The ruins of a world that ended without warning. The First Breaking came and went in a single night — towers fell, the great central forest burned to desert, three cities that had stood for centuries were rubble by morning. The gods, for whatever reason, were not there for it. What remains is a settlement rebuilt from scraps, a fountain at its centre, and the people who refused to leave. But the world is tearing again. Arcanists who work large magic leave scars in the fabric of things, and through those scars - rifts - creatures from other dimensions press through. Players explore what is left, gather materials from the land, craft what they need, trade in the markets, and fight what comes through the rifts. The Wardens hold the line with blade and discipline; the Arcanists answer force with force, though the cost is measured in instability. There is a woman at the fountain who knows more than she lets on, and beneath the familiar stones, things that were hidden before the Breaking are beginning to surface.