The Harrowing

The Harrowing was a disaster of unknown cause that took place in the year 1247. There were no warning signs, no omens preceding the event. It simply happened out of the blue.
Over the span of one day, approximately 1 in every 10,000 humanoids who fell asleep on that day were transformed into monstrous creatures. There were virtually no unifying features into the forms the Harrowed took- aside from the fact that they were incredibly dangerous and attacked anything that got near them.
There isn't an exact figure for just how much damage the Harrowing did across the world, but for some places, it brough irrevocable changes. The followers of Yem-set-Shalar viewed the Harrowing as a sign of the end times. The kingdom of Bralthe saw it as punishment for the overuse of magic and swiftly banned its usage in all forms, despite the protests of the citizenry.
Though many of the Harrowed were slain in self-defense by their would-be victims, some ran off into the wilderness. As if the prospect of roaming, mutated monsters weren't bad enough, reports began of even more monsters appearing, matching the appearances of documented Harrowed- in other words, Harrowed were capable of reproducing asexually.
In the many years that have passed since the Harrowing, occasional monster attacks have become just another problem people face. Some fear that, should the Harrowed go unchecked, the beasts could eventually overtake humanoids and wipe out all of civilization.
As of now, it is believed there are around 50 different 'strains' of Harrowed beasts. Each of these variants of Harrowed are either given a descriptor name, or are named after the person that the original Harrowed was transfigured from. Of note, the Petoren-strain of Harrowed has proven a persistent problem for the kingdom of Bralthe, having been created from their king at the time of the Harrowing.

Type

Metaphysical, Supernatural