The Great Fall

The The War of the Stars ended in a great catastrophe. Ma'urwol was laid waste and millions died. The inner 2/3 of the continent suddenly found itself nearly 1000 meters higher than the coastal lands and great ranges of mountains rose up along those lines between the coastal lands and the interior to cut off most of the access between the two areas. Much of the outer coastal land was similarly devastated. Cities and lands fell into the ocean or broke away from the continent to form islands. And now Ma'urwol is surrounded by islands of many different sizes along the east, south and west.
Not one of the kingdoms in the interior lands survived more than a year or two after the disaster. For 10 years, refugees flowed from the interior to the coastal regions bringing stories of hordes of monsters rampaging across the lands. Initially a great flood of people, the numbers of refugees steadily declined each year. The last recorded group of refugees to emerge from the interior came in the year 11 AGF. A group of wild elves from the great forest of Nath’nual’ne, north of Thal, emerged into Sheth N'Dar. The histories of their accounts say only that they were driven from their home by great winged monsters and that they encountered no other surviving civilizations on their trek south.
For 20 years after there was relative peace as the coastal nations rebuilt and absorbed the refugees into their lands. In the year 36 AGF, monsters began attacking from the inner wastes to the coastal lands. By then, however, driven by fear of the refugees’ tales, all of the coastal kingdoms had developed well established border guards and outposts. Being well prepared, the threat to the outer kingdoms was minimal.
Over the centuries, many of those border outposts were supplanted by the orc tribes as groups of orcs “returned to their roots”. The orc tribes pushed the borders inward as far as the mountain ranges and over time most of the passes through the new mountains saw the construction of massive fortresses. These fortresses are manned by peoples from all nearby kingdoms. Despite any other conflicts, the peoples of the outer lands are united in their support of these fortresses.
The continents of the Old World, while not emerging unscathed, faced far less devastation. There was one notable exception. Great tidal waves flowed outward from Ma'urwol wreaking massive destruction along the coastal areas of the other continents. Virtually all coastal cities were destroyed. All trade between continents ceased almost overnight.
It was nearly 400 years before ships once more began to travel between the three continents of the "Old World". And it took another 100 years before contact with Ma'urwol was re-established as ships from Verit began rebuilding the old sea trade routes.
The exact cause of the Great Fall is unknown. The priests of The Three teach that a pretender tried to raise himself up to be a god, and that the battle with the Three is what caused it. Those few with secret knowledge of the old gods and the The War of the Stars believe that it was the result of the final battle between the last of the old gods and the Three, and that the deaths of those last four old gods that was the cause. The exact truth will likely never be known.