Long before orcs were created, Vaihdosi and Possumfolk existed together in Ea for thousands of years, perhaps longer, during a period known as the Othertime, when gods walked the earth and magic was abundant and powerful. Vaihdosi mark the end of the Othertime at the Great Druidic Confluence, which took place around 4000 years ago and marks the beginning of modern Vaihdosi recordkeeping (and the continent's dominant calendar system). Possumfolk, on the other hand, believe the Othertime ended around 8000 years ago, when the first Possumfolk bard, Antopeper, was blessed by Kekko, starting the Possum oral tradition.
Around 4000 years ago, an unknown celestial event brought Dreeh from across Ea to Mount Telisar, where they established the standard of Vaihdosi druidic practice and built the first library in Ea. The Library of Telisar, which has persisted in one form or another for four millennia, drew scholars from across the continent, who eventually formed the University of Telisar. The Great Confluence formed the basis of the Vaihdosi calendar, which dates events before the Confluence (B.C.) and after the Confluence (A.C.).
Jora created the first orcs around 1500 years ago, in the tide pools of Orkasy, a large island north of Ea. When the Ice Vaihdos came to Orkasy during their hunts, they immediately clashed with the orcs over their religious beliefs - while the Vaihdos largely worshiped Ynik, the sun god, and subscribed to a polytheistic worldview, orcs were devout followers of Jora, whom they believed to be the only true god (or at least the only one that mattered). A series of holy wars, punctuated by brief periods of uneasy peace and border skirmishes, followed for the next three hundred-odd years.
Humans are relative newcomers to Ea, the first having only set foot on her shores eight hundred years ago. A popular misconception is that a violent skirmish in northwest Ea, known as the Bloodroad, was the "First Landing" of the humans, but archaeological evidence uncovered by the University of Fennahawk suggests that several human settlements existed on the coast of Ea before the Bloodroad ever took place.