Decline Fall and Resurgence of Empires

Era of Man / First Age / ~10 thousand years ago
Beginning roughly ten thousand years ago was an age where the competing regional human empires of Valdemar started to decline. Each faced common issues related to managing their large armies, and supporting a centralized bureaucracy. The costs associated with managing these widespread empires increasingly fell onto the peasantry as corruption became more rampant among the noble elite. Add to this the continued external pressures due to constant raids from the barbarians of the Far North, lizardfolk and trolls from the Under Jungle, dark elves from below, and orcs from the mountainous regions, the various empires suffered. Finally, this age saw an increase in the spread of worshipping various gods among the empires, and the will of the local churches often clashed against the desires of the political bodies. Especially when religious affiliation crossed the borders of empires, and conflict arose between religious and national identity.

These various factors resulted in some of the empires gradually fracturing into civil war. When that occurred, neighboring empires took advantage and pressed their claims. The process was cyclical and over thousands of years borders and owners changed many times as the regional empires devolved back into smaller kingdoms and city-states. Eventually, in some of the regions with historically strong empires, there was a resurgence of alliances and merging of forces. This resulted in some of the empires returning, but with lesser claims and land than they once controlled. Up until around two and a half thousand years ago this left Valdemar as a patchwork of medium sized empires, and smaller regional kingdoms and city-states between them.

Next Timeline Article