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Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with the next chapter in this wonderful story from the pen of enderandrew. It is entitled
“The Four Eras”, by Joorus the Scribe
Background music is by Smartsound.

Volume II

The survivors of the cataclysm emerged to find total chaos and anarchy. Old alliances and feudal oaths were meaningless. It was largely every person for themselves as best we can tell, though some did band together based on proximity. Warlords organized mobs to conquer and defend, but it is hard to call these groups organized armies.

Historians refer to this second post-cataclysm age as “The Warring Cities” for obvious reasons.

These early battles were very costly. Troops were not trained and they were desperate. There were few healers and no real support systems. Magic was changing, different and unpredictable.

There were no Titans. There was no Oracle. There was no one to protect and look over Novia. Whatever Avatars may have existed in Novia before The Fall were gone, one way or another. Perhaps they were killed for causing The Fall. It seems unlikely they would simply abandon Novia in its time of greatest need if they did truly advocate and defend virtue. But for whatever reason, there were none to be found.

Thankfully a few did see the bigger picture of survival. Loose city states started building walls, gates and varied defences. Citizens banded together, and while it wasn’t always enough to stop one rampaging mob, the cost of conquering a town was often so costly that it was all they could do to hold onto the one city they conquered. No one could maintain a large enough army to continue on and unite these cities into empires.

There were rumors that some men did not seek power in the immediate or more traditional senses. They had their eyes on a much larger prize. Many powerful mages disappeared and rumors spread of an underground cabal that formed. These mages sought to understand the shards that nearly destroyed the planet.

Were these origins benevolent? Were they merely looking for a way to prevent further calamities? It is hard to know. That isn’t to say that all knowledge of the Obsidians has disappeared. We’ve discovered some of their ruins and relics, but they did not carelessly write down any secrets. I suspect their most important knowledge was passed on verbally in protected rites only to those who proved their worth.

What is known is that as cities and society sought to reform through war, a few had grander schemes. They saw the chaos that infected the land and thought they could install order across the entire continent through force.