Timeline of the Sundering
From the Age Before to the Rise of Elian
Echo Kingdom Lore File Timeline of the Sundering
Prepared for the Hall of Echoes, High Archive Division
Cycle 0 – The Age Before
All was one. The Echo and the Flame coexisted in harmony; twin forces bound in cosmic balance. Magic was not channeled — it simply was. The Ancients walked among their creations, and the Luminous Eclipse remained unbroken.
Cycle 1 – The First Severance
A rift formed in the Echo — subtle, slow, inevitable. Scholars would later name it the First Fracture. The Ancients vanished. The Codex of Flame and Whisper was sealed beneath the Evervault, and the Eclipse began to flicker.
Cycle 2 – Rise of the Three Courts
From the collapse of the unified realm rose three competing powers:
The Dawn Court: guardians of light and law
The Shrouded Court: wielders of forbidden memory
The Verdant Court: keepers of nature’s forgotten voice
Each claimed dominion over a fragment of the Echo.
Cycle 3 – The Binding of Magic
The Echo grew unstable. In response, the Courts signed the Sundering Accord. Magic was fractured and sealed into arcane channels. No longer free, it was now bound to chosen vessels — a tradition that would give rise to the Echo-Bound.
Cycle 4 – The Era of Silence
A time of uneasy peace. Most living beings forgot the truth of the Eclipse. The Verdant Court vanished into the hidden groves. The Dawn Court ruled the skies, while the Shrouded kept the memories of what once was — and what was coming.
Cycle 5 – The Awakening of Elian
A child born under an echo storm in the outlands is marked by both light and shadow. Elian’s existence destabilizes the arcane seals. Prophecies once thought lost begin to awaken. The Codex whispers again.
Cycle 6 – Return of the Eclipse
The Luminous Eclipse — now active — begins to align. Ancient machines, sunken vaults, and forgotten names re-emerge. Magic surges in chaotic patterns. Echo storms return across the realm.
Cycle 7 – The Breaking
The Courts fracture. War spreads. Elian, Lysara, and the Whisperbound seek to reclaim the Codex before it falls into the hands of the Hollow Queen. The balance of the Echo tilts once again — not toward harmony, but toward revelation.
“The Echo remembers what we have forgotten. It waits — not to save us, but to test us.”
— Fragment from the recovered Codex, Line 17:1