The Age of Strife

[Martok]

As the High King breathed his last, the once continuous World shattered into many pieces, some large and some small, all isolated from each other. Great realms were dismembered, with neighboring provinces (or even halves of a single province) now separated by great gulfs of Void: warring kingdoms were separated forever, or ancient enemies found themselves crammed together on a narrow island of stone that was all that remained of their world. Travel and communication between fragments was initially impossible: few knew the cause or even the extent of the Turning, and many fragments thought that they were the only survivors of the end of the World.

On the heels of the Turning came a host of other calamities. In many places great cities stood shorn of the vast farmlands needed to feed them, and trade could supply scarce necessities. Famine and plague ravaged the fragments of Aerynth, and bitter wars quickly broke out for the control of precious resources, keeping ancient rivalries alive or even pitting folk against their own kin. Some turned to raiding, pillaging their neighbors to survive, while other communities transformed into fortresses, fending off the evils of the World with stout gates and thick walls. In some lands ancient hatreds were forgotten in the name of survival, while in others, formerly peaceful folk degenerated into savagery and ignorance. Worst of all, the All-Father himself had fallen silent, and has not been seen or heard since the Turning.

Just as in the early years of the Age of Days, the souls of any who were killed quickly manifested themselves as Undead. In the wake of the Turning the Unholy Legions are more numerous and destructive than ever before. Entire towns are devoured by hordes of ravening Zombies. Beasts of Chaos, awakened by the tumult of the ground, rose and stalked the land again, destroying everything in their path.