Aces of Phaethon

1999.

The year that the world fell into the abyss.

Humanity had pinned its hopes on superweapons such as Stonehenge and Chandelier, and those hopes fell short with delays.

The Ulysses asteroid devastated Erusea, and fragments would impact most of the world - but the resulting humanitarian crisis was just the beginning of humanity's woes.

In the days and months following the impact, a new element would be detected in the Earth's atmosphere; a new and volatile element known colloquially as Ether.

Large ether concentrations in the atmosphere would condense, clumping together to form... things known as Hollows.

The world had survived one catastrophe, if only barely, but it wasn't ready for the Hollows, and large portions of the Earth would be engulfed in Hollows by 2005.

A hundred years later, Earth is recovering, and the Hollows have retreated from large parts of Osea and Yuktobania, allowing for the gradual rebuilding of civilization outside the city state of New Eridu...