Long before the rise of Vhal'Tor, before the founding of Khazad-Dur, before the first Sultan ruled the fertile south, and before the earliest songs of the Sylvaran Covenant were ever sung, another civilization existed.
Or so the legends claim.
This forgotten era is known simply as The Lost Age.
Its people left behind impossible ruins, mysterious relics, fragments of forgotten knowledge, and questions that remain unanswered thousands of years later.
No surviving culture possesses a complete account of what occurred.
Many scholars dedicate their lives to uncovering the truth.
Most die with more questions than answers.
Almost every civilization in Mythea possesses myths describing an ancient people who existed before recorded history.
The names vary.
The details differ.
Yet certain patterns appear repeatedly.
The Lost Age civilization is consistently described as:
Highly advanced
Masters of Starfire
Builders of impossible wonders
Explorers of hidden realms
Seekers of forbidden knowledge
Many scholars believe the Lost Age represented the first truly continent-spanning civilization.
Others argue it was not a civilization at all, but a coalition of many peoples united by shared knowledge.
No definitive evidence exists.
According to surviving fragments, the Lost Age was a period of extraordinary achievement.
Legends attribute many wonders to this era, including:
The Silent Stair
The Deep Roads
The Lost City of Glass
The Drowned Library
Ancient Starfall Sanctuaries
Unknown celestial observatories
Some stories claim the people of the Lost Age could travel vast distances instantly.
Others suggest they could shape stone, crystal, and metal through thought alone.
Whether these tales are exaggerations remains unknown.
Every serious study of the Lost Age eventually encounters the same mystery.
Starfire.
Many ancient relics display traces of energies unlike modern magic.
Ancient texts repeatedly connect these energies to the stars themselves.
Several scholars have proposed that the Lost Age understood Starfire in ways modern civilizations do not.
If true, much of their knowledge has been lost.
The greatest mystery surrounding the Lost Age is not how it rose.
It is how it vanished.
No records describe a gradual decline.
No surviving account details a final war.
Instead, nearly every legend describes a sudden catastrophe.
Entire cities disappeared.
Trade routes ended.
Knowledge vanished.
Within a remarkably short period, the civilization collapsed.
No one agrees on why.
Modern scholars generally divide explanations into five major theories.
The Lost Age attempted to harness powers beyond their control.
Their own creations destroyed them.
The gods themselves intervened after the civilization overstepped sacred boundaries.
The civilization discovered a truth so terrible it shattered society.
Contact with the Black Star brought about their downfall.
The civilization did not die.
It left.
No one knows where.
One detail particularly frustrates historians.
Evidence from the Lost Age appears deliberately erased.
Names have been removed.
Records have been altered.
Entire sections of ruins appear intentionally destroyed.
Someone wanted the truth hidden.
Whether that effort occurred before or after the Fall remains unknown.
Of all the mysteries connected to the Lost Age, none inspires more fear than the Black Star.
Ancient records describe a celestial object that emits no light.
Instead, it consumes it.
Many Lost Age texts reference the Black Star before abruptly ending.
Several secret societies believe it played a direct role in the Fall.
The Cult of the Black Star believes it contains ultimate truth.
Most scholars consider that possibility deeply troubling.
Carved directly into the face of a mountain, the Silent Stair climbs impossibly high before disappearing into cloud and stone.
No known civilization claims responsibility for its construction.
Ancient symbols found along portions of the stair appear older than any known language.
Expeditions continue to investigate it.
Few return with clear explanations.
Legends speak of a city buried beneath the southern deserts.
Its towers are said to be formed from crystal and living glass.
Some stories claim the city still exists beneath the sands.
Others insist it survives in another realm entirely.
Every generation produces new expeditions.
None have conclusively located it.
Deep beneath the sea rests a library untouched by time.
Its books supposedly remain perfectly preserved.
Its halls remain illuminated.
Its knowledge remains inaccessible.
Many believe the Library contains records from the Lost Age.
If found, it could transform everything historians believe about the past.
The Deep Roads stretch beneath much of Mythea.
Some sections are known.
Most are not.
Many portions predate the dwarves of Khazad-Dur.
The oldest tunnels display engineering techniques unlike anything found elsewhere.
Entire regions of the Deep Roads remain unexplored.
Perhaps the strangest historical mystery.
Ancient monuments describe a queen whose accomplishments are well documented.
Yet her name is missing.
Not forgotten.
Removed.
The deliberate nature of the erasure suggests tremendous effort.
Many scholars believe she played a central role in the final days of the Lost Age.
Coins bearing the likeness of the Ash King continue to appear throughout Mythea.
His empire does not.
No maps identify its location.
No ruins have been conclusively linked to it.
Yet physical evidence continues to surface.
Whether he was a ruler, conqueror, prophet, or myth remains uncertain.
The Keepers of the Seventh Door believe the Lost Age discovered a gateway unlike any other.
Some call it a passage.
Others call it a revelation.
Still others claim it leads to the Endless Wild itself.
No verified account of the Seventh Door exists.
Yet references to it appear across multiple cultures separated by thousands of years.
These are not merely ancient stories.
Modern organizations actively search for answers.
Among them:
The Lantern Collegium
The Last Lantern Expeditionary Society
The Relic Hunters Consortium
The Veiled Lantern Society
The Cult of the Black Star
The Circle of the Veil
The Ashwardens
Entire expeditions are launched every year.
Most return empty-handed.
Some never return.
Many historians believe the greatest mistake one can make is assuming the Lost Age is truly gone.
Its relics continue to surface.
Its ruins continue to be discovered.
Its mysteries continue to influence the present.
Some even suggest that the events which destroyed the Lost Age may not have ended.
They may simply be waiting.
Waiting beneath forgotten ruins.
Waiting beyond hidden doors.
Waiting among the stars.
Among researchers of the Lost Age, one saying has become famous:
"Every answer reveals a deeper ruin."
Most treat it as a joke.
The wisest scholars do not.
For every mystery solved, another emerges.
And somewhere beyond the reach of maps and memory, the full truth of the Lost Age remains hidden.
For now.