The Antediluvian Epoch
secondary world summary, v0.01
This is the alpha version 0.01 summary of the secondary world’s entire antediluvian history condensed into a few simple paragraphs after many iterations. As the tag on this article (travaux en cours) indicates, it is very much a work-in-progress and everything about it is subject to massive upheavals and change. I thought that now would be a good time to throw this out there to a select few (which is why its paywalled; I don’t expect many people will pay for a subscription simply to see my brainstorming notes and this is by design) and see what the reaction to these initial concepts might be. There is much more to this world than what’s contained in these notes, of course, but these are the (very wobbly) essentials.
The way I’ll move forward with this, and in future articles detailing works-in-progress, will be to present it piece by piece with whatever commentary and thoughts come to mind, and then leave the comments open for anyone who can see it to leave their thoughts and impressions. Here goes:
The First Age
The City of Gan, founded by Ganan1 after the fratricide of his brother, became the first great civilization on Thezôn2. For centuries, it thrived, expanding across the supercontinent, with a complex relationship between Men and the Elves3. However, the rise of the Izarîm4—offspring of the 205 forgotten sons of Father & Mother6 and their mortal wives—ushered in a tyrannical rule. The Izarîm controlled most of Thezôn until they attempted to open the Gates of Paradise with the Great Spire7, which caused the Powers8 to intervene, shattering Thezôn into separate continents and ending the Izarîm’s reign.
The First Age actually gave me quite a bit more trouble than the others and had to go through many iterations before I came upon this story. This time period is mostly shrouded in myth and legend with only physical artifacts remaining in future ages (before the Flood), and I’m planning to actually write many of the myths that are told later on in the Second Age as civilization begins to form again and different cultures sprang up across the remnant continents of Thezôn. All of that material would eventually go into the Great Library.
The Second Age
In the aftermath of Thezôn’s shattering, civilizations slowly rebuilt in the heartlands of Talmên9, the mysterious eastern land of Shanar10, and the southern isles of Thazira11, while the jungles of Kingala12 and the Northern Wastes13 remained untouched by human settlement. Men and the Elves grew apart, with the distinction between Light Elves and Dark Elves14 solidifying. The early development of esoteric sciences during this period allowed for advances in knowledge, though it remained limited. This was an age of cultural rebirth, with most of the world's landmasses focused on rebuilding, setting the stage for the technological leaps to come.
I’m not as sure about the very specific details of the Second Age, as it is mainly a cradle for civilization to be reborn for the later ages. Lots of stuff happening here, civilizations that would later go on to become nations raising up, initial tenuous connections being made. If there’s an equivalent to an “ancient world” in the Antediluvian Epoch it’s this time.
The Third Age
The esoteric sciences reached their full potential in this age, sparking a technological revolution and a golden era of global connectivity. Trade, exploration, and innovation flourished, and for the first time, Kingala and the Northern Wastes were explored. Beneath the surface, however, a shadow war raged between powerful factions, culminating in the rise of the Seven15. By the end of the age, the Ten Realms16 were formed, engineered by the Seven, to consolidate their hidden control over the world.
This time is where the real meat of most of the history is located, with empires forming in the early period and by the final half-millennium an industrial revolution and fully formed nation-states with strong identities and histories. This is a thoroughly “Modern” world, at least in terms of technological and cultural sophistication (and degeneration), and it has the most reliable historical information of any of the antediluvian ages and is where much of the knowledge that survives beyond that epoch comes from.
The Fourth Age
The world was dominated by the Ten Realms, controlled in secret by the Seven. The Kingdom of Light17 stood as the sole resistance to their growing dominance. Throughout this age, environmental degradation accelerated due to the unchecked exploitation of elemental resources and the constant warfare between the Ten Realms and the Kingdom of Light. In a final cataclysmic war18, the Kingdom of Light was destroyed, and the world’s environment collapsed, leaving only vast wastelands19 and megacities20. The age ended with the Flood, unleashed by the Creator, which destroyed the old world, with only a handful of survivors21 finding refuge in a hidden mountain valley, which remained above the waters of the Flood. After the waters receded, the valley became an island22 in the new world.
This age is even more technomagically advanced than the Third Age, but because of the media manipulation and secrecy of the Realms of the Seven and the final destruction of the Kingdom of Light much of the information of that age is confusing, contradictory, or non-existent, and is basically reduced to oral history at the beginning of the following epoch. It is best to think of this time as a wild science fantasy dystopia, quite possibly on steroids.
And that’s it, that’s the summary I’ve been working on. It’s condensed, as evidence by all these annoying footnotes, so there are a lot more notions and ideas I have for all of this which aren’t quite solid enough to incorporate or they’re not relevant to a broader summary like this. I invite anyone able to read this to comment, ask questions, whatever. I’ll probably be coming back to this a few times in the future and it may change dramatically from this core, but you can consider this the opening sprinkle in a deluge of content going forward.
“Accursed One”, a name he acquired after the deed. His original name was actually "Gan”, which is why his city is eventually called that.
This is actually the name of the supercontinent that existed during the First Age, but since it was essentially the entire world (being divided between land and sea), it suffices as a name for the world at that time.
A very tentative idea, although I know there are incarnate spirits who chose to become fully embodied through the element of Earth, which is actually the metaphysical principle of substantiality itself in this.
“Fallen Ones”, although it has a kinship connotation that can either mean “fallen brothers” or “fallen sons”. Either one works. Essentially the Nephilim from Genesis and the Books of Enoch.
They had 66 children in total, with 23 pairs of sibling-spouses and 20 individual sons at the end who had no sibling-spouse. I know this sounds icky, but it’s best to think of Father, Mother, and the children of the First Generation as closer akin to pagan gods than to contemporary human beings.
Adam & Eve. There’s just no other way to frame it.
Another extremely tentative idea. I know they tried to pull elements from the Celestial Spheres into the Terrestrial Spheres somehow, and the idea of a Great Spire as an arcane machine designed to “touch the Heavens” spoke to me strongly.
Angelic beings set over the world to govern it and watch; quite similar to the Valar in Middle Earth, although I’m undecided on how much detail I actually want to give them in this.
This one literally just means “heartland, urheimat, cradle of civilization”.
“Eastern Brother”, mostly because it sounded cool and because Talmên and Shanar are the two continents that Men rebuilt upon specifically.
The concept of this place is that the Powers reside here, and this is a refuge for many of the Elves. I’m not sure about this specifically, it may not end up like this depending on whether I keep the Elves and have the Powers literally reside in the physical world or not. The name basically means “place of the Watchers” because a thazir is a spirit that watches and takes note of events in history.
The name of this continent simply means “horned”, or more euphemistically, “wild”. It’s where the former core of the Nephilim Empire was located and it’s not a “dark continent” covered in ancient ruins and thick steaming jungles. Fun place.
The frozen arctic. Not much up here, although every continent hosts ruins of the First Age.
Eventually, the incarnate spirits broke into two main camps. There were those who took pity on Men and saw it as their duty to bring out the good in them, and those who resented men for following the Fallen Ones and destroying or enslaving their people. The latter camp grows over time causing many of the Elves to withdraw from contact with Men entirely or even become hostile.
A cabal of rotating personalities made up of powerful people from many walks of life. Not a group of seven individuals, but more like “seats” that have new individuals occupy them as the former individuals die off. They are effectively a conspiracy of sorcerers who eventually become hidden sorcerer-kings. The Illuminati, basically.
Supranational federations formed across at least Talmên and Shanar, possibly beyond depending on how the rest of the world changes.
The only nation-state during the Third Age to resist incorporation into the Realms of the Seven, remaining steadfast in its alliance with the Elves, its reverence of the Powers, and its faithfulness to the Creator and His laws. I’m obviously still working on a name for it with care, given its critical importance.
In which both sides employed fantastical elemental technologies that would resemble the most horrific science fiction weaponry imaginable, and some extremely novel.
Including all the world’s seas becoming a vast sea of silt. Just the ram home how dead this earth really is by the time of the Flood.
By this point very few people could survive outside of these domains, which were kept running by some highly questionable elemental science employed by the Seven’s proxy governments.
Mostly from the Kingdom of Light, with dissidents from some of the other nations and Elves.
*cough*Atlantis*cough*
i ofc knew this would be a massive undertaking, but now i see i actually underestimated how much. each age is a world of its own, but i understand why it may be easier to go through it more or less all at once, rather than one at a time. i do hope you are able to get it done.
I’m glad most of the survivors are from the Kingdom of Light. They sound like the good guys. Did any of the Seven survive?
I’m excited to read more. Thank you for sharing with us!