The End of the World
From shards of the heavens falling down, to the earth opening with divine wrath. The tales of what transpired during The Cataclysm are many. A few records of what happened on a larger scale have been salvaged, but more common are personal stories of the horrors Tessam’s people had to endure. Diary entries that have been salvaged, or letters that were never sent, some that arrived too late. The trouble for historians is that these accounts are terribly mismatched. The subjective horror of the world coming apart around oneself has made it impossible to present a unified story of the events. However, that doesn’t mean there haven’t been attempts.
Light of the Heavens
There is some uncertainty as to when The Cataclysm actually started. Some historians refer to it as a single catastrophic sequence of events spanning little more than a year. Others prefer to see it as a large and inevitable buildup lasting over three decades before all the chaos was unleashed.
Scholars who believe in the latter view, mostly agree that the first signs were related to the gods. For some reason, they abruptly left the world and never returned. Abandoned, their followers ran wild trying to figure out what had happened which made sure none could fail to notice the events that followed.
Several years after this state of unrest began, the gods made it known that they weren’t gone quite yet. Some form of celestial event caused the world to be suffused by an all-encompassing light. This is also the point where people started dying. Where there were references to them before the cataclysm, most records of races such as elves, gnomes and dwarves disappear at this time. Populations the size of entire countries fell to a wasting sickness that seemlingly only affected some races.
It is presumed that in the years following this heavenly light, the world adapted to its new reality. Presumably, this is where now-common inventions like the mechanical watches became commonly used, the sun no longer providing a natural synchronization of time. There are also records of large societal changes in this time. With the clergy losing its power, theocratic systems quickly started crumbling and many were absorbed by other nations.
Fury of the Earth
Around twenty years after the heavenly light started shining, the “real” Cataclysm started. Where it went from a light and a sickness to worldwide destruction. It was not a sudden change. Rather, in some places, the ground started cracking. Over the course of a few weeks, larger and larger cracks started forming around the world. There are reports of earthquakes happening in various locations, though none of them seemed to have caused more damage than a few broken items.
The real beginning of the end was when the volcano around somewhere called “Witchclaw” erupted. Naturally, nothing is left of the area around it, and no records tell of any volcano around that area earlier. It is therefore assumed that it would have been building along with the rupturing earth for these first few weeks. The eruption itself was large enough to be noticed all around the world, however. The following cover of ash and smoke, along with earthquake of a magnitude hitherto unseen, rang in the true death of the old world.
The End of Civilization
The eruption brought about months withou sunshine, the ground slowly breaking apart beneath the feet of people around the world. At first, it was going at a slow pace. But at some point, a breaking point was reached and the world snapped open. Ravines of magma tore open, earthquakes brought cities and mountains low. The oceans retreated beneath the earth as the world broke without the gods there to hold it together.
In the aftermath, most people were gone. Those who hadn’t died out under the light, mostly perished in the natural disasters following the “Witchclaw eruption”. From this point onwards, all records known are personal records of various horrors only a few survived. No countries survived, and society as a whole fell apart.
Many Ideas, Few Answers
Just like there are many stories about what happened, innumerable theories exist as to why. Scholars and priests have long tried to piece together the past so that they might prevent it from once again becoming the future. Following are some of the more established theories.
Wrath of the Gods
The theory most believe in is that the mortals of the world displeased the gods and The Cataclysm was a divine punishment. Presumably the fault lies mostly with the races that are now extinct. Somehow they managed to blaspheme to such a degree the gods could no longer sit idly by and had to intervene.
The flaw many often point out with this theory is that the gods themselves ceased to exist. A common response to this is that the gods wrecked the world and then left it. That they no longer saw the inhabitants of Tessam as worthy of their attention. Another theory is that they instead reclaimed power from Tessam itself and used it to merge together. Combined, they merged into the pantheon that now exists and in doing so, they erased their previous selves both from memory and written text.
Divine War
Others believe that the vast pantheon of the old world caused The Cataclysm by turning on each other. When the gods of old clashed, the threads of magic unravelled and caused all the magical wonders of the old world to collapse. While their civilization was falling apart from this, the gods battled and tore the planet apart.
There are many schools of thought when it comes to why the gods would turn on each other like this. It could be that they grew jealous of one another because some had more worshippers than others. Or perhaps some of the gods schemed to take over the domains of others and were discovered. Regardless of the reason, the following conflict brought about the end of the world they had created and even the gods themselves.
Preventing another War
The divine war is a popular theory among purist Khazantins who see use the theory to reinforce their belief in Caior as the leader of the gods. They believe that his purpose is to serve as the supreme god and keep the others in check to prevent another Cataclysm.
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Folly of Mortals
Yet others believe that the gods weren’t responsible at all. They think the mortals tried something against the laws of nature, and the result was apocalyptic. Most common is the belief that some mortal being attempted to ascend to godhood. During the ritual, something might have gone wrong, causing Tha Cataclysm. Alternatively, the ritual might have succeeded and the resulting destruction was the result of the gods battling the new deity or simply the cost of godhood.
Followers of this school of thought have divided opinions on the current gods. Some blame them for the destruction, seeing them as the reason for The Cataclysm. Others believe they’re unrelated to the event and simply came to fill the void the previous pantheon left.
A Divine Sacrifice
Groups that are particularly devoted to their gods believe that the gods saved the world, rather than end it. In their theories, some outside force came to the world and threatened to tear it apart. Unwilling to let them destroy their creation, the gods took to the battlefield and fought against these newcomers. However, their strength was diminished by the weakness of their followers and they lost the divine war.
Refusing The Book
An opposition to The Book of Khazanti, “The Light” is built on the belief that the pantheon that appeared after The Cataclysm is evil. They belong to the “divine sacrifice” school of thought, and have no love for worshippers of the Khazantin pantheon. Indeed, their belief is that the old gods sacrificed themselves in an attempt to stop them from ascending and claiming the world, their battle leading to the destruction.
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The Ineffable Plan
There are also those who believe it had nothing to do with the mortal races at all. That it is all simply part of a greater plan the gods have always followed. Perhaps they had to evolve to the next stage of their existence and The Cataclysm was simply the result of so much energy being expended. Or maybe it was a trial to see what races were strong enough to inherit the planet.
Regardless of the reasoning, nothing should change in how mortals see the gods. Their worship has little effect on the deities, and blasphemy won’t bring the sky crashing down (again).
A Shattered God
The monotheistic religion of Cayrism is built around the faith that every known deity is simply a different aspect of Careyon. Before The Cataclysm, Careyon was a single entity who ruled as a god emperor of all mortals. However, the queen of the now-dead elves rebelled. She brought her people into war with the rest of the world. And they almost succeeded.
At first, they were losing badly, but eventually they managed to get an assassin with a god-killing weapon into Careyon’s palace. Though she only landed a glancing blow, the power of the weapon was such that the god was shattered into many divine fragments. The instability following the near-death of the most powerful being in the world caused the ensuing cataclysm.
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