History of Halinor

What follows is a brief recording of the various ages as recorded and recognized by Halinorian scholars. While these historical events do not necessarily touch upon locations outside the continent, it is safely assumed by all with a serious scholarly mindset that similar events plagued Eldamar and elsewhere on Aspiria. The nature of the historical cycles known as Stygian and Radiant Ages make tracking proper history difficult, of course, and in some places non-academic sources such as oral histories, interpreted artworks, and inference on behalf of well-reputed scholars is necessary to paint a picture of our shared history.
First Stygian Age
The Salamandron's Famine - Wherein the withering gaze of the sun ignited the world, drying the soil to dusty uselessness. Records from the Navarresean Empire recorded oral histories owing salvation to the first High Wizard.
First Radiant Age
Carinthian loremasters preach this was the Era of the Dragons and the first heroes of mortalkind that stood against them.
Second Stygian Age
Wodr's Revenge - Imagine the northern winds unbound and untamed, spreading misery and frost across the world. Halinor froze and even Tarwa'kem saw snowfall. It is not known what stopped the Great Wyrm from wreaking havoc across the world.
Second Radiant Age
The Navarresean Empire formed in this era, constituting five centuries of progress in the continent.
Third Stygian Age
The Tempest of Madness - Great rains brought floods the world over, washing out crops, flooding riverbanks, and most insidiously infesting the survivors of drowning with lingering doubts as to their own sanity. It was in this age Lake Sticaea was formed, undrained for a great many centuries and providing channels for trade and wealth across the center of Halinor for many generations.
Third Radiant Age
Tarwa'kem, still a proper dwarven kingdom, formed during this Age. What is recognized as the foundations of contemporary Carinthia also have their roots in this time period, particularly as the fractures in the Navarresean See were being felt in the center of the continent.
Fourth Stygian Age
Azathoros's Invitation - The slumber of the Great Fiend Azathoros was disturbed, and the snores of His settling spoke lawlessness and acedia into the ears of mortals. So describes the Carinthian Church in ancient records reconstructed from these days. Civil war erupted across the land, consuming the last holdouts of the Navarresean See and ruining cooperation and progress in every other nation. Carinthia itself saw less of this fighting than other regions, perhaps due to the colony of Aqualonde leaving for new lands rather than staying to fight.
Fourth Radiant Age
Aqualonde grew slowly but steadily in this age amidst the Fauconwood. D'yadya collectivized for the first time as well as tribes sent delegations to meet and represent their disparate factions. The newly formed band of mini-groups enjoyed peace for a time.
Fifth Stygian Age
The Panoptic Will of God - Ushered in by the relative peace and prosperity Carinthia enjoyed during the previous dark age, the nation least exposed to those perils grew in prominence and promise. The first and final Arch de Soleil was crowned in this time, leading both the defense of Halinor against dragonkind to the north and picking up the war for its soul in the south. Paladins ranged south against bandits and lawless lands; actions histories outside Carinthia dubbed inquisitions and conquest. Insularity amongst communities, paranoia, and unflinching cruelty in the application of the law eventually led to the assassination of Louis-roi, Arch de Soleil.
Fifth Radiant Age
Shurevaire was settled as a university, and the growing needs of its faculty and students eventually led to the declaration and independence of the island "kingdom" from its shared Aqualondian and proto-Avosan roots.
Sixth Radiant Age
The Howling Winds of Y'Set - The first of what would be known as the "Summoning" Cataclysms, the Paragon Y'Set was summoned in the deserts of Tarwa'kem. Great storms of sand born on hurricane-force winds ripped over the land, spreading misery and devastation. A death-cult born of those witnessing the beast-god spread their master's whims further, but a party of adventurers were eventually able to hunt and slay the Paragon. The survivors--two from the party of seven--made it a short ways before being cut down by the remnants of the cult that still recurs periodically to this day.
Sixth Radiant Age
No doubt hurting from the winds that shredded its sails, the pirate fleet of Ky'lae de Avosa landed on the Glittering Coast and broke down their foundering ships to start a city proper. Using the pardons won from her assistance to the Heroes of Y'Set, Ky'lae started a rapidly growing young nation for former pirates and sailors there on the Coast.
Seventh Stygian Age
The Folly of Levin the Blue - Was it a show of force against the newly settled Avosa Tevosa or other motives that drove the mage Levin to summon another Paragon there in the rainforests? Scholars remain divided on the subject, but less so on the deadly aftermath of the Electric Beast. It's storms ripped through the Tropics of Ramitas before it escaped to more northernly hills. While devastating to the landscape, its impact was felt mostly in the jungles there and in the lingering presence of elemental monsters in the hills outside the jungles where it was dispatched. This has allowed the short-lived and limited-impact of this Cataclysm to not just be a small mercy but a learning opportunity for Shurevairan scholars.
Seventh Radiant Age
Taking advantage of displaced Tarwa'kem attention in the early stages of this Radiant Age, Vociran forces landed on and completed a swift invasion of D'yadya led by Legatus Gallus gen Quietus. Ongoing attempts to oust control of the region by Cassius gen Magellus were led by the people but ultimately thwarted. The D'yadyan Exodus brings many refugees to Tarwa'kem. Vociran forces move into Tarwa'kem to push their assault in the wake of the Sultana's death during childbirth and Sultan Shakir Karo-kem's assassination. They are ultimately pushed back at the Battle of Dagger Canyon. The defense and rule of the city is taken up by the Mercantile Alliance of Tarwa'kem, pending the age of majority of newborn Sehzade Neema Karo-kem.
Eighth Stygian Age
The Trembling Foundation - After the death of his sister in the failed push at the Battle of Dagger Canyon, newly promoted Legatus Cassius led a disavowed mission onto soil deep in the heart of Halinor. The young men he took there--boys untrained and unready for war proper--were corraled and sacrificed in a fel ritual to awaken a Paragon held beneath the Sticaean Lake. With the Radiant Beast Krisnarax awakened, the very land itself trembled with earthquakes, landslides, sinkholes, and even the draining of the massive lake system at the heart of Halinor. Worse still was promised but for the sacrifice of Velethoui Arsenault, stilling the rage of the earth from the Beast's stirring and stopping its malevolent energies from worsening an already damaging Cataclysm.
Eighth Radiant Age
After the horrific actions of Legatus Cassius (and the failed push at the Battle of Dagger Canyon), the Vocirans brokered an uneasy peace with Tarwa'kem, keeping their holdings in D'yadya and promoting the emperor's son, Caedus seq Magnus, to local commander after his victory over the island nation of Ilsong in the east. As the current Radiant Age, Halinor is still picking up the pieces. The beginning has been a shaky one certainly--disrupted trade in the center of the continent from the loss of the Sticaean Lake has seen an influx of visitors trying to take a crack at the unearthed ruins of the Watcher of the Lake, a gemstone-laden Navarresean palace towering over the uncovered forest. Sehzade no longer, Neema Karo-kem has assumed the title of Sultana and ended a lucrative trade with Vociran-controlled D'yadya. Where the continent goes from here is anyone's guess, but the pressure amongst all the nations have been steadily rising...