focused view on surviving, over time many of the people had forgotten that there were, in fact, other people across the waters that separated each region from its neighbors. When the dragons retreated and people began to explore the waters once more, they were shocked -- and often appalled -- to encounter other peoples. Different in skin and stature and overall feature, different in coloring and manner and style, different in language and communication. But also similar, like looking in an enchanted mirror showing some different, alternate path.

The result was a generations-long period where both war and trade evolved, seemingly in lock-step.