Lorgan's Notes: The Emblematic Collapse

Usually I write these notes as a scholar of history, but in this case, I, Lorgan, participated. It's far more disturbing to be part of history than to study it in the comfort of the library.
I'm writing this while the events are fresh--which means I'm writing this during the syim-cursed thunderstorm the Emblematic Collapse caused.
Emblematic Collapse, you say? Yes, since I was there and am writing the details, I get to name this particular spiral collapse. (Do I sound brusque? No, I'm not my typical cheerful self. Current events haven't lent themselves to cheer.)
* If this missive seems a bit neater than expected, my scholarly self decided to copy what I said to non-grungy paper. Future readers will thank me for the unsmeared words.

Research:
The Emblematic Collapse

by our exhausted hero, Lorgan the brave

In this Research Document:

all images by Shanda Nelson
unless otherwise stated

Black Temple: Brief Note

Black Temple became the seat of Nevemere power during the Beast's reign as Death. It hid them from his ravaging rages and provided a central place where the nomadic and landed groups could congregate and interact during important rituals and observances.
Black Temple's leaders, both the dor-carous, and the naro vi-van, had become corrupt by the time we of the mini-Joyful arrived at the city.

I won't get into details here about events leading up to the Emblematic Collapse (oh, but you want details? You'll need to read Evenacht Snake's Den, my friend).

Need to Know

The dor-carous decided the Fort, a group of Nevemere who thought he and his family too corrupt to rule their people, was a danger. Wishing to gain the upper hand, he bought crates of weapons from an Astri merchant, who conveniently disappeared before he realized all he received were fake spears sold to tourists as "authentic cultural warfare items".
Only they weren't fake spears. They were relics called mephoric emblems. These nasty little things were destructive objects created by the Beast to obliterate his foes by triggering a natural phenomenon known as a spiral collapse.
And when I say obliterate, I mean, when used in conjunction, they're apt to create a crater two days wide in all directions, destroying everything within. So yes, obliterate. The Beast wasn't known for his kindness and held grudges into infinity.

The emblems have existed for over 6119 years. Their potency is still awe-inspiring and deadly. I shudder when I think of other ancient syim artifacts that could be used for great evil.

Put those spears in paranoid hands, and you have the makings of a disaster. Not fun times. The dor-carous, his guards and accompanying vi-van confronted Katta, Qira and Kjaelle in the Black Temple's courtyard. Each Nevemere held an emblem, and they discharged the magic within moments of each other.
The magic created a dome that encompassed the three ghosts. I'm certain the dor-carous thought to send the beings he saw as foes to the Final Death. Instead, the combined attack rebounded off magical shields, turned the Nevemere into bloody smears on the paving stones, rebounded again, and melded, forming a feedback loop that strengthened with each spiral pass. As the loop's magic touched them, the mephoric emblems in other parts of the temple exploded, adding their energy to an already power-bloated event.
I did not get to see or sense much else in the courtyard; Katta or Qira sent us (and the population of the city) outside a hastily erected magical border (how they accomplished this? See side note *).

* How did they send us outside? Chalk it up to syimlin miracle via avatars until I pry an answer out of them. Having said that, I suspect they used energy from the feedback loop to create an impromptu transportation spell, based on those that nymphs employ to save populations when water breeches their underwater domes. These spells target anything warm and sends them to a predesignated shore. Those emergency castings are handy, and underappreciated by non-water dwelling faelareign.

Spiral Collapse

The mephoric emblems created a phenomenon known as a spiral collapse. This is a rare occurrence triggered by an excess of magic collected in a single place. The magic attempts to dispel outward but the energy trapped within the center pulls it back, which creates a spiral effect--think tornado, if you will.
Magic scrapes against magic, which creates more energy and wind, and a column in the center of the tornado sucks both into the interior. That's bad enough, but in the case of Black Temple, the river enhanced the effect. It ran the length of the city and produced enormous amounts of mist. The mist fed the already bloated spiral, and it became massive, more like a cyclone than a tornado.
Yes, I thought my existence was over. A spiral collapse is rare and when it occurs, well, the destruction is unfathomable. I had a good vantage point to watch my end unfold, and if I had been alive, well, it wouldn't have been a pretty sight. As it was, when the ground crumbled from beneath me, turned to nothing but dusty bits by the faint touch of the spiral, I prepared to have my essence obliterated.

But Katta, Qira, and Verryn used the spiral to advantage. In a normal collapse, the magic spirals high into the air, and when it reaches a zenith where the energy expands so far outwards the magic can no longer spin, the column collapses on itself (think of it as a boulder tossed in a pool. The splash rises up then falls back down). This creates an explosion on impact. Instead of the spiral collapsing down, however, it collapsed up and into Verryn. He sent waves of power away from the spiral, but it inevitably overwhelmed him. He forced the explosion outwards rather than down, which would have destroyed everything beneath.
I do not envy the poor nighttime, flying creatures caught in the burst. Of course, Verryn sent out short burst before the final explosion, a warning of dire things to come. Self-preservation would have caused most to land and hide.
Still, the barriers we held did not protect the city itself. The beings sent outside it remained whole, if terrified. Everything within was turned into mounds of dust--and that was despite a syimlin and two avatars' interference.
Except for the River of Darkness. That's still flowing.

While a rare phenomenon, the congregation of magic in the lakes that nymphs and dryans create can trigger spiral collapses more frequently than seen in untouched nature. It's just another in the long list of reasons why the faelareign should not dam up water and magic, but, well, I digress.

If you want to get into the nitty-gritty of the mephoric emblems, and how they triggered a natural phenomenon, read up on quasi- and congealsant- glyphs, phrenic vibrations, Grand Seals, dormant calibrations and discharge triggers, then speak with a Shades of Darkness acolyte.
Darkness charged the Shades to hunt down and destroy the remaining emblems the Beast left scattered about the Evenacht, so they understand how they work. I'll assume the Astri will receive a nosy visit from one of them sometime soon.

background by Joe Belanger, Envato Elements
foreground by duallogic, Envato Elements
extra rock ebd3_16, Envato Elements

Tally's interpretation of the Emblematic Collapse. There was a bit more lightning and such from my vantage point, but this should give you a good understanding of the size of this thing (Black Temple was beneath the rocky landmass in the distance--and none of it is extant anymore).

Great Seal

Katta and Qira used us mini-Joyfuls as the points in a Great Seal. Each point connected to another around the spiral, which strengthened the barrier Qira erected and prevented the energy from cratering more than the city. If I could feel pain, I'm certain I'd still be suffering. I usually don't say this, but I'm lucky to not be alive.
Katta claims it was a slapdash spell because they didn't have time to prep for something better. They may not have had much time to prep, but once Qira saw the emblems and realized the temple guards and vi-van were planning to use them, I think he searched for a solution to the explosion he knew was going to happen.
I say this because the points upon which we stood formed the elfine configuration. The placement of the points, especially how far apart they were from the center point and each other, tricked the magic into behaving in a stronger manner than is typical for any shield. I've heard nymphs brag for years that the nymphine configuration is superior, but I now doubt that boast.

Depressing? Yes.
I don't understand why we're rushing to the Snake's Den ruin when there is so much to be done at the remains of Black Temple. True, those of us who mitigated the damage are drained, and the desert doesn't have enough mist to re-energize us, but there must be something we can help with.
Of course, my cynical little self thinks that Katta and Qira know a bit more about this situation than I do, and they aren't freely divulging. The naro vi-van and her advisors disappeared, and the two believe the ex-syimlin, Rezenarza, whisked them to the ruins. I did not notice, but if they held mephoric emblems, another spiral collapse disaster is waiting to happen.

After Effects

1) The first, and foremost, after-effect is that the people of Black Temple are stranded, without shelter or clothing, and scarce food and water, outside a giant crater that was once their home. This is important, because--
2) --without the braking effect of solid earth, the explosion carried across the sky and to the ends of the desert. This seeded a desert-wide thunderstorm of exceptional strength, that is still raging as I write this. Unseasonal rain and hail rides the harsh winds, and the caravan master predicts the deepening cold will turn the rain into snow.
3) I predict unseasonal flooding. The desert peoples farm underground and have holes in the rock ceilings to allow light below. The holes will funnel the rain into habitations and flood everything.
4) While the desert is known for its frozen nights, snow rarely falls, so I anticipate death from hypothermia and other cold-related issues, especially those surrounding Black Temple.
The inability of flora and fauna to cope with the sudden change in weather will harm nomads who depend on wild growth and animals for food. There will be severe shortages throughout the desert during the cold season.
5) The wind is strong enough to trigger rock storms. If the rock storms reflect the strength of the initial explosion, animals, plants, the living and the dead, will be pummeled into extinction.