The End - A discussion on apocalypses, death and destruction in Levis

For the nature loving people of Levis, when humans introduced the people of Natare to the ideas of utopias and apocalyses in Tyrian media, the foliads were not unfamiliar, per se, but the concepts were a bit of a stretch. You see Levis was more familiar with the idea of an epoc-calamity - the ultimate destruction of the natural order.

Examples of these epoc-calamities include 'man made' firestorms, or a fungal outbreak from a labratory.

The Starlight Quarry Incident

One such Epoc-Calamity was the collapse of the Starlight Quarry. Toxic gas was released into the atmosphere after the collapse that killed countless Foliad. The toxic gas - called crimson mist, was highly combustable - smelling of hot metal, ozone and something alien, causing panic among the mine workers as they struggled to flee. It engulfed much of the area, reducing visibility and causing immediate respiratory distress. The resulting firestorm consumed everything in the area, destroying the settlement around the mine, and killing Human and foliad alike, leaving critical burns on anyone lucky to survive.

The crimson mist spread into the woods, tainting a sizeable section of the Forbidden Forest, this would take centuries to heal, but never the same way - this became the Gnarled Grove.

Starlight Rot

When a fungal rot began to exhibit itself in the bio-photovolatic cells that power Natare, leading to a city blackout, the people of Natare knew fear. Invasive and with a distinctive crimson coloration, this fungus is named after the Mine and the Incident, and the fact that the stories of the crimson mist exist to this day. Quickly spreading, it has a spore based method of reproduction, and a maturation cycle in the level of days. Symptoms are a discoloration of the naturally vibrant photovoltaic cells, causing the microorganisms to release toxic compounds that feed the fungus and kill the cell. Foliad scientists have developed targetted treatments and strict quarantine procedures, but history remembers the series of Blackouts that heralded the first few waves of Starlight Rot.

Botanical necromancers

While frowned upon as a bending of the natural order of things, a school of study that formed from the first Starlight Rot incident was the Botanical Necromancer. Developing both the science to revitalise the bio-domes within dying cells, and the magic to reverse the process to limited effects. Care is needed in use of necromancy, lest the organisms become undead - entities capable of spreading a different decay like disease. While the necromancers are cautiously accepted, they are generally viewed with mistrust, lest they use their magics to manipulate the natural order rather than help it. Fears include personal gain, development of setient plant creatures, or the changing of existing ecosystems to more gentrified and acceptable habitats.

Extinction

Horror hit all Foliad who hear the stories from Tyr of the existance of the concept of extinction. The idea that a whole species could have its habitat affected so much that it or its ancestors would cease to exist is so gut wrenchingly wrong that it builds a shock like dread. Foliads view the family tree/evolution of a type of animal as being essentially the same animal, and as such when a family of creature evolves into fitting a changing setting this is the natural way of things - but that a species would just die out... indicates an imbalance in the world that Levis has not seen.