Great Elemental Fulmination

The Great Elemental Fulmination was an accidental explosion of elemental crystals on the realm of Saslolu in the Daren Hegemony in 493. A calamity of nearly unprecedented scale, the Fulmination was responsible for the deaths of over 30 million people.

Background

Saslolu was a large, populous realm that had been part of the Daren Hegemony for over a hundred years. It was located on a major thoroughfare near the Heshian Syndicate, making it a strategically important realm. The two empires were in a state of heightened tensions at the time which were threatening to break into all out war. In preparation for potential hostilities, the Hegemony began stockpiling military resources on Saslolu, including a large reserve of elemental crystals.
The crystals were stored in a warehouse near the docking spire of the Ryrċǣrcliumð military base. The crystals were kept in wooden crates, some stacked as much as five crates high. It was standard procedure to keep crystals of different types separated from each other, but apparently these procedures had grown lax over the previous several months.

Incident

Shortly after sunrise on the 14th of Iunido, 493 PC, a moderately sized earthquake occurred. Earthquakes had been known in the area of Ryrċǣrcliumð historically, but none had been reported in over a quarter of a century. The initial earthquake caused some damage to several buildings on the base, including to the docking spire, where several of the berths were damaged. A series of aftershocks struck over the next 6 hours. According to surviving records, the main repair efforts were focused on the damaged berths, as several were needed to house soraships.
A few seconds after the third aftershock, the elemental crystals exploded. In less than a second, the entire base, surrounding city, and much of the surrounding area was consumed in an explosion over 100 km wide. Several soraships which were heading to the docking spire to land were destroyed, while several near the top of the realm's air envelope suffered damage. The explosion caused tremors that could be felt across the entire realm, up to 10000 km away, while the shockwave and falling debris caused extensive damage up to 2000 km away. It is estimated nearly half of the deaths, close to 15 million, were caused by the initial blast.

Aftermath

The explosion caused tsunamis up to 100 m high, which over the following hours hit many coastal towns. Numerous fires were caused by falling debris, many of which raged for weeks before they burned themselves out, destroying forests and farmlands. The tremors destroyed or extensively damaged numerous buildings and opened fissures in the ground. Many of the damaged buildings collapsed over the following weeks as well. These incidents caused an estimated 10 million additional deaths.
The destruction of so much farmland caused widespread food shortages for months before relief efforts could deliver sufficient supplies. Combined with insufficient medical supplies and clerical presence, another 5 million people are counted to have been indirectly killed by the effects of the explosion.
Initial reports from the realm were confused and inconsistent. Arcane messages were quickly transmitted from mages to military command. At first, it was believed the explosion was a preemptive attack by the Heshian Syndicate and Hegemony leadership ordered a counterattack. The response was delayed, however, due to Saslolu being the central military complex in the region. Reinforcements took days to arrive, at which point a better understanding of the incident had been gained, after which the Hegemony stood down.
Relief efforts began quickly, with much of the assistance coming from the Syndicate itself. Merchants, traders, and haulers flying under the Syndicate's credentials were among the first on the scene, delivering food, medical supplies, healers, and mages at surviving docking spires. It is thought without this assistance, between 10 and 30 million more people would have died due to untreated injuries, fires, or famine. This swift show of solidarity from the Syndicate caused a massive reduction in tensions between the two empires, with many speculating that it ultimately prevented a war.
The Hegemony commissioned several of its forensic mages to investigate the explosion. They released their initial findings on Reiho 2nd, reporting that the explosion was likely caused by an explosion of elemental crystals. A final report was issued on the 8th of Reiddyd, 494 PC, placing the blame on the failure of the base to follow proper safety procedures with its elemental crystals. While evidence of the exact trigger for the explosion was obliterated in the explosion, they theorized that one crate of crystals fell on another crate of crystals from an opposite element, causing the crystals to smash into each other which combined into antielements. This created a chain reaction, causing the other crystals to release their elemental energy in one single moment.