Hey there Hexabus, I'm definitely running 5E but with my own homebrew campaign. Here's the background info if you or anyone is interested. The Empire. There has always been an Empire - at least as long as anyone but the dustiest sages can remember. Continent-spanning, the Empire had provided stability and civilization, safety and peace, to uncountable thousands. Until that all changed. The end of the Empire came in the form of the Ba'ani. These nomadic horsemen had long lived in the steppes to the far east, paying occasional duties to the Empire. For whatever reason, they united together in a huge confederation and attacked west. At first the Empire paid them little heed, until the first city was seized and burned. Imperial legions and citizens watched in horror as hundreds were sacrificed on the Ba'ani's blood-rite altars. The war was ugly, and lasted more than twenty years - and though the Empire had their victories here and there, the Ba'ani won more - through their horse archers, their barbarian strength in combat, and through their powerful blood magic. Cities were burned in their dozens, tens of thousands of citizens killed. In the end, the Empire was destroyed. Eventually the Ba'ani confederation, again for unknown reasons, collapsed. There were rumors of infighting, of leadership changes, of their blood-lust sated, but no non-Ba'ani really knows. Some of the tribespeople stayed in the old Empire, looting and pillaging or just settling down. Many others returned to their home steppes. Then there was Imara. Once the farthest western outpost of the empire, a small city known for its trade through the Dryclaw mountains, it became the only city of any size to survive intact, as the Ba'ani fell apart before they reached it. At first Imarans celebrated their luck - then the refugees started pouring in. There was turmoil in the first years after The Collapse as it is known. There were threats of war and bloody fighting in the city streets but slowly, eventually, Imara returned to a fragile peace. The city has been profoundly changed, suffering many losses in their military, mages, and others as the Empire grabbed for any tool at hand in its final years. Many more died or fled the city in the chaos afterward - but the city is still standing. The city Council, once handling local business and reporting to an imperial Senator, now runs the city. In some ways the Empire is still very present - in religion, in law, and in day-to-day life. In many others it is gone and will never be back. Imara was always a city of trade, it's economy built on shipments of food from the rich Farlands to the west over the mountains - this food fed many in the eastern Empire. Now with the Empire torn to pieces, some trade remains, but it has also become a city of adventurers. Many want their chance to seek their fortune in the ruined Empire, though it is said that few come back. Others want to explore the mysterious desert to the south, where it is said a magical people even older than the Empire once lived, and some of their ruins remain. There is certainly much valuable ore in the Dryclaw, for those willing to brave the humanoid tribes and more dangerous foes.
