The country of Albion has been ripped apart time and time again by chaos and evil forces from other dimensions inside the Fable universe. It's been torn down and remade through uprisings and the blood of its strong-willed citizens, each time overcoming something worse than before. Recorded history in Fable starts around the time that the Court, consisting of the Queen, Jack, and Knight of Blades, entered into Albion from the Void and demanded that the inhabitants obey them or face the consequences. When Albion's inhabitants refused, they were met three times with increasing consequences on the land.
The first Hero, named William, was also the first individual ever born with the ability to do impressive and magical feats, so they called his abilities the power of Will. Willpower would go on to help William defeat the Court, in addition to the Sword of Aeons that he stole from Jack of Blades. This was such an impressive feat that the remaining people of Albion collectively agreed to crown William as their first Archon, or king. William was able to usher in 1,000 years of peace through his willpower. While everything lasted well for a while, it all changed when William disappeared and Albion was once again cast into chaos.
The Fall of Old Albion
While William had ushered in a time of great peace, it meant his children who had inherited his willpower had no enemies to fight. They became restless and began pestering the citizens of Albion with their powers. William would've been able to stop them under normal circumstances, however, his time spent in the void battling the Court had given him a disease that was causing him to waste away. So William traveled back into The Void to dispel most of the disease, which would go on to become the Darkness and the Corruption. After he returned, he was still weak, so he took on an ornate set of armor, the Sword of Aeons, and then seemingly vanished, instantly causing chaos in Albion.
When William left, his children began to further abuse their magic powers and many of Albion's inhabitants died of war, famine, or disease. Each new Archon was worst than the one before, and there was a large wall constructed around the city. One of the Archons commissioned a tall spire that would collect all the Will energy in the world and harness it to give one person a single wish. When completed, it created a void through which the Corruption sent his strongest lieutenant, the Crawler. It took three of the Old Kingdom's heroes to imprison him, and the next day The Spire was gone, and all the inhabitants of Albion inside the city wall with it. Albion was once again plunged into a state of chaos.
The Guild of Heroes
A few generations later, a bandit by the name of Nostro wanted to make an impression on the world and a shriveled man clad in ornate armor would help him achieve this. The man's name was Scythe and he would help Nostro form a place where all inhabitants could come and train to be Heroes. The Guild of Heroes was only one of Nostro's creations before he was tempted by a woman named Magdelena who led him astray. Scythe could only watch and left Nostro to a demise unfitting of a hero. It wouldn't be long after this that another descendant of the first Archon would be found between the pairing of Scarlet Robe and Brom. This child would eventually be called the Hero of Oakvale.
The story of Albion in the Fable series is one that warns of the dangers of man's own self-importance, cautioning against placing oneself in too high of a regard. That being said, in the case of the first Archon William, it seems that no good deed can go unpunished. It could really go either way, and the Fable games that follow give the player that choice to decide how the future of Albion is shaped based on the way it is in front of them.
Fable 4 is currently in development for PC and Xbox Series X/S.