The Dark Ages is a term referring to the perceived period of cultural and economic decline and disruption that took place in Western Europe following the decline of the Roman Empire.[1][2] The label employs traditional light-versus-darkness imagery to contrast the "darkness" of the period with earlier and later periods of "light". Originally, the term characterized the bulk of the Middle Ages as a period of intellectual darkness between the extinguishing of the light of Rome, and the Renaissance or rebirth from the 14th century onwards.[3] This definition is still found in popular usage,[1][2][4] but increased recognition of the accomplishments of the Middle Ages since the 19th century has led to the label being restricted in application. Today it is frequently applied only to the earlier part of the era, the Early Middle Ages. However, modern scholars who study the era tend to avoid the term altogether for its negative connotations, finding it misleading and inaccurate for any part of the Middle Ages.[5][6]
The concept of a Dark Age originated with the Italian scholar Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca) in the 1330s, and was originally intended as a sweeping criticism of the character of Late Latin literature.[3][7] Petrarch regarded the centuries since the fall of Rome as "dark" compared to the light of classical antiquity. Later historians expanded the term to refer to the transitional period between Roman times and the High Middle Ages, including not only the lack of Latin literature, but also a lack of contemporary written history, general demographic decline, limited building activity and material cultural achievements in general. Popular culture has further expanded on the term as a vehicle to depict the Middle Ages as a time of backwardness, extending its pejorative use and expanding its scope.[8]
Contents |
The term "Dark Ages" was originally intended to denote the entire period between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance; the term "Middle Ages" has a similar motivation, implying an "intermediate" period between Classical Antiquity and the Modern era. In the 19th century scholars began to recognize the accomplishments made during the period, thereby challenging the image of the Middle Ages as a time of darkness and decay.[4] The term is now never used by scholars to refer to the entire medieval period;[6] when used, it is generally restricted to the Early Middle Ages.[1]
The rise of archaeology and other specialties in the 20th century has shed much light on the period and offered a more nuanced understanding of its positive developments.[8] Other terms of periodization have come to the fore: Late Antiquity, the Early Middle Ages, and the Great Migrations, depending on which aspects of culture are being emphasized. When modern scholarly study of the Middle Ages arose in the 19th century, the term "Dark Ages" was at first kept, with all its critical overtones. On the rare occasions when the term "Dark Ages" is used by historians today, it is intended to be neutral, namely, to express the idea that the events of the period often seem "dark" to us only because of the scarcity of artistic and cultural output,[9] including historical records, when compared with both earlier and later times.[6]
The idea of a Dark Age originated with Petrarch in the 1330s.[4][3] Writing of those who had come before him, he said: "Amidst the errors there shone forth men of genius; no less keen were their eyes, although they were surrounded by darkness and dense gloom".[10] Christian writers, including Petrarch himself,[3] had long used traditional metaphors of "light versus darkness" to describe "good versus evil". Petrarch was the first to co-opt the metaphor and give it secular meaning by reversing its application. Classical Antiquity, so long considered the "dark" age for its lack of Christianity, was now seen by Petrarch as the age of "light" because of its cultural achievements, while Petrarch's time, allegedly lacking such cultural achievements, was seen as the age of darkness.[3]
As an Italian, Petrarch saw the Roman Empire and the classical period as expressions of Italian greatness.[3] He spent much of his time travelling through Europe rediscovering and republishing classic Latin and Greek texts. He wanted to restore the classical Latin language to its former purity. Humanists saw the preceding 900-year period as a time of stagnation. They saw history unfolding, not along the religious outline of Saint Augustine's Six Ages of the World, but in cultural (or secular) terms through the progressive developments of classical ideals, literature, and art.
Petrarch wrote that history had had two periods: the classic period of the Greeks and Romans, followed by a time of darkness, in which he saw himself as still living. In around 1343, in the conclusion to his epic Africa, he wrote: "My fate is to live among varied and confusing storms. But for you perhaps, if as I hope and wish you will live long after me, there will follow a better age. This sleep of forgetfulness will not last for ever. When the darkness has been dispersed, our descendants can come again in the former pure radiance."[11] By the late 14th and early 15th centuries, humanists such as Leonardo Bruni believed they had attained this "better age", and that a third, Modern Age had begun. The age before their own, which Petrarch had labelled dark, thus became a "middle" age between the classic and the modern. The first use of the term "Middle Age" appeared with Flavio Biondo around 1439.
During the Protestant Reformation of the 16th and 17th centuries, Protestants wrote of the Middle Ages as a period of Catholic corruption. Just as Petrarch's writing was not an attack on Christianity per se – along with his humanism, he was deeply occupied with the search for God – neither was this an attack on Christianity: it was a drive to restore what Protestants saw as biblical Christianity.
The Magdeburg Centuries was a celebrated work of ecclesiastical history compiled by Lutheran scholars and published between 1559 and 1574. Devoting a volume to each century, it covered the first thirteen centuries of Christianity up to 1298. The work was virulently anti-Catholic. Identifying the Pope as the Antichrist, it painted a "dark" picture of church history after the fifth century, characterizing it as "increments of errors and their corrupting influences".
In response to the Protestants, Roman Catholics developed a counter-image, depicting the High Middle Ages in particular as a period of social and religious harmony, and not "dark" at all.[12] The most important Catholic reply to the Magdeburg Centuries was the Annales Ecclesiastici by Cardinal Caesar Baronius (Cesare Baronio). Baronius was a trained historian who kept theology in the background and produced a work distinctly more balanced than the Magdeburg Centuries. Acton called it "the greatest history of the Church ever written".[13] The Annales, covering the first twelve centuries of Christianity up to 1198, was published in twelve volumes between 1588 and 1607. It was in Volume X that Baronius coined the term "Dark Age" for the period between the end of the Carolingian Empire in 888[14] and the first inklings of the Gregorian Reform under Pope Clement II in 1046:
| “ | The new age (saeculum) which was beginning, for its harshness and barrenness of good could well be called iron (ferreum), for its baseness and abounding evil leaden (plumbeum), and moreover for its lack of writers (inopia scriptorum) dark (obscurum).[15] | ” |
Significantly, Baronius termed the age "dark" because of the paucity of written records capable of throwing light on it for the historian. For those other salient features of the age, the widespread violence, evil-doing and civil disorder, he used quite other epithets: "iron" and "leaden".
What Baronius meant when he spoke of a "lack of writers" may be illustrated by comparing the number of volumes in Migne's Patrologia Latina containing the work of Latin writers from the 10th century (the heart of the age he called "dark") with the number of volumes containing the work of writers from the preceding and succeeding centuries. (Of course, only a minority of these writers were historians.)
| Century | Migne Volume Nos | No. of Volumes |
|---|---|---|
| 7th | 80-88 | 8 |
| 8th | 89-96 | 7 |
| 9th | 97-130 | 33 |
| 10th | 131-138 | 7 |
| 11th | 139-151 | 12 |
| 12th | 162-191 | 39 |
| 13th | 192-217 | 25 |
There is a sharp drop from 33 volumes in the 9th century to just 7 in the 10th. The 11th century, with 12 volumes, evidences a certain recovery, and the 12th century, with 39, surpasses the 9th, something the 13th, with just 25 volumes, fails to do. There was indeed a "dark age", in Baronius's sense of a "lack of writers", between the Carolingian Renaissance in the 9th century and the beginnings, some time in the 11th, of what has been called the Renaissance of the 12th century. Furthermore, besides the "dark age" named by Baronius, there was an earlier one, for regarding "lack of writers" the 7th and 8th centuries are pretty much on a par with the 10th. In short, in Western Europe during the 1st millennium, two "dark ages" can be identified, separated by the brilliant but all too brief Carolingian Renaissance.
Baronius's "dark age" seems to have struck a chord with historians, for it was in the 17th century that the terms "dark age" and "dark ages" started to proliferate in the various European languages, with his original Latin term "saeculum obscurum" being reserved for the period he had applied it to. But while some historians, following Baronius's lead, used "dark age" neutrally to refer to a dearth of written records, others, in the manner of the early humanists and Protestants (and later the Enlightenment writers and their successors right up to the present day) used it pejoratively, lapsing into that lack of neutrality and objectivity that has quite spoilt the term for many modern historians.
The first British historian to use the term was most likely Gilbert Burnet, in the form "darker ages", which appears several times in his work in the last quarter of the 17th century. His earliest use of it seems to have been in 1679 in the "Epistle Dedicatory" to Volume I of The History of the Reformation of the Church of England, where he writes: "The design of the reformation was to restore Christianity to what it was at first, and to purge it of those corruptions, with which it was overrun in the later and darker ages."[17] He uses it again in 1682 in Volume II of the History, where he dismisses the story of "St George's fighting with the dragon" as "a legend formed in the darker ages to support the humour of chivalry".[18] Burnet had a Protestant axe to grind and his use of the term is invariably pejorative.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, in the Age of Enlightenment, many critical thinkers saw religion as antithetical to reason. For them the Middle Ages, or "Age of Faith", was therefore the polar opposite of the Age of Reason.[19] Kant and Voltaire, among others, were vocal in attacking the religiously dominated Middle Ages as a period of social regress, while Gibbon in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire expressed contempt for the "rubbish of the Dark Ages".[20] Yet just as Petrarch, seeing himself on the threshold of a "new age", was criticizing the centuries until his own time, so too were the Enlightenment writers criticizing the centuries until their own. These extended well after Petrarch's time, since religious domination and conflict were still common into the 17th century and beyond, albeit diminished in scope.
Consequently, an evolution had occurred in at least three ways. Petrarch's original metaphor of light versus dark had been expanded in time, implicitly at least. Even if the early humanists after him no longer saw themselves living in a dark age, their times were still not light enough for 18th-century writers who saw themselves as living in the real Age of Enlightenment, while the period covered by their own condemnation had been stretched to include what we now call Early Modern times. Additionally, Petrarch's metaphor of darkness, which he used mainly to deplore what he saw as a lack of secular achievements, was sharpened to take on a more explicitly anti-religious and anti-clerical meaning.
In spite of this, the term "Middle Ages", used by Biondo and other early humanists after Petrarch, was the name in general use before the 18th century to denote the period until the Renaissance. The earliest recorded use of the English word "medieval" was in 1827. The concept of the Dark Ages was also in use, but by the 18th century, it tended to be confined to the earlier part of this medieval period. The earliest entry for a capitalised "Dark Ages" in the Oxford English Dictionary is a reference in Henry Thomas Buckle's History of Civilization in England in 1857.[1] Starting and ending dates varied: the Dark Ages were considered by some to start in 410, by others in 476 when there was no longer an emperor in Rome, and to end about 800, at the time of the Carolingian Renaissance under Charlemagne, or to extend through the rest of the 1st millennium.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Romantics reversed the negative assessment of Enlightenment critics and launched a vogue for medievalism.[21] The word "Gothic" had been a term of opprobrium akin to "Vandal" until a few self-confident mid-18th-century English "Goths" like Horace Walpole initiated the Gothic Revival in the arts. This sparked off an interest in the Middle Ages, which for the following Romantic generation began to take on an idyllic image of the "Age of Faith". This image, in reaction to a world dominated by Enlightenment rationalism in which reason trumped emotion, expressed a romantic view of a Golden Age of chivalry. The Middle Ages were seen with romantic nostalgia as a period of social and environmental harmony and spiritual inspiration, in contrast to the excesses of the French Revolution and, most of all, to the environmental and social upheavals and sterile utilitarianism of the emerging industrial revolution.[22] The Romantics' view of these earlier centuries can still be seen in modern-day fairs and festivals celebrating the period with costumes and events.
Just as Petrarch had turned the meaning of light versus darkness, so had the Romantics turned the judgment of Enlightenment critics. However, the period idealized by the Romantics focused largely on what is now known as the High Middle Ages, extending into Early Modern times. In one respect, this was a reversal of the religious aspect of Petrarch's judgment, since these later centuries were those when the universal power and prestige of the Church was at its height. To many users of the term, the scope of the Dark Ages was becoming divorced from this period, denoting mainly the earlier centuries after the fall of Rome.
When modern scholarly study of the Middle Ages arose in the 19th century, the term "Dark Ages" was widely used by historians. In 1860, as John Barber notes, Burckhardt in The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy "formulated the classic contrast between the medieval period as the 'dark ages' and the achievements of the Renaissance as a period of revived antiquity that included literature, elegance and erudition".[23] However, the early 20th century saw a radical re-evaluation of the Middle Ages, and with it a calling into question of the terminology of darkness,[6] or at least of its pejorative use. Historiographer Denys Hay exemplified this when he spoke ironically of "the lively centuries which we call dark".[24]
When the term "Dark Ages" is used by historians today, therefore, it is intended to be neutral, namely, to express the idea that the events of the period often seem "dark" to us because of the paucity of historical records compared with both earlier and later times.[6] The term is used in this sense (often in the singular) to reference the Bronze Age collapse and the subsequent Greek Dark Ages,[1] the dark ages of Cambodia (ca. 1450-1863), and also a hypothetical Digital Dark Age which would ensue if the electronic documents produced in the current period were to become unreadable at some point in the future.[25] Some Byzantinists have used the term "Byzantine Dark Ages" to refer to the period from the earliest Muslim conquests to about 800 AD, [26] because there are no extant historical texts in Greek from this period, and thus the history of the Byzantine Empire and formerly Byzantine territories that were conquered by the Muslims is poorly understood and must be reconstructed from other types of contemporaneous sources, such as religious texts.[27] It is also known that very few Greek manuscripts were copied in this period, indicating that the seventh and eighth centuries, which were a period of crisis for the Byzantines because of the Muslim conquests, were also less intellectually active than other periods.[28] The term "dark age" is not restricted to the discipline of history. Since the archaeological evidence for some periods is abundant and for others scanty, there are also archaeological dark ages.[29]
Since the Late Middle Ages significantly overlap with the Renaissance, the term "Dark Ages" has become restricted to distinct times and places in medieval Europe. Thus the fifth and sixth centuries in Britain, at the height of the Saxon invasions, have been called "the darkest of the Dark Ages",[30] in view of the societal collapse that characterized the period and the consequent lack of historical records compared with either the Roman era before or the centuries that followed. Further south and east, the same was true in the formerly Roman province of Dacia, where history after the Roman withdrawal went unrecorded for centuries as Slavs, Avars, Bulgars, and others struggled for supremacy in the Danube basin, and events there are still disputed. However, at this time the Arab Empire is often considered to have experienced its Golden Age rather than Dark Age; consequently, this usage of the term must also differentiate geographically. While Petrarch's concept of a Dark Age corresponded to a mostly Christian period following pre-Christian Rome, the use of the term today applies mainly to those cultures and periods in Europe least Christianized and thus most sparsely covered by chronicles and other contemporary sources, nearly all written by Catholic clergy at this date.[citation needed]
However, from the mid-20th century onwards, other historians became critical of even this nonjudgmental use of the term for two main reasons.[6] First, it is questionable whether it is possible to use the term "Dark Ages" effectively in a neutral way; scholars may intend this, but it does not mean that ordinary readers will so understand it. Second, the explosion of new knowledge and insight into the history and culture of the Early Middle Ages, which 20th-century scholarship has achieved,[31] means that these centuries are no longer dark even in the sense of "unknown to us". To avoid the value judgment implied by the expression, many historians avoid it altogether.[32]
Other writers, however, while acknowledging these concerns, continue to use the term. A recently published history of German literature describes "the dark ages" as "a popular if ignorant manner of speaking" about "the mediaeval period", but then immediately (in the next sentence) goes on to use the term "dark age" in a carefully neutral sense for "the 14th and early 15th centuries" with specific reference to German literature.[33] This suggests that the term, when used neutrally and with precision, can still have a place in good historical writing, not least because there does not appear to be any alternative term with its particular technical meaning.
Films and novels often use the term "Dark Age" with its implied meaning of a time of backwardness. For instance, the popular movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail humorously portrays knights and chivalry, following in a tradition begun with Don Quixote. The 2007 television show The Dark Ages from The History Channel called the Dark Ages "600 years of degenerate, godless, inhuman behavior".[34]
The public idea of the Middle Ages as a supposed "Dark Age" is also reflected in misconceptions regarding the study of nature during this period. The contemporary historians of science David C. Lindberg and Ronald Numbers discuss the widespread popular belief that the Middle Ages were a "time of ignorance and superstition", the blame for which is to be laid on the Christian Church for allegedly "placing the word of religious authorities over personal experience and rational activity", and emphasize that this view is essentially a caricature.[35] For instance, a claim that was first propagated in the 19th century[36] and is still very common in popular culture is the supposition that all people in the Middle Ages believed that the Earth was flat. According to Lindberg and Numbers, this claim was mistaken: "There was scarcely a Christian scholar of the Middle Ages who did not acknowledge [Earth's] sphericity and even know its approximate circumference".[36][37] Ronald Numbers states that misconceptions such as "the Church prohibited autopsies and dissections during the Middle Ages", "the rise of Christianity killed off ancient science", and "the medieval Christian church suppressed the growth of natural philosophy" are examples of widely popular myths that still pass as historical truth, although they are not supported by current historical research.[38]
Quotations on the Dark Ages:
Contents |
|
Plural |
|
| Dark Ages: Online Roleplaying | |
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Nexon |
| Publisher(s) | Nexon |
| Designer(s) | US version: David Kennerly Korean version / server architecture: Nexon |
| Engine | Based on the Nexon DOOMVAS architecture |
| Release date | 2 August 1999 |
| Genre | Fantasy MMORPG |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
| Age rating(s) | |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Media | Online distribution |
| Input | Keyboard, Mouse |
| System requirements | Operating System: Microsoft Windows CPU: Pentium MMX 200Mhz or higher RAM:64MB RAM |
| Credits | Soundtrack | Codes | Walkthrough | |
Dark Ages: Online Roleplaying is an MMORPG, based on Celtic mythology, developed by Nexon, Inc (now known as Kru Interactive). It is loosely based on the Korean game called Legend of Darkness. The American version was developed by David Kennerly (no relation to the photographer), who based it somewhat on the works of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. The game originally thrived on player involvement in the management of the game and progression of the storyline, even going so far as allowing players control over in-game punishments and laws. Compared to most modern MMORPGs, there is fairly low playerbase. The graphics style is also somewhat older, giving up the recent lure of 3D for a more top-down-esque feel. Some players feel that the game must rise to the recently created standards of other games, while other players enjoy and prefer the simpler, less complex interface.
Contents |
There were no ill-stars during the days or nights of Hy-brasyl. Fruits were plentiful, and fulfilling, and beasts and men alike followed their nature.
Elders heard an angelic voice when it was their time. They parted from Hy-brasyl fondly; without regret. Who could regret the golden streets, towers, or unspoiled fruits and meats. On their hill, or in their home, they awaited with a patience known today only in Aosda. Death came gently, creeping as a slow, silky sheet over their eyes. The elders simply slipped beneath the waves of Hy-brasyl and drifted on fond memories in Grinneal.
A millennium passed. Some would say it was too short; yet it was the memory to last through all the ages. A man was found in the street, dead, cold. He had lived across the river Cionta. Hy-brasyl mourned his death, but wondered why he had died suddenly, violently, with a pale look across his face.
Thus began the investigation into the nature of the world. Elements were no longer partners for play and imagination, but were tools for discovery. Those that began the discipline, though, found no peace in the answer. Human magic was born; along with it men gained a fatal glimpse of the nature of things outside the local harmony.
Hy-brasyl split. People horded nature; for the power found therein. A few harnessed magic and ruled thereby. The new rulers ground stones into potions and advanced the art of war into more deadly swords. Agricultural flourished for the purpose of supporting armed assault; all to horde the power locked in the elements.
The first ill-star was recorded. A star was seen streaking the sky, and it was noted as a herald of doom. Perhaps such stars had scribed the sky before, yet never was one watched intently for signs of good or ill fortune for one's neighbor. Hideous altars were built toward the stars and toward the north, Kadath, where it is said resided the worldly home of the Gods.
Priests arose and foolishly succoured those of Kadath. Fulfilling their own prophecy of doom, men acquired, for the first time, the notice of that which dwells in Kadath. The priests whose prayers toward dark north were answered, went mad. Others may have, we shall never know, for they disappeared into the dark north forever. Wise men left Hy-brasyl, now corrupt, avoiding the corrupt men and the things with which they dealt.
Meanwhile, the magician's balance of nature was destroyed. Elements were employed to war with others. Air, Water, Earth, and Fire assaulted neighbors. Thus, Hy-brasyl drowned. Shadows crossed over the day, and all became as night. People turned to look but could not find light of day or star. A rumble emerged, as waves climbed higher, the water flooding the streets, the cities, and the tallest towers.
Only the fastest that fled the drowning city survived. They scored the land with their labor. Some stumbled onto or sought out the wise men who had left earlier. The people ignored the cause of chaos and sought the comfort that was Hy-brasyl in its glory.
A few of the less wise of the men became kings. Three lasting civilizations were born. Finach, presently known as Mileth. Sarnath, presently known as Gear Inbhir, and Niara. Crusades against neighbors arose, from which only the few in power or seclusion escaped toil, disease and death. Conquest became their religion. Elemental magic scattered the mountains and rained stardust on the heads of enemies.
Out of an obscene understanding of the elements was wrought a fifth element: darkness. From it, atrocious creatures were born. Some which died or vanished with only a lingering sense remaining, and others that the foolish summoner would wish that they had vanished. Their towns, too, would be eaten by the monstrocities.
Magic outside of the King's courts was generally prohibited thereafter. Kings, however, used the magic in their wars and in the imposition and sustenance of their luxury. The creatures became threats to neighboring enemies and internal opponents that challenged the throne.
The hideous creatures prospered under foolish reigns. These creatures were different from monsters known to the world. There was no orc or goblin that gripped the mind, and tore it like these beings did. The dubhaimid, as the were fearfully called, went through maddening motions, as if dancing to an obscene god. The dubhaim knew the secrets of life and death; which meant death for all mortal races. They created and stocked the underworld, land of terror and darkness. This was nothing like the final resting place, Grinneal of Hy-brasyl. Souls screamed without rest in the underworld of the dubhaimid.
Perhaps they screamed too loudly, or perhaps the thoughts of the living were too strong. The eighth aeon of Temuair was known. Wise men described it by the being that was born: Chadul, the ruler of the third realm: the underworld. The wise returned to the worship of Danaan, goddess of the light.
A war rose up of light and darkness, the armies amassed under Danaan or Chadul. Danaan convinced the other beings aid to her, and Chadul was defeated in three days. Chadul was held at bay at the darkness. Not without casualties. The mortal world was ravaged by hail, earthquakes, floods, fire, and the fingers of the dubhaimid.
The beings realized what was done and wept for mortality. Mortal spirits wandered the land, and slipped into the darkness of Chadul's realm. Darkness spread.
Survivors gathered and balkanized. The wisdom wars should have taught them did not survive. Hungry for a memory of Hy-brasyl glory, without the discipline to its creation in their heart, they used more of the darkness for conquest. Lord Tenes arose from them, forming a foolish alliance with six other lords and one inhuman thing. They called their alliance the League of Darkness.
They formed a pact called the Anaman. It was a foolish agreement between themselves and an agent of otherworldly chaos. They gained a thousand-year lifespan and the unification of Temuair. The pact was not purely evil. It allowed fresh souls to escape the realm of Chadul.
The League and outsiders divided Temuair into ten kingdoms, beginning the Dark Ages. Kings and Lords were tired of war. They gathered to try to create a pact of peace. They could not agree, out of greed. Tenes, though, got what he wanted.
A new lord stood against Tenes: Ainmeal. Ainmeal worshipped Danaan, and had the favor of the goddess. He swept through battle gracefully. Though not of the courtly upbringing of Tenes, Ainmeal exceeded in grace of wit and temperament. The sidh, the faerie races, were said to converse and aid Ainmeal in battle. A glow stood about him in battle. And a woe befell his adversaries.
The kings' magic power and armies came from ancient civilizations, and the territories they founded their kingdoms upon. No one wanted to give up their territory. Ainmeal gathered with three kings to found the new capital, Loures on the great plain: Ardmagh. Tenes, the ruler of the city, and his allies went to war. His notable allies were: Suomi, Massai, Feasgar, and Glaic. Allies dominated the beginning of the war. Ainmeal, however, did not back down. Ainmeal divided the allies against each other. Then Suomi joined Ainmeal's forces, ending the war. Now Loures ruled the empire, and Ainmeal was King of Ardmagh.
Originally, Ainmeal renamed Loures, To erase the memory of its previous reign, But it soon regained its older name when he left the throne to his son. Loures had achieved its might and craftsmanship from the artisans that had worked under Tenes, Not Ainmeal. When Ainmeal's son died, a shaman-empress was elected. This lineage was a puppet to the spirit that had existed before Ainmeal.
'Twas not till the fourth empress, Ealagad, the "Steel Swan," took power. She gathered the other nine kings. She was stronger than the dubhaimid. The dubhaimid dreamt of resurrection. It created many hideous monsters; which sought the ancient civilization: Aosda.
Seven beings led the spirits of Aosda to Temuair. These beings were determined to protect mortals. Thus they began the 100 years war against Darkness, for the sake of the light, and to complete the unfinished empire. It was the Shadows War.
Those united under Ealagad suffered defeat in the form of plagues of madness until magicians of Rucesion discovered the sixth element: light. The creatures of darkness, the dubhaimid, were defeated after another generation of war. Rich towns filled their streets with lamps containing a tear of this element to keep the darkness at bay.
Yet, every light casts a shadow....
(Excerpted from Seanchas Temuair, Vol. 1, in the Library of Loures)
Both Temuair and Dark Ages itself have significant timelines.
See Dark Ages (computer game) - Temuair timeline.
Dark Ages went through a long period of testing prior to its commercial release on 2 August 1999. Many of the aspects of the beta testing focused on both the client and server sides, as well as the complex political and religious systems designed by Kennerly. Furthermore, the focus of Atavism Age was to build a large community of people who might serve as stewards for the world itself when it became commercially available after the end of the testing phases - helping new players to become acclimated to Temuair's complex and deep roleplaying environment, as well as maintaining the fabric of the society through the political system.
Players who applied for any of the testing phases were required to submit an application focusing on their roleplaying experience, as well as what they felt they could do to aid the community.
Many of the initial testers for Dark Ages came from the player base of Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds.
There were three Atavism Ages, which could be considered true beta tests. As mentioned above, it is thought that the purpose of the Atavism Age was to "seed" the world with committed roleplayers, who would begin to contribute heavily to the fabric of Temuair through the contests. The contests themselves gave clout, a unit of political power in Dark Ages. This aimed at creating a functioning, sustainable meritocracy, populated by Aislings who had contributed to the culture of Temuair and gained enough clout to take the highest offices.
Atavism Age I began around 1 February 1999, admitting a significant number of applicants. It expanded the works of Chaos Age and began testing on social structures, such as the guiding and mentoring systems.
Atavism Age II began on 23 February 1999, giving continuity to the testing and development began in Atavism Age I.
Atavism Age III, the longest and largest of the Atavism ages, with over a thousand players admitted in many batches (previous phases only had one batch each), commenced on 19 March 1999, and lasted until the beginning of the commercial phase of the game, on 2 August 1999. Due to the unique and compelling nature of the political and religious systems, a large amount of player effort had gone into enacting laws to enforce various codes of behavior and what was considered to be the proper functioning of Temuairan society. These political developments, more than any other, would be put to the test during the commercial phase, when the existing player base seemed to double overnight.
The backstory essentially is that a long time past, the people called Tuatha de Danaan ("Children of Danaan") arrived in the lands of Temuair, meaning Earth-Sea in the Tuathan tongue. There was formed the civilization called Hy-brasyl. It was a peaceful time, in harmony with nature. For the first time after a millennium of peace a man is found murdered, and exploration into the outside world begins. With this comes the harnessing of the elements for magickal power.
Along with this exploration, Kadath, the worldly home of the Gods, is re-discovered (it had been first discovered in an earlier civilization called Aosda). Dark altars and temples are constructed, and the Priests of these Dark Gods go crazy in their search for Godly knowledge. In this madness, Hy-brasyl is drowned, with the death of all those who know the forbidden knowledge.
Over 300 years go by until the knowledge is regained, and along with the four other elements (Fire, Earth, Water, Wind), a fifth is discovered: Darkness. With this discovery come the Dubhaimid, the dark ones. Formed by the Dark God Chadul, these dark forces terrorize Temuair. The wise amongst the Tuatha de Danaan return to the worship of the Light Goddess Danaan, who enters into the Great War with Chadul.
Many years later, the Six Lords of Temuair meet to form an unholy Pact with Chadul. Led by Tenes, King of Ardmagh, the Anaman Pact is formed, granting each of the Lords a 1000 year lifespan and the unity of Temuair. In the ensuing war, Danaan's chosen Paladin, Ainmeal, fights against Tenes in battle and wins, ending another dark threat. Ainmeal renames Ardmagh to "Loures."
Again much time of peace passes, until the 4th Emperess of Loures, Ealagad, comes to power. She seeks to rekindle the power of Chadul and does so, restoring the Dubhaimid to Temuair. Danaan again intervenes, this time by sacrificing Herself in order to defeat Chadul for the final time. With the end of this Shadows War, the first of the Aislings (Dreamers) is born, free from his old mundane life, and making a difference in the new Atavism Age.
Dark Ages time is approximately eight times faster than Earth time. It is measured in the following ways:
You may also see "Deochs" called "Grinneals" and "Danaanas." The time of Aosda until the coming of the Tuatha de Danaan is given in Grinneals. The time from the coming of the Tuatha de Danaan until the first Aisling is given in Danaans. Since that time (the release of the game), years are measured in Deochs.
Deoch time in Temuair does, in fact, have a basis in real time. The "epoch" of Deoch time (Deoch 1, 1st Moon, 1st Day) is thought to commence upon the first deployment of the Dark Ages game servers. In 1999, Nexon suggested that Deoch time began on 31 December 1998 at 04:00:03 AM GMT. Although time officially moves at 8 times Earth time, calculations using this as a basis are often significantly incorrect. An experientally-derived value of approximately 7.998 times Earth time, combined with the Temuairan Epoch, can regularly predict time in Temuair to within 16 Temuairan hours (2 Earth hours), and is used as the basis for the Aosdic clock.
Dark Ages was given two unique gifts amongst the "Legend of Darkness"-based games by David Kennerly. The first is religion. The game sports eight different Temples, each run entirely by a clergy made up of the players. In addition, five of the gods are meant to represent the dominant attribute of one of the five paths in the game.
There are five classes, in addition to one, Peasant, which is not really a class in its own right, but rather a precursor to the main five. There exists an interesting form of 'subpathing', also. Once a character reaches level 99, assuming they aren't a Peasant, they have a choice to make. There is the option of 'subbing' (subpathing), whereby they will change to a different class and return to level 1, having to rise in levels again but retaining the skills and spells of their previous class, typically making them more powerful. Alternatively there is the option of 'going pure', staying the same path at level 99. Once level 99, a character subbed or pure may become a Master, giving them access to new equipment, skills and spells, areas, etc. A pure character will receive more benefits after Mastering than a subbed character, which is the desired incentive for a character to sacrifice extra skills and spells by 'going pure'.
One of the other prizes given to Dark Ages by David Kennerly is the political system. At the time of this writing, only two towns have a political system. In these towns, players may hold the following offices:
Respected Citizen is not a true political position. It requires 10 votes, and it requires that you have mentored at least one person. Respected Citizens gain a variety of abilities, including making people citizens of your town, re-entering the Tutorial as a Tutorial Mentor, dying armor, and crafting armor.
Guard is a rank where the holder enforces the town's laws. Guards must have been a Respected Citizen for at least one term, and require 25 votes. They may banish any person from their town for 24 hours. They may also sponsor others to run for political office. They wear a green or blue tabard, depending on what town they are from.
Guard Captain is a rank slightly above Guard. Guard Captains must have four terms of Guard, and require 50 votes. They have the same abilities as a Guard, and wear the same tabard. However, Captains also wear a metal helmet.
Judge is the highest executive rank. Judges must have held four terms of Guard Captain and require 100 votes. They may hold trials, which is where citizens will appeal banishments and exilements. These trials involve a jury, prosecutor, and defendant. They may also sponsor others to run for political office. Judges wear a fluffy robe colored with their town's color.
Demagogue is the lowest rank of the Legislative Branch. Demagogues must have held four terms of Respected Citizen, and require 50 votes. They may make the town's laws, and also may exile people from their town permanently. They also have the ability to call down the Sgath on serious criminals, which is a monster that will kill them and make them lose their items. Demagogues may also sponsor others for political office. Demagogues wear a full-body robe of their town's color.
Burgess is the highest rank of the Legislative Branch. Burgesses must have held four terms of Demagogue and require 200 votes. They have the same power as Demagogues, but are often granted responsibility and in-game power by the town's laws. Burgesses are the only officials that can enact a barment from politics.
Outside of the towns, there are two other forces that keep the basic law (Terms of Service violations only). The ones that do the actual ToS-enforcement are a group called the Rangers. They can be recognized by their orange tabards. They have the ability to jail people for violating the ToS. Once you reach a certain number of arrests, you are automatically blocked from the game.
The other force is the Knights, who act as Nexon's agents in the game. They handle player requests and ideas. However, they also report extreme abuses to Nexon directly. BUT all ToS violations outside of the player-run towns should ALWAYS be submitted to the Rangers before the Knights.
.
There are seven types of in-game contests held in order to recognize the players. There are four levels of winning. In order from least to greatest, these are: Clave, Village, Folk (Kingdom), Aisling.
The manner in which the contests are judged has changed a few times over the course of the game. Originally, these contests were run by Nexon, and the players submitted their entries by e-mail. Voting was done exclusively by Nexon, and winners would be reported.
The next contest system allowed for player voting. Contest entries were put up on the Dark Ages website, and any previous contest winner could vote on an entry by logging into the site and selecting an entry.
The third system was a modification to the second: instead of voting on the website, a new building was created in the Mileth College where entrants would post their works on a message board, and previous award winners would vote through an NPC. These contests were run by the then-recently-created Knights.
Currently, contests are run through a process of education. Whenever a person attends a class at the Mileth College, they have a chance at receiving credit in the form of a legend mark (Educated - 1 and so on). Once five of these marks are received, the person can post a contest entry in the contest room at the Mileth college on any subject that he wishes. Previous award winners give their recommendations on the appropriate rank of award which is then tallied by a Contest Host (Naze for Biography, History, Literature, Lore, Philosophy and Poetry; Lenoa for Art) and submitted to KRU Interactive for approval. The final decision is made autonomously and usually coincides with the votes.
Winning a contest can have numerous benefits in the forms of experience, clout, a legend mark, and money. The amount of experience, clout and money is based on which rank you attain. These ranks are used to help out in other areas of the game, for example the religious system. Those who achieve Village recognition or higher can teach classes at the Mileth College. Award winners who choose to teach are rewarded for their contribution to the community with a randomly afforded "Tentative Noble Garment" legend mark, which may be exchanged in Loures for various noble garments. With enough of these credits, one can create a Loures Lord or Lady, which are decorative robes. This garment is accompanied by a legend mark, "Lord/Lady of the Arts". The different types of contests are:
Visual works based on characters or places in Temuair. Music was previously also accepted under Art. Awards in this category are "Abel Clave Artist", "Undine Village Artist", "Rucesion Kingdom Artist" and "Aisling Artist". Examples are Glioca's Vigil or Mor Strioch Bais.
Biographies written of players' characters or mundanes. Awards in this category include "Mileth Clave/Village/Kingdom Persona" (Note: There is no Aisling recognition in this category). Examples are The Breath of Heaven or Brothaigh.
Tales of Temuair's history. This is the true inspiration of history, and is entirely player-created. Awards in this category include "Undine Clave Historian", "Suomi Village Historian", "Piet Kingdom Historian" and "Aisling Historian". Examples are The Tuatha de Danaan,the Aosda and the Mag Mell? or The Diary of Teirsaes.
Stories that are set within and evoke the themes of Temuair. Awards in this category include "Mileth Clave/Village/Kingdom Bard" and "Aisling Bard". Examples are In the Name of the Goddess or Fireflies.
Works that archive knowledge of Temuair. Awards in this category include "Mileth Clave Lorekeeper", "Suomi Village Lorekeeper", "Rucesion Kingdom Lorekeeper" and "Aisling Lorekeeper". Examples are General Glossary of Terms in Temuair or Beastiary of Temuair.
Memories (Screenshots) that capture the essence of Temuair. This award is no longer available. Awards in this category include "Piet Clave Memory" and "Piet Village Memory". No examples of Memory works remain.
Theories on the theology and other mystical elements of Temuair. Awards in this category include "Undine Clave/Kingdom Philosopher", "Suomi Village Philosopher" and "Aisling Philosopher". Examples are Nature of the Dark Masters or The Society of the Dubhaimid.
Poetry inspired by Temuair. Awards in Poetry are the same as Literature. Examples are The Eulogy or Temuairan Nights.
   | "Decline and fall of the Roman myth" - Decline and fall of the Roman myth - Times Online |
| | "Dark Ages" - Dark Ages (European history) -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia |
| | ''The Dark Ages'' - The Dark Ages - History.com |
| | the History Channel - The History Channel - Home Page |
 | Myths and Truths in Science and Religion: A historical perspective - The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion - Lectures |
| | link title - Example Web Page |
| | discussion thereon - The Dark Ages in History Channel |
|
|
Wikis
Quiz
Misc
Search
