CAUAC, Age of Collapse

The shattered vestiges of the Empire, along with its competing city-state remnants, attempt to restore order to the land. New kingdoms rise with hope and the blessings of the Immortals, only to fall and join the smouldering ruins of the Empire. At last, the near-constant advance of the living species since the Age of Dreams is stopped: with their heroes exterminated, their powers spent and their patrons, the Immortals, abandoned, the Shadow expands to fill the void left behind, and their own inexorable advance can no longer be halted.

The Age of Collapse tracks the attempts of various leaders to restore the glory of the Empire. One final wave of strong, desperate leaders, sometimes joining but just as often opposing each other, attempt to rebuild by taking land, waging war, and pronouncing severe edicts against whatever behavior they believe contributed to the fall of the Empire. This Epoch may persist for a very long while, but in the end it will always fail.

This Epoch can be played in one of two ways:

• Individuals, fighting against the imminent collapse of civilization as best they can - or seizing advantage to ensure themselves a moment of comfort as the world burns around them.
• As a wargame, much like the Age of Kings, only now the costs to hold land are far too expensive to even maintain existing borders, let alone expand for more than a heartbeat, and the resources available to wage war are scarce.

Dystopian in the extreme, this Epoch ends when 4/5 of these last leaders have fallen, their kingdoms razed and their powers lost.