"The world has changed.
I see it in the water.
I feel it in the Earth.
I smell it in the air.
Much that once was is lost,
For none now live who remember it."
- Galadriel, The Fellowship of the Ring
- Treebeard, The Return of the King
Once, long ago, the world was a very different place. The Weave, source of all magic, flowed through everything even on a miniscule level and one day, in an instant, it was suddenly unmade.
And with that all of reality was cursed. Countless years of catastrophic events destroyed the great civilizations, brought low the fantastic kingdoms that had long reigned, and left the creatures of the world irrevocably changed.
And now many ages later, the few people's of the world huddle together for safety in tiny pockets of civilization: flickering candlelights against the infinite darkness...