Part One: The Archaic Era: The Great Loss

[The Great Loss] The Great Loss is one of the clearest historical ruptures at the end of the archaic era. Across numerous mutually independent worlds, civilizational activity ceased, long-term works ground to a halt, and social continuity vanished at roughly the same time; later generations therefore used “the Great Loss” as a collective name for this widespread transformation.

The course and duration of the Great Loss remain unknown. Existing materials reveal only what came before and after: before it stood a vast number of mature archaic civilizations; after it came a prolonged era of silence, migration, and reconstruction. Many archaic scripts, extraordinary systems, and cultural traditions thereafter lost all continuity with their origins. Even when later civilizations preserved legends of their ancestry, few could demonstrate an unbroken line of inheritance from any particular archaic civilization.

[The Silence of Realms and Great Beings] The many acquired Realms and terminal traces left by the wave of Realm-creation show that archaic times witnessed considerable activity in the completion of paths. In later ages, however, traceable activity associated with specific individuals who completed paths declined markedly. Many ancient acquired Realms still exist, yet the names of those who completed their paths have been lost, and the related legends often end abruptly near the close of the archaic age. Some researchers therefore believe that the period surrounding the Great Loss may also have witnessed a mass withdrawal of Great Beings from mundane history, though neither its cause nor the actual number involved can be determined.