Torvalla's Prophecy

Torvalla's Prophecy is an ancient prophecy predicting the end of civilization in the Sleeping Lands, swept away by unending war. While discounted by most upper class people, it tends to be circulated among the masses during any major war.

Summary

The prophecy is a dramatic account of the downfall of civilization in the Sleeping Lands. The most generic versions begin with a generalized description of how wars start: "Tensions will rise, neighbours look upon one another with jealous eyes." Sometimes, variations are written to match a concurrent war, describing, for example, the recent war between Kinilan and Chelestra, and the inciting incidents of that particular conflict.
It then progresses with dire warnings of war spreading throughout the lands, inexorably dragging the entire civilized war into an ever more ferocious war, eventually culminating in the destruction of the anchors that make the settled and unfortified lifestyle of the Sleeping Lands possible.
The ending is almost always a word for word quotation of the original prophecy: a terrifying depiction of a world torn asunder by ever more violent magical storms, all while those in power are too busy with their petty wars to notice the real threat.

Historical Basis

Archmagus Torvalla was a well respected scholar in the last few decades of the Ancoran Empire, and her prophecy was originally warning of what might come to pass, written within days of the destruction of the Prima Ancora, which precipitated the dissolution of the empire into the various post-Imperial kingdoms that now rule the Sleeping Lands. The original version is much more specific, identifying individual rulers who would turn on others and specific alliances that would drag others into the initial conflicts, which accurately predicted the first year of the civil wars that tore the old empire apart. The first deviations began to appear about 10 months into the war, and while the fighting grew fierce, Archmagus Torvalla underestimated the fear that the fall of the capital bred in the people of the empire. While a few leaders blinded by ambition did issue orders for their supporters to destroy anchors in enemy territory to expose them to the threat of magical storms, they quickly discovered that the loyalties of those who fought for them only ran so deep - several of these luminaries were deposed or outright assassinated within hours of issuing such an order.
Accurate copies of the full treatise of Torvalla's Prophecy exist to this day, and have been the subject of study by a number of scholars in the centuries since. There is no documentation to support the idea of Archmagus Torvalla having any remarkable capacity for divination, and she herself attested that the accuracy of her account of the first months of war was based on her understanding of the political structure of the empire and the martial strength various leaders could rely upon rather than any work of magic. She was, however, far less forthcoming regarding her methodology, which is the source of the debate: how could she so accurately predict who would side with who? Many of those drawn into the conflict by their alliances were being pulled into several different conflicts, but her account accurately described which alliances would be honoured when leaders were forced to choose one or another.
Meanwhile, the dire warnings have had a strong effect on political relationships between the kingdoms of the sleeping lands, despite loud public denials whenever versions of the prophecy grow popular among the common folk. While economic treaties of all kinds are very common, most rulers are extremely wary of formal guarantees of military support, for fear of setting up the sort of scenario described in the prophecy.

Date of First Recording

1 AE