| abstract
| - The Dawn Age is an epoch in the history of The Known World. It was the first historical epoch, ending roughly 8,000 years ago and extending backwards into the mists of time before the age of mankind. Little information about it has survived, even in legends. Humans did not live in the Westeros at all for much of the Dawn Age. For centuries beyond count, the continent was only inhabited by two non-human races: the Children of the Forest and the Giants. The Children were a small people skilled in magic, wielding weapons made of wood, bone, and dragonglass (obsidian) - which they used to make razor-sharp arrowheads and daggers. They were later called the "Children of the Forest" by humans, because when full-grown they were no taller than a human child in height, and they preferred to live in the deep forests and caves, building hidden villages in the trees. The Children worshiped deities known as the Old Gods of the Forest - the countless and unnamed spirits of every tree, rock, and stream. According to legend, about 12,000 years ago the First Men migrated to Westeros - so-called because they were the first humans to arrive in the continent. The First Men crossed over from Essos using a land-bridge, known as the Arm of Dorne, in the southeastern corner of Westeros. They settled the plains and cut down forests for timber and to clear new land. This led them into conflict with the indigenous Children of the Forest, particularly when they cut down the Weirwood trees that the Children carved faces into, known as heart trees, which were sacred to the Old Gods. The Wars of the First Men and the Children of the Forest lasted for many centuries. The Children were very woodcrafty, fierce fighters, and skilled in magical powers, but the First Men were more numerous, physically larger and stronger, possessed warriors mounted on Horses, and introduced weapons made of bronze (which, while not as sharp as dragonglass, is much sturdier for longswords and armor). In desperation, the wise men of the Children (known as Greenseers) used their magical powers to call up the Hammer of the waters; the oceans rose up and broke the Arm of Dorne, destroying the land bridge between Westeros and Essos, leaving an island chain in which the later eras is known as the Stepstones. It was too late, however, as the First Men already had a firm foothold in southern Westeros. Later, the Children attempted to call up the hammer of the waters again to keep the First Men from passing into the North, but they were only partially successful, managing to flood the narrow isthmus leading into the North known as the Neck and turning it into a near-impassable swampland. Even so, while the Children were gradually losing, at this display of their powers wiser leaders prevailed among both sides, who tired of the bloodshed. About 10,000 years ago, the leaders of the First Men and the Children of the Forest came together at the Isle of Faces in the center of Gods Eye Lake to make a lasting peace between the two races, subsequently known as "The Pact". In following centuries, the First Men and the Children often became staunch allies, and the First Men even adopted the religion of the Children, worshiping the Old Gods at the faces carved in weirwood trees. To show an alliance, every weirwood tree on the Isle of Faces was carved with a face. The signing of the Pact signified the end of the Dawn Age in Westeros. The new era that began after it was known as the Age of Heroes, during which - about 8,000 years ago, and 2,000 years after the signing of the Pact - the Long Night fell upon the world, and the White Walkers rode out of the unmapped Lands of Always Winter in the far north, raising an army of the dead to wage war upon the living.
- The Dawn Age, or the Age of Dawn, was a period lasting from −30,000 DR to −24,000 DR, when the powerful empires of the creator races disappeared from the face of the earth and their land was occupied by dragons and giants. Constant war for land in Faerûn led to the creation of great kingdoms and empires. It was a time on Toril when dragons took an interest in the lesser races' squabbling and taught them the basic concepts of organization and civilization, leading to the construction of cities and armies. The metallic dragons admired a certain amount of selflessness in the lesser races, such as the elves and dwarves and the young races of humans, gnomes, and halflings. They took pity on the weaker races and helped lead and protect them. Alternately, the chromatic dragons saw those races as less intelligent and more malleable, believing them to seek only their own advancement. They forced them to build a loose-knit society and organized them into armies. They then taught the lesser races how to construct fortified castles for their new masters to live in and bask on the hordes that they stole from the weak.
- The first historical age of Glorantha.
* Also known as the First Age.
* It began with the Dawn
* It ended with Nysalor's death.
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