Tolkien's approach is common in fantasy, or perhaps is the model that so many have aspired to. Written in the 1970s, "The Land" in The Chronicles of Thomas Cov

Tolkien's approach is common in fantasy, or perhaps is the model that so many have aspired to. Written in the 1970s, "The Land" in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Thomas_Covenant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Thomas_Coven...) shows no real advancement after modern-day Covenant returns (via portal) 4,000 years later. There is still a clear good/evil distinction, magic is manifested in different ways, and there is a new crisis that drives the plot: Descending from the Watch, he also finds that a terrible change has transpired: four thousand years have passed, the Earthpower is gone, or nearly gone, and the people of the Land are out of touch with what remains of it. The Land is afflicted with the Sunbane, a disruption of the physical order which alternately causes rain, desert, pestilence and unnatural fertility to wreak havoc on humans, animals and nature. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wounded_Land https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wounded_Land