The Birth of Arda

The words that follow are rumored and theorized, as much of the history of the previous ages was lost during the War of Sundering. 

The world as it is known has had seven ages. In the first age there was silent, empty darkness and the Old God. In the eons that followed the Old God grew lonely and tired, and he started to sing. Into this hymn of creation, the Old God poured out his emotions and feelings and through this hymn the gods were born. In order to differentiate themselves, the Old God took the name Ilúvatar, and named his children Manwe, Varda, Melekor, and Nienna. The birth of the gods brought about the end of the first age, and brought the world into the second age. 

The second age was the age of creation, for even the five could not remain without purpose. They set about to create a new world and universe in which to reign over. The four joined into Ilúvatar's hymn, and through them sprang into existence the universe, and many lesser gods alongside it to help in their vision of the world. All but one followed Ilúvatar's direction, that one voice raised in opposition. Melekor saw the power that Ilúvatar possessed, a power that even the four gods did not possess - the power to create life and soul. As the eons passed, he grew jealous and resentful of that power, and so through his song and harmony, sang discord into the new creation. Melekor reasoned that if he could not create life, he would alter it so that it would be unrecognizable to its original self, thus claiming it as his own. Through the allures of his discordance, many of the minor gods - Maia- also came to feel jealousy towards Ilúvatar, as well as sympathy towards Melekor, joining into his harmony. In the sea of voices though, this small disharmony amongst the harmony was not noticed. 

Once the song of creation had finished and signaled the beginning of the third age, Ilúvatar  called together the four young gods and promised to each of them. Melekor, the eldest of the four, was allowed to choose first. In an obvious grab of greed - he chose the entire Domain of Arda. He hid his discord so well that none of the other young gods were able to perceive it. Manwe and Varda were allowed to choose next, being twinborn. Manwe , the loud and brash chose the Sun and fire as his domain. Varda was everything that Manwe was not. Where Manwe was brash, Varda was cautious, where Manwe was loud, Varda listened. Not wanting to leave the new life to come to Arda alone in the darkness at night, Varda chose to create  the Moon and Stars. Nienna was the last to go, but she had already begun to suspect that Melekor may not be as loyal as he had seemed. Nienna cared for the plight of the living, and feared what would come of Arda under Melekor, and in a private meeting with Ilúvatar , discussed what was to come to life after it had passed from Arda. Nienna asked to keep the souls after they had passed from Arda, until Ilúvatar called for them. Once the domains had been divided up between the young gods, Ilúvatar went about planting and seeding life within Arda. 

The fourth age was the age of Elves, who were later known as the elder born or star born. They were placed first into the world of Arda, given the breadth of the world to explore and make their won hymns in. Elves spread throughout the land, not seeking to conquer the lands as the later races would do, but instead seeking to live in harmony and peace with the world. The fourth age was truly an age of exploration and harmony as the elves spread throughout the lands and discovered all the beauties and mysteries that it had to offer. 

The fifth age became the age of new birth. Once the gods had seen that the elves were spreading across the land discovering the world and all its beauties, they released their own creations across the land. Man rapidly took to this new land and spread. Dwarves took their natural inclinations and dug deep and vast, discovering caverns and other hidden beauties, as well as the vast bounties of the earth, and so on. The races initially lived in harmony, as the world was vast and recourses were plentiful. 

But the corruption of Melekor was already in place, and started to seep into the hearts of mortals, and in the sixth age, Melkor made his move, launching a war against all that was good in Arda. This war, the War of Sundering, would shape the land and people for all time to come, with the great elven kingdoms being torn down, men and dwarves slaughtered in their strongholds, and the every land itself being torn asunder under Melkor's wraith. It seemed that all good that existed in the world would be lost, when in the Battle of Tears Unnumbered, a spark of good awoke and free will within Melkor's soldiers, and broke from his domination, turning the tide of the battle, and pushing Melkor back to the Gap of Angband, where Melkor, now named Morgath, unleashed his second wave upon the free world, pushing back the forces of Light once more. The plight was so perilous that eventually Manwe himself led the hosts of Valinor to the aid of Varda, eventually pushing back Morgath and all his forces and most deadly servants to Angband where Morgath was captured and sentenced, and taken and thrown into the void beyond the Doors of Night. Many of Morgaths servants and forces escaped the destruction of Angband though, and they have been nuisances to the world to this day 

The Seventh age started with the casting out of Morgath, and is the current age of the world as it is known. This has been an age of strife, as the free people of the world are forced to come to terms both with the horrors of the War of Sundering, but also a now contaminated, broken world full of residual malices of Morgath and his remaining lutentents. With the Elven kingdoms long since destroyed, the majority of the elves turned to the refuge of Hithliniath, leaving the humans and dwarves to make their way in the world. The Empire of Egladil is the most powerful of the human kingdoms, and one of the original foundings that occured after the Elves begain their withdrawl. But this is an em[ire long in decay, and other regional powers may be growing to challange it, all the while internal dissent may tear it apart from the inside, and rumors have started again of gathering orcs in the Helcaraxe and the fire of the forges of Fos Almir being relit.