Shattering

This event, usually referred to as "The Shattering", marked the end of the God Wars. A cataclysmic explosion destroyed the capital of the Lich Queen, sending magical and physical shock-waves around the entire world. These shock-waves interacted with each other, sometimes reinforcing themselves and sometimes cancelling each other out. This led to widely disparate impacts on different parts of world, from total annihilation in some areas to little apparent damage in others.
The Shattering radically changed some geography. For example, the Inner Sea was smaller, a bit narrower, and its center was free of islands. The Shattering left it larger, almost circular, and raised the Lantis Archipelago in its center. Some say that this is because the Lich Queen's capital was on the direct opposite side of Norath, which concentrated the shock-waves on the Inner Sea. However, no intact maps or globes have been found which show that portion of the ancient world.
In the wake of The Shattering, it appears that different parts of Norath have experienced differing passage of time. By the Shurrean calendar, 1997 years have passed since The Shattering, while other areas have recorded only a thousand. There have also been unconfirmed reports of ruins, villages, and even an entire island suddenly appearing in previously-explored areas. Visitors claim that these "new" sites arrived in the present day directly from The Shattering, with no intervening passage of time. No serious scholar believes these accounts from non-academics, though it should be noted that no scholar has gone to the sites to perform their own examination.

Death of the Lich Queen

The cause of The Shattering was a mystery to all of Norath at the time. However, the gods later revealed to their priests what had happened. Apparently weakened from her victory against the gnomes, the Lich Queen returned to her capital. This stronghold was a nexus of great magical power.

According to the gods, a group of elite mortals drawn from the followers of several deities infiltrated her fortress. These heroes were armed with powerful magical artifacts created by the gods. Although the world itself was saved by these mortal warriors, the gods have never revealed their names.

They managed to the destroy the nexus, but were killed as the resulting release of magical energy obliterated the fortress and destroyed the Lich Queen's body. The shock-waves of this explosion were so great that they devastated the rest of the world.