Dauntless Awakening: What is it?

So I have been playing Dauntless on and off during the years since early launch, but I have not been around for a year or two at this point.

I keep seeing a lot of talk and news regarding "Awakening" and I cannot seem to find a good info list on what this patch/expansion/overhaul?/thing is. It feels like the information on it is scattered and fragmented on different update posts. So it feels difficult getting a full explanitory summary of it.

I saw there has been a beta test for it, which for me feels like it is something big.

So I wanted to ask: What is Dauntless Awakening? Feel free to explain it to me like I am a 5 year old.