2400 Bp (theory Spam I Guess)

I haven’t made a post in a while since, it's easier to just scream in the lore discord, but I figured this might be worth doing, since I haven’t really seen this topic mentioned on the forums too much. I’d assume you’ve probably all done / watched the 1.20 Gavel Discoveries by now, especially the ones in Gylia Plains, here is a few of them:

“Just yesterday two rocks fell from the skies, right into my backyard. It goes without saying that the cataclysm from a thousand years ago has caused the area to be forever unstable at this point. But I am not one of those who abandon everything at sight. These rocks - they glow with mystical energies. Something about them compels me to study them. And as a scholar, I feel like that would be my duty. I shall record my findings in this log in hopes that if I were to perish the generations of the future would use my knowledge of these rocks for good. (Mark of the Meteors)”

“The Goliaths of Gylia, as they are named, have slumbered outside of our cities with no truth to their origins. Overwhelming amounts of historians have tried to figure out their mystery, to no avail. Texts as far back as from the 5th Age mention them. And unfortunately knowledge before the cataclysm, as with many other things, is gone from our grasps. Machines of the First Men. Bringers of the apocalypse. Soldiers of the gods. Such theories have emerged from our baffled minds. In particular, the mythical Afenian War has been the most popular source among the people, though myths are... sadly to say, myths. There are so many paths to take when we try to understand something that could very well be ten thousand years old. But as long as these Goliaths continue to hide their enigmatic truth, we are left to rely on our own interpretations. (Grand Archive, Study of the Goliaths)”

Both of these sources mention a specific event I’m here to draw to your attention, that being “the cataclysm.” Some horrible event happened which seems to be the end of Gavel’s written history, and while at first glance it could appear like that’s all we’ve got, there is actually quite a bit of info laying around.

The first thing to discuss, is what is meant by ages. Everyone knows the more common system of chronological measurement in Wynncraft, that being the AP and BP system. However, a few sources from central and eastern Gavel use a different system called Ages. The oldest reference to the concept is from the quest From the Bottom, where the feather of a phoenix from the 5th Age can be found. In 1.20 this system was greatly expanded, so much so that we actually know how long ages are:

“And yet, there is no written record from the ancient villagers about the gerts up until the 6th Age.This has many implications. A common theory among the uneducated masses is that they arrived on our lands along the meteors of Gylia. Clearly, this is simply impossible, as no creature can survive such an impact. But then again the meteors could've protected them somehow. Alas, I digress. A more accepted theory is that the savages were lured to the meteors out of hiding in another region, such as the canyon. This I find more believable, as weak minds are drawn to great power. Though the problem with this theory is… (Grand Archive, A Scholar’s Perspective on Gerts)”

From the aforementioned Mark of the Meteors discovery, we know that Gerts are just villagers who went insane and were changed by the meteors. In addition, we know that the meteors landed in the Gylia Plains at 1400 BP. Together, we know that 1400 BP is some time in the 6th age. This alone isn’t much use, however, we luckily have one last piece of info from Mark of the Meteors, that being the remark about the cataclysm before the meteors: “It goes without saying that the cataclysm from a thousand years ago has caused the area to be forever unstable at this point.” As we know from the Grand Archive, the cataclysm happened during the 5th Age, which means that we now know that between 2400 BP and 1400 BP there was a change between ages. Now here for the purpose of providing some kind of answer, I’m going to make the assumption that Ages are 1000 year periods, and that they are probably marked the same way the AP BP system works. This would mean that 800 BP would be the 7th age, and that 900 AP would be the 8th age (and so on). An alternative way to look at this, is that ages are 500 year periods, since the Grand Archive does say: “Texts as far back as from the 5th Age mention them. And unfortunately knowledge before the cataclysm, as with many other things, is gone from our grasps.” This would mean that 800 BP would be the 7th age, 300 BP the 8th, 120 AP the 9th, etc.. Your welcome to disagree with me on this, but it doesn’t make an especially big difference to the rest of what I’m going to say (personally I prefer the 1000 year length because 500 feels a bit weird, but that’s just me).

Moving along, we know regardless of the Age system that the great cataclysm occurred in 2400 BP, since the person in Mark of the Meteors says it was 1000 years before when they wrote that entry, and the entry was written shortly after the fall of the meteors. Although I assume some already know where I’m going with this, the question about this is what was this cataclysm? Well the majority of evidence suggests that this was the same one that led to the downfall of the rune using civilization in Gavel. The cause of their decline is explained in several places, listed below:

“When the runes were combined ages ago, the Forgery burst from the ground. Sealed by its anchors is a mysterious fracture in space and time from which the structure draws its power. (Fracture in Reality)”

“A less common type of focus is found in the form of Runes. They are a magical unknown, for all intents and purposes, with each specific rune seeming to have a different magical inclination. Only five types of Runes have ever been found, and after a disastrous attempt at combining Runic power, horrifically powerful Rune Guardians have begun to appear in Gavel to guard them. Due to this, the remaining stockpile of Runes continues to dwindle as they are used and sold between their holders, or hoarded by the wealthy. (Order of the Grook, Magical Materials)”

Additionally, here is the lore for Az. Its item lore, but I still feel like its worth putting here:

“Mysterious runes, held by inexplicable ancient guardians, were once moulded together for study purposes. The experiment went awry, as the runic words Nii, Az, and Ek were combined in a reaction that resulted in the collapse of a civilization. (Az Lore)”

Together, these sources explain how an advanced rune-using civilization in Gavel would fall apart due to their combining of runes in the creation of the Forgery. However, the date at which this occurred is not entirely certain due to several conflicting sources. In the Gylia’s Cataclysm secret discovery, the following is stated:

“The meteors left this land fractured and its people scared. The desperate worshipped them, the damaged - feared them. The years of silence followed, and eventually through an unthinkable act, the civilizations fell to ruin. Over the years rain waters filled the crater and formed a lake. The meteors themselves sunk underground, away from everyone's sight. And in the middle grew a mountain, formed by their alien magic. (Gylia’s Cataclysm)”

This here claims that the villager civilizations in addition to having a cataclysm in 2400 BP, and another in 1400 BP had a third major event some time after the meteors arrival. Because of this, it could be possible that the rune guardian civilization was the same as the one the village in Gylia’s Cataclysm belonged to. However, a closer analysis of ancient structures and other sources reveals this to be false.

The first point I would like to bring up is how wynncraft presents the declines of other civilizations, and more importantly how their structures have fallen apart over time. In this case I’ll use three building decay examples: Invaded Barracks, Ancient Nemract, and the Desert Empire. Invaded Barracks is an area which was only very recently attacked by bandits, and as such it is in ruin, but lacks the signs of age that other structures here will have, think of this as day zero for ruins in Wynncraft. Now looking at ruins from Ancient Nemract, we see what ruins look like after 1000 years. Although the buildings have crumbled, the general structure of the town is still intact, and very little has been buried. The ruins of the Desert Empire are from 1400 BP, and by this time ruins are clearly starting to become buried. Even with this however, a decent number of ruins in the desert region have managed to stay above the sand, and unless filled by sand are still very well preserved in most cases. So given these three stages, if we look at the ruins of the rune guardian civilization we can see that they clearly fall well before 1400 BP. This is because unlike the Desert Empire ruins, the ruins of the rune using civilization in Gavel are buried so far underground that some are actually underneath the Canyon of the Lost. In addition, as seen in the Desert Royal Residence secret discovery, part of the reason so many areas in the desert are covered by sand is because of the great sandstorm that occurred after Hashr killed his father. So with all this being said, it should be clear that the age of the rune using civilization in Gavel is older than 1400 BP.

Since some people will likely need further evidence, here are some extra points that are less complicated. In the secret discovery Fracture in Reality, it is said that the combing of the runes was done ages ago. Although we cannot be certain about the length of ages, the only time we actually know of a change in ages is between the cataclysm in 2400 BP and the one in 1400 BP, so it makes sense that they would tie an event based on the age system to another event based on the age system, rather than using ages to describe this. In addition, I’d like to point out how the Order of the Grook lines which make this appear as though it happened more recently are actually from 1.19, and even then were pretty obscure. Aside from this source, there isn’t really anything that says that the cataclysm was more recent, as most other sources and environmental factors are against a more recent date. Lastly I would like to look at the building materials of the 1400 BP civilization in comparison to the rune using one. The civilization in 1400 BP is clearly shown in Gylia Cataclysm to have used wood in their structures, while the Rune Guardians made use of stone. It is because of these things that the rune using civilization was not the same as the one in 1400 BP, but was instead the one that collapsed in 2400 BP.

So at this point, we’ve established what ages are, that the rune using civilization collapsed in 2400 BP, and that another civilization would appear later with some relation to them, and collapse some time after 1400 BP. Because the civilization in 1400 BP was one of villagers, we must assume that it was a civilization of villagers that predated them. The question that some might have though, is how villagers could become like the Rune Guardians, and actually we have an answer to this:

“Only five types of Runes have ever been found, and after a disastrous attempt at combining Runic power, horrifically powerful Rune Guardians have begun to appear in Gavel to guard them. (Order of the Grook, Magical Materials)”

This here says that the Rune Guardians only came into existence AFTER the rune using civilization collapsed (hence why I haven’t been calling the civilization the Rune Guardians the whole time). So somehow a civilization of villagers fell into ruin, and a number of them turned into Rune Guardians. Although there are no written explanations for how this transformation could have occurred, there is a group called the Raksden Cultists which have set up camp between Light Forest and Pre-Light Forest. This group shows two types of figures, a gray robed cultist, and another type which uses the Rune Guardian outfit and is labeled as “Consumed.” What this suggests is that somehow a creature can become a rune guardian, which could explain how villagers were able to turn into what we now call the Rune Guardians.

So now we have outlined the dates of the cataclysm, and its effect on the world (creation of rune guardians), but there is more. The following is from an NPC in Gylia Plains:

“Camar: Gah! You gave me quite the scare there, human! Don't see many people walking through here, mostly sentient stone.

Camar: You see, I've been observing these creatures for years now. They fascinate me, especially that big one that comes out only once in a while.

Camar: Now, these here golems walking the Cinfras Plains are ancient, but the big guy makes them look like newborns. That one is at least one millennia old!

Camar: He's made out of metal that not even the dwarves recognize and covered in runes not even the elves can decipher.

Camar: If I were you, I'd admire it from afar, like me. I've seen the thing tear bandits into bits without hesitation!”

Camar claims that the Goliaths are made from runes, which links them to the rune users of the ancient civilization. If they could tear a hole in reality, surely they could create life from their stone runes? Also it is worth pointing out that the Plains Guardian in Cinfras county actually looks like a villager, so that's just some additional proof that this civilization was villagers. The theory that the rune using civilization made these types of stone creatures has been around since before 1.20, and has previously been used as an explanation for the Idols in the jungles of Wynn, but now it has an even greater meaning. If the creators of the Forgery made the Goliaths, then certainly they must have built the Colossus as well. Since we’re going here, I must address one of the sources in the Grand Archive called the Ancient Scrolls. It is written in High Gavelian and says:

“...They arrived... The Canyon. The tremors... To protect us? ...One... Larger than... Others.. Not... The Colossus? ...Calm for now. ...Bugs... The forest... Guardians have fallen... Doomed? But they... Replaced with... More aggressive... Keep distance… (Grand Archive, Ancient Scrolls)”

This is an extremely cryptic source, since it appears to reference several events across Gavel’s history, from the arrival of the Colossus, to the fall of the Ahms region one, and even the arrival of the dark parasites. This last remark however is what is important. Although this can be interpreted numerous ways, I believe that this source is not actually one written by the Villagers, but actually by Elves. Outside of a very small number of occasions, Elves (especially Lari) are the main users of the High Gavellian language. If we assume that this source was written by them it makes a lot more sense, as they wouldn’t really understand what the Colossus was, but they would know about the parasite. We also know from Finding the Light that the villagers have a lot of elven writings, since they are the ones who have the info on the waking of the Forest Guardian, so it isn’t that hard of a conclusion to assume they might have other Elven writings. This certainly isn’t a perfect explanation, but it works decently well.

Regardless, we now have covered what the rune using civilization did during their time, when and why they fell, and what that would mean for events after their fall. I think I’ll stop here, since I think I’ve said enough. Most people don’t read theories past the third paragraph, so hopefully you made it this far. Personally I feel like this much info on Gavel’s Prehistory is good, but even before 1.20 you could figure out most of this off of other sources. Anyways, go ahead and scream in the comments how I’m a complete and utter fool, or something idk. I wrote this all on the spot and am too brain dead to fix grammar right now. If I messed up some lore please site sources when you tell me I'm wrong, it helps me not have to scour the wiki for 5 hours.


Also join the lore discord or something.

 

First i want to say that I really like this theory.
But why should there be two cataclysms when the arrival of the meteors is already called "Gylia Cataclysm".
What im trying to say is, the scholar who became the first gert could have been living there after the meteors impact.
I mean, some cosmic rock falling down on Gavel aint that uncommon. Probably he found another meteor, after the cataclysm.
Therefore, the ages need to be recalculated - if what i said is right, of course.

 

I agree:

Couldn't this have been written in 400 BP, and what it references is the Gylia Cataclysm? We know that it too makes the Gylia Plains unstable due to the enormous quantity of cosmic magic that the initial meteors possess, and meteors falling in Gavel isn't a rare occurrence.

 

How do you know ages aren't more of eras? Perhaps they could be defined by large events, like, a war or cataclysmic event

The Stone Age wasn't exactly from, idk 10000 BCE to 9000 BCE

 

I like to think that the Goliaths are like Guardians from BotW where they are harmless until some terrible relating event occurs in which they become immensely hostile and dangerous

But yeah, good theory. I know it's always said ''Item lores aren't canon'' but that one secret discovery makes it seem to me like Az's item lore IS canon.

I wonder if the mythic ''Cataclysm'' has anything to do with this, as it is mentioned at the end of Royal Trials as something that could easily be used to tear down a civilization if used incorrectly (the quest implies that you stole the mythic from the mansion). The lore of the mythic states that it can be used to open portals (and i know item lores aren't canon but hear me out), so what if the runes themselves can open portals? Judging from mob totems, they can be used to replicate lifeforms, so what if they actually pull copies of the mobs from other dimensions? Hell, what if the Equinox was caused by the runes?

Yeah it's a bit of a stretch and depends entirely on unconfirmed item lore, but it would be interesting.

 

Now this is what I came for. High quality lore theories with substantial evidence.

 

Considering the lore for the secret discovery of Mark of the Meteors, this is entirely possible:
“The Crashing of the Sky, as they called it, impacted the lives of Gylia in many ways - Even after centuries of its occurence.”
This is actually an interesting option, since it would make sense with how meteors often fell before something bad happened (in this case the forgery). The main reason I didn’t consider this was due to the village in the Gylia Cataclysm not fitting the rune using civilization at all based on the rest of their structures. In fact, the build style of the houses from 1400 BP matches that of the Mark of the Meteor’s house far better. I'm actually going to go back and see how it would look if this was the case, since aside from builds for this civilization not matching up at all, your theory makes a lot more sense.

 

In Tolkien's fiction (which definitely served as at least some of the inspiration for Gavel), this is exactly what Ages are: periods of time bordered by notable events, such as the downfall of Sauron or, um... Morgoth... Anyway, they weren't a specific number of years, but rather a period between two notable events, where the world was majorly changed.