Age of Expansion (480 PE to 2114 PE)
Land grab
T
he Age of Expansion is so named because it encompasses the era when casterway cultures and societies of every ilk aggressively expanded across all of Excilior's known landmasses. It began directly after the splintering of Auld Cervia in 480 PE and it ended when Golia abandoned its claim to Llanpiq in 2114 PE. With this seminal event, there were no more lands to be discovered, claimed, or colonized and the playing board was essentially "set". Once the Age of Expansion concluded, the tenor of casterway history became not so much about who could get to land first. Rather, it transitioned into a period of aggressive conflict over the known (and thus, claimed) lands.
Modest Beginnings
When the Age began, most of the acknowledged nations were on, or in the direct vicinity of, Islemanoton or on the Sontsu Peninsula. In fact, in 479 PE, there were only nine recognized nations on the planet:
However, the above list can be misleading. All the nations of Islegantuan at this time were more accurately defined as city-states with little-or-no control over their claimed borders. On the Sontsu Peninsula, only Torholmaa was starting to establish all the accoutrements one would expect from an official, sovereign state. So on the cusp of the Age of Expansion, the political landscape was pretty much A) the first true civilization of Auld Cervia, B) a small-but-burgeoning culture rising in Torholmaa and, C)... not much else.
Worldwide Influence
But by the end of the Age in 2114 PE, this dynamic had completely changed. Casterways had established 80 different countries, consisting of at least 8 distinct cultures, speaking as many as 7 unique languages. This does not imply that all countries and all cultures were firmly established, but they all had some kind of foothold in the world's social and political life.
Comments