The Plume Night

The quick and frightful collapse of the Varangian Empire can be linked back to a single event, The Plume Night. In 1745 AC a terrible tragedy struck the Royal House of Rathlandre. During a fairly mundane Royal ceremony in Horthmert, a sudden and horrific explosion and flame took the lives of almost the entire Rathlandre family. The succession line was essentially wiped from existence in a single moment. Immediately, the chaos brought by this singular event spiraled out of control. The distant claimants of a centuries old dynasty rose and fell overnight. Conspiracies surrounding the perpetrators of the Plume Night were used as bludgeons of due cause for factional conflict and blood in the streets. By 1750 AC the Varangian Empire was no more; nothing but a collection of rampaging warlords fighting for a throne no longer existing in reality.
Nobody knows the true instigators of the Plume Night, and considering the chaos and poisoning of the well; so to speak; by individuals looking to use the situation to their advantage, we probably never will.