The Great Flare

Summary

The Great Flare was a colossal solar flare far exceeding any recorded even in Earth's history. The event unleashed an enormous burst of electromagnetic radiation and charged particles. These particles impacted the atmosphere and surface of Teralt, overwhelming protective barriers and safeguards the Androns had established long ago.
The surge disrupted the intricate—though delicate—workings of the Aetheliths by frying the Godstone batteries within. These batteries were not designed to absorb so much energy at once, and exploded.

Catalyst of Great Change

This natural disaster that ended the Time of Paradise directly caused the Time of Strife. The solar flare punched through Teralt's atmosphere, ripping open holes in its protective layers and creating deserts on a once paradisical world.
The Gardens of Collapse were the most affected regions of Teralt, their weather patterns rapidly shifting while the earth was sundered and new volcanos formed. The Great Flare inspired religious beliefs as well as cultural transformations.

Religious Depictions

The Great Flare was a catastrophe of unmatched impact on Teralt, and as such has given rise to many beliefs and unique interpretations.

The Elemental Spirits of the Dustborn

The Dustborn believe the Great Flare to have been an intentional event. And because of this, it must have been the punishment of some higher power. While the Androns had known Andromeda in their past, by the Time of Paradise, she had mostly disconnected from their affairs, and was being forgotten.
The Dustborn used what they could remember of Andromeda's existence along with the events of the Great Flare to form their beliefs. To them, the Flare was the retribution of an angered force of nature, and they combined it with other disasters they experienced to expand their concept of the Elemental Spirits.

The Clash of Worldsouls

Other Androns, with better remembrance of the Worldsouls they once knew, believed the Great Flare to be a strike by a powerful enemy of Andromeda. They believed a celestial being, one of their stars, attempted to eradicate humanity in an act of jealousy.
This belief would later expand into the idea that humans are the chosen species of the world, greatly shifting the past practices of harmony with the world and the natural way of life.

Artistic Representation

The Great Flare has been depicted in many Andron murals and writings, and those that survived to the present day are often without much context. Modern historians believe the Great Flare and The Shattering of Andromeda to be synonymous of the same event, despite that these two catastrophes occurred a from one another.

Type

Natural