The Pax Helsporan

The Pax Helsporan is the name given to the current age of the world which began in 2940 AF when the nation state of Helsporan imposed a military peacekeeping solution to end a short lived conflict between Kingcardine and Monrith.
Helsporan became the de facto capital of Earth and whilst it has never enjoyed the same level of majesty and authority as the power wielded by Anoomenon during the Long Northern Peace it is more than merely the first amongst equals and the other cities defer to it.
The period might be broadly characterised as one of managed decline due to the ongoing Emptying of Earth but one last city, Tree'skivo, was granted a charter by Helsporan in 2973 AF. The new city had become a common point of migration for the combined populations of the recently abandoned cities of Ulkvass and Keldramys and acted as a magnet for the peoples of a number of smaller regional settlements which fell into disuse around the same time.
In 3000 AF, a small group of Thister-Arcs arrived in Earth orbit seeking refuge from a distant war. They were granted asylum at Anoomenon.
3092 AF was the year in which the space elevator at Modyran collapsed in a catastrophe later ascribed to improper maintenance. This destroyed the city and also impacted a swaithe of equatorial land to the east, fortunately not reaching as far as Helsporan itself, which was unaffected.
Modyran and its space elevator had been fixtures of the awakened world for so long, it had been imagined that they might last forever. The city had been one of the last two surviving venerable members of that exclusive club known as the Foundation Cities. It had outlasted the Foundation age, the Succession Empires, the Trade Wars, the Long Northern Peace and the Role Disputes, but now even Modyran had failed after more than three thousand years and only Anoomenon remained as the sole surviving member of the Foundation Cities.
Between 3155 AF and 3162 AF, the population of Anoomenon fell victim to the Eyeling Plague, an alien virus which had arived from space and spread all around the world but which had particularly high mortality rates in the streets of the shining city. When the plague had run its course, the population of Anoomenon had been reduced to a level where it was clear that the city could no longer function with the full independence it had enjoyed for more than three thousand years.
The Countess of Gess, took charge of the city in the middle of this calamity in 3159 AF and she skilfully negotiated a peaceful transition to life under the Protectorate of Tree'skivo which came into effect in 3160 AF even before the plague was over. This ensured aid for the city when it was possible for normal life to resume.
Now, we have reached the present day. It is the year 3180 AF and the events in the story of A Gift from the Sea are about to unfold....