History of Eorzea
- See also: Lore
To fully understand the realm of Eorzea, one must first delve into her past and witness the violent cycle of birth and destruction which forged the land from darkness.
The First Umbral Era
The Calamity of Wind
Eorzea is characterized by elemental calamities which plunge the realm into short, yet harrowing periods of chaos known as Umbral Eras, followed by extended periods of prosperity known as Astral Eras. What then, you may ask, of the land before the first calamity struck? Drawing from the songs and writings of countless civilizations, theologians believe prehistory to be a tempestuous time of uncontrolled creation overseen by a mercurial god or gods—creation which abruptly ends with the destruction of all that exists, ultimately allowing for the rise of mankind from the wreckage. Historians and scholars of biological fields, on the other hand, claim that mankind could not have simply “appeared” and suggest an evolution of the species in the thousand thousand years preceding the first calamity. What the two groups do, however, agree upon is that modern history begins with the First Umbral Era.
It was not until the advent of the Sixth Umbral Era that, by the process of elimination, scholars were able to declare with certainty that the elemental calamity which ushered in the First Umbral Era was indeed connected in some way with wind—possibly in the form of terrible hurricanes, tempests, or tornadoes. Recent dealings with the moogles of Moghome in which village elders have spoken of a wind-driven disaster previous to the first five calamities serve to further reinforce this theory. [1]
The First Astral Era
A Time of Stone And Fire
It is during the First Astral Era that mankind is believed to have learned the essentials for survival—the ability to carve stone tools and the ability to make fire. Tools allowed for the rise of agriculture and a departure from hunting and gathering, which eventually resulted in the abandonment of nomadic lifestyles and saw the establishment of villages and towns. Within these towns, civilization thrived and basic sciences such as animal husbandry and simple metallurgy were discovered and refined.
As the towns grew, so did the hegemonies that oversaw the towns until finally kingdoms were born. However, kings, as is their wont, are rarely content with what they have, and soon the leaders of the newly formed countries abandoned the creation of tools for the forging of weapons, and the era descended into bloodstained madness.
Equipped with picks and axes, historians believe mankind made short work of nature’s bounty. Cave paintings dated to the First Astral Era suggest the existence of hundreds of now-lost species, from two-headed bison, to winged cocurl-like scalekin, to firs reaching over a thousand yalms in height. [2]
The Second Umbral Era
The Calamity of Lightning
Despite the constant wars waged by kings seeking to expand their domains, mankind thrived, its numbers multiplying with each passing summer. To house and feed the people, forests were felled and fields planted. To forge their tools and weapons, mountains were gutted and skies blackened. For countless years, nature suffered this wanton spoiling of the land until finally the scales were tipped. Mountains of fire belched forth ink-stained clouds which covered the skies and thrust the realm into eternal darkness. And from the skies fell an endless rain of white-hot levinbolts which razed fields, boiled lakes, and split the very walls of mighty fortifications. For a full twelvemoon and a day did nature’s fury ring.
Fearful that the gods meant to purge the land of mankind once and for all, the people abandoned their homes and towns and fled underground into caves. Awaiting them here, however, was not salvation, but death, for the caves became breeding grounds for pestilence and plague. As the people sat trapped in darkness, watching their families meet slow, painful ends, they concentrated their efforts on the one path left to them—prayer. Theologians believe it is this mixture of desperation and focused prayer that gave way to the very first magical incantations.
Now fully aware of the land's boundless anger, mankind turned to the heavens for strength. Through prayer, the people of Eorzea discovered that hidden deep within words lies magic - magic that, when fueled by faith, can empower . [3]
The Second Astral Era
Faith in Above
And so through primitive magicks did mankind endure until the skies had finally parted—those showing proficiency in these esoteric techniques rising to positions of power within the communities. The people were drawn to these charismatic leaders who accredited the fall of the previous era with the faithless kings and their unquenchable avarice. They claimed that only through faith and prayer would they be saved from a similar fate, and thus were the first organized religions born.
In but a matter of years, kingdoms centuries in the making were replaced with theocracies populated with men and women eager to prove their worth. Only through the construction of massive temples, monuments, and effigies would they achieve peace and salvation. To adorn these constructs so that the gods would smile upon them, the people perfected the arts of painting and goldsmithing. To protect these constructs from those who would defy the gods, they solved the riddle of steel. To better bask in the gods' light, mankind reached high to the heavens.
Church-commissioned construction of countless cathedrals, temples, and sepulchers during the Second Astral Era saw the rapid advancement of stonemasonry, the constant mantra of “to the heavens” pressuring early architects to conceive techniques that might defy the very laws of nature. [4]