Can this world unite against the threats facing it, or will its golden age be derailed by unhealed divisions and incursions of eldritch anomalies?
Timeline: The historical eras of Tahuum Itaqiin
More than six hundred years ago, marauders from a distant land invaded the continent of Tahuum Itaqiin. The internecine war that followed, known as
the Crusade and the Reconquest, brought ruin to societies across the continent, ushering in a long era of strife and division. In the past two hundred years, the major civilizations of Tahuum Itaqiin had finally recovered from the ravages of that era and appeared to be on the brink of a new golden age. Progress in diplomacy, science, and magic was improving livelihoods and security across much of the continent. Now, however, this progress risks being disrupted once again.
This time, however, the the incursion is no ordinary human invasion. Instead, terrible secrets are emerging from this world's hidden and forgotten places: Forlorn ruins, vast subterranean realms, lost civilizations, and the deepest, darkest oceans. Explorers who delve into these places often do not return, but those who do are changed, mainly for the worse. The luckiest ones merely seem shaken and disturbed, claiming encounters with deranged people or half-seen alien creatures. Many others come back clearly traumatized or deranged, afflicted with contagions that defy diagnosis, or making outlandish claims of being "beckoned" or "guided" by "voices from beyond." Others still have apparently gleaned uncanny insights from their time spent in those places, claiming to experience visions or accounts of events from distant lands, of history they could not possibly be knowledgeable of, or of revolutionary insights into the nature and limits of magic.
In the Continent's frontiers, these dangers no longer remain in hiding. Now, there are tales of cryptid creatures and ill-intentioned mages and cultists terrorizing travelers and remote settlements. The worst affected realms are being cordoned off by local authorities, or else residents warn travelers away from these places entirely. Sometimes, the warnings come instead from refugees who have fled their homes and shared bizarre, horrific tales with any who would listen. But the intellectual leaders of this world have so far proven incapable of adequately explaining these phenomena or defending their societies against them. Thus, collective anxiety simmers in the face of the unknown; frightened populace and desperate leaders attempt to make sense of this turn of events, mutual trust begins to break down within and between communities, with ancient rivalries flaring up and demagogues taking advantage of the situation by scapegoating their enemies.
While rulers, scholars, and priests struggle to come to terms with the rise of these eldritch phenomena, some answers are beginning to emerge from unlikely sources—namely, the astrologists and other diviners whose ways had been largely dismissed during this recent era of intellectual and scientific advancement. These diviners claim that the threats facing this world now lack precedent in the historical archives, religious myths, and most folklore. To understand the current situation and predict what an increasingly uncertain future might hold, one must instead look to the oldest archives of all: The stars themselves—which have borne witness to the entirety of history and prehistory—and dreams and visions which have haunted all of humanity since long before they laid the foundations of their first settlements.
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