Do scientists know how much longer quarantine will be around? Or do they have a successful vaccine?

monarchy doesn’t have to have the hereditary element. there have been elective monarchies in the past where you choose your king-for-life and when he dies elect someone else for the job.

nothing certain is known about what happened, but it seems that the country declined gradually, perhaps due to bad government, or, more likely, due to a series of bad harvests, which resulted in widespread and recurrent famine.