Arcaea/Library/History/The Complete History of the Far East/Background Volume
Background
Much like a play, this history of the Far East cannot be properly be appreciated without an understanding of the background scenery to the story. In this case the background comes in the form of the conventions for dates which I have used and the geography of the Far East continent itself. While the latter may already be familiar to natives of the Far East, I have included a comprehensive overview of its geography, both ancient and new, for the benefit of those who do not.
Dates
For this history I have adopted a dating convention based on the ages of the Far East. At present we are living at the dawn of the Third Age which follows on from the First Age when the original twin empires of the Far East formed and the Second Age where those empires collapsed and their successor states struggled with each other up until the coming of the ice which marks the end of the age.
While there are no precise dates available for the First Age, the years of the other two ages are much more easily known. Therefore, I have dated notable events, where possible, by their season, year and age. Thus an event in the autumn of the twentieth year of the Second Age is rendered Autumn, 20 A2 and an event in the spring of the first year of the Third Age is rendered Spring, 1 A3. Hopefully this convention will be easily understood by the reader.
An alternative method of dating would be to take the formation of the first Arcaean Empire as a starting date for a calendar given that we now live in the time of the second empire of Arcaea. Since records indicate that the Arcaean Empire formed 42 years before the Second Age and it is now 35 years by my calculations since the start of the Second Age, the current date would therefore be the seventy seventh imperial year, or 77 IY in shorthand.
But as this history is intended to be a general history of the Far East rather than an Arcaean one, I will use the method I have already outlined rather than any 'imperial calendar' in order to ensure that this work is as free as possible from 'Arcaea-centrism'. However, any date used for events in the Second Age can be converted to the imperial calendar by the addition of 42 years and any date used for events in the Third Age can be converted to the imperial calendar by the addition of 75 years.
An important proviso which I should add is that, as the climate has changed over the years, the seasons have sometimes altered leading to longer or shorter years (as measured by the seasons) than normal. Despite this, the date of the year can always be viewed as reliable.
Geography
(To be completed)
