Our story begins in the last age of Old Areth, too long ago for any but the oldest written records. At one time, Areth drifted through normal space, orbiting a fairly inconsequential yellow dwarf star. On this world, magic and psionic power had advanced society to nearly the point to which science has taken 20th century Earth. Like scientific research foundations, Areth was home to hundreds of magical research foundations - mages studying new, finer ways to manipulate the paths of sorcery. One such group, the Travellers' Foundation, was striving to research new types of portals. The Travellers had already developed teleportation, portals, nexi, and other miraculous means of transportation - but now they set their sights on the stars, and endeavored to learn ways by which they might extend their portals from merely point-to-point on Areth, to interplanetary travel. Unfortunately for the planet, their first full-scale experiment had the result of ripping the fabric of space and time which once held Areth's place in the universe. When the bright-red flare dissipated from the night sky, there were no more stars - anywhere. Areth and every heavenly body within its gravitational field had now been drawn into the Place In Between - interdimensional space. As they began to realize just how badly their experiment had gone wrong, the Travellers tried to refine their initial work in an effort to get back. Unfortunately, the best they were able to manage was to partially re-enter dimensional space - but in the wrong dimension. Those three minutes nearly caused the extinction of the planet. Areth, and its entire solar system, phased into existence in the middle of another solar system just like its own. Moreover, the planet materialized inside its counterpart world, a world with a radically different ecosystem and history. The results were cataclysmic - three quarters of the combined population of both worlds died within minutes, having fused with plants, buildings, geographical features, or other beings as they materialized inside of them. The survivors, less than half of the population either world had possessed prior to the cataclysm, were confused and disoriented. The Travellers' spell was disrupted within seconds by the added mass of the new planet, and the contents of both solar systems were sucked back into the Place In Between.
As the survivors began to sort out what was going on in the midst of the geographical upheaval, the First Age of New Areth began.