Age of Three
The Age of Three is the name given to a period of Dadauar's history when the world was dominated by three large, powerful empires: the Galgudi, the Hemesei, and the Myquitar. The Myquitar was the first of the three to rise to power, but only by a margin of about a hundred and fifty years; the ascent of the three empires was nearly enough simultaneous for them to all gain considerable power in their own corners of the world before coming into close contact. At the empires' peak, they controlled between them more than 98% of Dadauar's land surface.
The relationship between the three empires was complex. There was certainly considerable rivalry; all three of the empires were sufficiently expansionistic to covet the territories of the other two. But the fact that there were three created something of a balance; no one of the empires dared make too hasty a move against another lest that open its flanks to an attack by the third. An uneasy peace prevailed between the three, with coöoperation in some aspects but open competition in others. Thanks to some skirmishes and diplomatic negotiations, some of the borders between the empires fluctuated a little, but for more than five hundred years there were no major changes in Dadauar's political boundaries.
Timeline
The Age of Three is generally considered to have begun in about the year -4200, with the ascent of the Galgudi Empire, the last of the three to rise to power. Some scholars prefer to define the beginning of the Age not with the moment all three empires were first in existence, but with the first time all three were in contact and consistently interacting, which they place at around -4100 or later. Still, the Age of Three was definitely underway before the year -4000.
The end of the Age of Three is somewhat less controversial; as soon as one of the three empires fell, the Age was over. The first of the empires to fall was the Hemesei (though the Myquitar followed very shortly thereafter), at about the year -3200, so it is then that the Age of Three had its termination. Altogether, then, the Age of Three lasted about a thousand years, or at least eight hundred by the most conservative measurements.
Other Empires
Though the Age of Three was dominated by the three empires that give it its name, these were not the only important powers throughout the age. A number of small and short-lived empires rose and fell during the Age of Three, only one of them, the Deradian Empire, managing to occupy significant territory in more than one continent. The first other empire to attain a significant and lasting presence during the Age of Three was the Uruchathian Empire, which became prominent about -3600. Though it never became as large or as important as the three main empires, it managed to snatch up most of the few territories that remained (or had become) independent, The very fact that the Uruchathian Empire was able to exist in the shadow of the three great empires many historians take as strong evidence that those three empires were by this time already in decline.
The death blow came largely at the hands of the Kimmini Empire, which formed originally from some provinces that had recently declared independence from the Hemesei Empire. The Kimmini Empire nibbled at the edges of the other empires as well, but it was the Hemesei that was most harmed by it, and that fought the hardest against it. While the Hemesei empire was distracted by the Kimmini, however, the Uruchathian Empire took the opportunity to seize some of the beleaguered empire's territory for itself. Both the Galgudi and the Myquitar Empires allied with the Hemesei Empire to defend it from its attackers, but this only meant that what would have been a three-way struggle turned into a great war that encompassed all five empires and all their territory, now called the Golden War. The fight went poorly for the old empires, set in their ways and slow to react to new tactics, and all three were essentially dealt the death blow in the Golden War, even if the Galgudi Empire did linger on for a few centuries as a shadow of its former self.
Important Events
While the Age of Three gets its name from the political structure during the period, there were, of course, many significant events that happened over this time aside from the formation and dissolution of empires. It was during the Age of Three that the poet Jijikar lived and produced his many "Meditations", and this age also saw the life of the philosopher Opo Ndene, whose teachings remain influential in many quarters. Near the middle of the Age of Three the ruins of Gathalare were discovered, the most complete archeological site dating to the Empire of Eathelal. The Smiling Gods, who would play an important role a thousand years later in the founding of the Coves, and who would come to greater prominence a millennium after that with the Bout for the Mantle, first entered Dadauar late in the Age of Three from their mysterious private home.
Perhaps the most significant event during the Age of Three, from a modern standpoint, occurred just near its end, as a group of mages who called themselves the Congregate rose to power in the nation of Ralmark. The Congregate gained their power by siphoning dream energy from its populace, somewhat similarly to the way that the modern onirarchs get their power. Though the Congregate didn't last long, the former member who ended up ruling the nation after it dissolved, Honar, continued the process the Congregate had pioneered of taking the dream energy of his subjects. Because of this, Ralmark under the Congregate and especially under Honar and his descendants is often considered the first true (albeit short-lived) onirarchy of Dadauar, even though after the fall of the Honaric dynasty their methods ended with them, and there wasn't another onirarchy for about three thousand years.
Relics
All three empires of the Age of Three left some vestiges of their existence that still remain today. There are also some extant structures and other traces from that period, however, that owe their existence not so much to any of the individual empires as to their cooperation or rivalry. The Grand Agora, built to house a huge central market where representatives from all the empires could trade goods, still stands in northern Burcady, in the modern nation of Bhelan, though it is no longer used for its old purposes, its interior now a patchwork of shops, housing, and public spaces. The Monument of Harmony, built to commemorate a formal alliance between the three empires, still stands and now occupies a prominent place on the grounds of the Alliance Hall. Last, its southern terminus not far from the Agora, the abortive Wondrous Tunnel that the Galgudi and Myquitar Empires tried to build to connect the continents of Burcady and Matuni still exists, the enchantments placed on it back then still keeping it free of water after all these years, even if it never did extend all the way under the Luruga Strait as intended.
Some of the empire's relics are less tangible, as well. In its defense against encroachment by the Galgudi Empire, the nation of Nathul developed the métier of the crossman, still used among many inhabitants of the undeveloped nations in that part of the world. Certain scholars, in an attempt to facilitate cooperation and comprehension between the empires, attempted to create an artifical language called Ghom that they hoped could become a universal lingua franca. Ghom never really caught on at the time, but has proved surprisingly long-lived, with some enthusiasts even today evangelizing for its use. On the other hand, born from the empires' rivalry was the genre of patriotica, lengthy formulaic poems specifically intended to extol and glorify the homelands of their writers through glowing tales of the land's heroes and mention of its virtues. Patriotica have gained a renewed popularity today in some onirarchies that seek to foster a sense of nationalism in their citizens, notably Muligatin, Noric, and the Free Republic of Avelax.