Year of the Long Winter

Geological / environmental event

896 featured a largely nonexistent spring growing season and failed harvests across his land which pressed most nations, especially the armies of Karrnath

At the start of the war, Karrnath’s standing army was larger, better trained, and better equipped, and had higher morale than any of its neighbors. Still, it failed to put a quick end to the war—partly because of its underestimation of Aundairian audacity and Cyran toughness, and partly because of pure bad luck, as a horrific series of national catastrophes wracked the land. Kaius’s travails began in 896, the Year of the Long Winter. The cities of Karrnath, cut off from the bounty of the Eldeen Reaches, deprived by hoarding in Thrane, and considered a lower priority than the armies, began to starve.   Cyre’s nobles along the southern border, hearing of supply difficulties, launched a series of surprise attacks against less fortified areas, primarily targeting logistics. Although discipline remained strict and desertion was minimal, the vast might of Karrnath was effectively paralyzed by lack of provisions. For a time, the borders remained intact primarily as a result of a new band of warriors, the Order of the Emerald Claw, which emphasized flexibility, self-sufficiency, honor, and accomplishment regardless of sacrifice. The most imaginative of the Karrn military personnel broke ranks to join the Emerald Claw and paid a heavy price for their independent ways, but a legend arose that would serve the order well in the years to come.