The Sundering

The Sundering is what the Almarcans have called the cataclysmic event that shattered both the Heavens and the Earth. That is to say, this was merely a consequence of one of the many rifts caused by the War of the Nine, not that the Almarcans are aware of this.

=Countermeasures and Consequences= It is only through the continuous efforts of the last few Almarcan Gods that the broken world stays in existence, halting any further influence of the Rift that tore Their world to pieces. What little was left of their remaining power is bound up in limiting the leakage of the planet's Anima Mundi, the source of all life on Almarca.

Due to this taking all They have, the Gods can't interfere with the Mortal Realm anymore. This caused further panic and degeneration of order in the period after the event, as the Mortal Realm as a whole believes themselves forsaken by the Gods...

Because of the Anima Mundi slowly leaking away, despite the best efforts of the Gods, the overall birthrate of the world has gone down, as it simply can't sustain that much life anymore. Many had also lost access to their magical abilities, and even those who were still capable of it were severely weakened. What few children did get born over the years lost the ability altogether.