A time period of near constant war, strife, and struggle, named for the numerous volcanic eruptions during the era. It is thought that this time period is the closest the world had come since the Permian Era to being devoid of life.
Prelude
The time period prior to the War of Black Ash was dominated by constant war and strife between humans, omnia, other mortals, and the dragons. The earliest of the gods had yet to take their modern roles and frequently warred with each other and the dragons alike. Despite this, there had not yet been a disaster on as large of a scale of the War of Black Ash.
The Major Gods, new in their power, were just beginning to understand and test the full limits of their powers, especially the young
Fire God Vega. In the earliest conflicts with
Nagi, God of Water, Vega began unleashing the power beneath the earth's crust itself in the form of volcanos, the most powerful form of fire. Vega even used this to make some attacks on
Lapi, The God of Earth by attempting to extend himself into her domain. As a direct result of this, the Yellowstone Supervolcano erupted, thanks to Vega's tampering with it and fully melting the caldera's chambers, releasing lava, gasses, and ash into the atmosphere in levels that were the closest the world had come to recreating the Siberian Basalt Flood eruptions of the Permian Era.
The War Of Black Ash
The War of Black Ash itself is the time period following the eruptions caused by Vega, between the years 5892 and 6030. This time period was dominated by the eruption of the Yellowstone Supervolcano and numerous other minor eruptions caused by
Fire God Vega as he carved out his territory and warred with the other gods. Due to the frequent and often massive volcanic eruptions, the world was plunged into volcanic winter for the first time and caused a mass extinction, which all but extinguished the food supplies of dragons and people alike in many regions for decades.
Starvation was commonplace, as many plants were unable to survive the bitter cold and lack of sunlight for many months, throwing the global ecosystem into freefall. Plants suffered greatly, unable to survive the days and weeks that it would be dark even at midday due to the thick clouds of ash blotting out the sun, causing many herbivores to starve. The ecosystem collapsed, seeing many extinctions at once and forcing surviving species to adapt or move to less impacted areas. Due to food shortages, the dragons and humans in particular began hunting more often and coming into conflicts over food more readily, driving down the numbers of stable animal populations even further.
The first proper
Minor Gods came to rise to power during this time, protecting their species from extinction and ensuring they would survive by taking direct control over where, when, and how they wound hunt, reproduce, and migrate. Dragons who were holding humans and omnia captive were forced to make tough decisions regarding their prisoners, to either let them go to conserve food, or slaughter them as food themselves. All the while, different dragonflights continued to war with one another, using humans and omnia alike as soldiers in their stead. Seeing opportunity in these desperate times, hundreds of thousands of omnia revolted, slaying their draconic masters, who in many cases, were too weakened to fend off the attacks in force. Cannibalism among all races had become common at the height of the war, most often to prevent their own starvation as the world came the closest it had to being devoid of life since the Great Permian Extinction.
Free for the first time in thousands of years, the omnia also began to war with one another, desperate to claim the few remaining safe havens with steady food.
Soon after the War of Black Ash, the current era, The Age of Gods, began as the dragons had been so weakened by war and starvation their control over the world weakened. Many draconic territories were abandoned or taken in force by the gods, and the
Land of Gods was formed from these fragmented territories. Most Flight leaders retreated to the most defensible parts of what territory they had left, and allowed the gods to lay claim to what remained.
In the following decades, as the major gods stopped warring with one another, civilization was once again able to take root and the world able to begin its recovery. Much of Terra still bares the scars from this time period, countless species extinct, the landscape forever changed, and entire cultures lost or created by the upheaval. Terra is just coming out of the ice age caused by the War of Black Ash, most northern regions still covered in dense sheets of ice only in recent years retreating and revealing what has been hidden below them for thousands of years.
Aftermath
Geography
The very face of the world was changed by the era, with many areas becoming unrecognizable. What is now the
Yellowstone Gulf National Park was once the interior of the United States, a large plain stretching nearly from the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachian Mountains became a flooded gulf, merged with the former Gulf of Mexico. It stretches in some areas into what was once Canada, now largely part of the
Land of Gods.
Due to Vega creating volcanic islands all across the Pacific Ocean, there is much more land across the region than there was formerly, most having not existed prior.
Lapi, The God of Earth also created new landmasses and raised the sea bed of many areas. She also greatly shifted the continents themselves before eventually settling in Laramidia, crashing them together in order to cross from one continent to another without going across the ocean and at risk of attack from
Nagi, God of Water.
The great glaciers that still exist today formed during the era due to the volcanic winter, and also the direct creation by multiple major gods. These glaciers made the most northern reaches of the world all but uninhabitable, free to spread and grow, grinding out deep valleys and ravines in the earth itself.
Climate
Since the War of Black Ash, the world has been much colder, still in the grips of an ice age caused by the volcanic winter. Particularly in the Northern Hemisphere, the climate is much colder and much drier over all, seeing a fall in sea level due to much of the water being locked up in glaciers and permafrost. As many areas became desert and scrubland and dried out, less rainfall was generated to become clouds and rain in other regions, creating a constant cycle that hit
Laramidia, Central Asia, and Northern Africa particularly hard.
Discrepancies between these dry areas and more tropical climates, often much closer to the equator, often create high winds and massive storms that are much more devastating than those usually associated with them prior to the War of Black Ash. Although the climate has warmed greatly since this era, there is still a high degree of of storms in these areas today. Tundra, taiga, and arctic desert took over much of the Northern Hemisphere as well.
Extinctions
The War of Black Ash saw many hundreds of species go extinct and perhaps more than will ever truly be known, as so many had been left vulnerable during the Human Era and not yet been recorded. Perhaps most impacted by this era's drastic changes to the environment were insects, because although they are fast breeding and quick to adapt in many species, for many, reproduction became impossible due to low oxygen levels, a lack of water, and lack of food making it unlikely that surviving individuals could even live long enough to reproduce.
The mosquito in North America, South America, Europe, and much of Northern Asia went extinct, only surviving in fragmented populations in southern Asia, Oceania, and fragmented island groups. Although this has made malaria all but cease to exist in these locations, it did have a great impact on the mosquito's predators, due to other food sources also disappearing. This is thought to have happened due to that many water sources became too acidic for mosquito larva to survive due to falling ash and acid rain, with surviving populations being found in areas surrounded by water or high mountains that deposited much of the ash.
Ticks and Bedbugs also saw similar losses to the mosquito and are almost unheard of in much of the world, with all current species being descended from ones of human times.
Species that had been entirely reliant on humans suffered in the extreme. Rats, seagulls, racoons, most dog and cat breeds, and crop species all but disappeared in many regions due to no longer being seen as necessary, the inability to care for them, or human suffering being at the forefront of people's minds with little regard to long term effects.
Although their extinction did not occur during the War of Black Ash itself, the extinction of
Humans is thought to have been a direct consequence of the event, seeing entire cities wiped out due to food shortages and constant struggle with other groups, such as the dragons. As most humans were found in groups of 15 to 55 people at most in the centuries following, with the majority of them being family groups or closely related, the predominant theory is that humans had become so scattered and distrustful of others that increasing their population was all but impossible as there was little exchange between survivors. Another theory dictates that humans were out competed by other species, such as
Vampires who could substitute a large amount of their diet with blood and were less reliant on food,
Centari who could travel much further for food and water, and the
Omnia who largely were able to survive the most brutal periods by reforming of being held captive by dragons, despite most dragons only kept them alive to continue their cruelty. Less popular than other theories is that humans did not exactly go extinct, but instead, became part of all other races known today via interbreeding and corruption from magic, so they didn't actually die out, but simply change.
Rise of the Minor Gods
The Minor Gods took up the roles they are known for today, as protectors of their given species to prevent them from going extinct at any cost, during the War of Black Ash. It is not confirmed, but commonly thought that this era is when the first
Meetings of the Gods began, due to the untold death and destruction, and when
Shia, the God of Death and
Mora, The God of Life took up the head of the pantheon. Many believe that the minor gods became established in the pantheon due to the gods of life and death urging them to ensure the survival of their kin to prevent the extinction of all life, giving them purpose beyond simply destroying one another. It is also this time period that large scale worship of the minor gods began here, as mortal recognized the gods as protectors and guardians attempting to quell the needless death.
Many minor gods also worked in tandem with mortals, although not for their sake exclusively. As the dragons continued to wage war on each other and people they often disregarded damage they caused to the environment and ecosystem, being seen by the gods as threats worthy of battling to ensure their species' survival.
Cultural Changes
For dragons in particular, there was a massive cultural shift surrounding cannibalism. Although it is seen in all species, sapient dragons looked down upon the practice greatly, known to shun those who took part as being weak willed, desperate, and cruel in most circumstances. Due to the incredible food shortages during the War of Black Ash, this often became common in many larger flights or for larger dragons as their fallen kin would sometimes be the only food source for weeks or months at a time. Hunting other dragons specifically to eat them was still largely, not accepted by much of draconic society, but the ability to make use of those who had died of other causes began to become a staple of their culture, eventually becoming the funerary cannibalism they are known for today.
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