Many decades had passed since the opening of the Hub and the era of peace and prosperity it had ushered in with it, and the Realms had come to settle into a kind of comfortable routine, used to at last the new would they had found themselves thrust into many years ago. Though things were far from perfect, none in either the Hub or beyond had any reason to suspect that things would soon be anything other than the stable peace that they had all enjoyed for years hence. That is until, without an trace of reason or warning, the Lord and Lady of the Hub simply vanished.
No effort was spared by those loyal to their leadership to discover where they had gone but, despite and extensive search of the city and beyond, no trace of them was ever discovered and with their sudden absence a vacuum of power was created, which those both well-intentioned and otherwise rushed to fill.