The Third Age
Alusian historians divide up the time between the fall of the Elven Empire -- the end of the second age -- and the present in various ways. The grouping below is indicative only.
The Age of Bronze
"The next age of the world was the Age of Bronze, for the Humans used weapons and armour of bronze, for that was all the knowledge they had saved from the Age of Silver. The land's terrible wounds slowly healed, and the Humans gradually built upon the knowledge that they had preserved, and they climbed out of barbarism. The Elves were never seen, and the Dwarves had passed from Human memory. This is also the age of the rise of the Orcs and their kin, and many wars were fought between the Humans and the Orcs. Both races needed the same things, room to live and food to eat, and neither race would compromise, and neither race could succeed whilst the other remained strong".
-- Hieronomous Haynes, Sage of Carzala, 784 WK
{Return of the Dwarves, defeat of the Orcs in Western Alusia, end of Age of Bronze}
The Age of Heroes
"This was the greatest age of Human culture. The Humans learnt much from their Dwarven Allies and there was great growth in both magic and the "new magic" of science. The Elves emerged a little from their isolation and instructed the Humans in the wise use of magic. There are few records of the fall, and of the events surrounding Penjarre, and the actions of Sith, called the Kinslayer. Perhaps in times to come, scholars might say how the battle could cause the destruction it did, but for the moment all that we can say with certainty is that the great age fell, and thus passed the Age of Heroes".
-- Hieronomous Haynes, Sage of Carzala, 784 WK
Age of Iron
"This is the age of iron, for iron has built it, and blood has made it strong. It has been an age of darkness, when, bereft of knowledge and magic, humans have clawed their way up from the dust of ages past. The Elves have hid in their forests, wary of strangers and the Dwarves returned to their castles of stone. The Orcs and their kin have risen in the east, and only the valiant knight has kept them at bay. It is surely an evil magic of the fall that has caused the blood of weres to run in some families, so that they spawn monstrous children who turn into animal in the moon's light. Many are slain when they are discovered, but other have escaped in to the badlands, and thrive there. Will they perhaps one day come north, in strength, to revenge themselves? This has been an age of despair, and the peoples suffering has been eased only by the Healers and the poor quasi-magic that has thrived. Only now, when some small stability has been gained through force of arms, have the mages and academics ventured cautiously forth from their fortresses where they have lay hidden since the fall. I fear that their influences will make us weak, waiting to be handed another age of wonders while the Orcs pillage and the Shapechangers howl with hate. We have conquered the west, welded together the squabbling Barons, and hold back our enemies, for the nonce. If our kingdom should fall, so may this age end in blackness".
"I write these words as a record of the legends of our past, and the hopes of my Lord, Ulric the Wolf, King in the West, One thousand two hundred and twenty one years after the fall, and in the twenty first year of the Western Kingdom. His Lords scribe, Jarlraed Quilland".
(Translated from Old High Riechspiel. From an original manuscript held at the Mittlemark University of Magical Sciences, courtesy of Chancellor Dark).
This is the current age of Alusia and it has been largely one of darkness from which Western Alusia at least is only now emerging. After Penjarre the Elves once again isolated themselves in their forests the Dwarves retreated to their mountain fortresses. For most of this age there has been little magic, for much knowledge was lost after Penjarre, and except for the rural Wicca, only knowledge that was held in cloistered and fortified "Magical Colleges" was been saved.
The Age of Iron has seen the rise of feudalism and the Knight, and the rule of iron; weapons and brute force rather than magical knowledge and technology.
In this magic-poor environment "quasi-magic" thrived; astrology, alchemy and herbalism, along with the miraculous Healers becoming more common.
Recently there has been a period of stability that has seen a reemergence of magic and a period of both invention and the rediscovery of some of the lost wonders. This has resulted in something of a decline in feudalism, and a softening of the social structure.
