💾 Archived View for vath.click › lore › codex › seventh-calamity.gmi captured on 2024-05-26 at 15:01:28. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The Seventh Umbral Calamity

The history of Eorzea is marked by a repeated cycle of devastation (Umbral Eras) and prosperity (Astral Eras). The first six Astral Eras were each preceded by a calamity corresponding to one of the six elements. Following on from the Calamity of Wind, which ushered in the First Astral Era, the Calamity of Lightning brought destructive thunderstorms, the Calamity of Fire withering droughts, the Calamity of Earth devastating earthquakes, the Calamity of Ice an endless winter, and the Calamity of Water a lands-consuming deluge.

With all the elements accounted for, many scholars convinced themselves that there could not be another calamity — that the Sixth Astral Era would last indefinitely. Alas, the Seventh Umbral Calamity would indeed befall the land, triggered when the Garlean legatus Nael van Darnus saw the Meteor project to fruition. Dalamud, Hydaelyn's lesser moon, was plucked from the heavens, and upon its arrival above central Eorzea, it split apart to reveal the elder primal Bahamut, who, in a fit of inchoate anger, laid waste to anything and everything around him. However, owing to the countermeasure enacted by the Archon Louisoix, the realm was spared complete annihilation, and after the ashes had settled, underwent a remarkable rebirth.

Five years on from that fateful day, the forces of the Eorzean Alliance succeeded in defeating Legatus Gaius van Baelsar and his occupying XIVth Imperial Legion. Though other threats still remained, this victory marked a turning point in the fortunes of the realm, and so it was proclaimed that, by the light of the Crystal, the Seventh Astral Era had come, and the realm was at last truly reborn.