The Imperium has been mastering the art of trying to be as hated and distrusted by every major power for centuries. Recent losses (latest 100 years) of the northern colonies (now the organized tribes of Reiourfok) and the road between Aresugit and Basoim, as well as the Tosaite's themselves, have led to Imperial authority dropping rapidly, and many were wondering if the Imperium's light had finally dimmed.
This led to Imperiator Malis to begin looking for a way to regain the glory of the Imperium of old. He found a solution in a pact with the dark god, known as the Great Reaper, who seemed quite reasonable at the time with his promises of ultimate power. Malis quickly set about doing everything he could to follow his new masters will, which involved the burning of a farming village while looking for an enchanted amulet filled with ancient power and desecrating the temples of the normally peaceful Monks of Adan'kai.
This inevitably led to conflict, and by 322, literally every nation bordering the Imperium had been united by a mighty hero, Lach, who also organized band of plucky adventurers consisting of such companions like a dark elf assassin from the far east, a pirate captain who had escaped from Imperial control and a plucky dwarf barbarian woman from the peaks of the far, far north along with armies counting in the hundreds of thousands to save the world from Malis and his ambitions.
As the Alliance's armies battled the Imperium's elite legions, Lach and his team infiltrated Imperan with one mission, stop Malis before he could finish his ritual and summon the Great Reaper. To do this they would need to do many things, but ultimately they needed to destroy the Imperial Tower, which was doubling as a dark portal for the Great Reaper.
As they set the powder charges, connected to a line to detonation experts hidden in the cities warrens, the heroes rushed ahead to try and stop the villainous Malis once and for all.
Sadly, a young and rather foolish member of the Imperium's Inquisition found the wire as he walked towards a dinner with an Imperial Navy captain, recently having received some acclaim for actions in the war that he most likely didn't have anything to do with, and tripped on it, snapping it and disconnecting the charges.
The inquisitor thought little of it and walked towards his dinner, and this is what has caused the end of the world as the Ancardans know it. As the heroes showed down with Malis for their final battle, the inquisitor had a nice spot of tea with Grand Admiral Saill and the Imperial Legions and the Alliance battled it out in a massive melee involving thousands of men, Imperan exploded.
But it wasn't the explosion the heroes hoped for, a giant beam shot out from the tower and sent shockwaves out across the land, sending the docked navy ships flying into the Bay of Somnia into the sea at hundreds of miles an hour, and bringing soldiers battling all across The Imperium down to their knees.
The Great Reaper soon made himself known, millions of his demonic servants marching out and corrupting the land they walked on. Imperan Isle soon tilted into the sea, and the isle now resembles little more than a blackened, sinking ship, the sounds of the once great city being pillaged and its inhabitants put to the sword being heard all the way to Medsula for days.
The hordes soon marched out from there, quickly taking the western isles from their meager defenders and putting them to the sword as well, corrupting the land and turning beautiful grasslands to ash.
Now, the Alliance has fallen apart, their armies beaten back by the Imperial survivors and their leaders falling into more power squabbles for perhaps the last time in history. The Imperial Legion has organized at Speratem in a desperate bid to hold off the demonic forces of the Great Reaper, the Emperor Malis is missing, as is the plucky band of adventurers that all hoped would save the world, and on a distant shore near Basoim, the sole survivor of a shipwreck slowly washes upon the beach.