Palaeolithic Period

The Palaeolithic Period spans from roughly 200,000 years ago to 12,000 BC. It is divided into two broad epochs: the Lower Palaeolithic, covering the stretch from 200,000 to approximately 40,000 years ago; and the Upper Palaeolithic, beginning thereafter and continuing until the dawn of agriculture and early civilisation. Throughout the Lower period, the only known sentient species inhabiting the Earth of the game world were members of the human race, who dwelt primarily in the regions of East Africa. It was not until the late stages of this era that the first primeval elves appeared, their earliest traces emerging in the eastern expanse of the Anduin region, deep in the Siberian frontier, sometime between 50,000 and 45,000 BC.

With the arrival of the Upper Palaeolithic, further divergence in sentient species begins to appear. Though exact dates are uncertain, it is widely believed that the earliest svirfneblin, or deep gnomes, began to manifest beneath the crust of Europe between 30,000 and 27,000 BC, forming isolated pockets of underground communities far from the surface world. Roughly ten millennia later, between 20,000 and 18,000 BC, the first "cave humanoids" began to emerge across the uplands and valleys surrounding the Kodar Mountains, likely radiating outward from hidden grottoes and fissures. These included primitive strains of bugbears, ogres and orcs, each developing in semi-isolated contact zones.

Somewhat later, around 15,000 to 14,000 BC, the appearance of more adaptive and communal species such as hobgoblins, goblins and xvarts is recorded, each spreading through cave networks and hills, often following in the wake of the larger and more violent races. These peoples formed early tribal societies, establishing the groundwork for the territorial and martial rivalries that would define much of the prehistoric epoch.

Around 14,000 BC, the first stirrings of dwarven civilisation took form, said to be shaped and animated from the flesh of the primordial god Ymir. This being is held in myth to be the forebear not only of the dwarves, but also of the "jotnar", the vast and chaotic race of giants that likewise began to appear during this age. These early dwarves were few and scattered, forming deep ancestral halls carved into the roots of the mountains, while the first giants roamed the glacial plains and tundras, their crude strength making them dominant in open wilderness. Both races, though distinct, are bound in legend to the same divine origin, and their emergence marks a new complexity in the interplay between mortals and the remnants of primordial forces.

The world of the Palaeolithic was shaped repeatedly by glacial expansion and retreat. While many ice ages swept the Earth across this long period, it is the most recent — lasting from roughly 25,000 to 12,000 BC — that is most clearly remembered and preserved in geological and magical record. This final glacial period brought about massive ice sheets, dramatic climate shifts and the gradual transformation of terrain that forced migrations, shaped early cultural behaviours and formed natural barriers that would later define the boundaries of ancient realms.

Human Culture

Main Article: Humans in the Palaeolithic Period

Humans as we know them first appeared in Africa at the beginning of the Lower Palaeolithic, though proto-humanoid groups had already spread across what is now China, Sumatra, Java and the Mediterranean. Anatomically modern humans demonstrated improved cognition, tool use and early artistic expression. Between 70,000 and 60,000 BC, they began to migrate out of Africa, spreading across the continents as hunter-gatherers, relying on fishing, stone tools and the creation of cave art.

For a time, these humans co-existed with the neanderthals, occupying overlapping territories and often competing for the same resources. Evidence of conflict exists and over time neanderthals declined sharply, though isolated bands of "cavemen" persist in the most remote and unwelcoming parts of the world. While unlikely, the timeline has led some to speculate that neanderthals driven underground may have laid a cultural foundation for early svirfneblin development.

The Upper Palaeolithic marked a period of innovation in tool technology and symbolic thought, with elaborate cave paintings, carvings and figurines emerging in scattered regions. Human migration reached Polynesia by 40,000 BC and the New World by 15,000 to 16,000 BC, forming the global spread known today. Despite this reach, populations remained small; following the peak of the last ice age, total human numbers may have dropped to as low as 30,000. Throughout this era, human culture remained shamanistic and animistic, rooted in spirit worship and natural magic.

Elven Culture

Main Article: Ancient Beringia

The first elves in the game world were of extra-planar origin, hailing from the Land of Silvanie on Outer Earth, a vast flat disc drifting through the Astral Sea. Though they too were hunter-gatherers, legend holds that four great grey elves led a single tribe — known as the Anduin People — from Silvanie to Earth around 35,000 years ago.

They arrived as refugees, pursued across the planes by the drow elves, who would not enter the world themselves until well after the Palaeolithic had ended. Under the leadership of the Anduin, elvish civilisation flourished. Relations with early humans were peaceful, with the two peoples exchanging tools and practices. Archery is widely credited to elvish ingenuity, while human shamanic beliefs played a role in shaping early grey elvish magical thought.

This cooperation led to the rise of the ancient elvish kingdom of Beringia, which endured for five millennia before being destroyed during the last glacial period. Its fall ushered in a long elvish dark age. Of the legendary “nine tribes” of Beringia, eight survived the cataclysm. The ninth — the Grey Tribe — was lost. It is said they held the ice at bay for twenty-five generations until a final disaster overwhelmed them. Some believe the Grey Shamans attempted to return to Outer Earth in their last moments and perished in the attempt, for no trace of them has been found beyond the world.

In the middle of the Upper Palaeolithic, the surviving elvish tribes crossed into the New World as the glaciers receded and opened the land bridge that once formed part of Beringia. A few grey elves remained behind, preserving the last traditions and magical teachings of their lost kin. Other tribes spread out across the continent. Those who settled in the cold northern reaches became known as "winter elves," while those who took root in the deciduous forests surrounding the Mississippi valley and Great Lakes became the wood elves. These groups mingled with and guided human tribes, sharing their knowledge and shaping culture. Like their human counterparts, their belief systems were animistic during this era, but by the end of the Palaeolithic, a pantheon of ancestral elvish gods had begun to form.

Svirfneblin Culture

Main Article: Svirfneblin History

These subterranean peoples began establishing themselves in the deep caverns of the earth during the early Upper Palaeolithic, living in such isolation that venturing to the surface occurred perhaps only once in a generation. Within the safety of stone, they cultivated mining and smelting techniques for base metals — an early mastery of underground industry that would later be inherited and refined by the gnomes, a biological offshoot that emerged much later. Spiritually, the svirfneblin followed a strict monotheistic tradition, venerating a great bear god said to slumber beneath the mountains. As the Palaeolithic era drew to a close, their long association with earthbound elemental beings brought about the first awakenings of rudimentary magical practice, rooted more in instinct and communion than formal study.

Kodar Gate Cultures

With the advance of the great glacial ice sheet across Eurasia, a spatial rupture occurred in the region of the eastern Kodar range, opening what came to be known as the Kodar Gate: an Astral Gate linking Outer Earth to the Prime Material Plane. Through this rift, over a span of generations, waves of non-human peoples — primarily of orcish and goblinish descent — crossed into the world and spread rapidly across the vast Asian continent.

Emerging as hundreds of distinct tribes, these peoples established a sweeping network of non-human cultures that extended from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific. Many of these early societies developed into complex, highly organised groups with systems of leadership, oral tradition and ritual warfare. Though primitive in appearance, their cohesion and numbers would one day pose existential threats to human civilisation in later ages. Their spiritual life centred around totemism and the worship of powerful animal spirits, which guided their tribal identities and encoded moral and social law.

Dwarven Culture

Main Article: Dwarven History

According to dwarven myth, the Kodar Gate was ultimately sealed by the primordial being Ymir, three millennia after his first emergence into the world, around 17,500 BC. During this time, Ymir wandered across the lands of the Prime Material Plane, sowing the beginnings of the giantish clans in many far-flung regions. Having seen the world in its fullness, he came to believe that a great sacrifice was required to bring forth a new order of beings. By closing the gate, Ymir knowingly provoked the wrath of three lesser gods — Odin, Vili and Ve. These brothers, driven by ambition and fear of what Ymir's actions might mean, slew him. His death unleashed a catastrophic flood, the outpouring of his blood warming the world and triggering the retreat of the glacial ice, effectively ending the Ice Age. In the wake of the deluge, a vast lake was formed in the heart of central Asia, a body of water said to mark the exact site of Ymir's fall.

Moved by guilt, Odin gathered the essence of Ymir's spilled blood and, with his breath, gave life to the first dwarves. Together with Vili and Ve, he imparted deep wisdom and resilience into their being — gifts that would later be shared in part with humans, gnomes and others. The dwarves, emerging fully formed from the red-soaked stone by the great lake, quickly established themselves as a force of endurance and might. As their civilisation grew, they swept across the land in conquest, waging bitter wars that shattered the orcish, goblinish and hobgoblinish peoples who had once dominated the region. Though steeped in legend, this tale is held as historical truth in the game world, shaping both dwarven identity and the cosmological understanding of the mortal races.

The dwarves of this period were insular, self-sufficient and rarely strayed far from the caverns and valleys they claimed. Most lived in fortified rock chambers above underground streams, tending goats and herds of mountain sheep, while making forays to gather minerals, fuel and ice from the surrounding highlands.

They were early masters of stone and fire, pioneering the working of bronze and refining the use of volcanic glass and hardened flint long before other surface races had moved beyond crude chipped tools. Their lives were shaped by a strict order of tradition and lineage, guided by the smith-priests — revered figures who preserved the memory of Ymir and performed rites of metalcraft and burial. Their worship focused on the forces of fire and stone, with sacred forges standing at the heart of each settlement. The dwarves believed the mountain itself was alive, and that the working of stone and ore was a form of communion with the divine.

See also,
Elvish History
Mesolithic Period
World History