Quote Originally Posted by Iscah View Post
I've wondered the opposite thing about the Seventh Umbral and Astral eras... did they declare the start of the Astral era too soon? It seems like it to me. They defeated a military opponent and forced Lahabrea to retreat (but didn't truly defeat him or prevent him from continuing to act). All good for them, but is that really enough to declare history is out of its Umbral stage? I'm not sure it is.
I believe the declaration of an Astral Era was a PR move on the part of the Grand Companies, and not based on any hard scientific facts. That may simply be Word of Moose, though.

Now that we have an 8th Calamity on our hands, though, I guess we can say the the entire Seventh Era lasted almost-but-not-quite 6 years, 5 of those being Umbral.