CY 5000 (4919-5000) Bale Times marked by Bale Fire and The Bale Wall
These dark times dubbed “Bale Times” by sages and scribes, which nearly brought about the end of the burgeoning post dominion empires in the west culminated in a cataclysmic event called The Sundering – a recorded event from in CY 5000 in the Steel Realms. It is the culmination of events starting in 4919, when Sun Stealer brought forth the Bale Fire and began a war in the south which would devastate the whole southland empire and coastlands of Ustermaya. All told it is estimated that millions of lives perished in the sacrifice to stop the gods of darkness from consuming the lands of light.
The horde of demons and many tens of thousands of other creatures (mostly loyal citizens of House Horunz – The Green Watchers of Synedcia) defending against them were engulfed in an instant.
The Decimation of the Synedcian and Yvaldeysean (Sea-King) Empire: In order to stop the horde of rampaging demons, the Cosheus Abyssal was opened, along the lines of the great southern cities of House Horunz of Synedcia – The Green Watchers. All the settlements of the Sea Kings along the western coast were brought to ruin – cities either crumbled, were rendered defenseless. It would take hundreds of years before the small Kingdom of Gwinn was even declared from the ashes of the empire.
Dragons in Bale Times: The dragons of the Dragon Caves are roused from their dream of ages and for a hundred years they take to the skies, raining fire and destroying settlements in their anger. They focus on the capital cities of the kingdoms and fiefs of men, elves, and Ducateon, wreaking havoc in culture, communication, commerce, and generally exacting a high toll on the lands of light AND darkness (though little is know what happened in the Fallen East at this time). Alliances fell, borders shifted and wars were all to common as the High King was unable to bring any semblance of order. Revolt and uprisings were common.
The Merchant City Ideal: What was to become The Merchant Cities managed to make many gains, establishing new settlements and making new territorial claims and expanding through alliances. The weakness of their neighbors was the genesis for their power, and to the present some incorporate a dragon as a symbol of their house or clan as an acknowledgement to the havoc wrought by them against their former masters of the Sea-Kings.
Unknown in Many Places: In many places across The West, the anniversary is marked with ceremony of some sort – festivals in some places, a dirge in others. Only in the far south, beyond the Nakrian Empire, is the event virtually unnoticed and unrecorded. The Impli peninsula suffered a massive tsunami, but little else is remembered by dwellers there.
The Sundering was the end of 2 empires, and the start of the circumstances which saw the rise of many new powers. It also broke the power of the Dark Lords, and bore witness to the extent that their enemies would go in order to stop them. It gave rise to a more cautious Orrish presence, and even allowed for schisms within the Dark Church. Eventually, the smaller powers which arose from the remnants were easier for the High King to rebuild the idea of The West with – there was far less challenge to the office in the long term.
It is thought the magics that fueled the stopping of the Bale Times (The Sundering) drew upon the power of a God Storm to rival that which was present in The Crossing (The Coming of The Blood of Saemon).