Seventh Astral Era or Eighth Astral Era?

[Catapult]

So it turns out it wasn't Fernehalwes, but Sasunaich from the German side of the forums. I translated that post myself back when it was made. I'll copy it for you here.

Die sprechen ja dir ganze zeit von der 7. Katastrophe was ist denn mit den ersten 6 konnte da jemand in der story, quests was rauslesen wurde mal was davon erwähnt ?
They're always talking about the 7th Catastrophe (read: Umbral Era - I'll use this term henceforth since it's commonly used for the same description in English as "Catastrophe" is in German.), but what is with the first six? Could anyone read anything out of the story/quests? Was anything about them mentioned?

Ich habe mich wissensdurstig an das "World Environment Design"-Team gewandt und eine recht ausführliche Antwort auf deine Frage erhalten:
Thirsty for knowledge, I turned to the "World Environment Design" team and obtained a rather comprehensive answer:

Vielen Dank für eure Fragen.
Thank you for your questions.

Was ist in den vorherigen Katastrophen passiert ?
Je länger diese Katastrophen zurückliegen, desto weniger Hinweise haben wir, die uns verraten könnten, was genau passiert ist. Diejenigen, die jetzt in Eorzea leben, können nur darüber spekulieren und sich ein Bild von der Vergangenheit basierend auf Mythen und Lore machen.
Aber da die noch recht junge 6. Katastrophe (die allerdings auch schon rund 1.500 Jahre her ist) ein äußerst bedeutendes historisches Ereignis war, gibt es darüber noch immer viele Aufzeichnungen, die uns nachvollziehen lassen, was damals passiert ist.
What happened in the earlier Umbral Eras?
The further back in history the era is, the less clues we have that can tell us as to what exactly happened. Those who live in Eorzea now can only speculate and construct a picture of the past based on myths and lore.
But because the still rather recent 6th Umbral Era (although it was already about 1,500 years ago) was such a highly significant event in history, there are still many records on the topic that allow us to reconstruct what happened.

Theologen und Historiker haben viele Quellen studiert und daraus abgeleitet, was in der ersten bis sechsten Katastrophe vorgefallen ist.
1. Die Windkatastrophe. Dies war das Ende der göttlichen und gleichzeitig der Beginn der menschlichen Ära.
2. Die Blitz-Katastrophe
3. Die Feuer-Katastrophe
4. Die Erd-Katastrophe
5. Die Eis-Katastrophe
6. Die Wasser-Katastrophe. Aufgrund einer starken Überflutung wurden viele Teile Eorzeas überschwämmt und beschädigt.
Theologists and Historians have studied many sources and from them concluded what struck in the first through sixth Umbral eras.
1. The Umbral Era of Wind. This was the end of the divine's era and simultaneously the beginning of men's era. (NB: German uses the term "Menschen" to describe humankind without any connotations of gender or race - so this does not mean specifically an era of Hyur. The closest comparable term in English for the mythological context in "men" although "humanity" would be more accurate. I suspect the English localisation team would choose to phrase it differently.)
2. The Umbral Era of Lightning.
3. The Umbral Era of Fire.
4. The Umbral Era of Earth.
5. The Umbral Era of Ice.
6. The Umbral Era of Water. Severe flooding caused the submersion and damage of many parts of Eorzea.

Da alle sechs Katastrophen auf den sechs Elementen basieren, haben die Menschen geglaubt, dass es keine weitere geben wird. Aufgrund der Entdeckung der 7. Prophezeiung Mezayas fangen sie nun jedoch an, an eine bevorstehende 7. Katastrophe zu glauben.
Because all six Umbral eras are based on the six elements, the people have believed that there will be no more. But since the discovery of the 7th Verse of Mezaya's prophesy, they are instead beginning to believe in an impending 7th Umbral Era.

Now that is what we knew about the cycle of eras prior to much development on the Dalamud-plotline.

Since then, we have also learnt that it was Bahamut's desire to put an end to the cycle of astral and umbral eras. As to whether or not he has suceeded... there may be more plot in ARR to that extent.

Edit: It is also worth noting that the Allagan Empire is understood to have fallen during the fourth umbral era (earth) and that the miqo'te arrived in Aldenard during the ice age that was the fifth umbral era (ice). A few other civilisations have also fallen in Eorzea's history, including Gelmorra, though we do not yet seem to have been able to put a specific era/date on this.
The fall of Sil'dih is measured as centuries ago rather than millenia or eras, so it is unconnected to an umbral era.

Edit edit: It is probably worth underscoring how the term umbral era is a bit misleading. The German translation, as I mentioned above, uses the term "catastrophe" to better articulate what is going on.
Ergo, umbral eras last as long as their catastrophic impacts are being felt, making them typically measurable in years, and astral eras last however long it takes for the next significant world-altering catastrophe to come along, which can be a long time. In the case of the sixth Astral, approx 1573 years.

Edit edit edit: While I cannot recall the source, my understanding is that five years have lapsed between the release of Bahamut from Dalamud and our return to a realm reborn.