Records: Starfall: Rain of Fire

## The Interim

After the Battle of Moon's Shadow, humankind had been largely put in their place. Not really a problem for the rank-and-file peasant, but for nobility and royalty beyond the reach of the Commonwealth, it was the kind of mortal realization that unbalanced people who thought they had the universe all figured out.
While the nature of the *Incidence of Incidents* started to change, the activity of the angels seemed to drop to nothing. In the Battle, according to the Order or Merlin, the factions had largely destroyed each other. While that meant a temporary respite *from them*, they had no idea what that meant in the bigger picture.

### The Approach of the Stars

Two years, nine months after the Battle, the Order of Merlin started to learn what that meant (in the bigger picture). Their scrying of the heavens, based on advice of the Angels, detected *things* incoming at speeds that were incomprehensibly fast. While the inner circle of the Order threw around words like "relativistic," nobody else knew what that meant – and the Order wasn't bothering to explain it.
What they did explain was that the world had about six days to prepare for *The End*.
By the third day, there were new points of light in the sky. First dozens, then hundreds, then the glowing blue points outnumered the stars themselves. Any one of those growing stars would end the earth – *and there were thousands*.
They were mostly coming from one orientation within the sky, but were spread out over day and a half. These were the means and measures of the Archangels, and they meant to be sure.
Was the terror of knowing worse than the terror of living in the growing light of a thousand new stars?

### The Crystal Dome

There was an effort by the Order of Merlin to fight this onrush of stars, but nobody knew if it was going to work. Most simply assumed this was the end and went out to watch the approach of the end of all things. The first of the flashes were at the edge of the moon, blinding bright white flashes – but the moon was still in tact.
It was Merlin's Crystal Dome, the rumor said. The reality was the rumor was half right: it was Merlin's work (or at least his Order), but it was neither crystal nor a dome. It was simply invisible to the naked eye *until something impacted it*.
Not two seconds after the flashes of the moon, there were flashes above the earth. The *Battle of Moon's Shadow* had been far above, but most of Starfall seemed much, *much* closer. Nor was this a battle so much as it was giant arrows of blue fire slamming against a heavenly shield.

## The Shields Hold. *Mostly*.

The flashes carried heat so great, it started fires on the ground. The bombardment lasted 36 hours, enough for the world and moon to be peppered one whole day and into the next. The stretch from Hong Kong to Dublin witnessed the *Starfall* twice.
In the final hours, the Order's aegis fractured. In places, there was a crackling, sparkling, humming sky, though few knew what it was. By then, the blows were fewer and farther between. Beatific in its failing beauty, fewer still knew that there were *thousands* of wizards, frantically trying to keep it together for the last hours.
One of those places was in Leeds Castle, eastern England, where the skies now fluttered and shimmered as the magic began to fail. When the sky took a direct hit, Leeds Castle became a fountain of fire, exploding back toward the heavens. As the sky itself crumbled, the heat scorched London.
Still, that was lucky in comparison to other regions. Whomever it was, the Archangels they say, pummeled the firmament with blows to northeastern Asia and the sea south of India. Flashes and thunder echoed around the world. The stories from the Silk Road tell of a rain of stones the size of houses and smoke from fires that burned for months.

### The Time of Bloody Numb

Two years and three months since *Starfall*, and the *rain of fire*. Twice, since then, have more stars fallen, but it wasn't the barrage of before.

Most regions have begun the process of recovery. Certain vast areas are still uninhabitable to man or beast.

The *Incidence of Incidents* still continue, and beings of myth and legend now walk among man. There are still orks in the countryside, and in some places, they grow stronger.

And the shadow approaches, the darkness that withers life before it. Many have lost hope, but a few refuse to die. These few are making their way to London to join the fight.