The world of Adnati before the emergence of intelligent creatures and hominids like humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, and others.
Most religions and faiths on Adnati include myths and legends about how the earth was created, and how living creatures were created. These naturally contradict one another and are largely ignored by sages and scholars.
Instead, sages and scholars divide the period of time before hominid life into two Eras: the creation of the earth in the First Era, and the creation of life in the Second Era.
The emergence of hominid life – humans, elves, orcs, and the like – marked the end of the Second Era and the beginning of the Third Era.
The First Era: Creation of the Earth
Scholars and historians use the First Era to refer to the period of time before any form of life began to emerge on Adnati. This is broken into two Epochs that lasted hundreds of millions of years, perhaps billions of years.
First Epoch: The Molten
The First Epoch covers the period of time in the First Era when scholars believe the earth was on fire, a liquified ball so hot that the metals and stones themselves ran as rivers and oceans. This period of time, though largely theoretical, is known as “The Molten.”
Second Epoch: The Cooling
The Second Epoch of the First Era covers the period of time in which the Great Fires abated, and Adnati cooled to the point where the stones and metals could reach a solid state. This period is known as The Cooling.
The Second Era: Development of Life
Scholars mark the emergence of simple life forms as the end of the First Era and the beginning of the Second Era. The Second Era is divided into two Epochs covering the development of plant life and animal life.
Third Epoch: Plant Life
Scholars believe that the first life to emerge on Adnati were primitive forms of plant life. The Third Epoch, which is the first epoch of the Second Era, is marked by when this form of life first began. The first forms of plant life were green algae, seaweeds, and other plant life in the seas. Eventually land-based plant life began to emerge, including grasses, flowers, shrubs, and trees — though many of those didn’t emerge until the Fourth Epoch, after animal life began to develop.
Fourth Epoch: Animal Life
Scholars mark the emergence of animal life as the beginning of the Fourth Epoch, the second of the two epochs in the Second Era. This Epoch is subdivided into multiple Ages, each denoting the emergence of the first types of creatures for that age. It should be noted that additional creatures of each type continue to emerge through subsequent ages and even into the present. Each Age described here is meant to note the first of those forms of life, not the last.
Unlike the Ages in the Third Era, the Era of Hominids, the six Ages of the Fourth Epoch are named rather than enumerated. Those Ages include:
- The Age of Insects
- The Age of Sea Creatures
- The Age of Worms
- The Age of Reptiles
- The Age of Megalife
- The Age of Mammals
The emergence of intelligent hominid life – humans, elves, orcs, and the like – mark the end of the Fourth Epoch and Second Era, and the beginning of the Third Era.