Stardust of a New World

Ch. 0: What Happened to the World

It was on the March 18 of the year 2369 AD, the Earth hadn't advanced much, not enough resources, not enough space, there were also too many at pansies at the time. Too scared of innovation or anything different, yet they complain about how nothing was changing. They had tried to colonize other planets, but failed to realize the amount of problems our home planet had, so failed; and horriblly if you ask me. Then there was the social media, an absolute travesty that was. All "world peace!" this and "be the bigger man!" that, but when their the ones being pressed or encounter something they don't agree with they snap and resort... to name calling? What are they? children!? Pathetic. Bunch of hypocrites if you ask me.

But it was on this exact day, in the month of March, that flipped the world as they knew on it's head. It was that day that lead to "The Culling." (Is it a scary name? Yes. Does it sound cool as hell when taken out of context? Also kinda yes.) "The Culling," as we've come to call it, is in reference to a period of time that lasted about 20 years or so, where the human race was driven to the brink of extinction. Now, who was the main participants in this greatly needed drop in population? Animals. Well, "animals" is a loose term. Would you consider white tigers the size of elephants and turtles the size of small islands animals? Some previously extinct animals even reappeared. It wasn't just those things either the entire solar system expanded from this occurrence. Now, as for the cause for this rapid evolution and reappearance of animals and mass genocide of humans, and the expanding of the apparent universe? That would have to fall onto the World Tree and it's Stardust. Well in a sense. The World Tree is a doorway to other dimensions, or something like that, not even the greatest scientists both past and present couldn't figure it out, so your stuck with this bare-bones explanation. When the World Tree first appeared no one knew what to call it, scientists thought of weird names, as they do, but some Norse mythology enthusiasts started calling it the "World Tree" and it kinda just stuck after that.

While the culling was happening, around 99% of the world's population perished during the Culling. Oh, believe me there were still a shit-ton of people, just not as many as there use to be; but still a lot. This was mostly due to the fact that weapons and... actually, the military as a whole at the time was completely useless against the "monsters" as they were referred to as at that time. There was also those who believed that this was the Rapture and that the monsters were angels so gave themselves up willingly, those who really couldn't survive in the wild and the psychos this environment created; though, I can't really judge them for it. In this world there was no difference in race, religion; they prayed to about every god to do something, smart or dumb, rich or poor, it didn't matter. What did, was to survive or die trying.

Huh, apparently all it took was a near omnicide of the species for humanity to get its shit together. During this time, many thought their God(s) had abandoned them.

But they were wrong. Or at least to thought they were.

Since as the last years of the Culling were creeping around, people started to unlock abilities or Blessings, as they are referred to. In this new world the humans and the Star-Touched rose back to the top. Not through overwhelming numbers nor through just brute strength, but through cooperation and intelligence, as it should be. There was only one problem: there were some monsters that humans could not beat these were the true monsters that inhabit this world. So, instead of eradicating the monsters the people settled for cohabitation to keep each other a sort of balance. As it should be in nature. Over time Humanity was slowly fizzled out as the Star-Touched began to grow in numbers the last human died on March 8 of  130 NW.

After that decision, the association was created they're the ones that hand out the hunter licenses and issue jobs for the hunters. (Real original. I know) and this the Era of Weakness ended and The Era of Hunters began.