The Great Torrent
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The Great Torrent was one of the first visible results of The Change. In YE 781 the rising sea flooded large, significant parts of the continents. This not only affected the big cities but agriculture and wildlife too.
History
Following the Second Hycath War and the defeat of the Blomgren sisters, the Hycath community once again became fraught with controversy. Many saw The Change as a result of the war. They believed that the magic used during the war was the direct cause that triggered the chain of events leading to The Change.
People turned against the Hycathae once again, blaming them for all the negative things happening to their lands. Many of the Hycathae women had no choice but to flee their homes to escape the anger directed at them. The migrations caused a need for a new safe haven. Thus the foundation was laid for what later became known as the Promised Land or Al-Murooj: an oasis in the middle of the desert providing a safe refuge in a fully Hycath-led community.
The Coming of the Flood
During the Change several events occurred that permanently transformed life on Earth. One of them was the Great Torrent of 1921. The rising temperature melted most of the ice caps. The rising sea level that followed caused flooding all over the world. Vast landscapes disappeared under water, destroying livelihoods and taking lives along the way.
On the Anglia Isle, many countries were affected by the Torrent and a substantial landmass was lost to the water. The Queendom of East Mercia saw its landmass reduced to two-thirds of it’s original size. Its capital Nottingham, once located near the middle of the country, had become a seaside town. The Union of Wessex underwent a similar fate.
The Queendom of East Anglia completely fell apart; the separate parts formed independent countries. The City of Arundel, the Republic of Weald, the State of Norbridge, New London and the Eastern Islands all separated themselves from the queendom, developing their own systems and chains of commerce. An area at the north of Norbridge, reaching into the the south of East Mercia, has been reduced to a swampy terrain. It’s know as the Wastelands as it has become nearly inhabitable these days.
The Grand Duchy of the North, together with Cymru and Scotland were the least affected by the direct consequences of the floods, although the new weather conditions hit these lands quite hard.
Aftermath
The substantial damage to the countries resulted in mass migration. The capitals turned into the most sought-after places to live and work. People abandoned rural areas and moved to the big cities, searching for jobs, security and better life circumstances.
The Great Torrent had taken many lives, but the worst was yet to come. The flood had destroyed much of the agricultural lands and the new extreme weather conditions made the situation even worse. Even on the fields that remained untouched by seawater, it became increasingly difficult to plant and cultivate anything. Worldwide, countries began to report food shortages. Sadly, not much could be done about it. The year YE 782 marked the beginning of the Long Famine that took ten times as many lives as the worldwide floods. Countries went to war if they even suspected that other countries had secret crop stashes.
Although the famine officially ended in YE 827, four long decades later, the world never fully recovered from the damages occurring during The Change. Even today, food resources are a tremendous issue that most countries struggle with, and some are still prepared to go to war over this. An example is the war that East Mercia waged against Al-Murooj (the Promised Land) in YE 876, under King Richard’s leadership, to seize the country’s seeds – especially cultivated to withstand extreme temperatures. East Mercia didn’t succeed in this mission, forcing the army to return home empty-handed and defeated. Al-Murooj remains impenetrable until this day.
