Editing Catastrophe

The '''Catastrophe''' was an event that took place during the [[Battle of Alent]] in the [[Second Great War]] and ended the [[Third Age]]. As warriors from the [[Magicracy of Alent]], [[Crimson Coalition]], [[Northern Horde]] and [[Southern Horde]] clashed, their magical attacks, along with an unholy ritual performed by the [[Totenkopfs]] in the catacombs beneath Alent and Archmage [[Jemuel]] drawing power to cast a spell to wipe out the armies threatening his magicracy, caused a volatile change in the already transforming [[Beacon of Alent]] which led to a magical explosion that changed the world and ushered in the [[Fourth Age]].

==Effects of the Catastrophe==

What exactly transpired during the Catastrophe remains unknown to the [[Land of the Living]] because those who survived it at ground zero lost their memories of the last days of Alent after having miraculously survived what took the lives of thousands of others.

What is known, however, is what the Catastrophe caused other than mass amnesia:

The city of Alent was destroyed and left behind Crater Lake with an irradiated island that had a strange magical phenomenon known as the [[Anomaly]] in the surviving ruins of the once mighty City of Mages. A beam of magic still shoots into the sky from within the ruins.

The magical explosion caused a chain reaction that made both the [[Watcher in Darkness]] and the [[Essence in Light]] vanish along with their eldritch minions, the [[Starspawn]] and the [[Dweller]]s. It also caused the [[Blood Fever]], a disease fatal to elves, to vanish overnight, and no elves have shown symptoms of it since.

The [[Godslayer]] awoke, destroyed [[Myridia]] in its wake, and flew off to the unknown. With the casualties to the [[Grey Cult]]'s leadership in the destruction of their capital, the disappearances of High Prophet [[Xerathas d'Zarnagon]] and Captain [[Varalia Earthhaven]], and the apparent abandonment by the Godslayer, the cult fell apart, leaving Aison in a state of uncertainty and upheaval.

The power of [[demon]]s mysteriously diminished and made them fully mortal with a lifespan akin to [[elves]], forcing them to adapt to their weakened state and learn to coexist with the other races. The surviving demon leaders signed what became known as the [[Treaty of Andaria]] to hold an indefinite ceasefire between the four rival hordes so they could adapt to their changed circumstances.

The powers of both the [[Clergy of Cardia]] and the [[Clergy of Mardük]] greatly diminished, signalling a crisis of faith to any of the faithful who had believed in their gods' return. Some clerics joined other clergies or vanished, while the [[Church of the Golden Dawn]] rose from the ashes of the Clergy of Mardük after coming to terms with and joining forces with the [[Forgotten]] due to a revelation that removed the cloud from their minds although none can fully explain what caused this sudden change in them.

New, powerful and ferocious beasts of [[Shakkan]] appeared in the world since the release of the [[Hydra]] and began roaming the land, sea and skies. Their number included even many terrifying monsters from the [[Demon Realm]]. This effectively turned certain wildernesses in the world more dangerous to travel in than ever before as adventurers had to adapt to encounters with never before seen beasts with unknown, deadly abilities.

The [[undead]] known as the [[Wretched]] continued to expand their area of influence in former [[Remon]] before the kingdom's landmass fell apart and became known as the Plaguelands. Whether the undead survived the calamity or not is unknown, but what is known is that those still alive abandoned the Plaguelands on ships, leaving it to desolation.

The continents clashed more violently than in the [[Cataclysm]], causing some continents to join together while others split, some areas sank into the sea while entirely new landmasses rose from the depths in their stead.

In the brutal aftermath of it all, new kingdoms and autonomous city-states rose from the ashes of the fallen kingdoms. [[Libaterra]] became [[Andaria]], [[Celenia]], [[Goldshire]], [[Portiguara]], [[Tevinth]], [[Trinity Gask]], [[Valencia]], [[Zion]] and other small princedoms and city-states; the lands of [[Maar Sul (nation)|Maar Sul]] and [[Scundia]] survived but in a diminished state, and the fates of [[Aison]], [[Remon]] and [[Yamato]] remain unknown for now.

Thus began the [[Fourth Age]].

==See also==
*[[Anomaly]]
*[[Beacon of Alent]]
*[[World Map (Fourth Age)]]
[[Category:Events]]
[[Category:Fourth Age]]