A brief summary of World History through the Fourth Age, taken from the writings of Klara van Mettablon the greatest historian of the Fifth Age…

In telling the History of Olkhar, we are focussed on but half of the world. The half that is inhabited by men, dwarves, and elves. There is another massive continent on the other side of the world peopled by things that resemble demons, bipedal cats, and humanoid lizards. I am informed that they have their own histories, and I hope that some day I might learn of it, but for now we are focussed on our own “world.”

The whole of even this half history is a massive undertaking, and so we break the great span of time up into distinct ages. There are almost certainly other ways to classify time periods, we do so mostly based upon available knowledge and based upon the ebb and flow of the level of our civilization. 

First Age:

The first age is a time of legend. The church holds that this is a time when the gods truly walked our world and fought amongst themselves. Perhaps we doubt the old religious view of these legends as being literally true now as we are more enlightened, but until we uncover more evidence, for the purpose of this overview I will summarize what the churches, broadly, claim. 

During this period the gods of each race created their people and then used them as pawns in their ongoing fights. The veils between worlds were not so strong then. Demons and creatures from the many realms rose undeterred into our world. Gods, demons, deities, all warred amongst one another setting the world alight in their endless combat. 

That is the religious view.

What is known for certain:

Each race came to exist and they did fight. Bronze weapons were developed. Goblins and orcs and giants ruled the day. With no technology available, this was a time that favored those that could wield weapons with brute force. Magic, mainly that of the Elves helped save the Free People for a time. The main continent, what would become for our story of the Fourth Age, The Three Kingdoms, fell under Shadow. The free peoples were forced to escape to the islands or became enslaved. 

Second Age:

Rebellion against the Shadow was followed by a Golden Era. The evil was cast out of the main continent and banished to the islands and the deep places of the world. A single Elven Empire rose from the area that is now the Sundered Realm. The elves and their allies conquered the main continent, eventually establishing friendship with the Humans and the Dwarves. 

But there was still evil in this world, and below. Underneath the world of the free peoples the worshipers of a great fiend began blood sacrifices for its summoning. At the same time a man corrupted by the power of magic began to practice the forbidden necromancy. In mockery of the laws that forbade the dark art, he chose “Necromancer” as his name. His undead fought against the power of the Empire even as the evil from below began to rise to the surface. 

Mages from the worlds of men, elves, and dwarves gathered together and attempted to harness magic that would protect them from what their armies could not stand against. 

It’s unclear if it was their magic or the forces of evil that brought about the Great Cataclysm. What is clear is that the world was forever changed. The vast island to the south was splintered into many islands; The Shattered Isles directly south of our continent, and the home of the elves to the southwest severed into the Sundered Realm, where the land and the very fabric of reality remain broken to this day. This has left the Veils between these worlds thin, the largest cities of the Elven Empire are said to still exist, but now existing in multiple worlds removed from our own.

Third Age: 

With the destruction of the Empire, there were many deaths and many wicked things came into our world. Civilization crumbled, and mankind entered a dark age. But people did slowly build their communities. They learned to farm more efficiently, to make better use of things. They yoked their oxen, rotated their crops, and the population of their towns swelled. Gradually kingdoms arose, or reemerged claiming the old authority of their rights under the old imperial system. 

Civilization nearly fell again, as these kingdoms fought one another in disastrous wars that threatened to undo all the advances that had been made since the cataclysm. 

Eventually one King came to rule the great continent. His reign was long and fruitful and very nearly a great age unto itself, but alas when he died he ignored his advisors who saw the obvious problem with his plan, and he split the kingdom between his three sons, and thus began centuries of warfare. 

Fourth Age:

A peace of sorts developed. The three Kingdoms came to realize that warfare was not profitable or something that could just be won. The lands are too vast, the people too many to be ruled by an unwelcome conqueror. 

They did find other ways to fight. Through proxy battles and brush wars and helping the beasts of below attack their enemies, a shadow war raged, and those that wished to emulate the villains from the previous ages found themselves positioned to nearly destroy all of civilization once more. Armies grew in size, but were still small compared to the modern era. This was still a time when the deeds of single heroes could sway the battle over a much larger force. 

The arrival of gunpowder would usher in what we call our present time, the Fifth Age, but I am to write a history of the Fourth Age, not a volume of current events. With the arrival of gunpowder the time of heroes, at least the capacity for one person to significantly alter the course of large battles through their martial prowess, is all but at an end.

A note on sources:

Grimble has written histories of each age, but he is somewhat unreliable, at times his experimentation with magic and with strange sorts of fungi seems to affect his perception. He was also an active participant in many events of the 4th age, and anytime a history is told by a participant, we must be doubly vigilant of the writer’s bias. Grimble’s Volumes on the Culture of Olkhar remain an invaluable tool in understanding the 4th age, though again, his own perceptions sometimes failed him as he smoked or drank seemingly every new flower or mushroom he encountered.

Meerkarch was a historian living in the late 3rd age who focussed mainly on biographies of second and third age figures. A priest, his religion often results in highly moralistic judgements of his subjects. And yet while being so self righteous he often dwells on the lurid details of sin, possibly due to his own pent up desires. 

Kerch was an earlier 4th Age Historian living in The City of Tides. As I am a professor at the great university of Karrishoffen, and the City of Tides are our rival, you can consider whether I am biased. Kerch’s work picks through the 2nd and 3rd Age Histories and he has cherry picked out all the lewd details, but without Meerkarch’s judgements.

These are the main histories, but of course there are numerous collections of private papers and smaller libraries to be examined and considered in forming any detailed history. 

The histories of the world tell many stories, but leave many others untold. There are many heroes who often don’t make it into the histories. These heroes are working often without their knowing for the betterment of Olkhar. The stories that exist of these heroes are often exaggerated, told for the benefit of drinkers in the taverns. But what would we learn if we had an honest account of these tales.

Read about the 4th Age of Olkhar in A Cookbook for the Besieged: and other tales.