The Expression

In the year QA 1210, a powerful earthquake shook the city of Vishkaroth. Built upon the side of a mountain, the city itself shook itself to pieces and slid down the rocky slopes, leaving the entire region in ruin. The death toll was incalculable, and so complete was the city's destruction that rebuilding was seen as a pointless task. It is so named because the event is seen as an "expression" of the rage and power of the god Jokhosh, a demonstration of their anger at those on the surface.

The Event

Until this point, there had only been minimal seismic activity recorded in the area, and its denizens had weathered them comfortably. Because of this, those who governed Vishkaroth had built the city further and further up the side of the mountain, a steep slope with a deep ravine beneath. Minor geological movements were endured without much incident, and for a while it looked like the city could ride out anything.
In the hours of the early evening, as pyres and lamps were lit, the earthquake struct, violent and destructive. As the stone towers and buildings collapsed, more weight was added to the supports below. Every layer of the city that was demolished piled on extra tonnes of stone to the layer below it, until the city fell like dominos and what's left began a slide down the mountain and into the ravine below. Even the aftershocks did little to the add to the destruction that was already total.

Aftermath

There was little left but rubble when the shaking finally stopped. It took days for rescuers to travel there and descend to the bottom of the ravine, and by that time, there were few survivors left to tell the story of what had happened. It was decided that there was so little left that no rebuilding effort would be undertaken, and the survivors merely gathered what belongings could be salvaged and move on.

Type

Natural