An Introduction to the Era After
The year would have been 1700 VTE, had it not been forgotten.
Almost six hundred years ago, the world of Vitubia as its inhabitants knew it ceased to exist.
This cataclysm, however, was not one that destroyed the planet. There was no dramatic meteor strike, there were no great wars. Until its full consequences bore fruit, the end of the world was much more subtle than that.
Without warning or explanation, the death of the world came with a fading away. Gods and goddesses of Vitubia, some of which roamed the earth, had inexplicably disappeared. Rituals and methods to reach realms beyond its own, previously successful, had no effect. But most importantly, chuubanite, the legendary essence which enriched the entire globe, became nothing more than its surface form: an empty rock, a basic mineral, a current of air.
In the course of a singular day, the magic of Vitubia had vanished. In turn, the planet's boundless future was torn apart. Chuubanite-based economies buckled. Nations were thrown into chaos. Hordes of schizos, previously suppressed or nonexistent, brought their wrath upon everyone else. Ecosystems dependent on chuubanite fluctuated and rapidly changed. And at the end of it all, a series of natural disasters - previously only kept in check by the power of chuubanite - brought any remaining society to its knees, washing away all sorts of life as if it were the ocean taking away some sand.
All things, however, come to a close. Eventually, the disasters stopped. The population began to replenish itself. The schizos, no longer having any purpose for their Rrats, mellowed out; in time, most of them grew less insane (but not uninsane). While the husk of Vitubia could never recover the prosperity of a bygone era, its people marched on in the flow of time regardless.
Almost six hundred years later, the world of Vitubia has become almost unrecognizable from its former self. In the present day, the only things which remain of the past are echoes.
Decaying and declining nations hold onto their legacies, ones which have turned into distorted myth and legend. Technological innovation has not just halted, but has been reversed entirely as entire fields of knowledge were lost to ruin. The inevitable processes of change in language, culture, demographics and religion have transformed and reshaped the planet's emerging civilizations and the people who are a part of them.
As the memories of an old time long gone continue to fade, new memories are made by those who live in a new age. Very slowly but quite surely, the world grows again. New nations arise from territories where their previous owners were forgotten. Rulers, the first, second or third of their dynasties, make a name for themselves throughout the land. Ethnic groups vie for dominance, governments of all kinds find themselves in a struggle for power, and centuries-old disputes continue to flare up wherever they are still remembered.
Enough time has passed. From shaky foundations that rest upon the ashes of civilizations long gone, a new era begins to emerge on Vitubia. The era of the apocalypse has come and gone. Now, it is time for its descendants to survive and thrive in the next one: the Era After.