During the Age of Monsters, history recounts that …
- lf refugees fleeing the devastation of Xen’drik settled in Aerenal, birthing the Undying Court, the Aereni, and the Tairnadal.
- Goblins and orcs dominated Khorvaire, while dwarves, dragonborn, gnomes, and halflings had a smaller presence and impact on the continent.
- The goblinoid Empire of Dhakaan flourished for ten thousand years, then was destroyed when the daelkyr invaded the Material Plane. Though the daelkyr were defeated, their seeds of madness destroyed the goblinoid civilization.
- The daelkyr conflict destroyed the dwarven Realm Below.
After Xen’drik was shattered by the dragons, they remained isolated in Argonnessen. Human civilization was slowly taking shape on Sarlona, but the most dynamic cultures of this period were forming on and around the continent of Khorvaire. The elves founded a new homeland on Aerenal— “Aeren’s rest” in Elvish—instituting the Undying Court and establishing the cultures that would become the Aereni and the Tairnadal. On Khorvaire, the goblinoids rose to prominence, founding the Empire of Dhakaan approximately 16,000 years ago. Over the course of the next ten thousand years, it expanded to dominate all of central Khorvaire. The Dhakaani slowly drove all of their competitors to the fringes— the mountains, the wastes, the marches. They clashed with the dragonborn of what’s now Q’barra, the dwarves of the Realm Below, and Tairnadal explorers, but none could stop the advance of Dhakaan. However, when the daelkyr led armies of aberrations through portals from Xoriat, the Empire of Dhakaan was shattered— along with the Realm Below, the vast subterranean civilization of the dwarves (see chapter 4). Though this bitter conflict came to an end when Dhakaani champions and Gatekeeper druids sealed the daelkyr in Khyber, the damage inflicted was irreparable. In addition to creating monsters such as dolgaunts and doppelgangers, the daelkyr unleashed more subtle curses and strains of madness. One of these eroded the connection to the goblinoids’ shared