Fifth Astral Era/Timeline
This article provides a timeline of notable events and happenings within the Fifth Astral Era, compiled from the pages of Encyclopædia Eorzea volumes I and II, from in-game dialogue, and available information provided by Square Enix staff within forum posts or live sessions.
Accuracy is the first goal of this article, so if you spot an inconsistency, please start a topic on Talk:Fifth Astral Era/Timeline.
This page is a work in progress. Citations need to be compiled still.
The Age of Enlightenment
First Century
(c.3000y before present day)
Through prayer and devotion to the Twelve do the survivors of the Age of Endless Frost discover magic and with it survive until the ice recedes.[1]
A great cathedral is built in honor of The Twelve.[2]
Third Century
By this time nomadic tribes have formed small settlements across Eorzea and the first fledgling cities are born. Amdapor the first and greatest of these in central Aldenard.[3] For the next 250 or so years, the number of cities would grow to twelve.
Each of these cities would adopt a patron deity from among the Twelve, unfortunately paving the way for greater divergences in culture and beliefs between them.[4] Territorial borders are constantly drawn and redrawn as small domains are destroyed, divided, or integrated into larger ones.[5]
Fifth Century
Lalafell from the south seas settled on Vylbrand’s western coast, establishing the maritime city-state of Nym.[6] The city-state of Mhach is also settled around this time in the lowlands of Yafaem.[7]
Ninth Century
In the city-state of Mhach, a sorceress by the name of Shatotto Shato is born. This gifted young mage goes on to secure her legacy in history by discovering the means of using ambient aether to fuel powerful black magicks.[8][9]
Mhach uses this newfound power to rise above the constant squabbles of neighboring city-states, and reduces its enemies to rubble.
Witnessing the devastation caused by Mhach's magic, the Amdapori develop their own spellcraft to counter it, resulting in the art of White Magic. This results in an uneasy peace between the two powers for the next few centuries.[10]
Tenth Century
Eorzea’s city-states now only number six, of these only Mhach, Amdapor, Nym, and Skalla are known. In order to combat the advance of the Mhachi, Amdaporian magi develop the art of white magic. At an impasse, the six remaining city-states each begin developing and expanding their own mystical arts for the coming war.
The War of the Magi
Thirteenth Century
y.1250
The frequency of political and military posturing between Amdapor and Mhach began to increase in a dramatic fashion as the realm approached the mid thirteenth century. Centuries worth of political tension boils over and the War of the Magi erupts across Eorzea.[11]
For nearly 300 years the war rages on without signs of abating.
Mhach summons many entities from the Void in order to further its ambitions. Known major entities summoned include Chernobog,[12] Bitoso,[13] Arioch,[14] Cerberus,[15] Irminsul and legions of its subordinate Sawteeth,[16] and most infamously, Diabolos.[17]
Skalla eventually falls to the might of Mhach. Nym, despite its size, succeeds in repelling Mhach and Amdapor’s forces.
Sixteenth Century
Nymian traders arrive in Nym after being thought lost in a terrible storm at sea. The traders are carrying a plague that soon spreads throughout Nym. Fear grips the nation and those afflicted are entombed within the Wanderer’s Palace.
ca. 1510
Mhach summons the voidking Diabolos to lead a final, crushing assault against Amdapor. The white mages of Amdapor manage to repel the invasion, but at a terrible cost. More terrible than the lives lost, the cost of the War of the Magi exacts a devastating toll on the world’s aether, causing a severe imbalance in the planet’s elemental aspect.
Twelve Archons warn of the coming Calamity and urge the three nations to set aside their differences. The original Grand Companies are formed and assist in the mass evacuation of each city’s populace to higher ground. Many of the Mhachi citizenry are loaded onto the doomed Void Ark, an airship powered by 1,000 voidsent thralls and the Shadow Queen.
ca 1577 - The Sixth Umbral Calamity
For 60 days and nights, torrential rains pummel the evacuees as they flee from rising seas and tidal waves that washed away the sins of the Fifth Astral Era.
References
Special thanks to the resource compilations by [Tumblr user Mirkemenagerie].
- ↑ Dialogue from Raya-O-Senna during O Brother, Where Art Thou
- ↑ Encyclopedia Eorzea - The Sanctum of the Twelve
- ↑ Encyclopedia Eorzea - The Ancient City of Amdapor
- ↑ Encyclopedia Eorzea - Seeds of Magic
- ↑ Encyclopedia Eorzea - A Precursor to War
- ↑ Encyclopedia Eorzea - The Floating City of Nym: “Near the 500th year of the Fifth Astral Era, scores of Lalafellin sailors arrived on Vylbrand’s shores in longboats woven of reeds.
- ↑ Encyclopedia Eorzea - The Dark City of Mhach
- ↑ Shatotto: "Let me start at the beginning. Two thousand, three hundred years ago, ..." (need to identify questline this was pulled from)
- ↑ Lalai: "Master’s record goes on to state that the inner surface of the goblet is inscribed with a message in the glyphs of ancient Mhach. It reads─ah yes, here it is. ‘The power of destruction did rend the baleful star, and peace doth reign near and afar. Yet twenty-three centuries hence shall it come anew, and certain doom is sure to ensue.’ A prophecy of sorts, it would seem. It has been roughly twenty-three hundred years since Shatotto founded black magic, which means it is entirely possible she herself left the inscription."
- ↑ Encyclopedia Eorzea - The Discovery of White Magic
- ↑ Encyclopedia Eorzea - War on the Horizon
- ↑ Encyclopedia Eorzea II - Chernobog
- ↑ Encyclopedia Eorzea - Bitoso
- ↑ Encyclopedia Eorzea - Arioch
- ↑ Encyclopedia Eorzea - Cerberus
- ↑ Encyclopedia Eorzea - Sawtooth
- ↑ Encyclopedia Eorzea - Diabolos