Post by plaustrumimperialist on Aug 11, 2016 17:04:25 GMT -5
In order to understand the weight of this event, something must first be understood about ley lines.
Ley lines are the only places in Terrimeria (Noliterre+Imeria) where magic can occur. This is because ley lines can create an immense amount of energy, and magic is simply the channelling of this energy into physical forms and powers. Thus, magic is incredibly powerful where ley lines occur, but impossible without ley lines.
Ley lines flow like electrical circuits, with magical energy flowing from one end to the other, looping back around and continuing the cycle. When ley lines cross, the amount of magical energy flowing into the intersection is equal to the amount of the magical energy flowing out of the intersection. These hubs of electrical energy generally have an immense amount of resistance in order to cope with the immense amount of power going through (at the very least, thousands of terawatts, or Noli-terawatts! Yeah, I know, sue me.) These ley-hubs try a wide variety of tactics in order to cope with this, somewhat like living creatures. One tactic is to shift the power to another source or living being, such as was the case with the Dark Lord or Harmony. This gives people like them immense amounts of power and takes away a lot of the stress of the ley-hubs. Another tactic is to duplicate itself, creating another route for magical energy to flow while still maintaining the proper energy flow. Whatever the cause, ley-hubs have always found a way to cope with the large amounts of energy flowing through them, no matter how much energy flowed through.
In the Fourth Age, however, it was discovered that ley-hubs could be overloaded.
See, just like electrical circuits, if you connect the circuit to too many appliances, the voltage in the circuit increases. Thus, the more magic you use, the more ley lines increase. During the Vodranty Wars of the Fourth Age, the Neo-Archadians decided that they needed immense amounts of energy in order to bring down the walls of the Vodranty city-state. Massive amounts of artillery were established that used large amounts of raw magic to fire at the enemy. This worked but put immense stress on the circuitry.
In electrical circuits, when this happens, there are fuses: pieces of circuits that, when too much energy is used, pop and break the circuit. That way, nothing truly important is damaged, and one could control where and how a circuit could be overloaded. Think of a fuse as a "choke-point" for the circuit. Ley lines have no fuses, though; they just break.
The first break happened in the Noliterre Archipelago, causing an immense explosion of magical energy that took out the nation's capital. The following islands fell into anarchy, ripe for the picking by Hyrenese and Mlizan Confederate colonists. More importantly, however, it separated the Hyrenese circuit from the Orctovan circuit, allowing Hyren to work and use magic completely independent from Orctovan affairs. This was good for Harmonists, not so much for Orctovans. Neo-Archadia had some of the most robust circuitry in existence, however, so business ran as usual. The demand for magic kept increasing, and many even denied that the explosion ever happened. Another robust set of ley lines was in the Zjau-yl Sovereignty, where the Institute of Magic and magical transportation put a reasonable amount of stress on the ley lines. This caused the explosion in West Central Orctova (TheBloopKing), capsizing the Republic of Aracroft there.
In reaction to the Neo-Archadian assault on Vodranty, Neo-Camvonia entered the war on Vodranty's side via the Zjau-yl Sovereignty and Upper Mliza declared war on Neo-Archadia. This caused Neo-Archadia to double its efforts to make magic-based weaponry in order to fight the two military superpowers that were at her doorstep. This put an immense amount of stress on the Orctovan circuit; its next weakest point, in Western Bolkov, exploded, killing the Grand Duke of Bolkov and leaving the nation in anarchy.
Through all this time, octillions of watts were flowing through the "master-hub," the intersection of six ley-lines in Neo-Archadia where the Dark Lord was born. No one knows how it happened (although the faintest tap on the master-hub by a child could have probably set it off), but the resistor hub broke, causing an explosion throughout Neo-Archadia that was awesome to behold and could be felt in Imeria. A Port of New Bren-so colonist recalled that "I felt a rumble in the ground, and, for some reason I couldn't explain, my heart sank to see the loss of something so beautiful be lost forever. I never knew what that something was, and perhaps it is best I don't think about it." In the same nation, an Ugo-yt citizen recalled watching the scene from afar: "At first, there was a beautiful light, like a second star about to set on the horizon. Then I heard a great rumbling, and my first instinct was to cling to a rock. It was late in the evening, but the rock still scalded my hand; I knew not why. Despite my heavy grip, I was flung into the air, and, surely by the grace of some higher being watching me, I was let safely down. For days, I was wrought with agony, and I could not leave my bed."
The Zjau-yl Sovereignty reported several thousand dead from the incident, but, miraculously, very little damage to the palace or any major Zjau-yl buildings. The number of deaths in Neo-Archadia were without number; with the threat of Neo-Camvonian and Mlizan Confederate forces closing in on their borders, the Neo-Archadians had no choice but to surrender to the now-superior factions.
Ley lines are the only places in Terrimeria (Noliterre+Imeria) where magic can occur. This is because ley lines can create an immense amount of energy, and magic is simply the channelling of this energy into physical forms and powers. Thus, magic is incredibly powerful where ley lines occur, but impossible without ley lines.
Ley lines flow like electrical circuits, with magical energy flowing from one end to the other, looping back around and continuing the cycle. When ley lines cross, the amount of magical energy flowing into the intersection is equal to the amount of the magical energy flowing out of the intersection. These hubs of electrical energy generally have an immense amount of resistance in order to cope with the immense amount of power going through (at the very least, thousands of terawatts, or Noli-terawatts! Yeah, I know, sue me.) These ley-hubs try a wide variety of tactics in order to cope with this, somewhat like living creatures. One tactic is to shift the power to another source or living being, such as was the case with the Dark Lord or Harmony. This gives people like them immense amounts of power and takes away a lot of the stress of the ley-hubs. Another tactic is to duplicate itself, creating another route for magical energy to flow while still maintaining the proper energy flow. Whatever the cause, ley-hubs have always found a way to cope with the large amounts of energy flowing through them, no matter how much energy flowed through.
In the Fourth Age, however, it was discovered that ley-hubs could be overloaded.
See, just like electrical circuits, if you connect the circuit to too many appliances, the voltage in the circuit increases. Thus, the more magic you use, the more ley lines increase. During the Vodranty Wars of the Fourth Age, the Neo-Archadians decided that they needed immense amounts of energy in order to bring down the walls of the Vodranty city-state. Massive amounts of artillery were established that used large amounts of raw magic to fire at the enemy. This worked but put immense stress on the circuitry.
In electrical circuits, when this happens, there are fuses: pieces of circuits that, when too much energy is used, pop and break the circuit. That way, nothing truly important is damaged, and one could control where and how a circuit could be overloaded. Think of a fuse as a "choke-point" for the circuit. Ley lines have no fuses, though; they just break.
The first break happened in the Noliterre Archipelago, causing an immense explosion of magical energy that took out the nation's capital. The following islands fell into anarchy, ripe for the picking by Hyrenese and Mlizan Confederate colonists. More importantly, however, it separated the Hyrenese circuit from the Orctovan circuit, allowing Hyren to work and use magic completely independent from Orctovan affairs. This was good for Harmonists, not so much for Orctovans. Neo-Archadia had some of the most robust circuitry in existence, however, so business ran as usual. The demand for magic kept increasing, and many even denied that the explosion ever happened. Another robust set of ley lines was in the Zjau-yl Sovereignty, where the Institute of Magic and magical transportation put a reasonable amount of stress on the ley lines. This caused the explosion in West Central Orctova (TheBloopKing), capsizing the Republic of Aracroft there.
In reaction to the Neo-Archadian assault on Vodranty, Neo-Camvonia entered the war on Vodranty's side via the Zjau-yl Sovereignty and Upper Mliza declared war on Neo-Archadia. This caused Neo-Archadia to double its efforts to make magic-based weaponry in order to fight the two military superpowers that were at her doorstep. This put an immense amount of stress on the Orctovan circuit; its next weakest point, in Western Bolkov, exploded, killing the Grand Duke of Bolkov and leaving the nation in anarchy.
Through all this time, octillions of watts were flowing through the "master-hub," the intersection of six ley-lines in Neo-Archadia where the Dark Lord was born. No one knows how it happened (although the faintest tap on the master-hub by a child could have probably set it off), but the resistor hub broke, causing an explosion throughout Neo-Archadia that was awesome to behold and could be felt in Imeria. A Port of New Bren-so colonist recalled that "I felt a rumble in the ground, and, for some reason I couldn't explain, my heart sank to see the loss of something so beautiful be lost forever. I never knew what that something was, and perhaps it is best I don't think about it." In the same nation, an Ugo-yt citizen recalled watching the scene from afar: "At first, there was a beautiful light, like a second star about to set on the horizon. Then I heard a great rumbling, and my first instinct was to cling to a rock. It was late in the evening, but the rock still scalded my hand; I knew not why. Despite my heavy grip, I was flung into the air, and, surely by the grace of some higher being watching me, I was let safely down. For days, I was wrought with agony, and I could not leave my bed."
The Zjau-yl Sovereignty reported several thousand dead from the incident, but, miraculously, very little damage to the palace or any major Zjau-yl buildings. The number of deaths in Neo-Archadia were without number; with the threat of Neo-Camvonian and Mlizan Confederate forces closing in on their borders, the Neo-Archadians had no choice but to surrender to the now-superior factions.