The Eruption of the Weeping Summit

The year is 520 of the era of the Summit in the timekeeping of the elves. 520 years ago a great peak on the west end of the continent erupted with enough force to burn away a nearly 50 mile radius. It kicked up enough ash into the sky to darken the continent for a decade and a half.

The eruption agitated underground monsters, and caused such massive damage to the Lothelian Empire that they gave ground on every side. During these monster incursions under cover of darkness, humans, dwarves and halflings alike rose up against the elves. They drove them back and established the nations that make up Lumora today. When the sun finally rose after 14 years of darkness mankind held nearly half the continent in disparate groups while monsters held the other half. The Elvish Empire laid in ruins across the world, merely a memory to all but the elves themselves. But they do remember, and scheme to bring themselves back to prominence.