Frozen Decade

The Frozen Decade was a period of history, coinciding with the second half of the Dire Silence pandemic, in which a decline in global temperatures caused crop failures and the expansion of glaciers across the northern and southern hemispheres of the world. Alongside the Dire Silence, the Frozen Decade was one of the major catastrophes that led to the collapse of the old sociopolitical order on Generica and inaugurated the present New Generica Period.

Manifestation

The beginning of the Frozen Decade was only reckoned by sages in hindsight as, at the time, those who weren't busy dying in the Dire Silence didn't initially recognize the cooling trend for anything out of the ordinary. Seasons on Generica vary in length on a regular cycle due to the irregularity of Generica's orbit around its host star; ancient Lunar Glyphs point to a particular arrangement of planets and constellations that demarcate when these cycles will occur, and later sages could use these texts to advise agricultural communities on how to prepare for the coming of long winters.
The Frozen Decade started when one of these long winter seasons ended with clouds still fixed in the sky and temperatures still remaining cool long after the warming season should have otherwise began. Some speculated at that time that excess clouds were somehow being generated in perfusion somewhere in the undiscovered recesses of the world, blocking out the warmth of the sun, others suspected a meteor impact of spraying dust high into the air, and still others held to the theory that this period marked a conjunction with the Fae Realm. Whatever the case, Generica experienced a cooler and more overcast climate that lasted most of a decade. The result of this cooling trend was widespread crop failure, the growth of glaciers, the sealing of mountain passes to travelers, and the hastened death of Dire Silence sufferers.

Localization

While most sentient peoples of Generica suffered greatly during the Frozen Decade, tropical and equatorial who happened to reside at high altitudes, away from the lowlying epicenters of the ongoing Dire Silence pandemic, fared much better than their counterparts at the higher lattitudes. Communities like High Hedgemont who had the good fortune to reside next to lakes could rely on fishing to supplement their faltering supplies of grains and other produce until the miniature ice age abated.

Type

Natural