The Age of Elves

This is the era of the High Elves. The High Elves were a legendarily powerful race of beings who used their incredible mastery of the Eridena's magic to create several races it used primarily for slave labor. The High Elves built fantastic cities, temples, and controlled vast empires that spanned continents. As the millennia wore on the High Elves found magic considerably harder and harder to perform.
Little did they know that magic is not an unlimited resource. Nature restores and reclaims its magic, keeping the force in balance with all the others. The High Elves upset that balance and sapped magic from the world before it could be replaced. This ultimately leads to The Shift and the annihilation of their civilization and near extinction. Before it gets that far though, this difficulty using magic caused social and political upheaval in High Elf civilizations all over the planet.
Sensing an opportunity the Humans, Dwarves, and other races the High Elves had enslaved rebelled en masse. Thousands of elves were slaughtered and millions of slaves escaped, many finding shelter among the Dwarves. These rebellions brought the High Elves to their knees. The Shift was simply the final blow.