Central Tyria
The earliest recorded dragonrise
Around 20,000 BE comes the earliest recorded rising of the Elder Dragons — the primordial beings whose millennia-long cycles of awakening, devastation, and slumber are tied to the level of magic in the world.
The Elder Dragons are primordial beings who throughout history have awoken and wrought devastation upon Tyria before falling back into slumber. These "dragonrises" recur roughly every ten thousand years and last for several centuries, ending only when the dragons have consumed all of the world's available magic and return to their hibernation. The GW2 Timeline places the earliest recorded such rising at approximately 20,000 BE.
Memory of these awakenings survives mostly in the tales of elder races. Ancient jotun stargazers inscribed their findings on great monument stones and spoke of a "sextet of swallowers" said to have consumed the world several times over, while norn and jotun stories alike preserve accounts of "the last rise of the dragons." The very existence of such tales, scholars note, indicates the dragons have awakened at least twice in history.