After the period known as the Greyhawk Wars (CY 582-584), many believed that the nations of the eastern Flanaess would spend their time collectively reestablishing trade and rebuilding their war ravaged lands; sadly this was not to be.
A series of near cataclysmic events collectively known as the Darkening Decade (CY 601-611) saw the near apotheosis of a dark god (Kyuss), destruction of the city of Cauldron, a war fought between demon princes, and the return of the Witch-Queen Iggwilv to the Flanaess. All of these events (and others) caused much consternation between the Powers (both good and evil). It was in the this of confusion and distrust that the Darkening occurred.
The Darkening
In CY 613, on the night of Needfest 4 when the moon Luna was dark and only Celene was full something terrible occurred. At the stroke of midnight, the moon Celene began to grow dimmer. After 13 minutes it was barely visible, shining with only a fraction of its former brightness. Immediately following this, a rain of falling stars began to shower down from the heavens striking across the length and breadth of the Flanaess, causing incredible devastation and terror. Villages and towns, in some cases, even entire cities were either destroyed outright or perished in the fires that sprang up where the meteorites struck.
At the same time, the Powers of Greyhawk, all of them, Good, Evil and Neutral changed. No Power of Greyhawk explained what happened, but from that time on their ability to restore life and health to their worshippers was diminished. Only on ground that was consecrated (hallowed or unhallowed), in their places of worship and power could the gods restore life to one of their worshippers that fell save but through the use of the most powerful of prayers (miracle or true resurrection). Countless divinations and even direct questioning of their patron Powers (via commune) resulted in no answers for the faithful of Oerth.
The gods and goddess of Oerth were either unwilling or perhaps even, unable to answer.
But the results of this lessening of their abilities as well as their silence led to a "dark age" on Oerth.
Nations collapsed, their leaders either perishing the Night the Stars Fell or in the plagues and chaos that followed. Individual cities also either collapsed or became small frightened city-states, distrustful of even their oldest neighbors and allies. As commerce and communication between the former nations lessened the borders of civilization either contracted or disappeared.
Monsters and monstrous humanoids became more and more common. First bands and then eventually even small armies of orcs, goblins, giants and worse caused terrible damage and furthered the loss of civilization. The highways and roads of the eastern Flanaess all but disappeared in but a few short years without the taxes, tolls and people to maintain them.
A series of plagues followed the dimming of Celene and "Night the Stars Fell"; in a matter of months, fully half the population of the Flanaess was dead or dying. Healers and priests could save only a few, including themselves as one of the most virulent of the plagues struck users of magic (both arcane and divine) as well as those that used the powers of the mind. As more and more died, cities and nations closed their gates and borders, fearful that travellers would spread the plagues even further. Starvation, loss of trade, suspicion and fear lead to outright war in a few cases, but it was only a few cases. Too many had died. Too much knowledge was lost.
The Wasting
Perhaps the most terrible of the plagues that struck was called the Wasting. This malady was focused strictly on those that used any form of magic, incarnum or psionics. It struck down its victims by laying waste to their minds, causing them to becoming ravening berserkers. The victims would mindlessly attack anyone near them (save for other victims of the Wasting). It was terrifying to behold; so terrifying that those that witnessed it either fled in panic or also became victims when they attempted to help those infected and ventured too near what was actually the carrier for the Wasting.
Because that was the worse part about the Wasting, if someone came within 10 feet of any magical or psionically charged items, they went insane; blindly attacking until they were either slain or died after collapsing from exhaustion, hunger and/or exposure to the elements. Even something as simple as potion or scroll spread the plague. Soon the bodies of those that fell to the Wasting were everywhere, which caused more mundance plagues to spring up and spread.
Strangely the Wasting did not slay all users of magic. Most monstrous creatures were unaffected. Also anyone who was either deep below the surface or on another plane or in a few rare cases behind powerful magical wards managed to survive. So long as they remained there.
The Wasting lasted for 13 months and then ended (CY 614). Those that remained, with a few exceptions, became terrified of magic in any form. This led to the Great Cleansing.
The Great Cleansing
Once the survivors realized that the Wasting was either gone or at least had temporarily stopped, a form of mass hysteria seemed to sweep over them. Most if not all, blamed either magic or the gods for the terrible calamities. And they took their anger and frustration out by destroying holy (and even unholy places) and anything that was magical. Vast pyres of bodies and priceless magical items were destroyed in a matter of weeks before the hysteria subsided. The priests and wizards that had survived became hunted outcasts. Even 400 years afterwards, in many places, magic (even divine magic) is viewed with suspicion and fear.
The Interregnum
The period known as the Interregnum lasted from CY 614 until the present (CY 1111). During this time, communication and trade between city states was intermitent at best due several factors. Bandits, monsters, degradation of roads and highways, fear of disease, as well as a growing isolationism. Most people travelled less than 20 miles distance from their place of birth during their entire lives. Those that earlier would have been called adventurers or heroes were often shunned or even attacked because of the fear they would bring a plague (or even worse) down upon any town that sheltered them. The largest of the city-states patrolled the farmlands immediately in their vicinity but no further. There were just too many dangers.
The Enlightenment
In CY 1111 on the first of Reaping an expedition set out from the city state of Sasserine with a grand mission: Boldly go into the unknown and reclaim that which has been lost.
