Epic Trilogy + Prequel

Epic stories (Setting):

Part 1: Isolated, scattered, half-built towns with incredible monuments of worship, run by lawless warlords, with roving/nomadic tribes in nonstop violent conflicts. A mythical city, said to be the pinnacle of civilization and modern day comforts on one side of the region. On another side, another mythical city, like that of a theme park, run by a legendary psychopath. 

Part 2: The empire city state, cities and towns under one banner, anything allowed, as long as it doesn't interfere with the empire. Illicit activities pushed to centralized areas where waste is burned and consumed. Multiple positions of primary consultancy, from waste, to military, to spirituality, to entertainment are given to a legendary psychopath. 

Part 3: A centralized gathering of the organic, complex, crowded, dense city as the nexus of life,  The preponderance of mysterious tribes, organizations, corporations, cults; all with cryptic practices and schools of mystery and spirituality. Underground culture nurtured in the literal catacombs of the city, said to be traversed and intimidated by a legendary psychopath.

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Prequel: An inverse of sorts of the three stories. Starting off in a crowded village of complex leadership run by a small counsel, leading to a series of villages and towns under one banner, forming the beginnings of an Empire, leading to a scattered region run by an untouchable authority in a city with incredible technology and monuments. In every instance sabotaged and ruined by an unchecked psychopath who became a legend.