Elemental Rifts

During one celestial solstice, possibly before or shortly after The Calamity began—huge elemental rifts burst open across Exandria, causing terrible earthquakes, fires, and a flood of elemental monsters against which the peoples of the world struggled to defend. Though they eventually beat back the elementals, they were terrified of what would happen on the next solstice. The druidic Ashari, until then a single nomadic society on Gwessar, made a covenant to split into four tribes to seal the rifts and watch over the major remaining portals, where they settled. Two of these rifts were on the continent: the Air Ashari settled at Zephrah, and the Earth Ashari settled at Terrah.