The Breaking

So, I guess it is finally time to discuss the actual events of the breaking.

This also gives name to what the deities become: Echo gods. Shades of the former power they once wielded, and desperate to regain their former glory.


After Kile falls, the altars are destroyed and the King of Zynos declares himself God-king, the weakened and wounded gods put aside all previous differences, and decide that mortals need to be punished; both the faithless for turning from them, and the faithful for failing them.

First, Tavost imbued all other deities with his power of justice and retribution, filling them with righteous fury. Tavost became the first Echo god, sacrificing himself in the name of the justice he felt the world deserved.

As a test, Vanur focused his will on the twin mountains in the Hordelands known as the Fangs. With divine fury, he shears the top off the two mountains, and throws the rubble high and allows it to land indiscriminately. Few mortals outside the monstrous and savage races of the Hordelands are aware this happens.

Seeing his success, many deities imbue some portion of their strength in Vanur, making him the strongest, but not sole, instrument of their vengeance. In order, Vanur:

• Creates a tsunami of immense power and strikes down the nation of Sytheria. the wave recedes, leaving broken lands that form into islands and swampy bayous over the years. Of the survivors, some slowly regress to lizardfolk, but true ophiduans further inland survive.
• Gouges the very earth of Zynos, clearing the mountains and great gorge from the northern sea to the inner crystal lake, shattering Zynos' strength and slaughtering millions. Salt water rushes to the fresh water of the crystal lake, squickly poisoning the waters.
• Cracks the large stone mesa in the heart of Astorina that holds estates for the most powerful families.
• Forms a powerful cyclone off the coast of Astorina that still exists several centuries later, battering and reforming the coast, and cutting the Isle of Dreams off from the mainland.
• Collapses the hive city of the Dromite Hive mind.
• Pulls forth a mighty volcano from the sea bed off the south western coast of Northire.

Dharaka has her vengeance next, and Curses the dwarves, untouched by the war, but never true worshippers. The Hungering strikes, turning many into ravenous undead, and the curse can pass from a simple bite. The dwarves, unprepared, at first try to fight against their own people, but the tide turns so quickly that less than 1 in 5 dwarves finally escapes their walled nation as refugees to the north and south. The Dwarven Diaspora begins.

Dharaka also curses the lands of Astorina with a hideous rotting curse. Entire villages are wiped out in days, and cities become ghostly vestiges of themselves as funery pyres burn nigh and day to try to halt the spread of the Rotting.

Reytare weakens foundation stones around the world, and great buildings and palaces begin to topple under their own weight. He also releases many automatons to their own free will and imbues them with murderous rage.

Harichtlan, who was worshipped solely in his sun aspect in Kerichticlan, cloaks most of the nation in eternal night by the formation of a new small moon. The other moon he knocks off it's orbit, making tides unpredictable. The sun beats hotter in summer now and colder in winter, making seasons harsher.

 Garneae and Ithiriae work in concert. Crops and livestock begin to perish, and their fertility is much reduced, whereas the wilds are imbued with fecundity. Many of the most dangerous beasts are gifted with dangerous mutations, as are the most innocuous of creatures.

Martov, with her iron sword, takes the fallen armour and weapons of the ages and imbues them with power and rage, sending them out on slaughtering rampages against the world.

Sularin, in a strange twist, made himself mortal, and went down to the world and is never heard of again.

Uthirian, driven made with loss and rage, commits suicide, causing arcane magic to go wild and to cause insanity amongst all the arcane practitioners of the world. Powerful Ether storms rip across northire, his pain and rage infecting some of his remaining followers, changing them as their minds break.

Last of all the gods, Nishtia, who was mother to all others, looked down at the world and saw that through all the horror, the mortals were still fighting. She saw armies marching through Yole, and decided that it had to end. She pulled a stone from her glittering heaven, and with all her rage and pain, struck the earth with it, destroying Yole, and all that fought within its borders.


Thus, the world was broken.