Epilogue

With the defeat of Cataclysm himself atop The Mithral Spire, the world was brought back from the brink of annihilation. However, the decisions and deals made by the adventuring party that saw him defeated had far reaching ramifications that rippled out far beyond the conclusion of The Extinction War, both for their lives personally and the world at large.

Stopping the Collision

The party ultimately found two options for saving the world from the impending Collision of the Planes that Cataclysm had sent in motion: Primus/Harmony's solution of halting the movement of the Planes, or using the Oculus Infinium to shield the world's population from the destruction. But first, they had to find a way to turn off the mechanism that was still binding the Material Plane with Limbo and causing the latter to swallow up the former. In an effort to prevent any additional destruction, the party ultimately decided to allow Echoless to enter a contest of wills with the now-captive Cataclysm. Empowered by as many buffs as the rest of the party could offer, Echoless bade the sealed Fundamental Avatar to undo the mechanism.
And in his weakened state, Cataclysm acquiesced.
From there, Leona and Echoless united the two halves of the Oculus Infinium and keyed it into the near-limitless energy of the Mithral Spire. With it, they reached out to every soul of the cosmos, both living and dead, and safely plucked them out of time and deposited them roughly one year into the future; well after the bulk of the devastation caused by the Collision had come and gone.

Cataclysm's Fate

As for Cataclysm himself, many ideas were tossed around as to how to keep him safely contained. Shepherd wished to construct a new dungeon to contain him with himself as an eternal warden, but was ultimately denied by the other allies. Bran suggested simply tossing him in a demiplane to be forgotten, but the uncertainty of extraplanar storage saw that idea nixed.
Ultimately, it was agreed that he needed to be housed somewhere where any and all traps and wards could be watched and maintained. Christoph Heulen took up the responsibility to spearhead the project, with Echoless insisting that she be heavily involved in the process.
Each of the party were also offered the option of receiving a special key to the prison and act as a Warden of Cataclysm. Allston and Leona declined, and Zel was forbade from doing so, leaving Bran, Echoless, and Mr. Buttons to take up the mantle. In time, they would find suitable inheritors of these keys (ostensibly excepting Bran, who would live on forever barring any unfortunate accidents), and the "Wardens of Cataclysm" would become something akin to a secret society; one that would forever ensure that Cataclysm would never again bring anarchy and destruction to the realms of men.

The World at Large

While the party's actions ensured that not a single soul was lost to the Collision, the devastation that was inflicted upon the lands resulted in a lack of resources that quickly spiraled into famine. Fortunately, because everyone was spared from the initial impact, leadership and chains of command were left intact, allowing for swift and organized responses to the disaster. However, there simply was a lack of sufficient resources and reserves to ensure a smooth transition.
The first year saw the worst of the death toll, with it dropping substantially in subsequent years. After just a single decade, the population decline leveled off at roughly 3/4 of what it was before the Collision.
With the priority of the surviving kingdoms being rebuilding, The White Tower Alliance and other combined forces quickly dispersed and returned to their homes.
Without the Nexus, and traditional trade routes disabled or outright destroyed, individual kingdoms consolidated locally and adopted more isolationist policies, being forced to fend largely for themselves without a strong centralized rebuilding effort. The surviving great city-states of Kentro were divided up into smaller kingdoms without Eodur to act as the go-between. For them, the first few decades following the Collision were marked by constant, small-scale warfare over territory and resources between these new, smaller kingdoms.
With the bulk of their manpower needed back in Requiem to focus on rebuilding efforts, The 2nd Haedian Empire was quickly forced to end its occupation of Nessbrim and Anhangia, allowing the region to again become an independent kingdom.
Requiem itself remained united under Aurum's rule, though the stress of reconstruction inflamed old grudges, specifically between Penance and the other city-states. Cognance and Sigil remain strongly united under Aurum and Queen Domantus, and while it never broke out into true Civil War, strict and drastic measures were needed to suppress increasing unrest coming out of Penance. In the end, the Haedian Empire remained whole, but like its predecessor, never truly expanded beyond the province of Requiem.
The Province of Horizon was united for the first time in an age under an Alliance spearheaded by Crucible, Ioma, Nordstar, and Precipice. This was done to facilitate reconstruction and bolster trade and economics as well as present a united front to any would-be invaders potentially eyeing Horizon as ripe for the taking. In time, this alliance would come to be known as the United Northern Realms.
The unbiased devastation of the Collision also caused a unique paradigm shift in terms of power and influence across the lands. Kings and other governing bodies simply lacked the resources to unilaterally rebuild, thus allowing leaders who otherwise possessed no royal blood or renown to step up and bring people together. Overtime, this resulted in independent "companies" organized out of guilds and other unions and governed by wealthy benefactors; becoming large economic players that shared power with traditional monarchs. In time, these companies and regencies struck amicable arrangements with one another that allowed them to work in tandem. This process was cleaner for some more than others.
It quickly became clear that the level of devastation the land experienced was directly correlated to distance from the Mithral Spire. Because of this, distant lands and kingdoms previously unseen on the world stage stepped into the spotlight. The small, insulated city-states and kingdoms of the archipelago of Lapis Teras grew to new heights as they stepped up to provide shipping and seafood to inland nations. The hidden realms of the Sylvanlands emerged from the shade of their ancient forests to trade in luxury goods like spices and silk. Exploration of the seas south of Archaios also led to contact with previously completely unknown lands and realms that provided prime opportunities for growth.

A Brighter Tomorrow

All told, it would take roughly a century and a few generations for Archaios to fully recover from the Great Collision. But when it was all said and done, the disparate kingdoms of men, elves, and dwarves were ready to continue to grow and expand to new heights.
A new age of exploration was ushered in when, roughly 70 years after the Great Collision, a highly-advanced, albeit derelict and abandoned ship was discovered near Far Reach in Requiem. Much of the iron ship's mechanisms remained a mystery to those that dissected it, but from it, Archaios artificers and crafters were able to reverse engineer far more effective navigational and optical tools. It was eventually decided that this must have been a ship belonging to The Atotakah, an otherwise unknown civilization ostensibly from somewhere across the sea that had been encountered only sparingly during the battles against Cataclysm.
It would take some time to gather the necessary funding, resources, and manpower, but in the mid 1400s, expeditions were launched across the ocean in search of new lands and new opportunities, and by the early 1500s, Archaios settlers had established their first permanent colony in The Talhani Isles : a lush, verdant, island cluster off the coast of a continent called K'allpa.
Here, the people of Archaios would find themselves in the company of an Assembly of kingdoms from K'allpa and beyond already established within parts of the islands: realms of elves, dragonborn, and (curiously) kobolds chiefly among them.
And with that, despite an admittedly monumental setback, the world found itself more interconnected than ever before. With Cataclysm sealed away, the realms of men, elves, and dwarves were free to grow and expand to new heights with nothing to slow them down. Both the New and the Old Worlds were brought into a bright new age of discovery and enlightenment. Surely nothing new would arise to cast a shadow over this new era. Surely, those days shall remain firmly in the past…

A Few Minor Loose Ends

The messiness implicit to the party's choices in stopping the Collision meant that even though their ultimate goal was achieved, a few threads were unraveled or left dangling in the aftermath, including:

• a side effect of allowing the Collision to occur meant all extraplanar spaces were ruined. This very much included Bags of Holding and Portable Holes. This meant that great amounts of wealth were scattered throughout the cosmos, as well as other items of great power or danger.
• The chunk of Soul Stone that contained the demon Amalgam was lost to the aether.
• The Eye of Vecna was lost as well; likely floating somewhere in the Astral Sea
• While the Deck of Many Things was initially believed to have been lost the same way, the ornate, silk pouch that contained them was actually found some time later. However, instead of a deck of magic cards, all the pouch contained was powdery ash. It seems that with their creator gone, the cards lost their power and crumbled to dust.
• Despite the destruction of the Deck of Many Things, its effects on the world remain permanent. This includes King Dorian Havik's disdain for Bran and the Archdevil Zariel's persuance of Allston.
• The Malefica Occultum, or "Book of Vile Darkness" has disappeared as well, though not because it was contained within an extradimmensional space. Instead, it was absconded with by Shepherd, who did not stick around after the conclusion of the Extinction War.
• The Wand of Orcus remains in the possession of the bloddhunter Venatrix.

Personal Epilogues

With their primary purpose of travelling and fighting together finally resolved, the party was free to go their separate ways and dare to seek an answer to one of life's most existential questions: now what?

• Echoless. For all of her adult life, Echoless has pursued one singular goal or another. Now, the idea of a life of peace and tranquility is as frightening as any enemy she has faced. However, she has made a few close bonds during her adventures with the likes of Leona and Ferdinand, and is ready to step into a new chapter of her life. After ensuring that Cataclysm was adequately sealed and protected by the Wardens of Cataclysm, she set off with Leona to spend the rest of their mortal days aiding in Reconstruction and bringing light to anyone still lost in the darkness.
  
• Leona. As previously mentioned, Leona wished to continue using her power and faith to aid those in need; starting with Zel, who wished for aid in claiming the castle bestowed on him by the Deck of Many Things as well as resurrecting his lost love, Ysbetta Sentilla, who perished in the fight against Cataclysm. From there, she and Echoless roamed the land, conjuring her Temple of the Gods wherever the road led them and offering aid to all who needed it. This "travelling temple" would become a rather popular folktale in the decades to come.
  
• Mr. Buttons. Buttons would go on to aid in the reconstruction of Crucible and Kittsadora, settling down with Mist of Morning and taking a keen interest in raising the black dragon Naarmundus, as well as going on to have a litter of his own. Despite his decision to settle down, he could always be relied upon if the need for his blade, bow, or insatiable bloodlust was ever called for.
  
• Bran. Bran would spend a great deal of time attempting to regrow damaged wilderness and farmland in an effort to stave off the famines that would grip the land after the Collision. He would also spend time seeking out new dragons and finding tuning forks to different planes of existence. After all, he had the rest of his conditionally-immortal life ahead of him; he might as well see all the cosmos had to offer. Over time he would accumulate a small army of critters from all sorts of places drawn to his aura that would follow him everywhere. In the years that followed the Collision, he would very rarely be seen by humans. The very rare sighting of a firbolg/dragon/badger being followed by a veritable menagerie of exotic creatures quickly gained legendary cryptid status amongst the civilized kingdoms of men.
  
• Zel. With his wife revived and his adoptive son at his side, Zel wished to create a new kingdom of his very own, based out of the castle he inherited from the Deck of Many Things. Unfortunately, Zel's free time was short-lived, as Hyrsam, self-proclaimed Fey Prince of Fools, came to collect favors owed (from both Zel and Allston, as it turned out). Fortunately, Zel survived his debt to Hyrsam (as well as a brief foray into Hell to save the soul of Aefaren Thrangur, who had sacrificed himself in the battle against Cataclysm), and returned to his young family and realm.
  
• Allston. The gnomish artificer had managed to compile quite the list of people who had him marked for one reason or another. The dragon Kruzikmaar made it clear he intended to enlist Allston for aid in saving Aefaren from the Archdevil Zariel's clutches, but fortunately or unfortunately depending on perspective, Hyrsam got to him first. Like Zel, Allston was able to survive Hyrsam's little mission and returned to find that the Archfey intended to sell him out to Zariel's devils. Not one to stick around to learn how these two came into cahoots, Allston fled blindly into the Feywild and left behind the tethering ring given to him by Hyrsam. Where, and more importantly when, Allston emerged from his flight remains a mystery.
  
• Zandre. The reluctant leader of the Church of Triumvirism went on to do his damndest to sabotage the old institutions, to some interesting results. Ultimately, his actions as Orator would lead to a schism in the Triumvirate Church, with Fundamentalists strongly opposing him and Progressives following his "new" doctrines. In the end, this would allow the faith of Aonism to creep slowly into Requiem and eventually become to dominant religion within the following centuries. Meanwhile, Zandre would also continue to operate his Hellfire Legion as well as reinstate his families old medical clinics within Cognance; returning them to their original intention of being free for everyone who needed help.
  
• Venatrix. The elven bloodhunter would never truly recover from her bond with Amalgam and would continue along a shadowy path for decades to come. Rolf did his best to curtail her worst compulsions, but often found himself as a reluctant accomplice to her "nonsense." Her biggest priority following the Collision was dismantling the organization that had made her the way she was: The Night's Song. While the continental organization proved far too sprawling to ever be single handedly undone, Ezekiel's death and the general chaos during the days of Reconstruction allowed her to "free" her "old friend" Bartimaeus from his centuries-long servitude to the Song, though what ultimately became of him was never fully revealed. Her other order of business was to extend the longevity of Rolf, who was destined as all humans are to die in but a few short decades. Whether or not she ever found a suitable solution remains a mystery...
  
• Ximon. The young mystic retired for good at the ripe old age of not-even-twenty after the Extinction War. He would travel with his bride, Princess Tria Fortis for many years aiding in Reconstruction before her time to inherit the throne of Requiem finally came (a surprise to many, as it was a popular theory that Aurum's son Orin would have replaced her in the line of succession). From there, he would remain at her side as Prince Consort of Sigil, where he spent most of his days increasing his understanding of magic and the cosmos.
  
• Brynn. The old elf, who had previously resigned himself to a quiet, ageless life of contemplation and regret, had found himself with a feeling he never thought he would again experience: satisfaction. He had been reunited with his old friends and worked together to finally put an end to the evil they had inadvertently unleashed a millennia ago. With the source of his longevity quickly diminishing to nothing, Brynn spent the last few months of his life surrounded by friends and people whose lives he had touched, and when the time finally came for his soul to pass on to a new realm, he did so contended and with no regrets.
  
• Shepherd. Conversely, the old lich could not allow himself to go quietly into the night. With his first desire of acting as Cataclysm's warden was denied, Shepherd vanished, along with The Malefica Occultum, shortly after Cataclysm's fate was decided. Where he went or what his plans were remained a mystery, though it was clear that Shepherd knew well that his alliance with the party was only a means to an end in defeating a common foe. With Cataclysm defeated, all that remained for Shepherd was the weight of the consequences of his own actions. He had performed unspeakable acts in the name of security and order, and for that, he would never find true atonement or forgiveness, at least not from his old friends and colleagues...