The Falling

= Overview =

The Event
The Falling is widely regarded as the cataclysmic event separating the Third and Fourth Eras. During the event, it is said that the stars flew by at night, and the edges of the world were torn ragged.

The Cause
Almost everyone agrees that the cause of The Falling can be found in Redian. Redian was dominant technologically, economically, and magically prior to The Falling. It consisted of a gleaming, massive structure of both semi-natural rock and a multitude of towers. Redian had continued to grow skyward during the Third Era and it was the most visible landmark in the world.

During The Falling, Redian was largely destroyed. A massive spire still remains, crackling with arcane magic and covered by a dark cloud. None have successfully climbed the spire, and legends abound about what can be found at the top of it.

The Aftermath
Redian was destroyed, and most of the major continents were fractured. The world looks much different now, with a shallow inland sea surrounding Redian, and The Fallen Realms bordering that sea.

The Seas of the World-End represent the area where the ragged edges of this world touch those of others, connected during The Falling. Here portals open into vast other worlds, with alien beings and forces traveling between the two. Colonies have been established around the more permanent connections to other worlds, as The Fallen Realms try to monopolize the resources now available.

= Detailed Lore =

The Falling
The tales of The Falling are many and varied. The understanding of the world before The Falling has faded – tales and legends abound. How much is truth and how much is fantasy is in great debate. But what is not in debate is The Falling itself. Merely 1000 years ago, just a few short generations for some of the elder races, the Great Calamity occurred.

The tales tell a story of a world of plenty. Great forests and plains, bountiful fish in the sea, a vibrant network of grand cities and long trade routes, disappearing over the horizons. The petty squabbles of the inhabitants of these cities and countries were few and mundane. All lived in harmony, prosperity, and peace. The great realm of Redian stood proudly in the center of this world, raising towers and even mountains up into the sky. But perhaps they reached too high, angering the gods, or perhaps they dug too deep, weakening the foundations of the world. None will ever know. But it is widely believed that it was they that triggered The Falling.

At first the earthquakes were minor. The tallest towers swayed, the waves slapped the shore with more vigor, and plates rattled on the tables. But the shaking grew stronger. The towers began to fall. And then the world fell.

Stars streamed by at night, and the world itself began to tear away at the edges as it fell. Sailors flying into ports on the winds of gales reported walls of water flowing up into the sky. Walls fell, and lands were ripped in two, oceans rushing in to fill the gaps.

Redian began to crumble, and much of the great realm fell into the sea. The surrounding countries were torn from it, and a great shallow sea formed around what was left of the mountains and towers.

The Aftermath
As large chunks of Redian plunged into the sea, a great dark cloud formed in the sky, obscuring what was left. It is the grave marker of Redian, forming an eternal reminder of what that realm did. The once great realms are now cracked into small archipelagos, their harbors washed into the seas, and the once mighty trade routes disappearing into the water, their endpoints unreachable.

As the remaining people fought to survive, the stars began to slow down, and the shaking began to subside. A year after it had begun, The Falling was over. And the people tried to rebuild. But it soon became clear that The Falling had been stopped by the fabric of other worlds. Tears in the the cosmos bound them together, mixing their parts, and opening passages between them. A few hundred years after The Falling, strange fish were beginning to be caught in the seas. Strange birds landed in the woods. And strange creatures washed ashore, most dead and rotting, but some still alive, and hungry.

Things never before seen in the world began to creep in. When the edges of the world were torn in The Falling, they opened into places that none could ever have dreamed of. Some of these worlds were benevolent, but many were not. On top of the destruction of everything else, new threats appeared. Countries scrambled to shore up defenses, and rebuild some of what had been lost. For the next thousand years, the world rebuilt. Brave adventurers sailed towards the World-End, and those who returned brought back stories of fantastic lands and creatures.

The inland sea between the remaining continents and Redian soon was populated with fish, and the coastal margins blossomed with trade. But the dark cloud obscuring that accursed realm remained, ever reminding those who sailed the seas of what was in store for them if they ventured too far out. For a thousand years few dared to sail under that cloud and attempt to climb the steep cliffs. Of those who did few ever returned, and those who would try were discouraged with tales of chaotic, deadly magic infesting the very rock itself. But a thousand years is a long time, and curiosity is a terrible thing. The fishermen sail ever closer to the cliffs, and the explorers climb ever higher. Some day soon it seems that someone will discover what lies atop the highest cloud-covered peak of Redian, and make it back to tell the rest of the world.

Until that time, it remains a mystery. It remains the center of folklore and fairytales, bundled with stories of the idyllic time before The Falling, and the tales of what was almost the end of the world. For those near the inland sea, the Black Cloud of Redian is ever-present. For those near the Wild Seas, they must always be on the look-out for strange creatures coming from the World-End. But for those inland, those far from the shores, life goes on. These strange tales have some basis in reality, but they make for a good bedtime story. That is, until the stories become flesh, blood, and teeth.

Recovery
A few hundred years after The Falling, the twisted fabric of the World-End began to solidify. What once was a jumbled mass of time, space, magic, and chaos began to reform. The pathways between the worlds remained, but the chaotic energies began to be tamed by the laws of physics in this world. The twisted masses flowed into smooth forms, a union of multiple worlds.

Islands appeared, each more strange than the last. Some appeared to be the corpses of giant beasts, killed in The Falling. In some the laws of physics bent, alien hybrid lands now floating in the Seas of the World-End. Some were deadly, some were bountiful, and some were just bizarre. An island of green fire could be seen dancing on a red ocean; silver domes of mist could be sailed through, the sailors watching incorporeal beasts gallop away as they glided through lush plains of mist.

The broken realms around the central sea became known as The Fallen Lands. As time went on, they reformed and rebuilt. Wars broke out as the borders of realms were reestablished, as scarce resources were squabbled over. Trade routes sprang up to facilitate this rebuilding, and over time, The Fallen Lands began to settle into an uneasy peace.

As the Seas of the World-End began to show signs of life, The Fallen Lands began to send ships out to explore. A world-wide quest for resources had begun, and the realms soon competed with each other to claim new territory in this shadow-realm of shifting reality. Forts, Keeps, and soon even Cities were built in these strange lands, on strange rocks amidst strange plants and animals. Very quickly the realms of The Fallen Lands carved out Colonies, as they sought to reap the bounties of the Seas of the World-End. Ores never before seen were mined from these places, along with chunks of raw magic and gems burning with eternal fire. The alchemists soon began experimenting with these new components, and a dawn of new technology began.

This is where we find the world today. It is said that The Fallen Lands feed the world, and the Seas of the World-End make it rich. For the average citizen, life is as it has always been in The Fallen Lands. The timber is cut and brought home. The fields are tended. Goods go to market, coin comes back, and immediately goes into the pockets of the Taxman. The militia make their rounds, stand watch in the border towers, guard the trade routes. The big cities are a bit different, as here the impacts of the Seas of the World-End can be felt. The food from the surrounding seas and farms comes in, and much is preserved and loaded onto ships, bound for the Colonies. Those ships come back bearing strange materials. Those strange materials are offloaded, and taken to be studied, refined, and turned into mystical new artifacts. Artifacts which may well be sowing the seeds of war....