The Devastation

The Devastation is one of many names given to the series of natural and magical disasters that wracked Ailar from approximately 50 to 0 FE. During this time, many lands were destroyed by fires, floods, earthquakes, and stranger phenomena, and new lands were created by accelerated tectonic shifts. Over half of the population of Ailar was killed in the chaos, and many of the survivors were permanently displaced.
Many civilizations were destroyed during the Devastation. The most notable casualty was the Sarathi Empire, which was entirely wiped out during the period of the Devastation. While many Sarathi ruins remain across Ailar, there are no known Sarathi survivors.

Summary

The exact date the Devastation began is subject to some debate. Based on the few records that remain from that time, most scholars place the beginning of the devastation at 52 FE, when a tidal wave destroyed half of the free city-state of Guilder. The following decade saw increasingly violent seismic events. In 43 FE, volcanoes and seismic upheavals led to the formation of new mountains on the continent of Exedilica. This changed the ecosystem, turning the southern reaches of the continent in a desert and the northern lands into fertile lowlands. Seismic activity also created tidal waves that irreparably damaged many coastal towns and cities. In 41 FE, the Sarathi city of Gihoni was completely destroyed by a massive tidal wave, making it the first Sarathi city to fall during the Devastation. In 38 FE, massive earthquakes caused the continent of Lan to sink, forming the Sea of Lan and the islands now known as Lanwa and Eskerwa.
Around the same time as the earthquakes, unusual weather patterns began appearing across Ailar, disrupting everything from growing seasons to trade routes. By 40 FE hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, and other dangerous weather became common in many places throughout the world, while other regions were struck by extreme heat and drought. Contemporaneous accounts of the Devastation also refer to increased tidal activities and changes to ocean currents, making travel by water dangerous. Many smaller settlements were destroyed by natural disasters or abandoned due to changing climate.
The second decade of the Devastation was marked by the widespread occurrence of supernatural phenomena in addition to continuing natural disasters. Records from this time describe magical disasters such as rains of fire, acid, stone, and glass; unexplained violence by normal animals; and seemingly spontaneous curses that affected anything from a single person to an entire nation. These effects happened primarily, although not exclusively, in lands controlled by the Sarathi Empire. Additionally, arcane magic became unstable and unpredictable around this time, a phenomenon dubbed wild magic. This was particularly devastating to the Sarathi, as their empire was largely built on the use of advanced magic.
Details about the middle and late Devastation are exceedingly sparse, as most civilizations were by this point suffering enormously. However, one consistent element of reports from this time is the emergence of latent psionic abilities in the population. Even more interesting, this phenomenon seems to have occurred worldwide. Sudden developments in psionic ability were sometimes said to be preceded by outbreaks of mass psychosis, hallucination, or amnesia. However, whether these were truly correlated or simply a natural byproduct of the extreme environment has yet to be established.
The Devastation is thought to have peaked around 20 BFE. By this time, natural and supernatural disasters were the norm throughout Ailar. Almost no first hand accounts have survived from this time. The few that have are often disjoined and refer to unlike phenomena such as the sun going dark for days at a time. Over the course of the next two decades, the prevalence of disasters slowly decreased until, around 1 NE, the Devastation came to an end. The final toll saw two-thirds of the world population dead, half of the survivors permanently displaced, and innumerable settles, cultures, and histories lost forever.

Historical Basis

There is no doubt that The Devastation actually occurred; the primary question is what caused it. Many theories exist, from divine wrath to rampant misuse of arcane magic. However, records retrieved by a group of adventurers exploring the Orichalcum Tower of the Sciences prove that The Devastation was caused, at least in part, by the Sarathi Empire as part of their war against the Ones Below. In particular, a memory orb shows that the Sarathi intentionally sank the continent of Lan to destroy the Mind Flayers infesting it. Whether the rest of The Devastation was caused by the Sarathi, the Ones Below, or some other force is still unclear.

Variations & Mutation

Adherents of the Church of the Redemption refer to the Devastation as the Time of Wrath. According to the Church's religious precepts, the Time of Wrath was caused by the deity Orat as divine punishment for worldly excesses. However, Orat was also responsible for ending the Time of Wrath, allowing mortals an opportunity to redeem themselves.

Date of Setting

52 FE to 0 FE