The history of Hydaelyn is structured by a recurring cycle: Astral Eras of peace, growth, and technological advancement, followed invariably by Umbral Eras, which are triggered by a catastrophic "Umbral Calamity" aspected to a specific element.
Behind the scenes, these calamities are orchestrated by the Ascians—immortal, shadowy figures seeking to collapse the world's barriers to revive their ancient god, Zodiark.
Here is the history of the world leading up to the events of A Realm Reborn.
Long before recorded history, a united world existed, inhabited by an immortal race capable of using "Creation Magick" to manifest anything they desired. When a global apocalypse threatened their world, the ruling Convocation of Fourteen summoned a dark god named Zodiark to save it.
Fearing Zodiark's ultimate cost, a separate faction summoned a goddess of Light, Hydaelyn. Hydaelyn defeated Zodiark, shattering him—and the entire fabric of reality—into the "Source" (the primary world) and thirteen parallel dimensions called "Shards." This event is known as The Sundering.
First Umbral Era (Wind): Humanity fell into tribal warfare, angering the gods, who abandoned Eorzea. Great storms swept the land. During this chaos, the great dragon Midgardsormr arrived on the planet, sealing a pact with Hydaelyn to guard the Silvertear Falls.
First Astral Era: The Age of Stone and Fire. Humanity learned metallurgy and built the first kingdoms.
Second Umbral Era (Lightning): Volcanic ash blocked the sun, and devastating lightning storms destroyed these early civilizations.
Second Astral Era: The Age of Prayer. Driven by fear of the storms, humanity built massive religious theocracies, focusing heavily on stonemasonry, cathedrals, and faith.
Third Umbral Era (Fire): A period of blazing heat and drought that brought down the theocracies.
Third Astral Era: Out of the ashes rose the Allagan Empire, founded by Emperor Xande. Allag became an incredibly advanced magitek civilization. They bound the Dragon-Primal Bahamut in an artificial orbital satellite called Dalamud to harvest his solar and aetheric energy.
Fourth Umbral Era (Earth): Xande's mad thirst for power caused the Syrcus Tower to channel too much energy from Dalamud, triggering massive earthquakes that completely swallowed the Allagan Empire.
Fourth Astral Era: A dark age of recovery where mankind, terrified of Allagan technology, abandoned science entirely.
Fifth Umbral Era (Ice): Known as the Age of Endless Frost. The seas froze over, allowing tribes like the Miqo'te to migrate into Eorzea on foot.
Fifth Astral Era: Civilization thawed and discovered Magic. This led to the formation of great magi-states: Amdapor (White Magic), Mhach (Black Magic), and Nym (Scholar Magick). Prosperity turned into cold war, and their competitive over-use of the land's life-force (aether) drained the world dry.
Sixth Umbral Era (Water): The War of the Magi culminated in the Great Flood—a massive elemental deluge that submerged Eorzea, destroying the magical civilizations.
Survivors of the flood fled to the mountains, eventually descending to form the modern city-states of Eorzea: Gridania (in the forests), Ul'dah (in the southern deserts), Limsa Lominsa (on the western seas), and Ishgard (in the northern mountains).
Because all six primal elements (Wind, Lightning, Fire, Earth, Ice, Water) had caused a calamity, historians believed the cycle was complete and the Sixth Astral Era would last forever. They were wrong.
```
[The Sixth Astral Era Timeline]
│
├── Year 1557: The Garlean Empire invades and conquers Ala Mhigo.
│
├── Year 1562: The Battle of Silvertear Skies. Midgardsormr dies destroying the Garlean Flagship.
│ Beast tribes begin summoning Primals across Eorzea.
│
└── Year 1572: The Seventh Umbral Calamity (The Battle of Carteneau).
```
Far to the north, a non-magical nation called Garlemald revolutionized the world by creating Magitek (machinery powered by oil instead of magic). Renaming themselves the Garlean Empire, they began a rapid global conquest to eradicate all magic and religion, which they viewed as a sickness. In 1557, they successfully invaded and conquered the eastern Eorzean city-state of Ala Mhigo.
The Garlean Empire pushed further into Eorzea with a massive fleet of airships. However, as they flew over Mor Dhona, the dragon deity Midgardsormr awakened from his slumber beneath Silvertear Falls. He led a swarm of dragons to destroy the Garlean flagship, The Agrius, killing himself in the process but halting the invasion.
The explosion of The Agrius shattered the magical seal on Silvertear Falls, releasing a massive surge of aether across Eorzea. Spurred on by the Ascians, the native beast tribes used this sudden influx of power to summon their gods into the physical world: the Primals (Ifrit, Titan, Garuda). Primals relentlessly drain the land's aether to exist, posing an existential threat to the world.
Realizing the Primal threat would make Eorzea a wasteland, Garlean Legatus Nael van Darnus initiated Project Meteor. Assisted by Ascian manipulation, Nael used ancient Allagan beacons to pull the artificial moon, Dalamud, out of orbit to crash it directly into Eorzea, purging all life.
To combat this, the Eorzean city-states put aside their differences and formed the Eorzean Alliance, spearheaded by the Archon Louisoix Leveilleur.
The Eorzean Alliance clashed with the Garlean VIIth Legion on the plains of Carteneau, directly beneath the rapidly falling, glowing red moon.
As Dalamud entered the atmosphere, it did not shatter like rock. Instead, the hull tore open to reveal it was an ancient cage. Bahamut, the Elder Primal of Fire and Wrath, broke free after millennia of imprisonment. Driven mad by centuries of torture, Bahamut unleashed a rain of fire (*Megaflare*) across the entire continent, instantly vaporizing armies and reshaping the landscape.
Louisoix attempted a desperate ritual to re-bind the dragon using the power of Eorzea’s gods, the Twelve. When that failed, Louisoix used the last of his strength to shatter his staff and cast a powerful temporal spell. He enveloped a chosen group of surviving heroes—the Warriors of Light—and fractured time, sending them five years into the future where the world could rebuild. Louisoix then smiled as he faced Bahamut alone.
This catastrophic event brought a violent end to the Sixth Astral Era, ushering in the fractured, scarred world of the Seventh Umbral Era.
Five years later, the dust has settled. The realm has been reborn, the memory of the original heroes has faded into myth, and a new adventurer arrives by carriage...