You have embarked on a voyage across the Eastern Sea. Perhaps you seek fortune in a less civilized world. Perhaps you are fleeing danger and hope to establish a new identity far from your origins. Surrounding you are fellow travelers and strangers with their own reasons for partaking in this journey. But something in the recesses of your mind hints that fate may have plans besides your intended destination. You have been sailing across the ocean for several weeks now, and all you know for certain is you're ready to get off this boat...
The world is littered with the ruins of ancient civilizations. The stone remnants of massive cities and palaces lie half-buried on every known continent. Historians have long marveled at both the immensity of these structures and their often unfathomable manner of destruction. Colossal fortresses turned end over end and buried under mountains. Entire landscapes incinerated and melted to obsidian. The unimaginable forces necessary to wreak such havoc have led scholars to presume the existence of supernatural forces that were once wielded by the long dead inhabitants of these ancient civilizations. These powers have collectively been referred to in folklore and myth as magic, but no known semblance of such forces exists today.
It is theorized by some that magic emerges and recedes from the world in cycles that last for thousands of years. The majority of known ruins are believed to be from a collection of empires belonging to an ancient species of Elves which collapsed nearly 1500 years ago. The rapid collapse of these empires is thought to have occurred in large part due to the abrupt disappearance of magic which their civilization depended on. Some evidence exists of even older civilizations that met similarly sudden and catastrophic fates thousands of years prior.
The last manifestation of magic is believed by some to have occurred approximately 300 years ago. Historians point to a resurgence in tales and accounts of fantastical creatures and otherworldly beings during this time which lasted just under 100 years. Some members of the Dwarven and Elven species are old enough to give first hand accounts of this time period, though it seems these encounters were not universal throughout the world, as the stories come primarily from a select few isolated regions.
This most recent epoch of magical resurgence is believed to be atypical as it was not a globally occurring phenomenon and did not last long enough to give rise to the massive empires of earlier epochs. Many have pointed to this as evidence that magic has begun to fade permanently from the world. Even amongst those who believe magic will return, few believe it will happen within their lifetime. However, more and more rumors have begun to emerge of inexplicable feats witnessed by travelers. The conjuring of water out of thin air, the levitating of objects, or the ability to vanish in plain sight. The stories are too few and far between to be certain, but you cannot escape the feeling that the world is on the verge of drastic and potentially calamitous change.