The Great Chaos

The Great Chaos is the name given to the 25 years of societal collapse (2290-2315) triggered by "The Severance", when the Celassi quantum gate portal to Alpha Centauri and thence Earth was mysteriously shut down on June 12th, 2290, cutting the colony off from the rest of human space.

It was a time when scarcity and widespread violence seeped into every part of society. Poor families sold themselves into slavery to avoid famine as the large colony devolved into an almost post-apocalyptic state of existence. High-tech goods like fusion-powered vehicles, computers, and food printers became so sparse that only The Sphere's nobility could afford to own and maintain them. The Great Chaos ended after a generation, but transformed the once thriving colony into a feudal kingdom that still battles poverty and the constant threat of war.

The Chaos eventually ended around 2315, when the Great Houses had properly established their power and the newly formed Space Marine organization, along with the threat of orbital bombardment, made sure that people followed the will of The Council. The once-thriving colony had now transformed into a feudal kingdom that shared little resemblance with the glorious republic a generation before.

This was the beginning of Raana's "Dark Age" - more than a century of slower regress, which only came to an end in 2440 with the stabilization brought by the (still current) Chancellor Mordecai Adler.