The Great Darkening
In 1962 Ante Dourum (AD) a coalition of underground rebels calling themselves The Antikathonum succeeded in creating a spell intended to drive K'Thonim from this dimension and thereby free all the sapient ancestories of the world. The spell if effective would have used the K'Thonum's own power to punch a hole through the universe and push them out the way they came in. Unfortunately the Antikathonum were betrayed by double agents and the K'Thonum were able to disperse the power of the spell barely enough to keep it from working.
As the power of the massive spell fired off the K'Thonum redirected much of the magic into the core of the earth, erroneously calculating it as an infinite sink.
It wasn't
Instead the core of the planet rang like a bell and every volcano on the tipping point of eruption did. Volcano's around the world went off like bombs, spewing enough ash into the atmosphere to cause crops to fail for a decade. Civilizations starved into collapse. Whole cities were abandoned and forgotten either through starvation or because the resulting climate change left them untenable. As the ash fell in some places it fell at a depth that changed landscapes, harbors ceased to exist or new ones were created. In the center point of the spell in southern Catalonia the ancient and advanced city known as Tartessos disappeared in a cleanly cut crater 30 miles across. Yet while the price was steeper than anyone expected, it killed far more K'Thonum than any of the other intelligent ancestories, successfully freeing them from universal slavery, and forcing the K'Thonum to retreat to The Dark Coast where they also died in droves or hibernated. The sapient races of the world were free, but it would take them centuries to recover. On the Dark Coast the effects were worse. The efforts of the K'Thonum to prevent their expulsions punched random holes in the universe, radical ambient magic twisted creatures into abominations, and whole cities of slaves died or were altered beyond recognition. Creatures like The Horrifying Jackalope were accidentally created, this compounded with the horrifying experiments that the K'Thonum already performed at their whims left the region a horrifying place to live for those slaves that survived.
It wasn't
Instead the core of the planet rang like a bell and every volcano on the tipping point of eruption did. Volcano's around the world went off like bombs, spewing enough ash into the atmosphere to cause crops to fail for a decade. Civilizations starved into collapse. Whole cities were abandoned and forgotten either through starvation or because the resulting climate change left them untenable. As the ash fell in some places it fell at a depth that changed landscapes, harbors ceased to exist or new ones were created. In the center point of the spell in southern Catalonia the ancient and advanced city known as Tartessos disappeared in a cleanly cut crater 30 miles across. Yet while the price was steeper than anyone expected, it killed far more K'Thonum than any of the other intelligent ancestories, successfully freeing them from universal slavery, and forcing the K'Thonum to retreat to The Dark Coast where they also died in droves or hibernated. The sapient races of the world were free, but it would take them centuries to recover. On the Dark Coast the effects were worse. The efforts of the K'Thonum to prevent their expulsions punched random holes in the universe, radical ambient magic twisted creatures into abominations, and whole cities of slaves died or were altered beyond recognition. Creatures like The Horrifying Jackalope were accidentally created, this compounded with the horrifying experiments that the K'Thonum already performed at their whims left the region a horrifying place to live for those slaves that survived.
The archives of the time are considered esoteric, but they can still be found in the finest libraries like in Londinium. I studied them and its hard to put into words the emotions of the time. Freedom can be a giddy thing, but the horror of loss comes off the pages and through almost two millenia in ways that will make you cry.
Comments