An Inconvenient Past

This planet is a good example of why not every intelligent species may not develop advanced technology. The species native to this planet did at one time in the distant past have a settled, agricultural society at a roughly iron age level of technology. They built large cities of stone, waged wars of conquest, engaged in large scale manufacturing of goods and international trade. Many ruins and artifacts of this history can be and are found even to this day: crumbling monuments to long forgotten rulers with testimonies written in languages no living soul can speak or read, neglected ziggurats where the devout once made sacrifices and said prayers to deities lost to the ages, overgrown roads that once carried the goods and armies of great empires that will never again rise. What caused these mighty civilizations to decline and their people to revert back to a hunter-gatherer existence, you might ask? It's simple: climate change. A sudden and cataclysmic change in the global climate brought on by volcanically-induced alterations to the atmosphere caused a chain reaction that led to incredibly unpredictable weather and seasonal patterns. The climate was now wildly unpredictable and the very concept of agriculture became void. Farming was no longer a feasible way of sustaining a population, and without food the foundation of civilization began to collapse. Decades of chaos gripped agricultural societies worldwide as their social hierarchies and cohesion began to fall apart. Famine, disease, and violence took their toll and people fled en masse to the less developed regions where they could survive by hunting and gathering. In time technology was lost as people with certain skills and knowledge died without ever passing it down to others and soon the populace of this planet was once again leading nomadic and pastoral lifestyles. Not all knowledge of civilization was lost, however. Many still know how to smelt and work iron, though their methods are crude and their tools are often of low quality compared to what can be done with stone. Looms used to weave fabric from plant fibers are still around, though they're far more primitive than those used by the civilized people long ago. Even organized religions have survived the collapse of civilization largely intact. Unfortunately the climate is still too unstable for agriculture, and will likely remain so for thousands or perhaps tens of thousands of years. For now the inhabitants of this planet are limited to a tough lifestyle of hunting and gathering--and that's not necessarily a bad way to live--but maybe someday they can rebuild their cities and reclaim their lost heritage.