The First Age (1-454 IY) - The Age of Dread

This was an age of dread, in which the menace of demon cults infiltrated the nascent Empire, spreading distrust and fear. Many of the great institutions of the Empire were laid down in this era, as mankind tried to unite against the threat of the Demon Cults.

It began in Karzig, where a magical experiment went awry, opening the first hellhole and tainting its folk. Some became Tieflings, while others went mad; everyone fled and most of the survivors died or turned to demon worship and founded a flock of cults. The first Diabolist appeared, trying and failing to control the cults. Instead, the cults flourished and grew. Some of them became hereditary cults. Others spread by recruitment. Some were founded because whispers in someone's mind slowly corrupted them and they gathered a cult. Their goals were also diverse and remain so - some wish to become demons, others hope to rule alongside the demons, some want to see the world burn and some are florbily cunning the cuckoo.

At first, only vigilante mobs responded to the rise of the cults, but Emperor Heinrich III (108-119 IY) founded the Imperial Witch Hunters in 109 IY to root out demons, devils, devil cults, the Diabolist's agents, and those with supernatural powers opposed to the Empire. Wolfgang Meiner was the first head of the IWH, and he was soon on the prowl.

It soon became apparent that the government was itself infiltrated. Tax and customs collectors found it easy to scout out the Empire to both extort funds for the cults and to find remote hamlets to sacrifice to their foul demon overlords. The burning of Manfred von Gauss, a corrupt tax collector, in 232 IY brought on a revolt by the now long gone city of Northport, but it also was wildly popular and strengthened public support of the Witchhunters. (Northport was ultimately destroyed in 240 IY by the Burning Crusade; naught remains of it but strange petrified ashes which you can find in the Fangs today.)

Icon Notes

The Emperor: Becomes an Icon in this age, usually a strong one except during the interlude of Child Emperors.
The Inquisitor: The leader of the Witchfinders, who has vast spiritual power. The last Inquistor dies slaying Randulus, a Devil who is allegedly 'Asmodeus' Half-Brother'. Whatever the origins of Randulus, his death is a boon to mankind. Later holders of the office did not hold the sheer power the office had as an Icon in the First Age.
The Regent: Wields imperial power during the reign of the Child Emperors. The last one is slain by a rival shortly before the coronation of Alexander II (292-356 IY).
The Spelljack: The Spelljack was a troublesome icon of this age. He claimed to be the living embodiment of the magical chaos unleashed by the fall of the Wizard King. Of course, he also claimed to be, among other things, an extradimensional sprite that escaped through a portal, the secret love-child of the Wizard King and the Elf Queen, a half-demon avatar of chaos, and the most talented sorcerer to have ever lived. He looted one of the Wizard King’s palaces on and used this stolen power to sow discord and madness across the world. Notably, he carried a sack full of magic items made by the Wizard King, and used to give these out freely to make mischief. He flew around in a flying fortress causing trouble; its origin is unknown for sure. He finally went too far when he turned the mate of the Blue into a huge quantity of potatoes and fed them to a hungry village of halflings. The Four descended upon him and rumor has it that the Great Gold Wyrm aided them. He died, ripped into meaty chunks and with him, Chaos Magic died. No one has been able to do Chaos Magic ever since. The end.
The deeds of other Icons are lost or obscure or disputed.

Emperors of Note

Heinrich I (1-51 IY): The founder of the Empire, who rebuilt Axis and laid down the foundations of the Empire. He had helped overthrow the nascent Lich King and during his reign spread the Empire along the western and northern shores of the Midland Sea. By his death, the empire stretched from the Fangs to the Wildwood.
Heinrich III (108-119 IY): The death of his brother Meinhard led him to create the Witchfinders in 109 IY. He himself died leading armies against the Hobgoblin Hegemony which ruled the Wild Wood and nearby regions.
Conrad III (222-235 IY): He finally defeated the Hobgoblin Hegemony and brought the Wild Wood region under Imperial control. In theory. However, his injuries weakened him and he died of a magical plague in 235 IY, followed by a string of child monarchs and regency council squabbling.
Alexander II (292-356 IY): Crowned at age seven, he survived endless regency squabbles and mismanagement, then fought the Orc Wars when he came of age (307-331 IY) during which he created the Imperial legions and restored imperial authority. He also increased Witchfinder funding. By the start of his reign, the Empire had reached its usual size.
Christopher I Demonhammer (438-456 IY): Emperor during the final confrontation with demonkind and its cults; this war marked the end of the First Age.

Demon Cults of Note

The Diabolist controlled his own network of disciplined cults. A lot of his energy was consumed keeping them in line.

The Children of Karzig: Some of the survivors of Karzig turned into Tieflings; others gave birth to Tieflings. Not all Tieflings joined this group but what began as a support group gradually turned into a cult which sought to use demons to advance themselves and to smite their foes. They are among the reasons people tend to distrust and fear Tieflings today. In 228 IY, they were slaughtered by the Witchhunters.
The Hungry Earth: They began as a group of angry Halfling peasants who began ambushing corrupt tax collectors. One of them found the man's books and read them and was corrupted by them and turned this into a cannibal cult which hunted the big folk and consumed them, theoretically in service to the Great Devourer, whose slimes and jellies they commanded. Ironically, they were eventually confronted by the Revenue Service for failing to pay their taxes, so they ate the revenuers and then the Witchhunters destroyed them in 273 IY.
The Rats in the Walls: A group of wizards were corrupted by their own familiars; each in a different city, they began spying and their familiars passed the information to some unknown demon. Ironically, they were caught by a nobleman, Lord Antonio, who thought one of them was having an affair with his wife. (In fact, the wizard, Phillip of Dorfell, was spying on the affair.) It took twenty years (183-203) to root them all out and the Witchfinders were never sure if they got all of them.
The Spirallng Gate: The Wizard Markvolio from Glitterhagen was noted for his planar studies. But after a long research bout, in 402 IY, he announced he had created a special artifact; by walking this long squiggly spiral from the start to the center, you could gain the power to walk the Planes. Unfortunately, what it actually did was to allow you to visit the layers of the Hells and be corrupted by it. The Imperial Witchfinders killed him, destroyed it, burned his library and then salted the Earth, just in case. It never hurts.

How Did The Age End?

In fire. The last gasp of the cultists facing off against the newly formed legions of the Empire and the Witchhunters. Unable to contain every splintered cult at once, too many rituals at once went off successfully, near destroying the fledgeling Empire in a holocaust of demon-spawned fire. The regions close to Highrock (now Drakkenhall) survived this best, as they fled into the city and its protections against the power of the sea protected them as well.

Things Which Remain In Later Ages