Fourth Astral Era

The time following the fall of the Allagan Empire is shrouded almost entirely in mystery. No records exist of the way people survived or their lifestyle, and is widely referred to as the Forgotten Age. The earliest information-passed mostly through oral tradition, that the blame for the fall of the Empire was because man had reached too far, and that the gods struck them down. From then on, a fear of the gods took the people, and a thirst for knowledge was heavily condemned. Eorzea returned to a state similar to the Second Astral Era, where seeking knowledge was a grave sin, and faith should be placed in the heavens, rather than in the individual. Book burnings and destruction of the remaining technological advancements became commonplace, with a few artifacts kept as a reminder of man's folly.^{confirmation needed}

Those who supported the pursuit of knowledge were hunted and killed or exiled, and records of the Allagan Empire were kept and used as an educational device to further the church's grasp on the people. The church heavily dictated what information (if any) was given to the people, to the point where religious leaders invented a new alphabet for their scriptures, and they only taught the written language, to solidify their control. This written language would eventually evolve into the Eorzean script present in the realm today.

This way of living continued for over fifteen hundred years, until the Fifth Umbral Era and the Endless Frost claimed the land. As with much of the era, what caused the Calamity is unclear. All that remains are the legends and folklore about never ending snowstorms and the Bloodbrine Sea freezing over, preventing crops from growing and fishing yielding nothing. While this caused a majority of the population of Eorzea to perish, the frozen sea allowed for migration to warmer climes and the continued survival of those who escaped. The Miqo'te who had migrated to Ilsabard during the Third Astral Era were later able to make their way to Eorzea. There, they discovered the Eorzean alphabet, and the seers of the Seeker of the Sun tribes noted how the twenty six letters directly corresponded to the number of tribes that came across the frozen sea. Each tribe then took one letter into their names to become part of the new land.