The Rise of Man

Era of Elves / ~100 thousand years ago
Following the age of the Divergence, the elves that stayed on Valdemar sought to cultivate and protect what life remained. There was a sense of failure on their part, that the way of the elves had been too vain, proud, and led to the arrogance, divisions, and devastation that followed. Over a long period of time, in an effort to correct their wrongs of the past they returned to their ancestral ways of balance, respecting nature and all forms of life. They who would call themselves Wood Elves, guided and looked after the younger races of the surface. They protected as best they could the young tribes of Men and Halfling from the still rampaging legions of orcs, marauding trolls, chromatic dragons, and lizardfolk incursions from the jungles surrounding the Center Sea.

In addition, the Lich King’s from the southern deserts of Nethgulmar’s “Land of the Dead” invaded Valdemar multiple times during this period of tens of thousands of years. Each time it seemed as if their strength was at a point it could contest the Lich King’s, the undead legions marched north and the wood elves lost much to defend their lands and those of the younger races. Faced against all of these evils to protect the younger races, the wood elves would never again rebuild an elven nation like that which existed during the Empire. They finally accepted this, that maybe such power was part of the problem, and took on their new role as guardians. This truly paved the way for the younger races to spread across the surface of Valdemar and take their turn.

The wood elves taught men, and to a lesser extent halflings and even some gnomes, what they had learned and guided them in their development. Farming, blacksmithing, construction, magic, respect for nature, and combat were just a few of the things the wood elves instructed over the generations. The dwarves emerged on the surface during this era, and began trading with the surviving wood elves and the fledgling races. This period ended when the largest tribes of men gathered and formed the first walled human city for mutual protection. At this founding the Era of Elves came to a close, and began the dawn of the current Era of Man.

Next Timeline Article