The Carnolbe Incident

Part of History of Otheia
In the year 170, the engineer Haldon Breck created one of his famed devices, known posthumously as a Breck Device, in commission for the city of Carnolbe. The Device, following a test overseen by the master engineer, was then set away into a tower. 
Four decades after Breck’s death, Carnolbe found itself at war with the Augkara. The Augkarate’s army approached, and the city’s governor, Lord Hel Ardil, fearing the mages of the force, ordered the device to be restarted for the first time since its creation. A large fire was lit inside the tower, and the Breck Device was activated.
Unfortunately for the citizens of Carnolbe, Breck has died many years ago, and they only had his notes to use. However, despite leaving copious notes on the operation of the device, the energy leading to the weapon was mismanaged, and the device began to radiate far more heat than it was absorbing. The device, having reached a state of criticality, could not be deactivated, and subsequently blasted the tower, and the city, with successive waves of energy, killing all forms of life. The land about the city, for 20 Miles, was reduced to fields of biological ash. Nothing grows in Carnolbe to this day, and it is considered a cursed site.
The Carnolbe incident serves as a warning to all who think to use Breck Devices lightly. Though some dozen or so other examples exist, few are ever tested, lest they unleash the same fate upon the unwitting. 
Category:History of Otheia