Year 0 - The Shattering That Broke Reality
The catastrophic event that shattered the fundamental laws of reality and marked the end of the Age of Ancients. The Fracture didn't simply change the world—it broke it, leaving behind a reality where magic bleeds through cracks in existence, where the divine and mortal realms exist in dangerous proximity, and where the very fabric of space and time bears permanent scars. This event divides all history into "Before Fracture" (BF) and "After Fracture" (AF), as the world that emerged from the wreckage was fundamentally different from what came before.
In what scholars now mark as Year 0, reality itself cracked like a broken mirror.
The Fracture was not a gradual change but a sudden, violent shattering that sent
shockwaves through every plane of existence. Ancient texts speak of the moment when
the sky itself seemed to splinter, revealing glimpses of other worlds beyond. The
barriers that had safely separated the divine realms, elemental planes, and material
world didn't realign—they shattered completely.
Unlike a convergence that brings things together, the Fracture tore them apart and
then left them bleeding into each other through permanent cracks in reality. These
fractures in the world's foundation became conduits for raw magical energy, divine
intervention, and occasionally, things that should never have entered our reality.
Reality Hemorrhaging: Magic began bleeding through the cracks in unpredictable
ways. Spells that had been stable for millennia became wildly erratic. New forms
of magic appeared—some beneficial, others catastrophically dangerous.
Planar Breaches: The most dramatic consequence was the creation of permanent
rifts between realms. Massive portals tore open to various planes - some to realms
of elemental chaos, others to divine domains, and at least one stable breach to
the Feywild that would later become crucial to the founding of the Emerald Legion.
Divine Spillover: With the barriers shattered, divine energy poured into the
material world like water through a broken dam. Gods became more present, but also
more dangerous, their power no longer safely contained in distant realms.
Planar Instability: Entire regions began experiencing "fracture events"—moments
where pieces of other planes would suddenly overlay the material world. Forests might
temporarily become part of the Feywild, cities could phase partially into the Shadowfell,
or mountains might briefly exist in multiple elemental planes simultaneously.
The Great Forgetting: The trauma of reality breaking caused mass amnesia and
confusion. Many survivors couldn't remember how magic had worked before, or even
basic facts about their own civilizations.
In the aftermath, the surviving scholars recognized that the world hadn't just
changed—it had fundamentally broken and been rebuilt with different rules. They
established a new calendar system to mark this unprecedented catastrophe:
Before Fracture (BF): All events prior to the reality-breaking event. These
dates stretch back thousands of years into the Age of Ancients, when magic followed
consistent laws and the planes were safely separated.
After Fracture (AF): The new era of broken reality, beginning with Year 1 AF
as the first year of survival in a fractured world. The current year of 978 AF
represents nearly a millennium of learning to live with the scars in reality.
The world today still bears the wounds of the Fracture. Reality has partially healed,
but the scars remain visible to those who know how to look:
Fracture Lines: Invisible cracks in reality where magic behaves strangely. These
lines crisscross the world, sometimes causing spontaneous magical phenomena or brief
glimpses into other planes.
Bleeding Zones: Areas where the boundary between planes remains permanently damaged,
allowing constant seepage of foreign energies. The Fey portal at Moonwood Gate may
be one such zone.
Unstable Magic: Spellcasters occasionally experience "fracture echoes"—moments
where their magic briefly follows pre-Fracture laws, producing unexpected results.
Divine Proximity: The gods remain closer to the mortal world than they were before
the Fracture, making divine intervention more common but also more unpredictable.
The Weapon Theory: Some believe the Fracture was caused by an ancient magical
weapon of unimaginable power—perhaps designed to break through divine barriers or
shatter enemy strongholds, but which broke reality itself instead.
The Ritual Gone Wrong: Others theorize that pre-Fracture civilizations attempted
a massive magical working—perhaps trying to ascend to godhood or access forbidden
knowledge—that catastrophically backfired.
Divine War: The most popular theory suggests that the gods themselves went to
war, and the Fracture was the collateral damage from their battle, shattering the
carefully maintained barriers between realms.
The Cascade Failure: A few scholars propose that reality had become increasingly
unstable over millennia, and the Fracture was simply when the accumulated damage
finally caused everything to break at once.
Events such as the Shadow War (beginning in 176 AF) and the current political
tensions between the three great nations all exist within this post-Fracture era.
However, pre-Fracture ruins and artifacts continue to surface, often exhibiting
magical properties that seem to follow entirely different rules than modern magic.
The longevity of certain races means that some ancient elves, dragons, and other
immortal beings actually remember the time Before Fracture. They describe a world
where magic was more predictable, the gods were distant but benevolent, and reality
itself felt more... solid. Most are reluctant to speak of these memories, whether
from trauma or secret knowledge.
The Great Questions: Will the fractures ever fully heal? Could another Fracture
occur? And most unsettling of all—are there still pieces of the old reality trapped
in the cracks, waiting to break free?
Age of Ancients - Stable magical laws and separated planes
First great civilizations master predictable magic
The Sundering Wars - conflicts that weakened reality's structure
The Final Dynasty - last stable civilization before the breaking
Increasing reports of 'reality storms' and magical instabilities
THE FRACTURE - Reality shatters, planes bleed into each other
The Bleeding Years - chaos as magic hemorrhages through cracks
The Stabilization - learning to live with fractured reality
The Great Migration - Fey refugees found the Emerald Legion (see separate lore entry)
The Shadow War devastates the Third Kingdom
Previous campaign reference point
Current campaign year - Nearly a millennium of adaptation to the broken reality
The effects of the Fracture permeate every aspect of modern Aetherwyn. The unpredictable
nature of magic, the constant possibility of divine intervention, and the ongoing discovery
of pre-Fracture artifacts all stem from that moment when reality broke. The three great
nations compete not just for territory, but for access to fracture sites where the old
magic still bleeds through, hoping to understand and perhaps even reverse the damage—or
use it to their advantage.