Era 6: The Bleed, the Second Great Disaster. Year c5500 - Year c7000

Deadly Pandemic: A devastating plague, known as "The Bleed," ravages the continent, claiming countless lives. Societies crumble, infrastructure collapses, and civilizations face collapse.
In the early 5500s, rumours began to emerge from the east about a deadly disease that was spreading across the Eastern continent. An influx of immigrants from Zhdan flooded into Nordrest and through the Golden Pass, leading to a dramatic population rise.
The first recorded cases in Edane led to a dramatic shut down of trade with the east. Local governments seized any products from the east and publically burnt them. The Order of the Crimson Blade were tasked with blockading the Golden Pass and an embargo was put on any ships that sailed the northern passage in the summer to Nordrest.
But the measures came too little and too late. By the 5600s, cases were found across Nordrest. The country closed its borders and civil order broke down.
People would first succumb to violent coughing fits and a fever. Within days, tremors would rack their body that were so violent they would cause their bones to break and jaws to lock. They would cry tears of blood and their skin would turn a grey pallor as body fluids would leak from every oriface. What caused the disease or led to its spread was not known, but the chances of survival were minimal. Any who did survive, were left hideously disfigured with a network of black lines decorating their faces. They became pariahs in their community and were shunned by the uninfected. The disease became known simply as 'The Bleed'.
No nation was willing to invade another, weakened state through fear of bringing the disease back into their own nation. By 5700, the whole of Edane had been infected. People were dying in their thousands, the rich and poor losing their lives indiscriminately. No known science could explain the situation so many turned to religion instead. The Hatnu Pachi were regular scapegoats and were all but annihilated in the other nations.
Even the tribes of the Verspera could not escape punishment. What little contact they had with the other nations would often lead to the complete annihilation of a tribal family. The survivors retreated completely from the continent and severed all ties with the settled peoples outside of the Steppes.
By 6000, all central governments had completely collapsed and the continent of Edane entered a Dark Age. Very little is known about this period of 1000 years other than life for the people of the continent was brutal, short and miserable. Devotion to a higher power became people's only hope, and many of the buildings and cities of the Absolutists were abandoned, many believing that the Bleed was some form of retribution for their vanity.
This period also witnessed the last recorded descendants of the magi. Like the Hatnu Pachi, they were viewed as pariahs and across the continent, they were viewed as demons and cursed with a taint that had infected others. At best, they were hounded out of towns and villages. At worst, all kinds of cruel and unusual punishments were used to get revenge on them, despite their innocence. In the mountain villages of the Litikanians, for example, the blood was drained from the victims and placed in large vats in the centre of town. Anyone suspected of having magi powers was thrown into the blood and viscera and left to drown, believing they would reabsorb the taint, so that no further victims would succumb to The Bleed. It failed, and many villages were left barren and derilict.
The period witnessed the birth of the drifter. People who would roam the countryside seeking work, either as a labourer or a mercenary for hire. For many, this became a lucrative source of income, although not all of them were particularly trustworthy. Some organised gangs, consisted of criminals who would then pose as mercenaries for hire to protect those they had just robbed.
Although society experienced near total collapse, the benefits of the wealthy did not disappear entirely and their social and economic links managed to maintain the semblance of a social hierarchy, especially in urban areas. It was from these important ports and cities that the beginnings of a society returned.