The Year of Collapse

Disbandment

My father, behold, the enemy's ships came. My cities were burned, and they did evil in my country. Does not my father know that all of my troops and chariots are in the Hatti and all of my ships ate in the land of Lucca? The country is abandoned to itself. Know, my father, that much damage has been inflicted upon us.   — Ammurapi to Alashiya, in the last days of Ugarit

The Holy Bulwarks has been under siege from The Imramma for millennia, in a long-winded conflict known by some as 'The Primeval War'. The Ishvara known as Xulatt was finally overwhelmed and annexed by The Storm. Xulatt was often deemed to be one of the weakest and least significant among the surviving Ishvara. The Toxic Jungle is truly a hellish place: A stony hive of flesh-eating spores and plants of infinite decay; but even Xulatt's fungoid-gods and mycorrhizan-weavers could not contain the pressure. Whether the Stormriders somehow knew this when it invaded, or simply chose the path of least resistance, is neither fully known nor understood.   Xulatt was torn asunder to the wind of chaos, and thus became a vector of invasion into the neighbouring Bulwarks. For the first time since the Age of Primeval Reality hordes Stormriders clawed their way through the veil of reality and took shapes in the channels of Heaven. They stole the shapes of man and beast; they tasted the flesh of tree and spirit; and now they carried with them all the miasmas of Xulatt. Any internal strife among the Ishvara was put aside to deal with the greater threat, and the Nagas and many Gods fought valiantly to quell the incursion, to drive back the rot, and to seal off Xulatt from the rest.   In the meantime though... The Incarnate kings and queens of Loke had spread around the world raising new nations and razing each other's; unable to create true dynasties they simply ruled for as long as they lived—until they died or ascended—then a new power would replace them. Normal people eked out an existence in the lower echelons of such societies and the nations of Loke had slowly become reliant on their merchant classes and trade networks. This undoubtedly played it's part in the collapse: For as more and more of the magic in the world was 'abandoned', more and more nations felt the strain and succumbed to pestilence, and debauchery, and violence. It was a downward spiral. Gripped by panic, the old empires splintered and entire nations fell into barbarism and fire. And most remaining Incarnates were trampled and torn to pieces in the revolts.   Between the age of fire that came before, and the collapse of mankind now; with no powerful Incarnates left, and few libraries left standing: Man was left in literal darkness, as it is said that even the sun and moon vanished from the sky for a great length of time. Truly, this was an apocalypse to be remembered. Decimated, and greatly in needed restoration and hope: Man made many stories and prophesies in this time, of heroes or gods who might once again bring light to the earth. The saga of the Priestess of Bahamootbali is one such tale, for example.   Sage's Note: In reality, the collapse took many years, perhaps even an entire century, but all that is lost to time now. Few records show up from this time. So most contemporary scholars agree to put it all under a collective 'year zero'. And so begins the Common Era.