Historical Era, in History
Millenia of Darkness
Also known as Age of Darkness · D.N. · DN · The Darkness
The Millenia of Darkness (abbreviated DN) is the second great historical era of Canaan — a period of approximately one thousand years during which the continent was ruled by the overlords, a group of individuals who had used powerful magic to overthrow the king of the Great Empire and establish themselves as supreme rulers. The Millenia of Darkness is the foundational historical trauma of Canaanese civilisation, and its memory continues to shape every major political and religious institution in Canaan centuries after its end.
The Darkness was ended when a group of unlikely adventurers came together and overthrew the overlords, liberating Canaan from their rule and beginning the Age of Peace. This act of liberation — not the preceding era of monarchical order — became the foundational political myth of the Xeamian Empire and its successor the Arakcadian Congress, whose values of freedom and self-thinking draw directly from the spirit of the rebellion.
The existence of the Millenia of Darkness is the primary reason that magic is suppressed or mistrusted across all three major nations of Canaan in the New Age. The overlords who caused the Darkness came to power through magical means and fed on the life-force of others, and some tellings hold that they were overthrown by the same power. The era has left magic associated with both catastrophic abuse and, in legend, with liberation — a dual character that complicates any simple account of why magic is treated with such caution in the present day.
The overlords
The overlords, remembered as terrorists who sought to make themselves as powerful as gods, came to power through a massive spellcasting battle in which they killed the king of the Great Empire. Once in power, they used their magical capability to entrench their rule systematically:
- They enacted laws that made them gain more power progressively over time
- They fed off the literal life-force of others, draining people of power
- This draining destroyed the ability of the population to rebel, as those whose life-force had been drained had no capacity for organised resistance
This system of magical and political oppression lasted for approximately 1,000 years. Its full extent, the specific geography it affected, and the degree to which different parts of Canaan experienced it differently are not fully documented in surviving records — much written history from this period was destroyed.
Liberation
At the end of the Millenia of Darkness — at 1 DN in the calendar reckoning — a group of unlikely adventurers came together and overthrew the overlords. The specific identities of these adventurers, the nature of the conflict, and the mechanisms by which they defeated the overlords are not detailed in surviving records and are matters of legend rather than documented history.
The liberation ended the Darkness and opened the period that would become the Age of Peace.
Aftermath and the Age of Peace
Following the overthrow of the overlords, Canaan entered a period of political reorganisation. The adventurers who overthrew the overlords gave way to different leaders with different ideals as to how to restore peace. As they did, the lands became increasingly divided, eventually crystallising into the separate political entities that defined the Age of Peace: the Xeamian Empire in the south, the Zawma Empire in the north, and the various smaller communities and outposts of the broader continent.
Historical significance
The Millenia of Darkness is the defining event behind several persistent features of New Age Canaanese society:
Suppression of magic — Canaan's major nations treat magic with extreme caution. The overlords rose through magic; the Darkness was maintained through magic; the experience left a continent-wide cultural memory that magical power, when uncontrolled or in the wrong hands, leads to catastrophe. Arakcadia does not speak of magic in civic circles; the Zilaphelian Kingdom has formally outlawed strong magic; the Veurim Empire has notably never stated a position at all.
Religious significance — The theological frameworks of Uinheit, Mahanity, and Clysicism all preserve accounts of the Darkness period and incorporate its lessons into their doctrinal traditions. The Era of Prosperity's legend of a land shaped by the three divine Children of Melora and Moradin — of sea, mountains and life — is particularly relevant to Uinheit, which venerates the same figures.
Political founding myths — The Xeamian political tradition and its Arakcadian successors draw on the spirit of liberation from the overlords as their primary founding myth. The Zawman tradition and its Zilaphelian successors draw instead on the model of the pre-Darkness Great Empire. Both use the Millenia of Darkness as a shared negative reference point — the thing that must never be repeated — even as they disagree on what the proper alternative looks like.
Calendar
The Millenia of Darkness gives its name to the DN calendar period. Years are counted down, from 1000 DN at the rise of the overlords to 1 DN, the year of the liberation. The count of the Age of Peace begins in the year that follows.