The Burning Night

**The Burning Night** is the common term given to the destruction and collapse of the Edge and its city-states.

## **The Edge**

The scorched lands of the Edge once were part of a very prosperous region. Here you would find Phytor’s biggest gold mines and largest vineyards. After the many conflicts during the East-West Wars with the western coalition, the Easterlings of the Edge quickly regained status when extensive gold veins were found all over the region. For decades new mines were erected and more gold was mined, bringing the region enormous riches. But as quick as the mines sprung up, trembles began to be felt. Some warned not to mine too deep as they might reach the Tartaros, referring to the demise of the Lothen, a mythical race of giants who dug to the underworld and never returned. But the Edgelanders kept mining and mining, eventually depleting most of the veins. According to legend, when the last cart of gold left the mines, the ground ripped open.

## **The Destruction of the Edge**

In 678 BNE the Edgelanders celebrated the yearly Week of Fricta, which was celebrated in the first week of spring, celebrating the new year for the Easterlings. This was the most important week of the year for the Edgelanders and many ships lay in the harbours of Kyrilos and Alryne. Those who lived just over the border with Acradam joined the festivities in Myre and Thorne. As night fell on the four city-states of the Edge, a minecart slowly rolled over the track. Filled to the brim with gold. The stars had mere moments to shimmer on the glistering rocks. Then the earth shattered. A giant earthquake crumbled the cities of the Edge. Alryne was engulfed by a giant wave of a dozen houses tall, drowning the few survivors. Kyrilos’ dormant volcanoes broke open and giant waves of volcanic ash covered the region, suffocating the city. In Myre the ground shattered and lava poured through engulfing the city in a sea of fire. Thorne would be buried under the mountain beside which it had laid proudly for so many centuries. In mere hours the whole Edge burned, where there was no lava, great fires burned through the forests and vineyards decimating everything in its path.

In the border regions the earthquake had been felt too and had woken its people, which could only look with horror as in the distance the once mighty cities of the Edge stood aflame. The whole night the region burned. The night sky glowed red as if it had caught fire itself, a burning night.

## **Aftermath**

The demise of the Edge and its people reached the rest of Phytor quickly, great unrest followed as many regions feared a similar fate. The legend of the last minecart spread like wildfire and many houses closed their mines. In Phenatorio the Great Tower had collapsed from the first earthquake destroying half of the inner city and taking hundreds of lives. The great city of Uquai was in ruins, the Temple of the Maiden had been damaged and collapsed after a few days. Fires spread into Acradam and the Cattle Forests and were only contained weeks later when rain returned to the regions. All rescue attempts to the Edge proved futile, as many died through falling rocks and the ever changing lava streams. Those who made it back told of horrifying sounds from the ground. Muffled screams, screeches and sounds of people digging as they were buried alive with no way to escape. Many living on the border refer to the region as Demon’s Edge, saying it's forever haunted by those who caused its demise.