The Age of Communication—The Age of Trade—The Age of the Twins

Greater Forces of the Age

Garl Glittergold(Twin Paradises): Aspect of Gond, God of Gnomes

Ilsensine(Concordant Opposition): God of Illithids

Yondalla(Seven Heavens): Aspect of Chauntea, Goddess of Halflings

Black and White

At the dawn of this age, in the year 6450, the Queen of the Grey Elves bore twins; a son with white skin and black hair, and a daughter who was white haired and black skinned. The son was named heir to the throne, while the daughter was tasked to serve as an emissary to the Dwarven people. Since the Grey Elves chose the mountains for their cities, they were the first of their kind to encounter the Dwarves face to face. By now, the Dwarves had built their own civilizations under the highest stony places of the World, had developed a written tongue of their own, and had their own high kings and leaders. After a century of serving both races with the nobility and grace befitting a Grey Elven princess, the Black Elf disappeared during her travels, never to be seen again. Some sages say it was this legendary Dark Princess who begat the entire Dark Elven race, though no Elves discuss such matters with outsiders.

During this age, both Elves and Dwarves learned each other’s written languages, and trade grew between the two peoples, forging friendly relations and strong alliances. Both societies minted coins in this age. Most sages say the Dwarves, inspired by the pottery wheels of the Elves, developed the first wheels for transport in this age, for use especially on mining carts, but this revolutionary technology spread fast, and soon, carriages and chariots of great variety were seen about the Urthe by all manner of intelligent peoples.

The Grey Elves had begun to notice that their prized pet dakon apes, bred from earlier Hsing-sing, had become so intelligent (developing tools, and even wheels, by 5000 BCE) as to nearly deserve to be considered a ‘people’, too, so the Grey Elven societies cautiously began to free their pet apes back into the wild. Meanwhile, some hobgoblin tribes, isolated and threatened by flooding, evolved into an aquatic breed known as Koalinths, while Bugbear and Goblin mating is thought to have given rise to the new race of creatures known as Gnolls.

Short and Shorter

More Forces were acting upon the Urthe in this age, sowing their own Seeds of Baramin. The first Gnomes and Halflings came into being, created by the Force of Invention (called Garl Glittergold by the Gnomes), and the Force of Agriculture (Called Yondalla by the Halflings), respectively. Their seeds were planted with industrious abundance, in small sheltered spaces too modest to appeal to the Elves or Dwarves. The Gnomes and the Halflings that sprang forth from the soil werelikewise industrious and abundant themselves, and were friendly with the other races during this Age. But mostly, the Gnomes and the Halflings, keenly aware of the dangers of the larger world, kept to their own kind in the Third Age, much as they do now.

By the end of this age, so many Forces of Urthe’s Pantheon were established in their realms, influencing events on the Young Urthe, that the how and whys of each are obscure matters for specialist scholars of those faiths. Sages disagree whether omens concerning this so called “Age of Twins” refers most particularly to the legendary children of the Elvish Queen, the creation of the Gnomes and Halflings (the diminutive ‘twins’ of Dwarves and Elves, as some sages say), or are symbolic of the multiplicity of Deities of the age, though several scholars would insist it refers to all these, and perhaps other unaccounted facets, too.

People in various parts of the world developed settled agriculture. This was a monumental change. Instead of wandering around hunting and gathering food, they could now grow their own. They also began pastoralization, or raising livestock. This helped lead to permanent settlements and the rise of civilizations.

Aom looked on…