The Emptiness was a very strange time for the lands of Yendra. The Emptiness was a time of 507 years, during which the gods and any magic powers that were being passively channeled into Yendra through the gods, were suddenly gone. Though Arcane powers that were given from the arcane flow still stood, they flowed much more freely and wildly, as they weren’t being managed and controlled by Faetran the Arcanist. As such, though progress of Clerical magics and research halted completely, research and studies into the arcane improved tremendously. Unchecked by the Ancients, this time of emptiness allowed for the intelligent creatures of this world to experiment within the Arcane. This led to Necromancy, the result of humans trying to develop clerical magics of their own through the Arcana. The dark power of Necromancy was soon realized, with the ability to heal, which was accepted, but also the ability to pervert death and the natural course of things, making almost all forms of government to ban necromancy from their respective lands. Though it was still practiced in small cults, any Necromancy that defies nature has been banned. Healing magics and cures that have been derived through necromancy are allowed, but practitioners are very watched and regulated. Everybody in the world noticed the gods’ absence, though none could reach any of their deities nor could they get any sort of answer as to why the pantheon has gone silent and retracted their powers. On the surface of the material realm, there was slight turmoil and much confusion. As such, with the main forces behind the wars of the Failed sent to Centorium or moved to the Hells, the created races grew uneasy. The lack of their religious icons caused exploration and investigation into what happened to increase dramatically. As such, much more of the world got populated and settled. From Hael to Taela to Beihran, the people of Yendra sought answers. They would delve ancient ruins and tunnels and find little answers except evidence and artifacts of the wars from times past.
In the Sanctum, the gods were in an uproar. Their guardian and watcher, Dendro, had been murdered, the murderer killed in the sight of many within Yendra, and The Missing Brother hidden from all sight. This is the event that caused the emptiness to begin. All of the ancients withdrew their involvement in the material realm and a weave was placed between the divine realm and the prime material plane. Dendro’s old position was taken up quickly by the second strongest of the Ancients, Soma. After careful deliberation, extensive searching for Soreas, and a restructure of the pantheon, the gods gave up looking for Soreas and though the search has never completely ended, Soreas is still missing, hiding somewhere among the astral sea, planning who knows what.
On the prime material plane, towards the end of the era, and during the height of arcane experiments, a sorcerer would come to power. Known even to this day as the most powerful sorcerer to have lived on Yendra, Conifer Zilia, who would become known as The Archmage, would come to gather many a mage under his lead. He spent time studying and training in a college of magic that he created. However, as more and more followers came seeking guidance, he realized more space would be needed, and a space that fell under no banner. Thus, he took up four of his strongest pupils, who would become known as the Zodiacs, and led them to the eastern coast of Nemir, high in the Yelban mountains. They would then fly off on whatever magic devices they possessed, over the middle of the ocean. Here, they would combine the powers and lift dozens of massive pillars of underwater earth and stone out of the ocean, connect them with tethers and bridges of arcane magic, and float them high into the sky. After creating the pillars, they magically conjured colleges and libraries and more for those that wished to safely and securely study and practice magic. Though not easily accessible, there are publicly available avenues to study within The Floating Pillars. This would also become the home of the Archmage and his Four Zodiacs.