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1In a series set AfterTheEnd, especially if it's [[FromCataclysmToMyth so long After the End that the Golden Age is nothing but myth and legend]], one constant factor is that the GoldenAge and [[EndOfAnAge its end]] will be tied in with the plot somehow, whether this means LostTechnology for the heroes to use, or a BigBad who is a LivingRelic from those times and is plotting to bring them back [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans at any cost]]. However it's played, tantalizing details about that time will be revealed, and if they're interesting tidbits, they'll whet the readers' appetites for more. As a result, one of the most popular settings for a {{Prequel}} is ''during'' the lost golden age, before the [[WorldSundering world-shaking cataclysm]] that set up TheVerse that we know today.
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3Most of the time, the prequel will prominently feature said worldshaking cataclysm as its climax; indeed, it's almost mandatory, so that viewers can see how the wondrous world of the Golden Age became the world of the original series. Normally, the Golden Age will be (at least superficially) a {{Utopia}} filled with either ScienceFiction trappings or {{Magitek}}; CrystalSpiresAndTogas are often shown. It's very probable that the setting will be a CrapsaccharineWorld under the surface, in which case it's also a SoiledCityOnAHill. Prequel In The Lost Age ''can'' overlap with JustBeforeTheEnd, but this is actually somewhat uncommon; normally, everything seems to be going smoothly right until the lights go out. Often overlaps with (and [[JustifiedTrope justifies]]) a CosmeticallyAdvancedPrequel.
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5'''Warning: {{Late Arrival Spoiler}}s will be unmarked.'''
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7!!Examples:
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11[[folder:Fanfiction]]
12* This is a common trope in ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' FanFic, exploring the original Silver Millenium and its downfall before the series started.
13* Common amongst ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' fics, set before the establishment of the Hakurei Barrier. Since some characters are TimeAbyss, this is fairly easy. How the characters worn ElegantGothicLolita outfit during Heian era is never pointed out.
14* ''[[http://mdc01957.deviantart.com/art/A-Forgotten-Anniversary-326612122 A Forgotten Anniversary]]'' is an ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' fic, set in the (actual) historical past of the ''Fanfic/NineteenEightyThreeDoomsdayStories'' AU (namely TheSixties) and focusing on the wider backdrop of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar despite it being about Austria and Hungary. Although it's distant enough from [[WorldWarIII Doomsday]] to stand on its own.
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17[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
18* ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes'':
19** ''Film/EscapeFromThePlanetOfTheApes'' film qualifies, at least from apes' point of view, as it's set before the fall of humans' long-forgotten civilization (i.e. ours).
20** Ditto ''Film/RiseOfThePlanetOfTheApes''.
21* ''Franchise/StarWars'': The prequels (''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'') are set before and during the Clone Wars and the downfall of the Old Republic, and feature the Jedi Order as it was before ThePurge. The time difference is much smaller than usual, as the downfall of the Republic was quick and brutal, causing the galaxy to go from the Republic's fading glory to the Empire's despotism in a little over two decades.
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24[[folder:Literature]]
25* The novel ''Literature/BioShockRapture'' mixes this with a slide into JustBeforeTheEnd. It basically links all the backstory we know about the first two games together into a single novel.
26* In the ''Literature/CoDominium'' series, ''Literature/FalkenbergsLegion'' is a prequel to ''Literature/TheMoteInGodsEye'' and ''Literature/KingDavidsSpaceship''. Set during the [=CoDominium era=], it focuses on a mercenary band's attempt to stabilize off planet colonies before World War III devastates Earth.
27* The ''Literature/CoreanChronicles'' have a prequel trilogy set in the time of the Duarchy, starring [[spoiler: the ancestors of Alucius and of the Protector's line.]]
28* ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'': Most of ''Literature/WizardAndGlass'' is set JustBeforeTheEnd of the time of the Gunslingers and tells of a time when Gunslingers still kept peace in the world, time and space were still somewhat dependable, and there seemed to be hope that even though the world had already somewhat "moved on," things maybe could still get better.
29* Creator/KatherineKurtz wrote the Camber trilogy and the Heirs of Camber trilogy to explain the state of affairs in Gwynedd during ''[[Literature/{{Deryni}} The Chronicles of the Deryni]]'' trilogy. Specifically, the Camber and Heirs of Camber books explain how a land that had humans and Deryni co-existing openly (including Healers as a regular feature of then practice of medicine) became a land where Deryni often had to conceal their abilities or face death.
30* In the ''Literature/{{Dragaera}}'' series, the ''Literature/KhaavrenRomances'' are a [[DirectLineToTheAuthor fictional in-universe]] series detailing what the in-universe author considers the "good old days", where nobles were brave and honorable and peasants knew their place. In contrast to the modern, FirstPersonSmartass style of the Vlad series in the "present", these are written in Antiquated Linguistics (although interestingly, they are written in-universe some time after Vlad).
31* The second Literature/{{Dragonlance}} trilogy, ''Dragonlance Legends'' featured the Cataclysm, which occurred 300 years prior to the events of most of the other Dragonlance materials.
32** Though ''Legends'' isn't a straight example, as it involves characters from the present visiting that era via TimeTravel and therefore also continues the storyline of the original trilogy. However, there are numerous Dragonlance works set in Krynn's distant past that do play this completely straight, including the Elven Nations Trilogy, ''Literature/TheLegendOfHuma'', and the Literature/KingpriestTrilogy, which covers the events leading up to the Cataclysm in more detail and focusing solely on characters actually from that time period.
33* Some of the ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' prequel novels from [[Creator/HerbertPropertiesLLC Brian Herbert]] and Creator/KevinJAnderson cover the [[Literature/LegendsOfDune distant past where sentient machines ruled the universe]] and the formation of the Imperium. None of the novels cover (or even mention in any detail) the time period prior to the Time of the Titans... yet.
34* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/TheEmpireNovels'': When Dr Asimov began publishing this series, he had already published several of his ''Literature/TheFoundationTrilogy'' stories in ''Magazine/AstoundingScienceFiction''. ''Foundation'' takes place during the [[VestigialEmpire fall]] of the Trantorian Empire, while ''Empire'' takes place before and during the [[RisingEmpire rise]], and during the apex of said empire. They initially only had a few names in common with each other, but CanonWelding joined them into the same [[StandardSciFiHistory galactic storyline]].
35* ''Literature/TheGenesisOfShannara'' is not only a prequel to the ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'' books set during the events that turned North America into the Four Lands, but [[CanonWelding canon welds]] ''Literature/TheWordAndTheVoid'' into being this as well.
36* ''Literature/TheGospelOfLoki'' takes place before and during Ragnarök, in contrast to the main series (''Literature/{{Runemarks}}''), which is set five hundred years later.
37* Creator/GregBear[='s=] ''Literature/TheForerunnerSaga'' is a trilogy of ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' novels set during the heyday of the Forerunners 100,000 years ago, when they were spread out throughout the Milky Way. All that's left of them now are various artifacts (and their AI caretakers) scattered throughout the galaxy, including a set of giant rings meant to wipe out all life in the galaxy.
38* The ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' universe includes the ''Mage Wars'' trilogy, the first book of which is set during the titular conflict and [[JustBeforeTheEnd leads up to]] the [[WorldSundering Cataclysm]]. The other two books deal with the immediate aftermath and set up the state of the world to come in the main chronology, 3,000 years later.
39* ''Literature/TheKharkanasTrilogy'', a prequel to the ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'', is set in the TheTimeOfMyths, when the Tiste still lived in the realm of Kurald Galain and the great Citadel of Kharkanas, before the civil war that made Mother Dark turn away, tore their realm apart and drove the Tiste out and into the world of the main series.
40* The Great Migration Duology books (''Crystal Soldier'' and ''Crystal Dragon'') in the ''Literature/LiadenUniverse''.
41* The ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' novel series has ''The Thran'', a novel about the time before the five colours of magic were discovered. It contains the StartOfDarkness moments for some of the series' villains as well as explaining where several of the PlotCoupons used in the other books originated.
42* ''Literature/OldKingdom'': ''Clariel'' takes place 600 years before the birth of Sabriel, and 400 years before the events that threw the Kingdom into chaos.[[labelnote:pedantry]]Technically it's set 418 years before the beginning of the Interregnum.[[/labelnote]] The short story "To Hold the Bridge" is also set in this time period, an unknown period of time before the events of the novel.
43* The ''Literature/RevelationSpaceSeries'' largely takes place after the Melding Plague - an unknown alien technology that [[GreyGoo corrupts human nanotechnology]] - wrecked human civilization, decimating the technological base that made the Bella Epoque golden age possible in the Yellowstone System. ''Chasm City'', the prequel to the [[Literature/RevelationSpace first novel]], takes place only a few years after the Melding Plague hit the eponymous city, and shows the nightmarish environment where the [[CrystalSpiresAndTogas self-evolving skyscrapers]] became corrupt, growing and consuming anything in their path. ''Literature/ThePrefect'' takes place a few decades before the Melding Plague, showing the nigh-utopian pre-Plague Chasm City, and shows the vast 'Glitter Belt' of multi-cultural orbital habitats before they were reduced to the 'Rust Belt' after the Plague.
44* ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' is this to ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''.
45* ''Darkwing'' is a prequel to the ''Literature/{{Silverwing}}'' trilogy that takes place in the prehistoric era.
46* The ''Literature/TalesOfDunkAndEgg'' are an ongoing series of prequel novellas to '''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' set about a hundred years or so before the start of that series, during the tail end of a prosperous period under the old regime. They are somewhat LighterAndSofter and generally end on at least a bittersweet note.
47* ''Literature/TalesOfTheBranionRealm'' is largely this, since each book is set a century or more before the previous book. Book 3, in particular, sets up the familial conflicts in Book 2, as brothers and sisters in the former make way for third cousins in the latter. It also mentions, in passing, an event that will lead to the main conflict in Book 1.
48* ''When The Tripods Came'' is a prequel to ''Literature/TheTripods''.
49* The ''Literature/HorusHeresy'' novels are essentially the story of how ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' became such a CrapsackWorld.
50* Sadly, there will never be a true prequel to ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' series, due to the death of Robert Jordan, but we do have a brief "flashback" due to a past-viewing device in the fourth book. There Rand has a series of visions that work their way from the release of the SealedEvilInACan through the Breaking of the World, which ended the Age of Legends, and through several centuries of the aftermath. There's also a very short story ''[[http://library.tarvalon.net/?title=The_Strike_at_Shayol_Ghul The Strike at Shayol Ghul]]'' -- an in-universe preliminary report of a historian, who studied a damaged history book written less than a century after the Breaking.
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54* ''Series/{{Caprica}}'' is this to ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'', taking place 58 years before the destruction of the colonies.
55* ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'' takes places about 200 years before ''Series/GameOfThrones'', when House Targaryen ruled the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros at the apex of its power and had several dragons to ride and use for war.
56* ''Series/{{Krypton}}'' is set approximately 200 years before the destruction of the eponymous planet and the birth of [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Kal-El]].
57* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'' takes place during the Second Age of Middle-Earth, a period of history which is notoriously blank in Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium; this means that the producers can do pretty much anything they want as long as it doesn't affect the overall story of the conquests of Sauron and the fall of Numenor.
58* ''Film/UltramanTigaGaidenRevivalOfTheAncientGiant'' is a spin-off special of ''Series/UltramanTiga'', set several centuries before the series' pilot. The Golden Pyramid where Tiga first appears in the series shows up as a quick ContinuityNod.
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62* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}''[='=]s 2004 and 2005 sagas took place a thousand years before the current story. Allegedly, they planned to have more flashback years, but the kids buying the toys found them too confusing.
63* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' includes many novels, video games and comic books set in the time of the Old Republic, usually thousands of years before ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/ANewHope''.
64** Anything happening more than one thousand years before ''A New Hope'' (when the Republic was re-formed, and the Sith were thought by everyone to have been wiped out), in particular. Before this time, the Republic had a military and the Jedi were allowed to hold political offices, with a Jedi serving as Chancellor. This re-formation happened in part because the communications and travel infrastructure of the galaxy had been ruined by Sith warlords, and the Republic being on its last legs, before the Sith annihilated themselves. Besides the military being disbanded and the Sith in hiding, the difference between those eras and the films is one thousand years of corruption and decay. The lack of an enemy to fight caused several families that had served as officers for thousands of years to be disaffected (setting the stage for the Empire), and dissent caused by the corruption caused the Separatist crisis and the Clone Wars. After the Reformation, the galaxy's ''economy'' bounced back as strong as ever if not more so, but the oversight and judiciary mechanisms for it stayed stagnant, to the point that people actually ''welcomed'' the Empire, at first.
65** The ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' games are set in the Old Republic era, nearly four thousand years before ''A New Hope''. The stories center mostly on the wars between the ancient Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic, the Mandalorians, and the Rakata precursors [[AbusivePrecursors who enslaved the galaxy several millennia ago.]]
66** ''ComicBook/TalesOfTheJedi'' takes place in the very early history of the Republic, a few decades before ''Knights of the Old Republic''. The architecture and technology are far more primitive-looking, hyperspace lanes are still being mapped, and the Jedi Order is strong but with different codes and morals than the 'present day' (for instance, romance is not forbidden and Masters are seen taking several students).
67** ''ComicBook/DawnOfTheJedi'' goes even ''earlier'' in the galaxy's history, before hyperspace travel was common. The organization that would eventually become the Jedi were gathered remotely by powerful alien beings. The Jedi aren't even called that yet (they're Jed'aii) and are as wary of "falling" to the ''light'' side of the Force as much as the dark.
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71* ''TabletopGame/{{Earthdawn}}'' was originally conceived as a prequel to ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'', set in the Fourth World, sometime before the Late Bronze Age Collapse if not earlier. Shadowrun itself is set in the Sixth World, which [[AlternateHistory started in 2011]] when [[TheMagicComesBack magic returned]]. However later editions attempted to distance the two as the properties changed ownership.
72* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'':
73** Rge ''Dreams of the First Age'' supplement is set in the eponymous First Age, a high-{{Magitek}} civilization ruled by the immensely powerful, and increasingly power-mad and deranged, elders of the Solar Deliberative. The supplement kicks off at the very moment that the Unconquered Sun turns his face from his Chosen.
74** ''Exalted'' used to be itself a prequel to TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness, with various types of Exalts being derived from [=WoD=] splats - Lunars are obviously werewolves, Abyssals vampires and Sidereals mages, for instance.
75* ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'': The ''Arcane Age'' line explores the days when Netheril and Myth Drannor were at the height of their power.
76* ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}} Chaos Earth'' is set during the Coming of the Rifts and the end of human dominion over the Earth. Ironically, due to the rarity of magic, the nonexistence of [[{{Magitek}} Techno-Wizardry]] and the fact that Chaos Earth hasn't been fighting a constant war for survival for centuries, the tech level is in many areas ''lower'' than that of the mainline Rifts Earth setting.
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80* Inverted in ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarII''; it's a ''sequel'' to [[VideoGame/PhantasyStarI the first game]], set a thousand years afterward in a world where technology has created a {{Utopia}} and its breakdown [[JustBeforeTheEnd is driving the Algo system off a cliff]]. On the other hand, it also has [[VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV a sequel of its own]] set after the destruction of Mother Brain.
81* Sagi's headache induced "Elsewhere" scenes in ''VideoGame/BatenKaitosOrigins'' takes place before the War of Gods. It only becomes clear at the 3rd occurrence, where the group notices the land goes on endlessly, in contrast to the Floating Continents the series uses.
82* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2'' stand as prequels to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics''. Probably.
83** And all of them take place before the first ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance''. The setting's "Real World" is actually Ivalice thousands of years in the other games' future after [[TheMagicGoesAway all the world's magic energy is used up]] and people have developed technology analogous to RealLife. The in-universe ''Final Fantasy'' games the children play and on which [[spoiler:Marche's fantasy world is based]] are works of historical fiction, like the ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'' games are to us.
84* ''VideoGame/WildArms4'' seems to be set during a period of time constantly alluded to in other games in the series of a massive world war where cyborgs and nanomachine monsters freely roamed the lands. Many of the world's bigger cities have been destroyed in the chaos and are slowly turning into the types of locations you see in games such as ''VideoGame/WildArms3''.
85* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
86** Almost all ''Zelda'' games take place in their own distinct era of Hyrule's history, but ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' is notable for being the earliest game in the timeline, before the founding of Hyrule itself, and when the Demon King Demise threatened to wipe out all life for the Demon tribe. [[spoiler:It also shows us the creation of the Master Sword and Demise's curse on Link and Zelda that birthed Ganon.]]
87** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' takes place AfterTheEnd in a Hyrule where Ganon destroyed and mostly depopulated Hyrule a century before the beginning of the game. ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriorsAgeOfCalamity'' takes place in that pre-Calamity period, with many battles fought and stores/sidequests located in towns and other places obliterated and ReclaimedByNature by the time Link finds them in ''Breath of the Wild''.
88* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX'' takes place before the Keyblade War, in a time where all of the various Disney worlds existed in the same space and keyblade wielders were common. While the first incarnation of the game led up to and ended with the Keyblade War, the story has been continued to detail its immediate aftermath.
89* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline'' is set in the Second Era of the [[Franchise/TheElderScrolls series]]' [[Timeline/TheElderScrolls timeline]], during a period known as the Interregnum between the fall of the Second Cyrodiilic Empire (led at the end by the [[{{Wutai}} Akaviri]] [[RegentForLife Potentates]]) and the later rise of the Third Empire under [[FounderOfTheKingdom Tiber]] [[TheConqueror Septim]]. The Interregnum is considered Tamriel's equivalent of DarkAgeEurope and previously had very little lore associated with it as a result. ''Online'' takes place about 600 years before the first game in the main series.
90* ''VideoGame/FallFromHeavenAgeOfIce'' is a DarkFantasy scenario for ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}} IV'' (included in the ''Beyond the Sword'' ExpansionPack). It's a prequel to the popular ''VideoGame/FallFromHeaven'' mod that takes place near the end of the previous age. Specifically, the main mod takes place in the Age of Rebirth, while the scenario, as [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin indicated in the name]], takes place during the preceding Age of Ice. No scenario/mod exists for the even earlier Age of Magic, although it probably wouldn't be ''too'' different from the one set in the Age of Rebirth, with factions being the main difference (e.g. the [[TheMagocracy Amurites]] did not exist during the Age of Magic but play a key role in ending the Age of Ice).
91* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'': The main events briefly alludes to Torna, a Titan/kingdom that existed 500 years prior to the game itself. The actual cutscenes related to this time period were cut, due to time and budget constraints, but became part of the expansion pass. However, the project took on a life of its own and eventually became massive enough to warrant a physical release as a standalone prequel called ''[[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2TornaTheGoldenCountry Torna: The Golden Country]]''.
92* ''VideoGame/YsOrigin'' takes place 700 years before the events of [[VideoGame/YsIAncientYsVanishedOmen Ys 1]] and [[VideoGame/YsIIAncientYsVanishedTheFinalChapter 2]], detailing the efforts of various members of the Holy Knights of Ys that set out to rescue goddesses Feena and Rhea from the tower that would later become the Tower of Darm. The origins of several plot-important items Adol finds along his quest are explained, and in particular, the events that would corrupt the Fact clan are depicted.
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96* ''WebVideo/CriticalRoleExandriaUnlimited'': The mini-series ''Calamity'' is set in the [[GoldenAge Age of Arcanum]], in the flying city of Avalir, home to wizards that have created wonders and even [[GodhoodSeeker aspire to godhood]]. Given that the series is named for the [[WorldSundering world shattering events]] that ended the Age of Arcanum, however, it's a given that things won't go swimmingly. And indeed, [[ApocalypseHow they don't.]]
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