Oerth has a long history, spanning millennia. However, due to the cyclical nature of that history, and the tendency of significant upheavals happening with regularity, the known written history of Oerth covers a little over two thousand years.
During this time, Oerth changed little - the technological progress found on Earth, for instance, never took place on Oerth. The people at the beginning of the New Era lived much the same way as the people of the Dark Era, and like the people of the Twilight Era before them.
The cyclical nature of Oerth is due in large part to the nature of Oerth's solar system. The {ln:JM Cosmology 'Cosmology} section for the Journey Master provides some details that are unknown to the inhabitants of Oerth.
In general, Oerth follows a cyclical pattern of approximately 2048 years, with most of those years unremarkable, but a few of those years marked with great upheaval. Sages on Oerth refer to this 2048 year cycle as an "Era". Each Era is marked with a tumultuous end (or beginning), in which a great upheaval takes place. The end of the Twilight Era, for instance, saw the {ln:Kelltic Golden Age}, which ended in the catastrophic {ln:Fall of Camelough}. Surviving manuscripts from the Twilight Era indicate that there was a cataclysm that marked the end of the previous, unnamed Era.
Three Eras form an Epoch. Humans of Oerth have no idea how long an Epoch is, but sages who have studied ancient manuscripts agree that there is a larger cyclical time period, and that this period is likewise marked by an upheaval - one truly greater than a mere Era witnesses. Most of these sages agree that the events taking place at the end of the Dark Era, and continuing for many years beyond, are indicators of the end of an Epoch.
Eras of Oerth's History
The current Era of Oerth's History is called {ln:The New Era}. The era actually began at around the finale of {ln:City under the Stars}, although most sages mark the {ln:Battle of as-Tikat} as the transitional event.
The prior Era, {ln:The Dark Era}, was notable for the limited use of magick on Oerth. What had been a high fantasy world during the previous Era had become very much like medieval Earth, with very little magickal influence until the waning decades of the Era. This Era began with {ln:Dark One Imprisonment 'Imprisoning the Dark One}, and the {ln:Curse of the Dark One}.
The Era prior to the Dark Era, {ln:The Twilight Era}, has very few surviving records. Documents older than a century or two prior to the {ln:Kelltic Golden Age} are rare, with the best repositories in the {ln:Great Library ' Great Library} in al-Rhayidh and the {ln:Hellenic Academy 'Academy} in Hellenas. The surviving documents suggest that this era saw a gradual waning of magickal influences on Oerth, as suggested by its name.
The era prior to the Twilight Era, and the first era of that epoch, is {ln:The Light Era}. While humanity remembers nothing of this period, elven sages marked it well.
The older Eras are generally lumped together as {ln:Ancient History}, as little-to-nothing is known about the Eras of earlier Epochs.
The known Eras, along with major historical events associated with those Eras, can be summarized below, in reverse chronological order:
- {ln:The New Era}
- {ln:The Dark Era}
- {ln:Dwarven Diaspora}
- {ln:Battle of as-Tikat}
- {ln:The Twilight Era}
- {ln:Kelltic Golden Age 'The Golden Age}
- {ln:Fall of Camelough}
- {ln:Dark One Imprisonment 'Imprisoning the Dark One} and the Dark One's Curse
- {ln:The Light Era}
- {ln:Ancient History}