Targotian Cataclysm

Written by Grimbjorn

The Targotian Cataclysm was a massive volcanic and tectonic upheaval which shattered the grassy highland plateaus that once existed between the modern continents of Abhagan and Khelegan, lasting for some seven months. It coincided with the beginning of The Godswar, and together they formed the foundational events that shaped Gæðí as it exists today.

This event was named for the Targotian peoples whom it most directly impacted, and is known by other names in various other affected regions, such as "The Wrath" in Ekkac and "The Great Breaking" among the Akeaomans.

The True Nature of the Targotian Cataclysm

Though the Cataclysm was understood by those who experienced it to be a recurring series of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions of unprecedented severity and duration, among the distant Wylden (via their close association with the gods of Creation) and Aisling (due to their affiliation with the Sun Trees), it became known that the event was in fact the eruption of a millennium worth of pent up rage on the part of Kjás the Unmaker, dark god of the Únðárín, and thus heralded the onset of The Godswar.

Notable results of the Targotian Cataclysm:

• much of the city-state of Akaea is devastated by quakes and tsunamis; the Akaean port of Parlorom is abandoned and the cities of Kenara and Alamar are completely destroyed, the latter lost beneath the Akeaoman Sea

• on the east coast of Khelegan, the already ancient cities of Ekk and Nar are severely damaged by quakes; some of their oldest and most beautiful temples are left in ruins

• the Targotian peoples are scattered as they flee the breaking land and encroaching sea; the city of Targos suffers hideous damage, but survives

• the continents of Abhagan and Khelegan are separated by all but a tiny isthmus, itself broken by a narrow strait

• a new, massive mountain range is raised along the northwestern interior of Khelegan, causing the center of the continent to rapidly change into the present-day Great Khelegaian Desert.