History of Excilior
Saga of exile
T
he history of Excilior counts down, from a theoretically-infinite number, to zero, up until the dawn of the Age of Cervia. Everything before zero is known collectively as the Savage Era. So the year occurring a million years before the Age of Cervia is referred to as 1,000,000 SE, and the year occurring thirteen years before the Age of Cervia is known as 13 SE. Casterways have no concept of the true chronological age of the planet. But in their mythology, the world is, literally, ageless. Therefore, within the scope of local folklore, it is not illogical to refer to some mythical, ancient time as 7 billion SE, or 2,114,852,923,111,502 SE.
Everything after year zero is known as the Progressive Era. The first year of the Progressive Era coincides with the first year of the Age of Cervia. On casterway calendars, there is actually no year zero. Therefore, the last year of the Savage Era (1 SE) is followed by the first year of the Progressive Era (1 PE).
In casterway timekeeping, it's acceptable, informally, to refer to years merely by their SE/PE numbering. In other words, some texts will simply refer to years as 219 SE or 1319 PE. However, it's much more common to refer to a year followed by the Age within which it falls. For example, 1542 PE falls within the Age of Expansion, so historians will typically annotate this year as 1542 Age of Expansion, or they will use the Age's abbreviation to annotate it as 1542 AoE.
The Ages are as follows:
- Prehistoric (everything before 500 of the Savage Era) - As far as anyone knows, there were no humans on the planet during this time. Nor was there any presence of higher intelligence. Everything on Excilior before 500 SE was primitive wilderness.
- Age of Darkness (From 500 to 1 of the Savage Era) - The first recorded age. In this context, the term "recorded" only refers to what can be gleaned from the (scant) archaeological record, and what little can be teased from legends and word-of-mouth accounts. It starts with the arrival of the first casterway. It ends the year before Cervia Polonosa's crash in the Sister Seia.
- Year Zero (A placeholder - in casterway timekeeping, this year doesn't actually exist.)
- Age of Cervia (From 1 to 479 of the Progressive Era) - The period defined by Cervia Polonosa's arrival and her establishment of the world's first true civilization. It ended with the splintering of Auld Cervia.
- Age of Expansion (From 480 to 2114 of the Progressive Era) - 1600 years of aggressive jockeying for space on the map of Excilior. The Age came to a close when Golia abandoned its claim to Llanpiq, thus leaving every square centimeter of known land on the planet officially spoken for.
- Age of Rivals (From 2115 to 3009 of the Progressive Era) - A period of massive war and upheaval across the planet as early power players found themselves challenged for supremacy.
- Age of Gnosis (From 3010 of the Progressive Era to today) - An emerging era of knowledge and education - leading to advancements that all-too-often only serve to push the population backward, rather than forward.
Comments