The most recent quest i completed (mostly because i must have missed it on my first run through) was the ''Gentleman'' quest that starts in one of the main cities and tells of someone trying to prevent the calamity from happening. It is quite vague and short.

No, i think the biggest problem is that if you were to convert all written text from dialogue into book form, it would probably be a bigger volume than LOTR full book. Trouble is, it isnt all the same story as that book is. More like 1000 different unrelated segments of history from the past 5 years. Very little prior to the calamity.