The First Dark Age began with the fall of the Empire in the West, traditionally dated to 1229 . It is called a “dark” age in part because we have so few records from this time, but also because it was an era when it seemed to the people at the time as if the Wild might utterly conquer the world. The rise to power of Carolus the Hammer marks the end of this time (1471 AUC).
These two centuries saw fundamental changes in the world of Altearth. The first dwarves appeared, both in the Carpati and in the Alpine Mountains. There is a lively debate over whether gnomes also arrived. They can be documented to the rule of Pepin the Short, by which time they were so well-established across Europa that it seems likely they had been present for decades if not centuries. Gnome folklore places them alongside dwarves during the Long Dig.
Orks arrived at the very beginning of the period; indeed, it is likely they closely followed the goblins. Ork wars dominate the entire era. The other notable aspect of the First Dark Age is magic. This is the time of heroic magic, when great wizards walked, sometimes protecting and sometimes terrorizing the land. We have almost no written or physical record from these two centuries; all we know comes to us via later legend and historical works of dubious quality, along with the work of archeothaumaturgy. What is undisputed is that magic spread widely all across Europa and deeply into human culture.