The Solstice of Shadows
"'Mr. Dal said that the world once had nearly a whole billion people in it mommy, is that true?' Kisel looked at her mother with her big, innocent, green eyes. Ala fell silent for a moment before speaking up, 'That's right, there once really were a billion people. My grandmother always told me that you couldn't shake a stick without encountering another person even in the middle of Padalor knows where back then, but that changed when the bad people came and sent them all away.' Ala was hoping that would be enough to sate the curiosity of Kisel, but was hit with yet another hard question as Kisel piped up, 'Where did the bad people send them?' Ala didn't know how to properly respond, so she chose not to, 'I'll tell you when you're older,' she whispered mournfully."The solstice of shadows is the day that Shraenire was summoned out of the nine hells by his followers and split the core of the world apart, causing the land to be cut apart into continents which were sent into the sky. Clouds of shadow covered the sky as the moon passed over the sun on the winter solstice of 5531. Hundreds of monsters made of shadow rose up from the bones of the dead and committed genocide on all the non-followers. Sixteen disciples of the gods banded together to create a tiny plane separate from the rest. They opened a gateway a half mile in diameter and pushed Shraenire through to the tiny realm they created, known as The singularity.
-Kisel and Ala in "The Shadow of the Solstice," by Omla Hesdar
Summary
For months leading up to the solstice mass killings and sacrifices had been committed by The shadow legion in order to help Shraenire escape from whatever place he was stuck in. (Which happened to be the nine hells after he killed Asmodeus) At midnight, hours before the solstice started, a plague known as The Creeping Shadow was planted in the largest city on all of Laeriss. Millions died, enough people that out of the destruction and carnage, Shraenire rose from the ground with a boom that echoed throughout the world. The sky filled with black clouds on the winter solstice as an eclipse began, thousands of shadow monsters rose out of the bones of long dead creatures to kill all else than The shadow legion. Shraenire split Laeriss into pieces by plunging his blade into The World Core (Energy field) and the new continents rose high into the sky. Sixteen disciples of the gods sealed him away in a prison of a tiny demi-plane called The singularity ending the solstice and leaving Laeriss in chaos. As the continents continued to rise into the sky, billions of tons of metal, earth, dirt, and lava fell into the core and were torn apart, then shot back into the atmosphere. After the ensuing seven year winter, exasperated even more by the debris still floating around from the meteor which killed the tarrasque, by a miracle of the gods, the sky cleared as two rings and a new moon began orbiting Laeriss. This was the work of Mourl, who adopted the new rings and moon of Laeriss. (Which would later be named Maerel) A huge amount of the Arcane flux trapped within The World Core was released as well, completely changing the climate of Laeriss in addition to the huge changes already caused by the oceans being mostly drained and then shot into the atmosphere by the core. Giant freshwater lakes were created during the great time of floods while all the salt from the oceans of Laeriss rained down in dangerous, frozen chunks. The already humid and tropical Noragdus became even more rainy as the arcane flux around it trapped clouds over the land. The flux blocked rain clouds from reaching Zaquii, making even drier than it already was. One of the main effects of the solstice, was the loss of most of the worlds spell casters. Three different feats of epic magic were done on one day, all for stopping Shraenire and The shadow legion. Almost all of the worlds powerful spell casters died and wizards, clerics, druids, and even bards became extra rare. The world was in complete and utter disarray for almost a century before things started to calm down. Yet still the most devastating impact of the Solstice, which still continues to effect all the nations of the world now, is the annihilation of all the main Laeran oceans as multiple ocean nations were literally obliterated in an instant. Hundreds of millions of people died before they even had time to process what was happening as the ground disintegrated below them and they were torn apart by the core.
Historical Basis
The solstice happened two-hundred years ago, while many were too busy trying to not die to write anything down, many scholars wrote in detail the exact events. The core still remains in pieces and the Blade of Shreynire remains visible far in the horizon from the very tip of Rena.
Spread
The solstice's existence is very common knowledge, the extent of knowledge about what transpired that day varies between people but almost everybody has a basic idea of what happened.
Variations & Mutation
Most people do not know what happened outside of the region which they live in, misinformation is spread about the events of the other continents as most people are only concerned with what happened on their respective continent.
Cultural Reception
The solstice is perceived by almost all cultures to be the most important event to ever happen on Laeriss, it is taught in schools, by parents, in books. People point to the solstice as a warning not to worship evil deities.
In Literature
There are hundreds of writings about the solstice, many books, poems, story's, documents, and other things have been written about every known detail of the event.
In Art
There are also many artworks depicting the solstice created by people who were there and people using descriptions of the event.
Date of First Recording
5531
Date of Setting
5531
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Related People
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