>>512739745
The collapse is usually not catastrophic at all. It happens slowly. Hierarchies flatten and decentralize, the top loses its legitimacy and authority. After a few decades, the emperors are demented fools, puppets controlled by warring minor lordlings. People no longer look up to the emperor, they more and more focus on their local communities and their direct neighbors. The emperor no longer matters. Then one day there is no emperor anymore and they didn't even notice, they didn't even care. There's just the village and its neighbors and whatever they produce. No traders come anymore. No visitors. It's a slow process.