The First Cataclysm | dlsaga.com

We are all familiar with the changes that the first cataclysm caused on Ansalon, but there are many other lands and nations that were affected. Let’s take a look at the global devastation caused by the first Cataclysm! Buy the Time of the Dragon boxed set: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/16960/time-of-the-dragon-2e?affiliate_id=50797

Time Stamps:

0:00 Intro
0:47 Foreword
1:16 Chorane
2:40 Ansalon
4:08 The Spine of Taladas
5:25 Watermere
6:19 Taladas
7:37 Afterword
8:31 Outro

Transcript

Cold Open

The First Cataclysm devastated much more than just Ansalon.

Intro

Welcome to another DragonLance Saga episode. My name is Adam and today we are going to talk about the first Cataclysm. I would like to take a moment and thank the DLSaga members, and invite you to consider becoming a member by visiting the link in the description below. You can even pick up Dragonlance gaming materials using my affiliate links. I am referencing the Otherlands game accessory and the Time of the Dragon and Tales of the Lance boxed sets. If I leave anything out or misspeak, please leave a comment below!

Discussion

Foreword

No matter which way you slice it, the First Cataclysm was a devastating event that caused the death of countless mortals, and drove Krynn into an age of darkness it had never seen before. But Krynn is a vast and richly diverse planet with many continents and islands filled with nations of people separated by time and distance. Let’s discover how the first cataclysm affected these disparate locations and people, and discover what they believed to be the cause of this global catastrophe.

Chorane

We all know that there are over seventeen crevasses, after traveling nearly a thousand miles past the Ice Wall glacier, in the southern ice cap of Krynn, which leads to Chorane, Dragonlance’s underdark. But the most prominent entrance is called Amesh’s Rent by the Ameshites or The Crack by the rest of the people of Chorane. And while the Great Rift is the simplest route to access the underworld, it has not always been so. You see, before the Cataclysm, there was no rift. The rift opened due to the cataclysm, and it became a seven thousand foot deep, one-hundred and seventy-five foot across, and nearly half a mile long crevice. To be fair, it didn’t devastate the people of Chorane as much as the surface world suffered, but the Cataclysm and its creation of the rift did collapse entire caverns, and there was nowhere to hide! There were also countless aftershocks from the Cataclysm that may not have caused much more damage on the surface, but they certainly disrupted life underneath it. All told thousands of Choranians died, and thousands more went missing presumed dead. The belief of the exact cause was split between the Chorainians. One group believed the people turned away from the gods, and the other half believed the gods turned away from them. This difference in perspective split the people, and began three hundred years of civil war.

Ansalon

I think it’s fair to say that the vast majority of us know what happened to Ansalon during the Cataclysm. The centerpoint of the fiery mountain impacted directly atop the capital city of Istar. The force of the impact not only sank the city, but dragged most of the arid plains down with it. The eastern arm of the nation shattered into six islands. Balifor in the south became a ragged peninsula. The Bay of Balifor widened into a broad strait, with the new sea at its northern reaches. In the west, the Khalkists were forced even higher into the sky, and in the north the floor of Thoradin bay was thrust violently up, causing a tidal flood rushing away. In the far west, the land was torn asunder, with bays extending from the north to the south Turbidus ocean, breaking Ergoth apart. The newly formed waters surged inland cutting Qualinesti in half and seeping into Sanction in the Khalkists. The central force split Ergoth again east to west causing immense volcanic activity which doubled the size of Sancrist. In the south the seabed rose up, growing shallow enough for the Glacier of Ice Wall to spread north. The people blamed Wizards, the Knights of Solamnia, and anyone else demonized during the height of the Kingpriests power, all the while refusing to see the cause that was right in front of their eyes, The Kingpriest himself and the people’s willingness to follow him over the gods.

The Spine of Taladas

In the Spine of Taladas, the Irda lived peacefully from their initial migration off of Ansalon to the isle of Anaiatha, where generations of direct descendants of Igrane used his ancient tomb, the Irdanaiath as a guide for living their lives. But as the centuries passed they came to believe they no longer needed the gods. On the day of the Cataclysm their High King proclaimed that the Irda no longer needed to recognize or worship the gods, and with a crack of thunder, the island was torn apart! A chasm formed beneath the king consuming him, and the section of the isle that had the Irdanaiath broke away and was borne to the depths of the sea with those who still believed in the gods. The remaining Irda changed in time into the Mischta. The island changed from Anaiatha to Selasia, forming a complete divide between who they once were, and who they were to become. The isle of Odith exploded in volcanic activity, destroying much of the island. Abshu was once part of Odith but broke off leaving a twenty mile gap separating them. Even separated by an ocean, the combined effects of both Ansalon and Taladas being struck devastated this island chain.

Watermere

The results of the Cataclysm even affected those lands underwater, though not in the destructive ways the continents and islands suffered. The impact of both Taladas and Ansalon caused fissures to open up, and lands to sink. Specifically the island of Kosketh Minor. This isle was thirty miles across and one-hundred and sixty miles long. When it became fully submerged, the Dargonesti took possession of it, and moved into one of the two human cities called Hoorward. The Dargonesti rebuilt the city underwater and renamed it Armach i-Quoob, making Dry Land in the Sea. The second city was seized by fell creatures, and the drowned humans became undead Lacedons. Unlike many other locations on Krynn, the Cataclysm actually drew the Dargonesti closer to the gods Habbakuk and Kiri-Jolith. Reaffirming their faith and culture.

Taladas

On Taladas it was believed that Krynn passed through an asteroid field, or sparks of Reorx Forge fell to Krynn causing the devastation. The meteor struck the continent at its center in a region of open plains just beyond the mountain range witch spiraled forming and defining the landmass. The continent immediately tore apart at its tectonic plates. New faults appeared, spreading radially and concentrically from the point of impact. What was once a single continent surrounded by concentric rings of outlying islands became a land torn asunder. Mountains to the west exploded in volcanic fury, with earthquakes shaking the land. Water surged inland reaching all the way to the Indanalis Sea, while unseen lands were driven up cutting it off from the Urdile Ocean. The western edge of the Neron peninsula was shattered, and flooded the newly shaped sea. The northeast was shattered into fissures, and sulfur-filled rain clouds swept eastward on prevailing winds to create the Storm Sea, and the Rainward isles beyond. The kingdom of Aurim was destroyed. To the west, the land was split by a fault into north and south masses, and at its heart, the open wound of Taladas, Hitehkel was formed.

Afterword

As you can see, the first cataclysm devastated all of the people of Krynn from thousands of feet beneath its surface, to the underwater kingdoms, islands and continents, and not one nation of people can agree on exactly why it happened. Is it possible that the gods would wreck global devastation because one Kingpriest in one location challenged them? Or could it have been a cultural wave that washed through every nation and culture, threatening to upend the balance required for life to persist on the planet? I suppose it’s less important for mortals to understand the will of the gods. What we did discover through the devastation of the First Cataclysm is that mortals are resilient, and able to adapt to even the most devastating situations. I would like to think that that is a good thing, the ability to adapt, for without it, we would all still be huddling in darkened caves for safety.

Outro

And that is all I have to say about the first cataclysm. What location suffered the most? Was it all caused by the Kingpriest or was it a global outcry? And finally, if you could visit one of the nations in post Cataclysm Krynn, what would it be? Leave a comment below.

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Nothing ever happens by chance. Everything happens for a reason. Your brain may not know the reason. Your brain may never figure it out. But your heart knows. Your heart always knows.