Great Nether Earthquake

The **Great Nether Earthquake** (Netheriño: *Tremameré Grosse Netherño)* was an *equivalent* category 9.9 earthquake which struck the northern, western and central regions of the Nether, lasting over 20 minutes with aftershocks being recorded for upwards of 5 weeks after. It is the largest and widest ever recorded earthquake ever recorded, and caused massive shifts in the Nether's terrain, and permanently altering the position of several towns, cities, environmental features and ruins within the Nether.

Believed to have started somewhere in the Nether Sea to the southwest of Sheol, lava tsunamis believed to be the height of 50 meters were recorded, flooding several port towns and destroying many smaller towns across the central region of the Nether, completely devastating the Piglin civilization.

## Nether Equivalent Earthquake Scale

Due to being both closer to the center of the earth as well as being a series of caverns, the scale of Nether earthquakes is far more severe than those on the overworld, even with the same measurements. In response, an adjusted scale is used which reflects numbers to what their magnitude would be on the overworld. Using the same, straight scale, this earthquake would have an approximate magnitude of 3-4, as it was felt to be this level in the overworld.

## Earthquake

Although smaller earthquakes were recorded within the region for upwards of 4 months, the earthquake itself was completely unexpected, and no major Nether civilization was prepared for the caliber of the earthquake. Well descriptions vary due to imprecise time-keeping ability and the incongruity between timekeeping systems across the civilizations, the earthquake is estimated to have lasted between 20 and 23 minutes, with the first major aftershock lasting between 4 and 8. The series of nether faults and plate were reported to "have been lifted up, as if floating on the sea, and begun moving like boats". Many regions with harder, more cohesive layers of bedrock instead reported high soil liquefication. Heightened activity was also noted in several overworld volcanoes, one of which reporting eruption.

## Damages and Effects

### Immediate

The immediate effects of the earthquake were felt across the majority of the nether, with even southern and eastern regions of the nether feeling *Equivalent* high magnitude 7s. The dislodging of land in the epicenter of the earthquake would completely shift the geographic landscape of the region, and confound navigational efforts of the region for months. All maps were instantly invalidated, and much infrastructure, including the *Sheol-Spawn waypoints,* would be completely destroyed. Although long-term the Nether Sea's level was unaffected, the shift in landmasses also invalidated any previously-memorized sea routes, and nearly all land routes. *Sheol*, which was located near the epicenter of the earthquake, was built on a slab of hard bedrock which didn't fracture, but was sent adrift by the ensuing tsunami, landing in a Warped forest instead.

### Social & Cultural

#### Piglin

As a result of the earthquake, the Piglin civilization, a hunter-gatherer civilization which had begun developing small-scale agriculture, was completely destroyed, with the remaining piglins resuming to hunter-gathering. Nonetheless, the remaining piglins were also heavily affected, as their navigational system, relying on memorization of certain routes, would be thrown out of whack. The recovery of piglin society would take centuries, with some estimates postulating that over half of all piglins died unnaturally in response to the earthquake and its results.

#### Demonic

The majority of Demonic civilization, located in the south and east, was impacted socially rather than directly by the Earthquake. However, the rapidly forming central demonic civilization, the civilization with the most interaction with humanity and the overworld, was heavily damaged and forced to return southward and eastward, bringing in several decades of Demonic culture regressing and becoming isolationist. *The Abyss,* a regional powerhouse of a demon city, would see a large-scale refugee crisis of both piglins and other demons. Crop failures were also reported universally across Demon civilization.

#### Human/Overworlder

Well humans and other humanoid species primarily inhabited the surface, the Nether had become an important source of resources for much of Sabrim. Much of the infrastructure between the overworld and the nether had been destroyed, blunting production.

*Sheol*, as the premier human colony in the Nether, would be the overworlders most affected. The city's relocation would leave behind massive swathes of farmland, increasing the city's dependence on overworld agriculture, and would destroy the previously built-up trade routes the town used, isolating the town from its trade infrastructure. The town would also lose their Piglin trade, the devastated tribes not having anything to offer. The town's staple Crimson logging was also almost completely lost, the reason why the newer regions of the city are increasingly blue.

Many weeks later, the Kairuus Volcano would erupt, spewing a great cloud of ash across the surrounding regions, and dousing the island in lava. This event is theorized by experts to have been an after-effect of the earthquake