"Lo the World has lost its way! Riven by strife and discord, conflict and betrayal, selfishness and greed. We have turned from the grace of the Trinity in this time of testing and have brought chaos down upon ourselves in recompense."
- //From the sermons of Thekrate, Hierophant to the Three// The old orders and empires have fallen. Men who once called themselves Kings are now beggars and those who once played the game of Thrones must fight over the scraps of crumbling nations. With the formation of the Disjunction and the beginning of the time of Discord people turned away from the old structures of power as their rulers failed to prevent the advance of the nothingness. Instead they looked to those who could help them survive in a World whose resources were gradually being eroded away; the warlords, criminals and those who promised salvation in the darkness. In this time of anarchy and despair ideologies and beliefs have schismed into ever more extreme variants and as the World slowly grows smaller these worldviews are inevitably being pushed into closer proximity; where once they might have tolerated each other now they are forced to fight over what little remains. ===== The Factions ====="Are we not all men? Should we not find common cause even in this most terrible of times? Please, my friends, can we not look within ourselves to find our common humanity and strive together toward a brighter futu- *hurk*"
- //The final words of Tookwell Smith on the gallows of Renve// What is left of the World is to be found on the continent of Anicca and what is left of the World's people have partitioned into four major [[factions_overview|factions]] who broadly represent the prevailing beliefs that exist in the time of Discord. The Church refuses to acknowledge the death of the Gods and seeks to carry on as before but in doing so it has lost the faith of the people of the World who saw the Trinity fall. The Watchers are those who have found new faith in the darkness of the void, a thousand new cults and sects arising in their camps every day and those that do not believe are normally exploiting those that do. The City meanwhile sits where it always has; it gates closed to the outside world and its populace ignoring the approaching Disjunction and the plight of those beyond its walls. Meanwhile those who have not aligned themselves with one of these groups have been left to struggle for survival in lands full of bandits, thieves and would be emperors. ===== Diplomacy and Conflict ===== When the end of all things began the old powers made efforts to cooperate, to work together to save themselves and halt the Disjunction. To aid in this they called the [[convocation|Convocations]] where the Emperors and Kings would send their agents to diplome. These efforts failed. Thirty years later most people would rather build walls and wage wars then risk parleying with those who may stab them in the back, enslave them or even eat them. Still emissaries are occasionally sent, though many never return, and letters still move slowly over the world carried by refugees working for the promise of food. More recently word has gone out that someone is attempting to call the first Convocation in nearly twenty five years, their motives for this are unclear.