At a meeting of the Council that the Human, Faun, and Reptile Man Kings were absent from, the Great Kings were attacked.  The Elf, Halfling, and Gnome Kings were slain, and both the Winged Folk and Dwarf Kings were sorely wounded.  Only the Ellyllon and Goblin Kings avoided major injury.

Accusations flew.  The Humans, Reptile Men, Fauns, Ellyllon and Goblins took the brunt of them.  The Council was eventually reestablished, but each race now sent only minor functionaries to the meetings and the Council held no true power any longer.
The four Evil Races of the world; Insect Men, Minotaur, Ogre and Orc, took advantage of this power vacuum and brought about a feared Prophecy. A Prophecy known as the Shadowfall.

The Shadowfall called into the world several new Evil Races.  Each of the four existing Evil Races chose one additional Race to bring to the world. The Minotaur chose the cannibalistic Fish Men.  The Ogres chose to summon the Ghouls.  The Orcs brought in an Evil Race of Elves known as Dark Elves, and the Insect Men opened the portal that brought the Bale into the world.  In turn, the Bale and Dark Elves brought in Gargoyles and Kobolds as their slave Races.

The Great Kingdom, now acting more like rival states, was torn asunder by the assault of these invaders.  After several years of battles, the known world is broken up into dozens of small nations, some ruled by one or more of the Ten Noble Races, some held firmly in the grasp of the Shadowfall Races.