Gap

This article covers the event. For the product, see The Gap.

The Gap is a recent phenomenon that occurred across the multiverse in which all memories and records of the planet Golarion were removed from all of the multiverse's inhabitants along with all memories of an indeterminate number of years. Even the deities are silent on this subject, vaguely referring to the safety of the lost planet of Golarion. No members of any species remembers what happened during the unknown number of years covered by the Gap, even if they themselves lived through it.

Length of the Gap

Very little is known about what happened during the Gap or even how long it lasted. Judging from carbon dating and astrochronology, it seemed to have lasted several millennia, although the exact end dates vary by location. Some planets record that it ended 310 years ago, while on others it seems to have ended only 275 before the present day. One thing that is certain, is that the Pact Worlds system and all systems associated with it, base their calendar "Year 0" After Gap (AG) from the date that system emerged from the Gap, with the current year, month, and day being: 2024-12-21.

Causes

No definitive cause has been established for the Gap, although many theories exist. Some claim it was a quantum ripple effect that traveled back in time following the first use of Drift technology, and possibly entangled our timeline with those of alternate universes. Others state that the planet Golarion was taken by magic so powerful that it caused a resonance effect that shattered the structure of time.

Effects of the Gap

Some societies fell into chaos following their emergence from the Gap, but most did their best and simply moved on by piecing together their traditions from unreliable sources or taking advantage of the universal amnesia to reinvent themselves. The species with higher rates of reproduction had an advantage in this reinvention, as the descendants born after the Gap had no direct ties to the forgotten before-times and therefore embraced the new present more easily.

Most people today view the Gap as an historical cataclysm that can safely be ignored. The exception to this are cryptoarchaeologists, salvagers, and those who seek to reverse engineer the artifacts of that forgotten age.