(iv) The Changeless World

So it was that the world of Erâth ceased to change, and began a period of some three thousand years in which the lives of men continued on as they always had done. The knowledge of the powers of Erâth slowly began to fade, and creatures of Darkness were forgotten. The Namirèn and the Duithèn lost their face to men, and were known merely as death and darkness. Soon, men no longer referred to these races rightly, and they became myth.

The Sarâthen, too, faded from the memory of men, and were forgotten entirely, while the Illuèn, who continued to dwell in Thaeìn, had no longer any contact with men, and were forgotten also. Tales of magical beings of light became legend, and soon no one in Thaeìn could remember whether these tales had ever once been true. The race of men turned ever inward to itself, and grew no more.

This is not to say the Third Age of Erâth was uneventful. The pivotal events at the end of the Third Age notwithstanding, men did not stop pushing the borders of themselves or the world around them. Changelessness acted more as a barrier, protecting men […]

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