Category:Cascading Years

The Cascading Years is a term used in First Age histories to describe the end of the Thousand Struggles Era and its state of open war between the Solar Exalted, its name referring not to the falling of years but that of Exalts. The Thousand Struggles had been initiated by Solar Exalts of massive power reacting to their own mortality following millennia of belief they would live forever, but by its nature it produced a new type of Solar: when each elder fell, in the battles they waged or to the march of years, a new one arose who not only lacked the power of the old Primordial War veterans… they also lacked their expectation of immortality. Like the Dragonblooded or the Sidereal Exalted, and like the mortals they had just been, these young Solars emerged with goals and plans that did not hinge upon eternity… they had other options than this struggle for dominance, but with their elder peers determined to continue their wars, their struggle was often one of survival.

The deaths of elder Solars came slowly: they were powerful, hard to kill, and devoting themselves to extending their own lifespans. But die they did, and each death birthed new Solar Exalted who had little choice but to band together to preserve themselves in the short term and look for ways to survive in the long term. Amongst these younger Solar Exalts emerged one, known as The Hierophant, a Zenith Caste who had Exalted as the push for peace of the Snow Period collapsed into renewed conflict. The Hierophant attempted negotiation, first within his own Circle and then amongst other Solars, to end the Thousand Struggles and achieve a lasting peace, but the obstacles were many: his influence with the younger Solars was great, and even some Primordial War veterans were swayed to his cause, and the developments of the Broken Dragons Period had shaken the support networks for Solar realms and armies, but the most ancient and powerful of Solars, Queen Merela amongst them, resisted.

The Hierophant struggled for decades, but in the end his certainty that peace was vital pushed him to accept the necessity of war not just as defense but to accomplish his goal. The greatest of his military victories in the fight for peace is considered the end of the Thousand Struggles Era: at the culmination of a military campaign, the Hierophant led a force including his circlemate and Primordial War veteran Desus and the Sidereal Chosen of Endings Wine-Colored Edge against Merela… and prevailed.

Though they had long ago rejected her personal claim to the Creation-Ruling Mandate, the death of the Solar Queen was jarring to those ancient Solars who still wished to continue their wars. Some continued to resist, but others sought compromise, ways to accomplish their objectives without risk of the efforts being cut short not by natural death but by the more immediate threat of being slain by these young usurpers. This led to the Period of Long Silence.