Accepted Histories

Accepted Histories is a term that arose in the early Fourth Age, and reffers specifically to a series of unverifiable claims, but is more broadly used to describe any number of stories that might be considered "tall tales" but are often accepted as fact.

Historians did not begin to chronicle the Mage Wars or the early history of the Allianceuntil nearly a thousand years after the events had transpired. Most written records were destroyed during the Second Chaotic Period, and what was left was usually full of gaps. Oral traditions only preserved important events, not dates or specific figures.

Composing the Accepted Histories Text

Essentially, by the time anyone thought to sit down and get the story straight, nobody knew which stories were true or not. Archeology began digging into the past, but was hammpered somewhat by the lack of written records. Essentially very little was known with absolute certainty.

Some facts that were even known to be unverified eventually made it into the standard historical record, which would occasionally cause mild outcry. Other times, known false facts even made it in, which caused massive outcry.

As the Ages passed, and more and more of recorded history became available, precise details about the distant past grew less important. The Second Age, being only 1,000 years removed from the Mage Wars, was far more concerned about them than the Fourth Age, which began over 3,000 years after the wars' end. With some important events being more than 3,500 years before that, it was often questioned why certainty was so important when it came to things that had happened nearly 7,000 years ago.

Thus came the rise of the Accepted Histories, which began as a series of books written by author Herbet Patric Galactis. Galactis combined known historical facts with stories and unverified claims to create what he called an "acceptable picture of history". Anything that could be conclusively proven to be untrue was removed from the series, while those "facts" for which there was no evidence for or against and were not of significant importance were allowed to remain. Anything based only on stories written hundreds or thousands of years after the fact was carefully prefaced as such.

Galactis continued to update and revise his "histories" for the rest of his life, and in the centuries that followed, more authors and historians continued to contribute. Though much of the validity of the Accepted Histories is questionable, it is still considered the most concise picture of what transpired during the Age of Mages and the Golden Age.

Other Uses

While the Accepted Histories refers to a certain body of text, it has also been used to describe a number of specific "facts" which are generally accepted to be true. Typcially, these are facts for which their proof as true or falce would have no major impact on history.

Specific Examples

The scientist Kit Fernel who lived early in the Golden Age, often claimed to be a decendant of Johan Fernel, who lived over 3,000 years ealrier. There is absolutely no historic evidence supporting or damaging this claim, so it is widely accepted as fact.