Dark Age

Dark Age
	The Dark
Information
Dates	64—450 AR
Length	386 years
Plane	Dominaria (Terisiare)
Sets	Fallen Empires, The Dark
Storyline Sources
	The Dark, The Gathering Dark, The Time of Dark
Notable Events
	First Talite Crusade, Siege of Penregon, Second Talite Crusade, Founding the Conclave of Mages, Fall of Penregon, Thousandfold Refraction of Rabiah, Unification of Taysir, Fall of the Sarpadian Empires, Iwset-Jehesic War, Formation of the Shard of Twelve Worlds, Battle of Pitdown, Fall of the Conclave of Mages, Tivadar's Crusade
Timeline

The Dark Age, also known simply as The Dark, was a long and troubled period of Dominaria’s history that followed the devastating Sylex Blast of 64 AR and lasted until around 450 AR, when the Ice Age fully took hold of the plane.^[1] Stretching across nearly four centuries, it was remembered as an era of collapse and survival, when the great civilizations of Terisiare disintegrated and their remnants struggled against both the natural world and each other.

Description

The Dark Age gained its name from the near-extinguishing of magic’s light, as the great traditions of spellcasting and artifice that had once defined the Brothers' War were suppressed, outlawed, or deliberately forgotten.^[2] In the aftermath of the detonation of the Golgothian Sylex, the climate of Dominaria shifted dramatically. Summers grew shorter, winters harsher, and storms became frequent and destructive.^[3] The population, already shattered by centuries of war, famine, and magical devastation, dwindled further as famine spread and formerly fertile regions turned barren.

Cities that had once been beacons of culture and power fell into ruin. The Fall of Penregon, the proud capital of Argive, became one of the most visible symbols of this decline, its walls and towers consumed by the creeping advance of frost from the northern ridges of Terisiare. Other nations and empires, weakened by infighting or natural disaster, collapsed entirely, leaving behind only scattered settlements, warring city-states, or fading memories in song and story.

The turmoil of the age was not only environmental but also social and spiritual. Quaking before the apparent wrath of the natural and the divine, people turned to zealous leaders and authoritarian rulers for protection. The Church of Tal emerged as a dominant force in Terisiare, preaching against the destructive hubris of the artificers and condemning the study of magic. Talite zealots waged crusades to eradicate lingering remnants of arcane practice, while secular rulers enforced harsh laws against spellcasters. Nevertheless, clandestine circles of mages continued their studies in secrecy, preserving fragments of knowledge that might otherwise have been lost.

Factionalism defined the age. Local rulers warred with neighbors over dwindling resources, and persecution became commonplace. The people of Terisiare fractured into competing tribes, city-states, and faiths, with each turning against the others in cycles of betrayal and conquest. The era was thus remembered as a time of corruption and persecution, an age when despair seemed to overshadow hope and when the end of the world felt imminent. Yet, despite the hardships, seeds of endurance and resilience survived, laying the groundwork for the alliances and struggles of later centuries.