"They hunted me down and chained me like an animal, but their mistake was caging me in the very environment that I was born in." - Evans, Holder of the Hermes System, the Year 1315 APC.
More than a thousand years ago, portals opened up in the world.
It took the whole world by surprise. Raining down monsters that swallowed the cities of the world whole, turning it asunder. Gryphons, Hydras, Cerberus pups-- creatures that one could only see in the mythos that were lost in time.
People lost hope, but then came The Circle.
A government that one might consider theocratic. They held most of the world's countries in the palm of their hand. Their presence has been present even in the earliest histories after the Portal Calamity.
They were represented by a symbol, their name itself-- A circle.
The Circle appeared out of nowhere. Most people have already forgotten exactly when, but as far as they were concerned, they were always there.