The Fourth Age - The Age of Agression

PE = Pyrideon Era - Years before Coalescence Counting Forward from the Birth of Pyrideon.
BC = Before Coalescence - Years before Coalescence Counting Backwards from year Zero.
AC = AFter Coalescence - Years After Coalescence Counting Forward from year Zero.

The Third Chaos Storm

Year 3553 PE, Year 3876 BC
The third Chaos Storm strikes. Several mountains in the Alicas mountain range disappear from a simple miscast ore divining spell, leaving inverted shells where they used to be with nothing but massive piles of copper lying at the bottom.
Many had already suspected this year might be a Chaos Storm as it is 1292 years from the last one. And 1292 years was the span between the first and second storms.

The Gods Ban all Magic Use During a Chaos Storm

Year 3553 PE, Year 3876 BC
Due to the destructive power witnessed in the latest chaos storm, the god's decree that no magic use will be allowed during future intervals of forthcoming storms.

Frynthia Becomes the Haunted City

Year 3553 PE, Year 3876 BC
The deserted city of Frynthia, while still uninhabitable, has been a constant source of exploration and adventure. With the arrival of the third storm, Frynthia is suddenly inhabited with shades of its former citizens. The shades are corrupted counterparts and the city for all intents and purposes becomes a haunted city.

Archmage Mu Firus gains Mastery over Powerful War Magic

Year 3583 PE, Year 3846 BC
The understanding of magic continues to grow among the human population. Archmage Mu Firus is the first to master magics capable of destroying armies and cities at a distance. He creates the first hell bomb, a small orb capable of being hurled several miles that explodes in a fiery globe of molten iron, devasting everything for several hundred yards.
The enhancement magics he uses are quickly replicated by others allowing all types of spells of mass destruction to be created.
The gods, seeing this as the next evolution in a war against the Thrage encourage such activities.

Magicians Become a Common Threat

Year 3610-3620 PE, Year 3819-3809 BC
Wizards and priests who master the most powerful of war magics become known as Magicians.
While exceedingly rare, they become common enough that everyone lives in fear that not only might they be killed, but their entire homeland eradicated on the whim of one of these powerful casters.
As a whole, the gods don’t seem inclined to stop this threat.
The new world order seems to be live in fear or subservience, or else find a way to rise to the top.

Bard’s Vale and Malaine are Destroyed within Days of Each Other

Year 3624 PE, Year 3805 BC
Bard’s Vale, a city of nearly 100,000 people, is destroyed by an angry Magician over having been cheated by one of the merchant leaders of the city. The city is destroyed and nothing is left except for a vast field of glass shards created from the immense heat.
Two days later, several hundred miles to the west, Malaine is destroyed by a Magician in an act of vengeance against a rival. While he didn’t kill his rival, the city of Malaine contained many of his rival’s relatives. The gruesome spell cast caused all water to gradually heat up and begin to boil, effectively killing everything in the city. In the course of about 15 minutes, nearly 30,000 were slain.
This grabs the attention of the gods. Seeing that it would be possible for humanity to wipe itself out, the gods create a magical protective shell around all major cities of over 10,000 population. Most powerful spells (those of 8th level or higher) are blocked from working in the vicinity of these cities.
This doesn’t stop the Magicians. They start creating powerful magic items capable of circumventing some of these new protections. At the same time, they start raising powerful armies. Magicians become the new warlords of the world.

Armies Descend from the Mountains

Year 3649 PE, Year 3780 BC
Coaxed by magicians seeking more power dominion, the magicians begin marshaling troops in the thousands. The orcs and goblins make perfect choices for troops and soldiers. All up and down the Kestrel mountain range, armies start to form and then march upon the lowlands. Most of the raids are simply raids for basic supplies and for wanton destruction.

Arrival of the Shars

Year 3653 PE, Year 3776 BC
A water magician, going by the title of the Salt King, rallies several undersea races to do his bidding. Most of his army is made up of shark men known as Shars. Creating massive tsunamis, he then sends his armies in to clean up after the destruction. From Kraylin down to Southern Kingdoms, villages live in constant fear. The display of wealth becomes taboo in many cultures fearful of attracting the Salt King’s interest.

Borliks Unite

Year 3666 PE, Year 3763 BC
Due to the constant threat, the Borliks around Kraylin unite into a large standing army. While they don’t have any magician caliber mages, the number of mages they can field is staggering. Even the Salt King is turned away more than once by the threat of their rebuttal.

Southern Kingdoms become a Pirate State along the Coast

Year 3670-3690 PE, Year 3759-3739 BC
The threat of the Salt King actually militarizes the coastal inhabitants. Employing advanced naval magics, they stage some of the first large-scale pirate operations. For the first several years when they begin to harry the merchant fleets between Kraylin and Crynthia, even going so far as to raid up some of the rivers toward Drynthia, none of the victim’s cities or governments are able to discern the source of the attack.

Quazicol becomes the new seat of power for the Zyloan Nation

Year 3714 PE, Year 3715 BC
The ruling matriarchy is finally overthrown. While Wegsetze is still the chief goddess of the Zyloan nation, the general populace becomes more secular and bureaucratic. The old capital of Zylosh, with its legendary 1000 blood temples, still remains the religious center. As more and more power shifts to the military, more and more power shifts to Quazicol.

The Dragon Army takes to the Seas

Year 3729 PE, Year 3700 BC
The menace of the Salt King continues. In an effort to finally lift the constant scourge to the shipping lanes, the sister cities of Brynthia and Drynthia forge a new alliance with Crynthia. Crynthia produces semi-sentient ships and produces the mages and captains which power them.
Brynthia and Drynthia supply most the manpower. Within two years of the alliance being forged, a small naval force of 30 ships is put to sea going up and down the coast hunting down pirates.

The Salt King is Driven South

Year 3735 PE, Year 3694 BC
With the northern waters now seeing heavier patrols, the Salt King turns his attention south to the lands of the Zyloans and Southern Kingdoms. While considerably poorer, these lands provide safer areas to raid.

The Salt King is Slain

Year 3747 PE, Year 3682 BC
A Zyloan mage by the name of Nezshevum proclaims himself Admiral of the Zyloan fleet. While less powerful than the Salt King, he is cunning and crafty. He manages to trick the Salt King into coming to shore at an island where Admiral Nezhsevum has laid a trap.

Trade reestablished with the Zyloan Nation

Year 3754 PE, Year 3675 BC
With the Salt King dead and now two powerful state navies patrolling the waters, trade is once again established between the north and the south, bypassing the still turbulent ports of the Southern Kingdom. Within a few years, the pirates of the Southern Kingdoms dwindle and soon are no more.

Purple Magician Ascends

Year 3815 PE, Year 3614 BC
With no known history, a magician from somewhere in the center of the Plains of Arg starts making a name for himself as one of the most accomplished masters of magic. His tower sits in the middle of nowhere, thousands of miles from any major population center.
His remoteness affords him considerable protection as others aren’t interested in traveling that far to bother him, his power completely ensures it.

Zyloan Comes Under the Control of Three Mages

Year 3913 PE, Year 3516 BC
The son of Admiral Nezshevum along with two other mages wrest control of Quazicol completely from the royal family. As practitioners of summoning, they field a large army of other world demons which hunt down all that oppose them.
With the clergy of Wegsetze already waning, a civil war begins to stir between the religious and the secular.

Civil War in Quazicol

Year 3918 PE, Year 3511 BC
Open combat begins in Quazicol and surrounding towns for control of the nation. The citizenry caught in the middle and start to flee in mass. Overall, by the end of the year, the population of Quazicol has dwindled to less than 30%.
The war devolves largely into open combat between the priests of Wegsetze allying with the mages still loyal to their goddess against the three mages and their summoned army of demons.

Divine Magic is Blocked

Year 3920 PE, Year 3509 BC
In a coup, the three mages perfect a new tactic of being able to block all channeled magic for an individual. Using this newfound power, the armies of the three mages quickly subdue the contesting force. Peace is restored.

Wegsetze is Supplanted

Year 3923 PE, Year 3506 BC
With the priests of Wegsetze now largely powerless at the whim of the three mages, the religion of Wegsetze diminishes considerably until it is of a manageable level as deemed by the new rulers. For reasons unknown, Wegsetze seems ok with this turn of events. The knowledge of how to block channeled magic begins to spread throughout Arisilon.
The gods, intrigued by this development, do nothing to stop it. One of the main after-effects is that arcane magic now starts looking for ways to imitate magic formerly handled by priests like healing magics.

Underground Monastery Founded

Year 4007 PE, Year 3422 BC
Not all magicians are power hungry, some are simply students devoted to higher learning. A select few, worried for the safety of the world and for their own safety, seek out a place where they can practice their craft in peace.
Not finding such a place, over fifty magicians band together to create a new home completely secreted away called the underground monastery. Several of the spells used in its creation are designed to cause a complete lapse of memory concerning the monastery for anyone not actually a member. As such, many who even live near the monastery believe it to be a myth.

Technomancy is Born

Year 4063-4083 PE, Year 3366-3346 BC
Magician Cha Ling Tras living near Kasa Deas is one of the foremost authorities on the creation of magical constructs. He takes it a step further and begins reviving old technologies in full then supplementing them with magical attributes rather than just replacing various functions with a magical equivalent.
He creates fantastic gizmos, clocks, and robotrons with incredibly intricate parts.
While many think this approach accomplishes little and is basically reinventing and simply reorganizing already understood principles, it is unquestioned that he is able to come up with constructs with abilities and performance levels previously unknown.
Many consider his approach of reviving old technologies as a kind of heresy and possibly dangerous in potentially incurring the wrath of the gods who have forbidden certain technologies. He ultimately gains a strong following of other mages pursuing his work, even if it is more of a curiosity than actual pursuit.
A beneficial side effect of some of his enchantments is the creation of a process rendering the target material virtually indestructible even if its magical properties are suppressed. The eponymous process becomes known as Linging. Once an item is crafted and finished, it is impossible to deconstruct the magic.

Major Arcana begin Appearing

Year 4125 PE, Year 3304 BC
As the process of linging becomes more commonplace, ultrapowerful items start appearing. Many magicians start making their own personal artifact caliber items to increase their power. Despite attempts to attune the items directly to the user, part of the magic used in the creation process prohibit actual attunement – the magic has to be completely self-contained in the item.
Due to this last quirk, competition to steal and collect items becomes a major occupation of the power obsessed.
Another quirk of the linging process later learned is that some essence of the creator is instilled into the item creating some randomness in exactly how each item ultimately functions. Often times, magicians find their new creation, a culmination of years of study and work, performs all the tasks it was designed to do but with unexpected possibly undesired side-effects.
These items become known as Major Arcana.

The Underground Monastery is Converted into a Major Arcana

Year 4130-4140 PE, Year 3299-3289 BC
Now having a membership of over 75 magicians, work begins to make the Underground Monastery permanent in the form of a Major Arcana. Eight liches – powerful mages and priests – start applying the Linging method to various rooms of the monastery. In the process, to make things easier, several of the rooms are transformed into having the walls and pillars made from a single large gemstone grown for the purpose of designing the room.
The main entrance is actually the hollowing out of an immense ruby – the walls and pillars are all part of the same stone.

Eight Horrors are Created

Year 4165 PE, Year 3264 BC
The Gods create the eight Horrors in attempt to start creating soldiers able to fight the Thrage.
The plan is also to create greater challenges for the numerous magicians on Pyrideon so they can focus on something other than themselves.
These Horrors start preying on mortals with the permission of the gods, razing small cities and armies, forcing the mortals to further their understanding of combat magics to defend themselves.
The Horrors, in particular, are drawn to powerful magics, their only limitation is they are prohibited from actually attacking any of the major cities.

Corshapkia is Razed

Year 4199 PE, Year 3230 BC
Three horrors converge on the largest orcish city and in a matter of days completely destroy it. Estimated losses are over 300,000 orcs, 100,000 various kinds of goblins, 20,000 giank-kin, and 40,000 ogres.
Worse still, 4 magicians made their home in the city, believing it afforded them the safety of the god's edict that the cities were immune from the ravages of the horrors.
Thrakku is unable to rein in the three horrors and requests the aid of the other gods. The gods are surprised to find that not only does it take several of them to chase off the horrors from the remnants of Corshapkia, but when Throki and Kog seek to destroy one of the more resilient horrors, they fail.

Construction of Diamond Shell Begins

Year 4210 PE, Year 3219 BC
As the gods begin to realize that potential threats to their existence might come from their own mechanizations and plans, they begin to look for a more permanent home for their core essences, a home completely removed from the influences of the material world and any of the remaining Elders.
They begin construction of an extra-dimensional city completely removed from Pyrideon, only accessible via one of nine partially out of phase shafts leading from the surface to their new city.
Each of these paths will also be a storehouse for massive amounts of magical energy and by design will continually be charging from the interaction of the dimensions as they spill over into each other. The god's goal is to create nine superweapons capable of channeling the energy of a single shaft. By having each shaft be connected only by one end to Diamond Shell, the gods have the full expectation of even if the weapon is later compromised, it is useless without the god’s approval from their new home.
As the shafts are created, the main obstacle is figuring out weapons capable of handling the energies of even a single shaft.

Circle of Eight Commissioned

Year 4220 PE, Year 3209 BC
The world through the guidance of the gods has retained the same level of technology for the last few thousand years. All civilizations except those residing in Arynthia and Jrynthia have all but forgotten their origins from a great technological society.
Great magical powers have now arisen in the world. Human mages are capable of leveling cities with a single spell. NPC’s with levels way over 50 exist and run amok. By now, over 100 known Major Arcana exist.
In 4220, the gods commission the Circle of Eight. The Circle of Eight consists of eight spell casting liches whose powers rival that of the gods. They had already proved their worth when constructing the Underground Monastery. Most of them have created a few Major Arcana already and have several more in their possession. As they are more interested in greater knowledge versus power and influence, the gods find it easy to negotiate with them.
They are commissioned to do two things.

1. Make a battle suit of armor which makes the wearer virtually invincible
2. Create six wands capable of channeling enormous almost inconceivable amounts of magic.

While not fully explained to the Council of Eith, the reason is obvious. The gods are in the process of making their ultimate weapons against the Thrage but also creating a safety net just in case things get too far out of control. The Eight Horrors are already displaying a propensity to challenge the overall power of any single god to control them fully and as certain linging processes were used in their creation, they themselves may be indestructible.

The Cyrkransis Crystals are Completed

Year 4317 PE, Year 3112 BC
Working diligently at their commission, the Circle of Eight tackle the wands first. Through trial and error, it still takes almost a century to devise items capable of channeling the amount of energies the gods are requiring. Eventually, they give up on all types of metal and wood, and grow them from six different kinds of enchanted crystals, using some the same techniques they had mastered in crafting their Underground Monastery.
Once completed, the Circle of Eight turn their creations over to the gods. In turn, the gods delivered the major part of their promise to the Circle, the secrets of using the linging process on living flesh.

The Cyrkransis are Completely Enchanted

Year 4323 PE, Year 3106 BC
The Gods take the finished crystal wands and started a slow process of polarizing the wands to a single type of enchantment. Once finished, the wands are collectively known as the Cyrkransis.
The six wands are Thunderhowler (Sapphire), Ashmaker (Ruby), Winter’s Scourge (Diamond), Earthwracker (Topaz), Oceanfury (Aquamarine), and Lifebane (Emerald)
Three other wands were created directly by the Gods themselves using the same techniques the Circle of Eight had developed, but the Gods deemed these wands too dangerous except for use in the final war, so they hide them away. They refer to them only as them as the Kyofu and later still simply as the Lost Retort. They are Bondquencher (Onyx), Time Gorge (Beryl), and Mindslasher (Amethyst).
The Circle of Eight are not aware that these last three wands were also created.

The Circle of Eight Finish Their Suit of Armor

Year 4325-4370 PE, Year 3104-3059 BC
Taking several decades, the Circle of Eight finally come through with the suit of armor they had promised the gods. As the set is finished, the gods ask for a companion sword to be made with the armor. The armor is known as the Lich Armor Set. After tt is turned over to the Gods, it is stored it in Arynthia.

Two Subspecies of Elves go Extinct

Year 4401 PE, Year 3028 BC
The final remnants of the shadowed elves and the sea elves die out in continued violence. Not living in any of the major cities and with no protection, increased aggressions along with a lack of anyone offering protection sees them eliminated. The gods consider this part of the natural order.
With this event, historians credit the Dark Ages to have officially begun. They would last for the next 500 years.

The Dark Ages of Aggression Begin

Year 4401 PE, Year 3028 BC
As the situation landside on Pyrideon gets worse and magicians and small city-state armies begin waging larger and larger battles, almost all trade ends up being cut off between the cities.
The Brynthian Dragon Army withdraws almost completely to the city borders.
Cities like Drynthia which rely on thousands of square miles for farming find that their lands are compromised and they are unable to protect the surrounding lands. Most rural areas become uninhabitable.
In the cities, populations start dwindling due to increased violence.
The gods continue to see this as a positive as it means man is becoming stronger.

Diamond Shell is Completed

Year 4448 PE, Year 2981 BC
The gods finally finish their new home and move their core essences there. With only nine accessible conduits, they feel considerably more secure should man ever get to the point of not needing the gods.
The gods, while wanting this outcome in man, still want to survive the event. Diamond Shell is created in such a way where it can be completely cut off from Pyrideon if ever needed. A small population of humans is moved to the city for the purposes of providing a future ark should Pyrideon fall to the Thrage.

Psychic Powers Manifest

Year 4480 PE, Year 2949 BC
True psychic powers begin manifesting on the small island nation of Durrekeo in the far west. The powers occur in several youths of the same generation.
The main difference between psychic powers and magic is whereas magic seems more formulaic, psychic powers affect the underlying fabric of reality. Scholars will eventually think of it as a layer below magic.

The Elders Grow Concerned and Initiate a Ruse

Year 4494 PE, Year 2935 BC
The Elders are now convinced that the gods must be done away with. The advent of Diamond Shell affords the gods a level of protection the Elders are uncertain they can circumvent. However, they come up with a plan to act in three centuries during the next Chaos Storm.
One key piece is that they are aware of the full might of the Lich Armor and of the nine wands. While not knowing the location of the nine wands, they do know the location of the Lich Armor in Arynthia.
Creating an almost perfect copy, but one lacking the linging enhancements, they create a new suit capable of passing as the Lich Armor to all basic inspections. When the gods call for the armor to be transported to Diamond Shell, they get the fake suit unaware of its inherent fragility. The elders continue to hide the true set in Arynthia.

Illan Siastice is Born

Year 4512 PE, Year 2917 BC
Born on Durrekeo Isle, Illan Siastice, named after the former famed city of Illania, is a powerful psychic even from an early age.
As he matures, he starts utilizing his powers in ways unprecedented.
By age 20, his powers rival what many magicians can do on a personal level.

Illan Joins the Durrekeo Brigade

Year 4534 PE, Year 2895 BC
At the age of 22, Illan joins the forces protecting his island home from the ravage created by the massive wars spreading across the mainland.
Using his powers, he quickly rises in rank and by age 28 is undisputed General Marshall of all forces in Durrekeo.

Warlord Illan Starts Forging a New Empire

Year 4542 PE, Year 2887 BC
The warlord Illan starts to forge an empire which will eventually cover the entire western half of Arisilon all the way up to the southern half of the Kestrel Mountains.
He completes his campaign in under 10 years. The Empire becomes known as the Illan Dominion.
A major part of his attack force is his personal army of Illuminated Samurais. Consisting of over 1000 psychics, he teaches them many of the tactics and mental constructs he himself has developed. Using these unprecedented forms of attack, they are able to eliminate almost all magicians in his domain.
While a psychic is no match for a magician at range, once the distance has closed to several yards, and psychic is almost unstoppable.

Emperor Illan Siastice is Coronated

Year 4555 PE, Year 2874 BC
Part of Emperor Illan’s strength in his empire is a ban on any worship of gods. He allows himself to be worshipped, however for reasons unknown and unlike most gods or ascended beings, the power of having worshippers doesn’t benefit him.
Agreeing to halt the expansion of his empire, the gods agree to officially coronate him as Emperor. The alternative was an all-out war which the gods would eventually win, however, again the gods consider Emperor Illan to be one of the crowning achievements of their grand plan.

Kasa Deas becomes the new Capital of the Illan Dominion

Year 4564 PE, Year 2865 BC
Emperor Illan moves the political center for his new empire from Durrekeo Isle to Kasa Deas and renames it once again to Illania, honoring his own initial namesake.

Emperor Illan Secretly Discovers a Flaw in the Linging Process

Year 4616 PE, Year 2813 BC
Having already acquired several major arcana from conquered magicians, he has been experimenting with them. He finds a flaw in the process which allows for the deconstruction of major arcana.
While he calls it a flaw, he actually is able to view it as an inherent weakness in the whole process. This labeling keeps magicians busy for centuries as they try and overcome a flaw which doesn’t actually exist.
As he continues to employ most of the captured major arcana for his subject magicians he keeps the secret to himself, only letting his heir apparent know of the process and how it works. To his dismay, his firstborn son is incapable of learning the process.

The First Crykransis is Utilized; The Remaining Cyrkransis are Missing

Year 4633 PE, Year 2796 BC
The gods hid Earthwracker centuries earlier deep underground in a dwarven Batterion under the care of a major temple to Rikorskey. The reason none of the wands were ever brought to Diamondshell is their immense power could feedback and destroy the city and all the shafts.
Burnie, an ancient brown dragon, somehow has obtained the wand in his treasure. He uses Earthwracker to subdue the shadow elves in his cave. Not realizing the power of the earth Cyrkransis, he ends making a new cavern over 400 miles long, 800 miles wide, and 13 miles high. The surrounding shell of the cavern is a giant geode almost a mile thick.
Burnie survives the blast and makes an empire in this crystalized land consisting of shadow elves who are now completely compliant to his whims.
The gods, once again caught off guard, search from the other Cyrkransis only to found that the other 8 are also not where they are supposed to be located.
Only four are recovered and it is unknown how they were lost in the first place. The Circle of Eight theorize as powerful magics are used on Pyrideon, power focuses change enough that the 9 shafts themselves slightly realign in where they are located with Pyrideon. When a corresponding shaft moves, so does its wand. That one wand ended up with Burnie and the other three recovered wands are found with other powerful entities, it is believed the wands latch on to a new power source when they migrate.

Emperor Illan Dies in his Sleep, Tristan assumes the Mantle of Next Emperor

Year 4724 PE, Year 2705 BC
Unexpectantly, Emperor Illan suddenly dies. His second son becomes Emperor. Much speculation exists why his first son or eldest daughter didn’t assume the throne, however, neither was able to master the process of undoing the linging process. Emperor Illan had erased the knowledge from his two eldest and then granted the title unto Tristan.
While jealously exists, Tristan is undoubtedly more powerful and possibly more corrupt than either of his two elder siblings. Many theories state that Illan was simply tired of ruling and was seeking a respite from civilization. Before his death, he was already becoming a rather reclusive and introspective Emperor, having already handed over considerable parts of his control to bureaucratic processes.
Under this theory, it was a perfect simulacrum which was found dead. and for generations many claim he is still alive or claim sightings of him. Some say he left his empire as he foresaw the coming of the Gods of Peace.

Emperor Tristan has a Stroke

Year 4760 PE, Year 2669 BC
Already old when assuming the throne, Tristan starts having minor strokes when performing powerful psychics. As no cure is forthcoming, he begins limiting his activities.
Becoming fearful of other assignation attempts, he orders that all psychics not of the royal Illuminated Guard or of the immediate royal family to be removed from Illania under threat of death. The sphere of this protection spreads out over 500 miles from Illania. Those born anywhere else in the Illan Dominion are immediately conscripted to the military. Those who found above the age of 12 with psychic abilities who are not in the military are immediately executed along with their near relatives.

Emperor Tristan Dies, The Day of Insanity Ensues

Year 4782 PE, Year 2647 BC
Emperor Tristan dies while broadcasting a message to all the people of the Illan Dominion via a psychic connection. The strain of this connection causes him to have a massive stroke. The process of being connected actually kills 10% of the population from the force of the mental feedback as they have mental breakdowns and become extremely violent and self-destructive. Not having time to look for a cure, the entire population is forced to violently put this threat down.
Another 10% of the population dies in the process of eradicating those lost to insanity.
Emperor Tristan’s eldest daughter assumes the throne, Empress Shelly Siastice.