The Age of Darkness was a thousand year period in which the sun was blocked by ash knocked into the atmosphere by Earthfall in -5293 AR and ending in -4294. During this age the Orcs emerged from their subterranean homeland fleeing the Dwarves who later also took their first footsteps on the surface world The blocking of the sun allowed Zon-Kuthon to return to Golarion and claim an item from the First Vault due to a deal made with Abadar. The "prehistoric" time marked by the rise of the ancient Azlanti Empire which preceded the Age of Darkness is sometimes referred to as the Age Before Ages.