Final Fantasy 14 has a long timeline with a history of what is known as Umbral Calamities. These are world-shattering events that put Eorzean society on the brink of collapse. In total, there have been seven of them (though there is an additional Calamity in an alternate timeline).
These Calamities created what is known as the Umbral and Astral Eras, with the Umbral Eras being where people are trying to recover from a Calamity, and Astral Eras being times of peace and prosperity after the era of recovery. The first six Calamities have a connection to an element, and it is later revealed that these events are orchestrated by the Ascians with every Calamity marking a Rejoining to resurrect their god, Zodiark.
The First And Second Calamities
The very first Calamity was known as the Calamity of Wind and set the start of known history on Hydaelyn. Most of what is known about the event comes from the tale of Good King Moggle Mog. In the tale, moogles are described to live free in the sky until a war occurred between gods puts them in danger. King Mog got his people to safety in Eorzea, but ultimately stayed behind. It is believed the Calamity was filled with storms.
The Calamity of Lightning came next, right after mankind was just beginning to expand their kingdoms. The expansion emptied nature of its resources and volcanoes began to spew smoke that spread throughout Eorzea and plunged the world into darkness. For a year and a day, lightning rained down which forced mankind to go underground. While under the earth, much of mankind died to pestilence, and it was there that prayers started early forms of magical incantation.
The Third And Fourth Calamities
The next Calamity to come was the Calamity of Fire. With the discovery of magic, corrupt churches began to form and have holy wars, genocide, and witch hunts. Scholars believe that the gods decided to punish mankind through the Calamity that came forth. The sun enlarged and made wildfires spread throughout the world. It is believed that Thanalan, now mostly desert, used to be lush grassland before this Calamity happened.
It was the fourth Calamity that is famous for bringing down the Allagan Empire. During this time, Allag was in decline and a scientist named Amon decided to resurrect the first emperor, Xande, to revitalize the empire. Under Xande's rule, they set out for conquest and made pacts with a voidsent named the Cloud of Darkness. Their plan was to destroy the world by making a portal to the Void.
This plan is what made the Allagans put the primal Bahamut into an artificial satellite called Dalamud. With that satellite and the Sycrus Tower, they had enough power to open a voidgate and let in the Cloud of Darkness. However, this plan ultimately failed when the ground under the Sycrus Tower gave way and earthquakes tore the land apart. The Allagan power grid was destroyed and the Sycrus Tower sank underground.
The Fifth And Sixth Calamities
The fifth Calamity was the Calamity of Ice. A never-ending winter took place and even the seas froze. It is this event that made Miqo'te tribes migrate across the sea. Much else about the fifth Calamity is unknown. It has also been called the Age of Endless Frost. The Calamity to come next, however, was much more well known.
The sixth Calamity was the Calamity of Water that ended the War of the Magi. The war was going on for nearly two and a half centuries and scholars believe that the Calamity was ultimately caused by white and black mages using too much of the land's aether for their war. With so much aether being used, water-aspected aether was leftover and caused a massive flood. City-states such as Nym ad Mhach were destroyed in the flood and all people had to flee to higher ground. Most found safety in the peaks of Gyr Abania while the mages of Mhach made a Void Ark to fly over the flood. This sixth Calamity made mages seek out a new kind of magic that did not ruin the environment. Thus, red magic was born.
The Seventh And Eight Calamities
The next two Calamities are the ones players of Final Fantasy 14 are most familiar with. The seventh Calamity came as a surprise to most Eorzeans, as they believed the worst was behind them since the six previous Calamities were tied to the six elements and there were no more elements to base Calamities off of. The Circle of Knowing was created by those who believed a seventh Calamity was to come and had the goal to forestall it.
It was the Garlean Empire that made the seventh Calamity occur. They decided to use Dalamud as a weapon for conquest and bring it down upon Eorzea. They successfully pulled down the moon but were surprised to discover Dalamud was not actually a moon, but a satellite that housed the primal Bahamut. The dragon primal burst out of the satellite and rained destruction upon Eorzea. The satellite itself also caused damage, with pieces flying into settlements, cities, and the ocean which caused tidal waves. After this happened, the Circle of Knowing became the Scions of the Seventh Dawn (a reference to the seventh Calamity).
The last Calamity only occurred in an alternate timeline that is revealed in the events of Shadowbringers. Like the seventh Calamity, the next was also the fault of the Garlean Empire. They created a deadly gas called Black Rose that stopped the aetherial flow of any that come to contact with it. Like Dalamund, the gas was meant to be a weapon to use in conquest but ultimately got out of control. This gas weapon exploded and spread across Eorzea, ending all civilizations with few survivors.
