Fourth Epoch: The Epoch of The Gods

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Fourth Epoch

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“There are some things that make it easier to be ‘infected’ the more you know.”

This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS relating to some of the most pivotal parts of Lord of Mysteries and Circle of Inevitability.

Back then, deities walked the land, and not in the Astral World.

Mobet Zoroast
On Lord of Mysteries, Chapter 697

True History

In this era, Gods walked the land and frequently performed miracles. Many Gods ascended during this time, and many perished due to the various wars and conflicts. Many current-day secret organizations were formed in the Fourth Epoch, including but not limited to, the Moses Ascetic Order, the Secret Order, the Blood Sanctify Sect, and the Demoness Sect.

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Warring Era

Duration: 0 – 112

At some point after the fall of the Ancient Sun God, the Second Blasphemy Slate appeared, and many Angels saw the Slate: Bethel Abraham, Solomon, Zaratul, Alista Tudor, Trunsoest, Augustus, Einhorn, Sauron, Castiya, Zoroast (Pallez Zoroast's great grandfather), Stiano, Constantine, and Cheek. All of "Them" later became some of the most powerful Beyonders in the Fourth Epoch. The Slate was then taken by Adam.

Conflicts that involved the Blasphemy Slate, the True Creator, and the various other Gods occurred. The Demoness Family, Twilight Hermit Order, and Moses Ascetic Order were established one after another. In this era, the Zoroast Family's first Angel fell in the conflicts. With the help of Solomon who had yet to become a God at that time, the Zoroast Family managed to hold on to the Beyonder Characteristic.

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Solomon Empire

Duration: 112 - 396

Taking advantage of the schism between the Six Gods, the Solomon Family, led by the Sequence 0 Black Emperor Solomon, cooperated with the True Creator and established the Solomon Empire that ruled over the Northern Continent. "He" was supported by multiple Angel Families. The high nobles at that time (i.e. families with dukes) included the Zoroast Family, Abraham Family, and Zaratul Family, plus the Medici Family and Ouroboros. Tudor, Trunsoest, Augustus, and Castiya were also nobles, albeit ranked lower than others. Antigonus was also considered an illustrous part of the aristocracy, but they didn't do anything memorable. Most of them believed in the Black Emperor, except for Medici and Ouroboros who believed in the True Creator, and Bethel Abraham who only believed in "Himself".

At this time, the other deities all have countries that belong to "Them' in poorer places and acknowledged the Black Emperor's rule in order to fight against opposing factions. The Evernight Goddess, the God of Combat and Death were confronting each other; the Lord of Storms, the Eternal Blazing Sun and the God of Knowledge and Wisdom had great disputes; the Earth Mother's attitude was ambiguous, though "She" was slightly leaned towards the God of Combat. This made "Them" unable to cooperate in a stable fashion and thus, couldn't form an alliance to fight the Black Emperor and the True Creator.

While the various other factions such as the Demoness Family were suppressed and attacked in the Northern Continent, Death's family a.k.a. Eggers Family took advantage of the opening (when the north is preoccupied) and unified the plentiful plains of the Southern Continent. For the sake of balance, the Black Emperor didn't attack the Southern Continent, allowing Death to establish the Balam Empire.

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Tudor-Trunsoest United Empire

Duration: 396 – 510

The Six Gods reconciled and once again formed an alliance. With the Six Gods' support, the Tudor Family and the Trunsoest Family usurped the Solomon Empire's Black Emperor. This matter also had the involvement of Antigonus who made a secret transaction with Alista Tudor prior, and the Primordial Demoness who seized this chance to complete the ritual to ascend to Sequence 1 Apocalypse. The Northern Continent is now governed by a system of dual Consuls (two Sequence 1 Prince of Abolition) and a Senate. Angel Families mostly turned to support "Them", except the Zaratul Family and the Zoroast Family who still faithfully believed in the Black Emperor.

During the same period of time, various countries such as the Haagenti Kingdom, the Paz Kingdom, and the Highlands Kingdom were formed one after another within the corresponding region - the Haagenti Plains, the Paz Valley, and the Star Highlands in the Southern Continent. All of these kingdoms submitted to the Balam Empire.

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Second Solomon Empire

Duration: 510 – 1047

Later on, when the Black Emperor was about to resurrect, Trunsoest and Alista Tudor, who were both Sequence 1 Prince of Abolition, had to switch pathways, or "They" might instantly perish or drop to Sequence 2. The Tudor-Trunsoest United Empire broke up.

The Six Gods had chosen Trunsoest, and "He" successfully switched Pathway to Sequence 0 Justiciar with "Their" help to become the Night Emperor. "He" also gained the support of the Sanguines through "His" marriage with the Blood Moon Queen Auernia.

Tudor obtained support from Antigonus and the Twilight Hermit Order, and acquired the Red Priest potion by killing Medici, Sauron, and Einhorn to become the half-crazed Blood Emperor. This matter was planned by Adam, with Amon as the accomplice. The Tudor Empire became a strong faction that stood on its own by forming an alliance with the Amon Family, Abraham Family ( Door), recruiting the Jacob Family and Tamara Family (Tamara at this time are still Justiciar) for their cause, and forsaking the Six Gods yet also refusing to side with the True Creator.

Then, the Solomon Family resurfaced and restored the Solomon Empire, fracturing the Northern Continent into three, marking the beginning of a chaotic era that lasted for over 500 years. Despite the Trunsoest Empire and the Six Gods having overwhelming power on paper, the 500-year stalemate was due to three reasons:

• There were internal conflicts within the Six Gods. Their relationships weren't good, so unless there was a major threat, they couldn't unite and work together effectively.
• The True Creator, as the negative personality born from the corpse and spirit of the Ancient Sun God who was deeply influenced by the Chaos Sea, had a sizable level of Sefirah authority over the Chaos Sea, making "His" combat ability exceed that of a normal Sequence 0.
• The True Creator, the Underworld Emperor, and the other Gods had certain mingled alliances and balances of power between them. The Blood Emperor was relatively the weakest among all of them and had conflicts with everyone, but because of the delicate balance between the factions, the situation of relative peace was maintained. This was also one of the reasons why the Blood Emperor pursued risky endeavors, participated in dangerous experiments, and did extreme things later on.

Some notable events that happened during this era included:

• The Blood Emperor and the Primordial Demoness consummated inside the Special Mirror Worlds created by Bethel Abraham. At the start, this was an experiment from Adam to create a Calamity of Destruction. However, after the Mirrored Original Creator emerged from this interaction, the Blood Emperor and the Primordial Demoness changed plan and pursued "Their" own plot to merge with the Mirrored Original Creator instead. "Their" union also gave birth to Krismona and Judith.
• Antigonus accommodated the Fool Uniqueness with the help of Adam and Amon, and became the Half-Fool.

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War of the Four Emperors

Duration: 1047 – 1052

Emperor	Pathway	Empire	Angel Families
Black Emperor	Black Emperor	Solomon Empire	Solomon, Zaratul, Zoroast, Medici
Blood Emperor	Red Priest	Tudor Empire	Tudor, Abraham, Antigonus, Amon, Jacob, Tamara
Night Emperor	Justiciar	Trunsoest Empire	Trunsoest, Augustus, Castiya, Einhorn, Sauron
Underworld Emperor	Death	Balam Empire	Eggers

The other Gods found out about the Blood Emperor's and Primordial Demoness' plot regarding the Mirrored Original Creator. Some wanted to deal with "Them", and some attacked "Their" enemies in the chaos. Thus, 537 years after Alista Tudor's ascension to Red Priest, the War of the Four Emperors began. Aside from the four empires and the True Gods behind them, the War also has the influences of the Demoness Sect, the Moses Ascetic Order, the Abyss' infiltration, the secretly developed Artisans (under the God of Craftsmanship), among other factors. In the end, the Black Emperor, Blood Emperor, and Night Emperor fell one after another.

• The Blood Emperor of the Tudor Empire fell, ending the dynasty. The Red Priest Uniqueness was claimed by Death, and two Sequence 1 Characteristics were recovered by the Sauron Family and Einhorn Family,.
  • The Blood Emperor met "His" end in the submerged Fourth Epoch Trier, which also caused the capital to sink underground.
    • In the last moment, "He" wanted to forcibly complete the merger with the Mirrored Original Creator, using this to pull all other Sefirot from the Western Continent, dragging the entire world to die, waiting for the Creator's symbolic manifestation in death. Rumor has it that "His" attempt nearly entombed all the deities who participated in the war alongside "Him".
    • Prior to the fall of the Tudor Empire, the Southern Continent's Death (the Underworld Emperor) suddenly descended onto the Northern Continent. The Primordial Demoness dealt the critical blow to the Blood Emperor to stop "His" last-ditch plan, intending to resurrect "Him" later; while Death completed "His" life's culling, sending "His" soul into the River of Eternal Darkness.
    • Many Angels also perished in Underground Trier:
      • Marianne: The Pope of the Church of the Evernight Goddess.
      • Lius: A Blessed of ancient Death.
      • Krismona: A member of the Demoness Family and the daughter of the Blood Emperor and the Primordial Demoness.
      • Many Angels that followed the Blood Emperor.
  • Bethel was banished and sealed by the Evernight Goddess and the Lord of Storms.
  • All the Angel Families under the Tudor Empire declined and were hunted by the Seven Gods.
    • The Church of the Evernight Goddess eliminated the Antigonus Family and the Nation of the Evernight, and the Evernight Goddess sealed Antigonus in Foggy Town after "He" lost control and went mad.

• The Demonesses were still around.

• The Black Emperor perished.
  • The Angel of the Zaratul Family was killed by Antigonus and Bethel Abraham.
  • After the Black Emperor perished, the Night Emperor also started having problems. This was related to "His" unsuccessful attempt to shatter the Magic Wishing Lamp, which also caused the Justiciar Uniqueness to be corrupted by the Nation of Disorder.

• The Andariel Family and Beria Family jointly summoned the Abyss, joining into this free-for-all war.

• At the critical moment, Yuggs Stiano seized the opportunity to ascend to godhood and joined the Six Gods, becoming a pivotal force in turning the tide. "His" ascension is related to the revival of the Hidden Sage and "His" relationship with the Moses Ascetic Order.

• The Night Emperor perished, the residual blasts from the battle swept up all of his fragments and scattered them across the land. The Justiciar Uniqueness became the Trunsoest Brass Book.
  • Queen Auernia perished, and the Sanguines suffered a terrible blow because of this.

• The True Creator was heavily wounded, and escaped to the Forsaken Land of the Gods bearing seals from the Seven Gods.

• The Underworld Emperor benefitted the most from the war, gaining the Red Priest Uniqueness, and returned to the Southern Continent. "He" would spend over a century trying to "digest" the Uniqueness.

In the Northern Continent, only the Trunsoest Empire left behind by the Night Emperor remained. However, while trying to reap the final fruits of victory, the four noble families under the Trunsoest Empire split the empire, destroying the royal Trunsoest Family which was lacking in high-level members. The Einhorn Family, Augustus Family, Sauron Family, and Castiya Family, each backed by one or two of the Seven Gods, established the corresponding Feysac Kingdom, Loen Kingdom, Intis Kingdom, and Feynapotter Kingdom. The Churches of the Seven Gods began hunting down blasphemers and Demonesses.

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Conflicts of the Seven Gods

Duration: 1053 – 1210

Angel Family	Nation Founded	Gods worshipped
Augustus Family	Loen Kingdom	Lord of Storms, Evernight Goddess, God of Craftsmanship
Castiya Family	Feynapotter Kingdom	Earth Mother, God of Knowledge and Wisdom
Einhorn Family	Feysac Kingdom (later known as the Feysac Empire)	God of Combat
Sauron Family	Intis Kingdom (later known as the Intis Republic)	Eternal Blazing Sun

Note: The gods in bold and underline are the official gods worshipped by the royal family of each nation e.g. the Augustus Family's official religion is the Lord of Storms.

After the War of the Four Emperors, the Seven Gods were fractured. The Eternal Blazing Sun allied with the God of Combat (Feysac Empire and Intis Kingdom); the Lord of Storms allied with the Evernight Goddess and the God of Craftsmanship (Loen Kingdom); the Earth Mother allied with the God of Knowledge and Wisdom (former Feynapotter Kingdom). They began to fight one another. The Sanguines had no choice but to retreat to an uninhabited mountain to hide in the shadows so as to maintain the continuation of the race. After paying a certain price, they managed to escape the disaster.

During this period, Death relied on a distributary of the River of Eternal Darkness to forcibly accommodate the Red Priest Uniqueness. This has the influence of the True Creator, as well as the Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings who had once accommodated the River of Eternal Darkness which included the Death Pathway. After over a century of "digestion", "He" went mad, but also became a lot stronger, even stronger than the War of the Four Emperors era's True Creator. "He" wasn't able to resist the desire for converging with the Twilight and Evernight pathways, and now also wanted to devour a certain few gods from among the Seven Gods.

In the middle of this era, the Primordial Demoness approached Death for an alliance. "She" wanted to manipulate the half-mad Death to collect the Blood Emperor's corpse in Fourth Epoch Trier, merge it with "Himself", and manipulate "Him" to touch the Special Mirror Worlds to resurrect the Blood Emperor. However, Death's forced accommodation of the Red Priest Uniqueness caused an aberration in the Mirrored Original Creator, producing a certain self-awareness, which negatively affected "Her" state.

The Shadow of Order (remnants of Solomon Empire), Hermits of Fate, and Secret Order were established.

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Pale Era

Duration: 1210 – 1233

After the Conflicts of the Seven Gods went on for 167 years, Death and the Primordial Demoness arrived, and the Seven Gods were defeated and retreated at every turn. Eventually, "They" finally took the time to sit down once again and decided to join hands again.

After a carefully schemed war with cataclysmic consequences, Death fell, the ocean between the Northern Continent and Southern Continent was widened by one fold, becoming the Berserk Sea that's perpetually engulfed by turbulent waves and storms, separating the North and South. The Primordial Demoness was severely wounded, and "She" needed to spend more than 1000 years to both recover and continue suppressing and merging with the awakened Mirrored Original Creator.

All Seven Gods were also heavily injured. More and more cracks started appearing on the Earth's Astral Barrier, forcing the Seven Gods to move their Divine Kingdoms to the Astral World to mend the cracks. Now, the Seven Gods were unable to leave, and could only send avatars to descend onto reality.

During the entirety of the Fourth Epoch, the Sea Monsters (the Sea Races) and Dragons no longer had leaders. Thus, they were hunted down en masse and turned into Beyonder materials, their numbers dwindled to the extreme, becoming very rare species.

The History Passed Down

The history after its details were hidden over time.

The Solomon Family and the various other families colluded with Demons and Demonesses. With support from the greatest devil, the "Fallen Angel", they battled the Seven Gods for about 1,000 years. There were various wins and losses on both sides, the Solomon Empire, Tudor Empire, and Trunsoest Empire rose and fell one after another (Here the fabricated history was fashioned after a portion of the true history, but information regarding the Blasphemy Slate and the detailed power system were omitted. The history of the Southern Continent was also not told, only the God of Death and betrayers were mentioned).

Ultimately, the Seven Gods triumphed, and sealed the Fallen Angel. After that, the Seven Gods were also the ones having the last laugh in "Their" fight against the invading Death and the Primordial Demoness.

Involvement of the Outer Deities and Sefirot

The residual power of the Original Creator constituted an invisible barrier outside the planet so that Outer Deities cannot invade directly. Over time, the barrier was weakening with the fading will of the Original Creator. As a result (and with the death of the Ancient Sun God), the invasion of reality by the Outer Deities deepened, which is one of the factors influencing the history of the Fourth Epoch. For example:

• The Supernova Dominator sent a spaceship containing an embryonic black hole inside it to Earth. The plan was for it to rapidly develop, tear apart, and devour the planet, causing the barrier to lose support and disintegrate prematurely. Due to the timely intervention of Bethel Abraham and Amon, this plan was thwarted. Bethel sealed the spaceship, while Amon devised a ritual to regularly siphon power away from the spaceship, ensuring the seal would not weaken. This transformed over the years into the Sea Prayer Ritual of Port Santa.
• Bethel Abraham was corrupted by the Mother Goddess of Depravity, the root cause could be traced back to "Her" corruption on the Key of Stars characteristic from Gregrace in the Second Epoch.[?]
• After Fourth Epoch Trier was submerged underground, the urgency of constructing Trier city above-ground and countering certain underground threats from the Fourth Epoch Trier made everyone overlook the secret planting of the Tree of Shadow by the Mother Tree of Desire.

When the barrier is completely gone, the Outer Deities will be able to descend, and The Apocalypse will arrive. This is prophesied to happen in the year 1368 of the Fifth Epoch.

Moreover, along with the fading will of the Original Creator, the seal on the Western Continent by the Celestial Worthy was gradually weakening with time. The Sefirot would instinctively or consciously corrode the Uniqueness and High-Sequence Beyonder Characteristics within their symbolic range to influence the outside world. The first to seep out energy was the River of Eternal Darkness, which formed a distributary through the Phoenix Ancestor Gregrace in the Second Epoch. In the Fourth Epoch, traces of more Sefirot began to appear on the Northern Continent and Southern Continent, and the islands over the Five Seas. This is an important factor hidden behind many of the anomalies in this era. For example:

• The City of Calamity left reflections on Bansy Harbor where the headquarters of the Medici Family was situated, the Fourth Epoch Trier where Alista Tudor perished, and the city Morora where Salinger's Blood Banner was sealed.
• The Nation of Disorder corrupted the Justiciar Uniqueness, forming the Trunsoest Brass Book..
• The River of Eternal Darkness has various distributaries, such as in Fourth Epoch Trier (known as the Samaritan Women's Spring) and Calderón City.
• The Knowledge Moor left remnants in the Fourth Epoch Trier and in Avalon. The birth of the Hidden Sage is related to the Brood Hive's influence on the Knowledge Moor in the Western Continent.

Timeline

Main article: Timeline § Fourth Epoch: The Epoch of The Gods

Architecture

The architecture of the Fourth Epoch, seen in the Solomon, Tudor, and Trunsoest Empires, all had similar architectural styles, architectural styles that went against common sense—they were disorderly, asymmetrical, and they stood out for their frequent use of black.

The most typical characteristics were the candlesticks hanging from the ceiling and the chopped floral pattern marks on black walls.

Despite their asymmetry, these empires maintained strict rules regarding design elements, such as the number of candlesticks in a building. Ordinary citizens were limited to a maximum of three on the left and two on the right, reflecting an underlying order within the perceived chaos.

One of the reasons why Alista Tudor and Trunsoest chose to continue governing based on the asymmetric order instead of establishing a new order to prevent the possibility of Solomon's return was because both wanted to use these to quickly become Gods themselves.