Sixth Astral Era
Following the flooding and destruction of the Sixth Umbral Era caused by the War of the Magi, civilizations finally began to flourish and populations began to grow once again. Believing that after having weathered a Calamity of each element, the worst was behind Eorzea, and the people could go on to live in peace and prosperity. Thus did the people begin to pick up the pieces of their world and rebuild.
The Age of Restoration (1-400)
Following the eventual recession of the tides and floods, the people still lived in fear of the mistakes that had brought their world to ruin in the first place. Fearing that they would somehow cause another calamity, magic of all types was forbidden. The few remaining libraries that housed ancient arcane knowledge were destroyed, along with those who defended them. The people were so incensed that they were unable to distinguish between magic and science, and simply chose to destroy both. With the great repositories of knowledge and all of the great minds now gone, the remainders of the city-states of the Fifth Astral Era were almost completely removed, and their peoples were scattered about the realm, driven only by the desire to survive. They scrambled and clawed, laying claim to what they could to make it to the next day. Eventually, small groups and clans began to form, slowly growing into small communities. Here is where Eorzea began to rebuild.
The Age of Communion (400-1000)
Eventually, the once small communities began banding together and growing. Immigrants from across the Bloodbrine Sea also came in droves, driving population rates extremely high in a short amount of time. Around this time, racial tensions began to mount, with observable trends for where each race would gravitate towards. The Elezen would often head to the Coerthas highlands, later known as Ishgard, the Lalafells, alongside the descendants of the people of Mhach, would escape persecution in the deserts of Thanalan and form the nation of Belah'dia, which would house the remaining history and knowledge of magic in secret, and continue to cultivate their art. The Roegadyns would move to the islands of Vylbrand, and form the nation of Limsa Lominsa. The Hyur would appear in droves and generally migrate to a mix of all these areas. Some Elezen and Hyur would also migrate to the Black Shroud, and due to complications with the Elementals there, would be driven underground, where they would eventually work together to form the underground city of Gelmorra.
Some time near the end of this period, constant in-fighting amongst the Lalafellin royalty would lead to the eventual fall of Belah'dia, and its bifurcation into two separate city-states, Ul'dah and Sil'dih. The people of Ishgard also enter into a war of ownership of land around Abalathia's Spine with the Dragons, but eventually come to terms with one another thanks to Saint Shiva and Hraesvelgr. Some two hundred years later, King Thordan breaks this peace by killing Ratatoskr, sister to Nidhogg and consuming her eyes, the source of a Dragons power, with his Knights Twelve. This enrages Nidhogg who swears vengeance, thus beginning the Dragonsong War.
The Age of Strife (1000-1300)
During this period of time, several wars and battles were waged across Eorzea. With communities and cities growing ever larger, the expansion of territory was almost always met with combat. On top of these feuds, nations had to also contend with the Beast Tribes, who perceived the newcomers to their indiginous and sacred ground as invaders, and began attacking them as a protest to them taking their land. The sister city-states of Ul'dah and Sil'dih began waging war against each other in a bid for dominance. This war waged endlessly, until both sides forgot why they were even fighting.
This time of war gave rise to the professions of mercenary and sellsword, where adventurerswould be paid off by the rich to fight their battles for them. Because of this, the rich mercantile city-state of Ul'dah managed to destroy Sil'dih and became the de facto rulers of Thanalan. The tribes of Gyr Abania were finally united under a single banner by a tribe of Highland Hyur, forming the nation of Ala Mhigo, and the nation of Limsa Lominsa further developed advancements in shipbuilding, and were able to open trade routes with the lands beyond Eorzea, becoming a wealth of goods and a "mixing pot" of varied cultures and races.
The Gelmorran people saw a massive change in their lives around this time as well, as the Elementals, angered by the actions of the Ixal, banished them from the Black Shroud to beyond the protective border around the forest land known as The Hedge. the Gelmorrans saw this as an opportunity to attempt to win back the favor of the Elementals, and, after centuries of attempting to learn how to commune with them, were finally able to use their conjury, alongside what they had learned of the White Magic developed by the people of Amdapor to reach the Elementals, swearing to act as the guardians of the forest for as long as they dwelled there. With that, the Gelmorrans received the blessing of the Elementals and were allowed to return to the surface. The group however was fractured, as some felt that those who chose to leave their underground home were abandoning their way of life, and chose to stay behind. Those who came to the surface formed a new community, which would come to be known as Gridania. During this time, some of the Sharlayans returned to Eorzea, settling in Dravania, bringing with them a wealth of knowledge in the hopes to revive the wisdom of the nations that came before them and bring the nations to enlightenment.
The Age of Stability (1300-1500)
After several centuries of fighting and war, the people of Eorzea grew tired of constant battles and sought to repair the damage done to the ties with their neighbors. Over the course of several years, each city-state began rebuilding their ties with one another, trading weapons and war for diplomacy. As they began sharing their culture, history and technology with one another, Eorzea began to prosper in a way it hadn't since the Fifth Astral Era. Each of the six city-states showed signs of immense growth.
However, those who had become rich and successful off of the constant strife began to fear for their livelihood and the loss of the way of their lives. To protect what they had built, warriors and craftsmen alike began working together to build Guilds to safeguard their knowledge, and provide a means for them to form business ties to one another so they would be able to guarantee their mutual stability.
This era of peace would come to an end, however, when Ala Mhigo would launch several large scale campaigns into the Black Shroud to attack and take over Tinolqa. These assaults would eventually lead to a full-blown conflict known as the Autumn War.
Around this time, the nation of Garlemald, after centuries of struggling to survive and suffering constant attacks by the Hyur of the mountain tribes of Ilsabard, and then the Roegadyn whom they hired to defend them from the Hyur, finally discovered the usefulness of Ceruleum as more than a source of fuel for their fireplaces, thanks to one Solus Galvus, and began to employ it in their weaponry, creating the first Magitek. With a completely modernized military equipped with weapons of unspeakable power, the nation finally began its rise to power and its conquest across Ilsabard.
The Rise of Garlemald (1500-1560)
The magics that the Gridanians were able to bring to bear against Ala Mhigo were no match for the sheer brute force of the Ala Mhigan army. It was believed that the city-state would fall quickly. However, thanks to the ties that had been rebuilt over the course of the last few centuries, the other city-states came to their aid. Unable to match the might of all the other nations, Ala Mhigo was pushed back, and the Autumn War was quickly ended. Due to the war, however, each nation decided to draw up treaties and agreements, drawing lines at borders, and it was declared that each city-state would remain independent, however none would be tolerated to rise against another. With this, peace settled back over the realm.
At the same time, Garlemald rose up and conquered all of Ilsabard, bringing each nation into their own, expanding their military and swallowing their cultures. At this time, Solus Galvus declared Garlemald was declared an empire and Solus Galvus its self-proclaimed emperor. Following this, Garlemald went on to attack and conquer Othard, bringing them under the Garlean banner. This conquest did not slow down, as the Empire set its sights on Ala Mhigo, conquering it in the year 1557/ This was the first step in its attempt to conquer the Three Great Continents.
The Root of Consequence (1560-1572)
- See also: Patch 1.23b
The invasion and subsequent conquering of Ala Mhigo spurred the remaining free city-states into action. They quickly formed a pact to stand against the invading Empire. Sharlayan however refused, as the nation abhorred war more than anything else. They quickly sent a special envoy to the Garlean Empire to try to come to peaceful terms. When these negotiations fell through, the ruling body of Sharlayan in Eorzea ruled that they would simply be leaving the continent and returning to their home in the Northern Empty.
A year later, the Empire moved forward with their campaign in Eorzea, with their flagship, the Agrius leading the assault over Mor Dhona at Lake Silvertear. Before any Eorzean could react however, an ancient and forgotten deity, Midgardsormr, guardian of the lake, appeared. He called his Dragon children to his side and engaged in an aerial battle the likes of which had never been seen. The battle raged over the lake until Midgardsormr and Agrius collided in the air, sending both careening to the lake in a twisted pile. The Garleans made a swift and full retreat then, as did the Dragons. This legendary battle would come to be known as the Battle of Silvertear Skies.
Shortly after this, the Empire observed a sudden and massive increase in the summoning of Primals by the Beast Tribes, which they dubbed Eikons, to cast doubt on the "heavenly" origin of the gods. Though they battled hard, the Empire soon learned the futility of battling against Primals, for as soon as one was slain, it would soon rise again and rejoin the battle. This eventually led to Soulus Galvus ordering a halt to the Eorzean Campaign.
Seeing the hostilities fading on their borders, and with the Empire building Baelsar's Wall on the border of Gyr Abania and the Black Shroud, the newly formed Eorzean Alliance lost a common enemy, and slowly began to fall apart. Ishgard soon pulled out of the Alliance, citing not being able to spare manpower while they were dealing with a new assault by Nidhogg. Shortly after, in the span of a single night, the entire Sharlayan people vanished from the continent. After having spent almost five years preparing, the Sharlayan people had abandoned their settlement and returned home.
With the war having calmed down significantly, those who had made their livelihood on war and battle were now without a job and had to reintegrate back into society. During this time, the Adventurers' Guild was formed, offering those who were displaced steady employment, by means of hiring these men and women for the tasks that needed completing by the citizens. It was at this time that the "Age of Adventure" began in Eorzea.
Following the retreat of the Sharlayans, one particularly well-known and high-ranking Sharlayan, Louisoix Leveilleur, balked at the apparent cowardice his people had shown in abandoning Eorzea in her time of need. And so he took twelve of his Archons and formed the Circle of Knowing, and returned to Eorzea, their sole mission to defend Eorzea at all costs. Though the leaders of each city-state were hesitant to welcome the Circle and heed their advice to unite, after they worked tirelessly to identify the source of the Primal threat, they were welcomed with open arms, and heeded as a wise counsel. Following the Circle of Knowing's advice, the nations restarted the Grand Company initiative started back in the Fifth Astral Era, and began recruiting adventurers and warriors alike to their ranks.
After so many years of absence of the Garlean empire, Nael van Darnus came to Solus zos Galvus with a plan to rid Eorzea of its "false gods" and bring them to heel once and for all: reactivate Project Meteor. Though the initial project led to the disaster known as the Bozja Incident, The Emperor was looking for one final deed to cement his name in history as the one who united all of the Three Great Continents under one banner. He agreed, and the project was reinstated.
The Empire soon began moving on Eorzea, securing vast quantities of crystals and aether required for Project Meteor. Though they did not know their motives, the Eorzeans nevertheless sounded the alarm, sending the Grand Companies in to halt their missions. This however led to an issue of dealing with the Beast Tribes and the Primals. Louisoix recommended using Adventurers to handle the Primal threat while the Grand Companies fended off the Empire. This worked wonderfully, however this plan hit a snag when the White Raven himself appeared to collect aether from the slain Ifrit, forcing the adventurers to retreat.
Around this time, Castrum Novum was completed, which caught the attention of Cid Garlond. Intercepted documents told of a transmitter of some kind, which made him realize exactly what the Garleans were planning. Alerting the leaders of Eorzea, he beseeched them to send a strike team to the newly built Castrum to stop the transmitter. The leaders agreed, and reinstated the Eorzean Alliance, forming a military unit made up of people from all three Grand Companies for a joint operation.
The Eorzean Alliance set about invading Castrum Novum, engaging the Empire and bringing down the Lunar Transmitter. They scarce had time to celebrate however, as Nael van Darnus intercepted the adventurers in the inner sanctum, delivering a tirade that has been recorded in history as the ramblings of a madman, in which he informed all present that they no longer need the transmitter to pull Dalamud to the surface, and there was nothing they could do to stop Project Meteor. Astrologians later confirmed this was true; the satellite continued to fall.
The Circle of Knowing and the Eorzean Alliance soon after ascertained Nael van Darnus' location, certain that he must know something that could stop the fall of Dalamud. They also discovered that the satellite was actually of Allagan make, and was used to power their technology in some fashion. After surveying the lowlands for some sign of Darnus, but didn't have to search for long, as several pieces of meteoric debris crashed into where the survey teams were located, wiping them out in a seemingly controlled attack. Witnesses reported seeing several chains of earth and crag floating into the air surrounding a beam of light. As it turns out, the strikes were to uncover Allagan ruins that acted as a beacon for Dalamud.
It was determined that this must be Nael van Darnus' location, and for the safety of the realm, he must be dispatched. The Eorzean Alliance sent a group of adventurers who had shown great prowess for dispatching Primals to take on Darnus. Despite his prowess as a warrior, the adventurer's were able to quell the White Raven. With his fall, the floating islands crumbled back to where they had risen from, and the adventurers were welcomed back as champions of the land; as Warriors of Light. The celebrations would not last long, as it would soon be observed that the moon was still on a crash course with Eorzea.
In a desperate attempt to save the land from destruction, Louisoix and the Circle of Knowing suggested reaching out to The Twelve through solemn prayer. Louisoix believed that if they harnessed the power of The Twelve, they may be able to repel Dalamud and seal its ancient power away. There were those who noted the idea was undeniably similar to the method of summoning the Beast Tribes used to call forth the Primals, and the issue of all of Eorzea being Sundered, however Louisoix assured those who were skeptical that they would not be summoning The Twelve, but merely borrowing their divine power.
And so the Warriors of Light and the members of the Circle of Knowing set about uncovering each Mark of The Twelve and offering their fervent prayer. The Grand Companies also assisted by leading the citizens in prayer as well. Meanwhile, the Empire's forces, consisting mainly of the VIIth Legion were amassing on Carteneau Flats in what would be a final stand. Even Gaius van Baelsar made an appearance before the Warriors of Light, informing the Warriors that the members of the VIIth had become as fanatic as Nael van Darnus, their leader, and amassed at the Plains where they believed the sateliete would fall. They intended to secure the area to prevent any from interfering with their fallen masters plan. This interfered directly with Louisoix's plan, as the invocation of The Twelve needed to take place directly beneath Dalamud.
The Alliance prepared for the final engagement with the Empire's forces, swearing to protect Louisoix at all costs, while the rest of Eorzea prayed to The Twelve. The fearsome battle that would take place here would come to be known as the Battle of Carteneau. In the end, what brought this bloody and fearsome battle to an end was not one side surrendering to another, but destruction raining from on high. When the Lesser Moon broke through the clouds and approached the land, it cracked and split, raining metal and fire upon those below. The worst came when Bahamut emerged from the satellite, and unleashed almost five thousand years of hatred and rage upon the land. The chaos and destruction were untold, and those below could only stand and watch, then run for their lives as the Elder Wyrm destroyed everything they had spent over fifteen hundred years building.
Wielding the legendary staff Tupsimati, Louisoix erected a barrier to allow those who still remained on the battlefield to flee to safety, and harnessed the power of The Twelve to attempt to re-seal Bahamut, however the Elder Wyrm was too powerful. In a last-ditch effort, Louisoix manifested the power of the Phoenix and his life energy to strike Bahamut to destroy him, sacrificing himself in the process. The Wyrm was stricken down and disappeared below the rubble and the newly exposed Allagan ruins, and Louisoix faded away, leaving behind only the broken remains of Tupsimati.