These creatures' machinations led both to the downfall of the Nonmen and, with the aid of a group of human sorcerers known as the Consult, the summoning of Mog-Pharau, the No-God.
This event, known as the First Apocalypse, caused the collapse of most of human civilization, but was stopped by the efforts of the sorcerer Seswatha and Anasûrimbor Celmomas, the last of a line of royalty.
The first novel opens with the start of a Holy War, pitting the Inrithi kingdoms and the Thousand Temples against the "heathen" Fanim, followers of a prophet who broke from Inrithism hundreds of years previously.
R. Scott Bakker drew upon many cultures [2] as inspiration—notably Hellenistic Greece, Scythia, the Byzantine Empire, and other European and Middle Eastern cultures—for the Three Seas region of Eärwa.
The Second Apocalypse series is continued in the Aspect-Emperor tetralogy, which describes events taking place 20 years after the conclusion of Prince of Nothing.