Darkening

The Darkening, as it is known in Namorian lore, is an event of major historical and cultural significance that had far-reaching effects on various cultures and civilizations across the globe. This global dimming event, which took place in approximately 1540 Before Republic Era (BRE), is said to have enveloped the world in soot, ash, and dust for several years—up to a decade, according to some accounts—dramatically altering climate patterns, causing crop failures, and ushering in a protracted period of cold weather.
The Darkening, however, is not uniformly accepted across different societies and cultures. Its existence, nature, and timing are subjects of heated debate among scholars, and the event is known by numerous different names across various cultures. Despite these disputes, most agree that it marked a time of extreme turmoil and profound change.

Impact on Civilizations

The period of the Darkening saw a widespread collapse of established civilizations, paving the way for the emergence of new cultures from the remnants of the old. In the area now known as the Great Desert, the Sarnathi Empire—a civilization believed to be quite advanced for its time—was brought to its knees. Current inhabitants of the region, the Kep'Dhori people, preserve oral tales of this great empire and the catastrophic climate shift that followed the Darkening, which transformed a lush, green land into the arid desert that it is today.
The Darkening also triggered significant population migrations. The Acamarin people, originally from Mundalodem, were forced southwards, where they encountered the Thalesi people living on the Thalesian Plains. Over a few hundred years, these groups merged to form the Acathian ethnicity, which was, however, almost entirely wiped out by the Namorians about a thousand years later.
On the eastern continent of Orynthia, evidence of comparable migrations and collapses of civilizations can be found, although these are even more obscure due to lack of records and recent contact. The tales of migrations, colliding cultures, and civilizations rising and falling in the wake of the Darkening are mostly based on collective myths, ruins, and linguistic traces that hint at pre-cataclysm links.

• Religion - In many cultures, the event was interpreted as divine intervention—a punishment, a test, or a purification process. For the religious, the period of darkness served as a reminder of their deities' power and the necessity of remaining devout and respectful.
• Myths - Mythologies woven around the event typically narrate heroic tales of survival and resilience. They tell stories of great leaders and sages guiding their people through the hardships, of epic quests undertaken to lift the darkness, and of mythical beasts born from the chaos.
• Lore - In local lore, the Darkening is often associated with the birth of certain traditions or customs. For example, annual periods of fasting, night-long vigils, or celebrations of light can be linked to this era, serving as a reminder of the hardships endured by the ancestors.

Subsequent Events

While other similar events—characterized by large dust clouds dimming the sun—have occurred since the Darkening, none have matched its magnitude or its impact on civilizations. These later instances are often seen as echoes of the Darkening, reminders of a world-shaking cataclysm obscured by the passage of time.

Dating the Darkening

The precise dating of the Darkening remains contested. Recent collaborations between Namorian anthropologists and Kep'Dhori astrologers have led to an estimated date of around 1540 BRE for the event. However, due to complications such as the loss of the Kep'Dhori civilization, reliance on oral histories, and taboos against entering ancestral ruins, this date remains a topic of debate.
Furthermore, the discovery of more ancient ruins occasionally fuels speculation that similar cataclysms may have happened even earlier. Whether these ruins are remnants of civilizations affected by the same Darkening event and have simply been further eroded and looted, or whether they were the result of separate, earlier events, is still uncertain.

Type

Natural