Part IV: The Cataclysm (Asylon Supplement)
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The Cataclysm, known variously as the Great Fall, the Ultimate Lament, and the Saddest Moment in History, is arguably the most important event in modern times. This humble scribe could not hope to recount it as eloquently as did Melokia Kaumaha, the first Oli Kahuna--History Chanter--of the Vethier people. Here is an excerpt from his chant "Lament for the Lost," the common abbreviated title of its full Vethier name, which is too long to include here. It was composed just 5 years after the end of the Cataclysm, and is considered the sole authority on the event.
Lament for the Lost
Chant IV, Opening Stanzas
Black Skies over Dark Earth
The Fallen Betrayers, the Shameful Ancestors
All cast down into Fire and Steam and Smoke
The Mother quakes, her bones break
Her eyes weep and her tears are Fire and Steam and Smoke
Her shudder is great and her pain is deep
Her mighty life-protecting arms lift up
Her terrible life-taking arms come down
Pure Mother and Deceiver's Heart
Mighty Being raises the wave of sorrow against her children
Her tears fall for the Betrayers
They hurt her flesh and she cries for them
They kill her children and she cries for them
They run and hide and she crushes them
They turn to fight and they each fall into her killing embrace
Little Children Foolish Children
Mighty Being raises the wave of sanction against all her children
Her tears fall for her children
The children who stood in defense
The children that fought the Betrayers
The children who love their mother
The children who have forgotten Her
Good children Innocent Children
Mighty Being raises the unstoppable wave against them all
Her tears fall for her body
The blue sky and green land
The clear water and pure air
The Betrayed stones and broken earth
The corrupted crystal and sapping energy
Beautiful body Devastated Body
Mighty Being raises the wave of cleansing against it
All things wail and die
They hide in dark places and are drowned
They climb the heights and are thrown down
They flee the wave and are swept up
They fall dead and the Mother cries
Foul things wondrous things
Mighty Being raises the wave of change against them all
The Mother destroys to create anew
Her arms drag down the sinful places
Her arms lay around the holy places
Deceiver's Heart preserves dark places
Deceiver's Heart destroys good places
Powerful Arms Impure Arms
Mighty Being raises the rampant wave against everything
This is but a fraction of the chant recited each year at a week-long gathering in the Vethier capital of Halenui to commemorate their Oath to Utsirte. It takes seven days and nights for the Oli Kahunas to recite the tale of the Cataclysm to the Vethier, and is a time of incredible sorrow and renewed dedication which all Vethier attend at least once every five years. For brevity's sake, I unfortunately must summarize this truly agonizing and exquisite work of heart and voice.
The Cataclysm took place over two short years, two impossibly long years, and changed the face of Irte for a third time. First came the forming of Irte by the Aenen, then the reshaping of it by the Great Theran Empire, and finally Utsirte herself reasserted her dominance over her body. Utsirte, perverted by the touch of Sheor's Heart, ushered in an era of madness and nightmares, when all things thought sacred and unalterable were under violent attack. Try as she might, the power of the Therans and the meddling of Sheor prevented her from destroying Theran civilization as a whole. What was left were a people struck dumb by such a backlash of power, forevermore limited from reaching such heights.
It is related in the Lament that the final event which set The Cataclysm in motion was the defeat of the Ra Gada at the hands of the Therans. After millennia of struggle, the Ra Gada found themselves confined to a single fortress in their northern nation, under the constant watch and assault of Theran spellweavers. Eventually, by the treachery of Utu of the Ra Gada, the Therans infiltrated that impenetrable fortress and slaughtered almost every living soul within. Utsirte was so pained at the death of the last of her free children at the hands of her corrupted children that she broke, releasing unprecedented amounts of wanton destruction.
After the Cataclysm, Utsirte saw her destruction as the Aenen watched from the Aether and the Draenic Princes cowered in their halls, and began to weep. It was a pure, cleansing rain that rapidly brought the land once more under her control. As she wept the steam and smoke cleared, and the handful of creatures that remained looked on a world that was completely different. Deserts had been turned into lush jungle, plains had been raised into mountains, and the heart of the Theran Empire was sent to the bottom of the Gulf of Tears.
Against all hope, the four hundred Therans that survived confronted Utsirte and repented of the folly of their people. Utsirte looked into their hearts and saw that their words held truth, and commanded that in repayment for the destruction they caused, they would serve her as guardians and protectors. She was exhausted after such upheaval, and longed for sleep, but she needed someone to guard her. These remaining Therans agreed, swearing what has become the Oath of Utsirte.
DMs Only:
| The Ra Gada are the ancestors of Atralonians as well as Kronians. Atralonian stock came about when some of the survivors of that last battle fled into the countryside to make their own way. Those survivors that remained in their shattered country were visited by Kaol. The Prince of Hardship told them that he created them to be the strongest creatures on Irte, and that they had failed at their task. He charged them to remain in that northern land, which would be shielded somewhat from the cleansing rains of Utsirte's tears. As a result, Kron is no alien geography, but it is (otherwise) unexplainably harsher than other regions of Aina. It is the sole existing stronghold of a deity other than Utsirte or Sheor on the Material Plane. Kaol does not protect or guide it, but he does hamper the influence of other deities in that region. For this reason, there is a constant 10% chance for divine spell failure within the border of Kron. These borders are fiercely guarded and have never changed in the entirety of the 3rd and 4th eras.
The Krônians remember nothing of this visitation from Kaol except that they are the people of Krôn, and that they are fated to live and die in this heartless land. |
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