From the golden heights of Astarian’s Hill to the profane depths of the Malediction, the Fall of Osterath was the catalyst for the end of not only an empire but of an era. The Fall fundamentally changed magic and with it the world. In every corner of the world, civilization was struck a deathly blow, one it would take a thousand years to recover from. Even so, the heights once achieved by Osterath and other empires of the Age of Relics will forever be beyond our reach.
During the Age of Relics, the world of Agnar was filled to the brim with civilizations capable of deeds the people of the continent of Selejia can now only dream of. We know of the world that came before from the scantly recalled tales passed down through generations until they became legends and from the songs the bards have written over the centuries. Most of these are no doubt born from the fanciful notions of a people trying to make sense of the senseless destruction those nations from the Age of Relics have wrought on the world, but there are so many similarities among tales told in the distant parts of the known world that some of this knowledge is most likely true.
The first thing we know is that the Age of Relics had many different great nations, each capable of shaping the world around them through feats of magic that defy comprehension. To this end, they wielded the power of the Relics, gifted to them by the Everlasting in an even more distant time. At their command, the winds roared into hurricanes and the earth exploded to reveal the fires of the depths. Just as easily as they could summon these disasters they could stop them, holding at bay the will of nature for an indeterminate time. Beyond that, they could travel distances so great in the blink of an eye, that one must wonder if they were even limited to this world alone.
We also know that all of these miraculous deeds were performed by the chosen of the Everlasting, those who had been left in charge of their design. The problem was, of course, the different interpretations of that design. Even before the Fall, entire cultures were lost to the wars that were sparked by those differences, and their history and secrets were lost with them.
We also know of the Fall itself and of those last days of the Golden Empire. We have an enormous amount of accounts of those times and of the day of the event itself. Frustratingly, a lot of these tales diverge on several aspects of the events that led to that fateful day, but on what they agree, the accounts are haunting.
The Astarian Paradux, the empire centered around the golden city of Osterath, had been the dominant nation of the world for several centuries before the Fall. It had conquered many other kingdoms and brought each of their Everlasting Relics back to their capital. According to the Valcarist Church, their goal was to complete the divine mandate of the Everlasting, to bring all of the great Relics together and perform a great feat of magic that would fundamentally rewrite the world, finally bringing peace and prosperity to all. Others view the actions of the Astarians much less kindly.
Before the Astarians could reach their ultimate goal, a coalition of forces from other realms attacked them and sieged Osterath. Some brought to bear the power of their own Everlasting Relics, forcing the Astarians to respond in kind. The power manifested in those last days had not been seen on the continent since before the departure of the Everlasting.
All the while reality itself screamed silently in utter agony. On that last day of the Age of Relics, the world would make its pain known. As mortals pushed reality to do their bidding against each other, they forced it into inconceivable shapes and unimaginable chaos. Like a vase forced to contain a storm, the world could not abide such forces, and just like that vase would, the world shattered.
There is much mystery about the moments that preceded the Fall, but there are accounts of betrayal and sabotage. Whatever the truth, when the skies split open that day and the chaos of worlds beyond poured into our reality, the whole world felt. A calamitous eruption of power emanated from Osterath and moved through the world like a tidal wave. It warped reality and changed magic, affecting every single Relic, big or small. All of them failed for a moment, and only the most powerful ones were able to keep their original form. For all other Relics, the Fall either destroyed them completely, along with their wielders or forced them into a state of dormancy. The consequences were disastrous.
Before the Fall, every single civilization relied on the power of the Relics. When they failed, disasters that had only been kept at bay by that power came to fruition all at once. The earth trembled, shattered, and erupted into the flame of the depths. Great storms raged for months, dams failed as their arcane wards failed, and cities flooded. Crops withered in the fields and even great forests that had been created by the ancient power of the Everlasting became deserts in only a few years. All great civilizations of the Age of Relics collapsed completely, and the world would take millennia to reach any semblance of peace. The Fall killed the world that was and gave birth to a much deemer mortal existence. When the chaos receded back into the eternal storm of the Malediction, most of the Relics were left lost within those cursed lands. But they would not be lost forever.
Recently, the Malediction has started to recede, and the exploration of its former boundaries has yielded to the world wonders thought to be lost to legend. The great nations of the modern world have marshaled their forces to brave the Malediction as far as they can and bring back the power used in the past age to elevate mortals and create the world that was, a world of light. The same power that sank that world into darkness.
