Immediately following the conclusion to the Sixth Great Demon Lord War, the price for victory had yet to be paid. Eight centuries before the present, the extinction of humanity had been averted in that decisive battle. Yet the mighty host the Demon Lord had assembled would not meekly disintegrate into nothingness. The Hero had struck a fatal blow and slew their master, but he himself suffered a mortal wound which would claim his life mere days later. Without his divine guiding hand, and pureness of spirit, humanity was once again left to its own devices. The last of the Church's Patriarchs had seen their last days too. Replaced by the Grand Cardinals who ruled without the direct governance from the word of the Almighty. The Demon Lord's host was shattered, routed, but in their multitude they scattered to the four winds and fought for their own survival. Now that they were free they were prone to conflict as readily among themselves as they were to lock horns with men. Warbands would pillage and rape everything in their path as they scurried to safety for years to come.

Discord and confusion quickly took root once the victory celebrations were complete and a new reality had dawned upon the remnants of humanity that had huddled in both safety and defiance on the Couhrraine continent. Deep forests, cavernous cave systems, abandoned settlements and high mountain retreats were transformed into settlements from all manner of monsters. Only those regions under Imperial control which were within proximity of the rail system were relatively safe. Reinforcements were quick enough to dissuade any action outside of basic raiding. This did not allay the fears of the people, however, as desperation mounted and the threat of a new dark age seemed more likely than a golden one in the wake of the Sixth's total defeat. These were the sorrowful years, a lost century, where the Empire would cement itself as the one true successor state for all mankind.

Scholars penned many works during the years which saw the rise of the Celruelian Kingdom, later the Celruelian Empire, and predicted it would ultimately prove ephemeral. The greatest minds of the era put faith that the institution would linger as a mere legacy of unity, but this would not come to pass. During the 96 years known more commonly as the Lost Century the only force which could adequately safeguard humanity from the inhuman hordes was the Empire and its centralization of resources and manpower. Great crusades were organized in retaliation to the raids and sporadic but devastating warfare waged by the various monster satellites. The same devastation which they had eagerly (in thrall to the Sixth Great Demon Lord) sought to perpetrate fell upon them. For nigh a hundred years the remnants of humanity engaged in a brutal campaign of total war that all but spent what wealth the Kings of Celruel had gathered in their coffers to battle the Sixth and resist the siege of their continent. It took nearly a century before the threat had been checked and some semblance of normalcy could be restored.

Once stalwart allies of the Kingdoms of men: elves, dwarves, Lizardmen (and scant few others) would be cast in a new light of suspicion. This in spite of many who had broke ranks with other clans, like said Lizardmen and even Goblins, to prevent the destruction of all sapient life on the planet. These demi and pseudo humans retreated into their own self-isolation, for their own protection. Many would perish alone at the hands of roving warbands they had fought alongside man with decades earlier. Old alliances and treaties became nought but ink on paper and long forgotten vows which were quickly forgotten or left to rot and decay away into nothingness.

What had died along with it was any idea that the nations of men could ever return to what they once were. Long departed were the minds of old who dreamed of freedom and salvation in the wake of End of Days' complete defeat. For the next seven centuries there would be only The Empire. Celruel was to be no longer either.