History

An Outline of Atragamian History

Firstly, a comment on the organisation of this history section. In spite of the headings chosen for the various subsections, the organisation is by period rather than by place; the titles for most of the periods refer to the civilisation chosen as the main focus of that section – usually the civilisation most dominant at that time.

All years are counted from the fall of Vardeu, which marks the start of the Arêndron Empire. Years from this point on are designated OA (Olnom Arêndron). The Arêndron calendar has no numbering system for years before this date; there are no exact records of what happened in what year, nor is it considered important. I have chosen to designate years from OA 1 backwards as “BE”, standing for the English phrase “Before the Empire”. All BE dates are therefore approximate; numbers are usually accurate to a year or two when referring to more recent times, but may only be accurate to the nearest thousand when talking about prehistory.

The earliest date in this history is 10,000 BE, the date of the oldest definite archaeological evidence for the presence of man on Atragam. Exactly when and how man first reached the continent is uncertain, but it must have been before this date, and probably not long before – almost certainly not earlier than 12,500 BE. What is certain is that mankind reached the far north of the continent first and spread southwards.

By 6000 BE humans had spread all over the northern half of the continent, except for some of the islands of the Great Inland Sea. The origin of human habitation in Engatar (the southern half of Atragam) is very uncertain; it is possible that they are descended from a group of northerners who migrated down the east coast of the Beladron Sea around 8000 BE, but it is also possible that they have an entirely separate origin, and reached the continent by sea. Either way, Engatar has had very little contact with the north and, sadly, very little is known about its history.