Academical system
Periods of the academical system
Warm Age
The Warm Age is a pre-historical time period encompassing complex geological changes both in the core and the outer layers of planet Alathra, which is widely accepted to have caused the appearance of numerous landmasses across the Alathran surface. Although no consensus exists on defining the start of the Warm Age, some experts consider the evidence of volcanic rocks dating to roughly 60,000 years back as a rough estimate for its beginning. The Warm Age ended with massive flooding events, splitting continents into smaller landforms that have existed to this day. The rough end of the Warm Age has been established as the starting epoch of all widely used calendar systems, also coinciding with the first records of the Ascian civilization.
Dawn Ages
The Early Dawn Age mainly documents the gradual development of Ascia, a nation that reached massive proportions through very early advantages in shipbuilding, strict administrative policies and proper army organization. In most areas under its control, Ascia was largely a collection of tribal nations that were either peacefully or forcibly taken under Ascia’s wing essentially to serve its foremost goal of land expansion. Most records of this time pertain to the rule of Leonel between years 238 – 283, and his only heir Tera between 284 – 306, by which Ascia reached its greatest size. The Late Dawn Age comes as a result of the fragmentation of Ascian claims and a successful assassination of ruler Maleks, leading to a long period of power struggle between the various regions of the Ascian world with the former capital region slowly losing grip of its formerly uncontested authority. By the 520s, decisions of the state were driven by outside councils, and in 541, all unions under Ascia were released from any obligation to the state, effectively marking the end of the Ascian civilization.
The Dawn Ages together make up the main of the First Era under the Sevoan system – as Ascia collapsed, it was decided in the early formation of Sevoa to push for a “fresh start” of its own. Numerous reforms were established under Hermen-an, the second elected Regvecent, which also included a constitution connecting the beginning of the Second Era to the sovereignty of the Sevonnan Vincerate. Part of this decision was motivated by the wish of Sevoans to portray themselves as the successor of Ascian legacy, something which many competing nations were attempting to claim around that time.
Little Age
Starting at the same time as the Second Era, the Little Age details the growth of the numerous, now-independent regions released from under Ascia. Here falls the beginning days of such nations as the Dotlands and Sevoa, both former regions of Ascia, and also the emergence of smaller minor nations such as Remaniene, which were finally able to structure themselves into a functioning society. Although many such smaller nations formed in the early Little Age, most were absorbed into the soon-to-be major powers of the Last Age. The discovery of the New World also dates back into the late Little Age, which sets the stage to the longest and largest conflict in Old World history, named the Allwar.
Last Age
The Last Age, nearing the end of the Second Era, was a distinction made by scholars to specifically distinguish the Allwar period in its entirety. With only a few short periods of peace, all of the Last Age was accompanied by wars that affected every Old World nation in some form or fashion, with the common sentiment at the time being quoted as “the end of days soon to come”. As the conflict spanned the entirety of the known world, the real goal was rights to the dominion of New World continents. The Allwar ended with the second globally-driven peace agreement between Sevoa and the Dotlands, after which both countries were too weak and unstable to continue their endeavours in the New World, effectively abandoning their claims and creating a power vacuum in their stead.
These events opened up opportunities for new societies to form in the New World, and as the reforms of Sevoa pushed itself into the Third Era, it also marked a new beginning for Alathra from which all modern stories and legends of Our Time were soon to take shape.