Hear ye, hear ye...

In remembrance of the Cataclysm and those who suffered in it, the Grand Library is composing a tome collecting the personal experiences of the citizens affected by it. As such, it asks the question: how were you affected by it?

All citizens who's lives were impacted by the event are asked to put their experience to paper and submit it for review. If you do not know how to write, a scribe can assist you.

All stories that meet the minimum review standards will be rewarded with 50 gold, and especially detailed stories may be paid up to 100 gold.

I was a small child when Zauberlinda first appeared. I remember Albert Kwaritz had come to visit the Grand House on the guise of doing some work for my father Soveliss. It was in this manner that he managed to get to the mirror without Lady Beluvial noticing; whenever he came to inspect the mirror she watched him like a...well..like a dragon.But things happened very fast as soon as he reached the mirror. I remember Lady Beluvial appearing before me and my baby sisters, grabbing us and then we were in the panic room along with the nursemaids shortly followed by an explosion. Now from this point on is the accounting of my father; he originally wasn't going to share but mother convinced him it'd be for the best. On the day of the Cataclysm my father was told by Lady Beluvial to go to the Tower as quickly as possible. Once he arrived it did not take long for things to escalate, as what usually happens when my father is involved. From the raised door he could see and hear one of the mages being tossed out, with the help of Tashara I believe, he caught the mage before she smashed her head on the stones. Among the other notable House representatives there he learned that Albert Kwaritz and Lord Sterrick had the tower leadership held hostage. With all due haste he and others raced up the tower to find Albert holding the other mages at bay and Sterrick giving a grand speech about how the new Malificar Vorans were going to be re-igniting the war against Eccles. What Sterrick didn't know was that Lady Frost had his daughter in tow who he thought dead. Which honestly I'm not sure what that was supposed to accomplish....evil men will find any excuse to commit atrocities. Anyways, my father wasted no time in interrupting Sterrick with a savage attack....we all know he was never one for prolonged words. And he had a score to settle with Zauberlinda so seeing her chronies there and Sterrick was on their side. Now from here it gets confusing....there were spells and attacks flying all over, Sterrick was stunned by seeing his daughter there and people flying every which way. Now these spells, especially the teleporting ones, where causing serious effects around them. Such a concentration of wild magic was creating rips in the air left and right. Once Kwaritz was the last remaining, Zauberlinda appeared. Now my father did his best to separate her head from her body but with her old magics and raw teleportation she ended up destroying herself and Albert before Soveliss and the others could. The result was oddly beautiful in the destruction of reality...those weren't my father's exact words obviously. His language is quite colorful. There were many versions of those in the rooms floating around; merging and splitting with each other. At one point my father saw himself with his first wife and a different family, working as a fisherman. A fisherman! Can you imagine the Dread Pirate Soveliss Atianna, Shark of Beluvial, scourge to slavers as a simple fisherman?! He said one of the scariest realities he saw was the one where he never picked up the ax and stayed with his nomad clan; he died peacefully in his sleep there....no scars or anything. The horror right? But I digress...he remembers reaching out to one reality and touching it...the him there merging with the him here. And then he was no longer an Aventi but restored to his half-elven self. It was during this event that Lady Frost acquired her witch-mark, those wild and raw magics affecting her appearance as well. Now I believe that is all my father recounted to me to tell to you. I hope this fills your records.

As orated by Sami Lee Atianna; recorded verbatim by Lesser Scribe Leonard Cooperson.

Norret was working hard, as he was want to do when he wasn't teaching at the tower. Long had he finished his treatise on beginner necromancy and quite frustrated was he with his lack of progress in dimensional or planar access. He had been doing quite alot of research learning all he could of divine power as they seemed into their gods and the planes they inhabit. These thoughts had consumed him for a time, it was a touch maddening. Some say light moves faster then sound after a blast, but when magic is involved any thing can precede anything else. It was in this way that the congeries of magics and sound and blast flowed over the Halfling in his tower.

Perhaps it was his desire, perhaps it was the intense magical energies that had nearly infused every inch of that mage tower, or perhaps it was nothing explainable or knowable. Whatever it was Norret saw all possible universes, a million trillion Norrets transposing themselves over him, all of the knowledge of infinite worlds overwhelmed and inundated the brilliant mind of the necromantic halfling. It was however in this maddening flood of disparate memories, experiences and understandings that a single voice stepped forwards. It was silken, cunning and hungry. This Norret was an elf, who had touched what the Halfling Necromancer wanted. It was with this knowledge and the seductive voice that would have turned and Ecclesian nun into a harlot, that Elven Norret convinced our Norret to merge together combining their power. Of course that was not how it went your Norret is now in a dismal desolate world where the gods have taken thrones upon the surface of the world scalding and devouring the energies of the land. Just be ware pulling your gods into your world. That's what happened to Norret. Shhhh, don't tell anyone else though. Most believe he and I merged and to a degree we did, but...it's complicated.

Afrightedly recorded verbatim, from Norret Demha's testimony by Samson Ite.

My name is Rani Frost, sister to Prilla and Milo Frost and eldest triplet and daughter of Katrina and Floom Frost. I an seventeen years old. Although I may not be the oldest triplet anymore - things get really weird a while back - but I'll explain as I go on .. starting at the beginning.

There were actually two events I wish to describe. When I was seven, I was fostered out to House Atianna in order to learn the finer points of diplomacy and stuff. Back then I was very curious about the undersea cultures and wanted to know more about them and also help bond friendships with them. I even attended an Aventi school for a while - lost count of how many waterbreathing spells and potions that had been thrown on me - Mom sometimes wondered if there was going to be any permanent effects. But I'm digressing again.

I was at House Atianna when we heard explosions from the harbour - seemed like a ship was on fire and people were trying to put it out. Being the adventurous little halfling I am, I snuck into Lady Storm's office to watch the show. I thought I'd be quite safe - I mean that large window she has .. we all thought it was invulnerable because it was magically reinforced. Heck, it even took the full force of an air burst explosion and only bowed in a bit wheres every other glass window in the immediate area was completely destroyed.

Just then there was a major explosion in the front courtyard as the House became attacked by that evil witch Zauberlinda of the Danse Malificent - or something like that. The alarm bells went off instructing everyone to get to the bunkers but, I thought I'd be okay here, and slipped under Storm's desk. Lady Beluviel came in looking for me .. and at that time there was a really MASSIVE explosion just outside and the indestructible window completely shattered sending glass spraying into the room. She shielded me from the worst of it but for a while I couldn't hear and was still whimpering in fear when Mom ran in. Her and several brave companions had managed to drive the witch off but there was a lot of damage to the front side of the Manor. So ... it was back to our house and Mom took in some of the displaced Atianna children and their parents.

Well ... that wasn't the last of that. A week or so later, that meanie Lord Sterker and his mage crony, Kwartz, had managed to hole themselves up in the Ivory Tower and tried holding the Tower Council to ransom or other. I'm not sure what was going on exactly but I remember being rather worried about Milo, who was in the Tower becoming a wizard. Plus Mom was in Duirt as well and it turned out she got involved, even flying a witch's broom and taking on one of the new members of the witch cult in a broom versus broom aerial combat. I really wished I could have actually seen that ... cause it would have been AWESOME. Anyway, the heroes prevailed and the bad guys tried to teleport out and that's when the Cataclysm or the 'Big Whoops' as I called it happened.

I don't quite understand exactly what happened but, afterwards, I heard ArchMage Kadrai explaining to Mom that the 'Arcane Fabric of Space Time' actually broke apart because of all the teleporting that had been going on in the last few years - basically it tore like a weakened piece of fabric allowing other 'possibilities' to leak in and 'mutating' our world in unpredictable ways. I had to get Milo to explain some of the more arcane words to me but that's what it boils down to. All I know at the time was that there was this massive outburst of rainbow coloured light sweeping over Frostville from the direction of Duirt .... and the next thing I remember was waking up in my own bed. I later found out I had timeskipped about seven years or so. I also had brightly coloured rainbow hair.

Mom was overjoyed to see me again. She had been SO worried I had vanished for good. Same with Prilla. She had timeskipped with me but, somehow Milo hadn't - which makes him older than me and twice as insufferable. I guess he'll get to inherit now .. which is a good thing cause I don't want it.

Mom had been affected most of all. She had lost her druid powers which meant getting kicked out of the druids - I think that also forced a breakup with her .... erm ... companion. Her hair now had a white streak in it - a 'witchmark' and she also had the powers of a witch as well as having one of those magical witch's brooms to fly on - which were faster than the sylph like fairy wings she could now produce. They look really cool. But, she looked sadder somehow .. not as lively. Whatever it is she still won't talk about it ... not even to Prilla, who's the empath in the family, and probably the best suited to help.

The rainbow hair faded but we discovered it would reappear if I was under the effect of a waterbreathing or I activated my psionic armour. I guess that means if I try cheating with my underwater escapes my hair is going to give me away. So far, that seems to be the only lasting effect as well as the consequences of the timejump - but who can tell. Would I have turned out the same way if it hadn't happened? There's probably no way to find out.