Quote Originally Posted by Riardon View Post
How can a civilization so advanced disappear without a trace.
Being advanced doesn't make it harder for a civilization to vanish, it just adds new and exciting ways to do it. The Crystal Tower storyline paints a pretty bleak picture of the Allagan Empire at the end of its life. The citizens either were in open rebellion or so complacent and comfortable they had decided to coast on the achievements of the past, while doing none of the heavy lifting required to keep it possible. They got so desperate at the top, they went with the radical plan of Amon to clone the long dead Emperor Xande. Which tells you the talent pool for leadership at this point was so bad that cloning a dead man was the agreed upon option. This plan had a serious draw back as it turned out, when Xande mkII decided to be a magitek Emperor Nero.

It's not hard to guess what followed was pretty much the XIV version of the Fallout game world.