What the well-informed in Hazad call the cascade of catastrophes in the West over the last few years.
The Events
- Civil wars in Morrschatten (the War of the Three Princes, from Summer 1731) and Averoigne (the succession collapsed on King Etienne de la Courcel’s death, Summer 1731; technically ended Summer 1736).
- A spreading deadly plague — first appearing at Weissbaden, Summer 1732.
- A terrible demon attacking a Cardacci noble court — probably the Stoccarda snake demon, Summer 1735.
- Pogroms against the Elves.
- An inquisition to root out widespread Corruption within the Western Church itself — resulting in, among other casualties, the dissolution of the Order of the Owl in Spring 1736, and the execution of its members.
It all starts in one season. The GM’s timeline dates the beginning to Spring 1731, when the red sun rises and the Owl finds its first sanctum in northern Averoigne. Within eighteen months of that: a king dead without an heir, that heir murdered, two civil wars, a plague, a documented rise in Corrupted activity out of The Holy City, and a demon summoned from a book that promised angels. See The Fall of the Order of the Owl for the full sequence.
How Hazad Sees It
The West is under assault by the Deceiver, and most Hazadi attribute it to lack of proper faith — vindication of the Eastern Church.
Consequences in Hazad
- Refugee waves — western humans (held in grim camps until vetted and converted; see Ethnicities of Hazad), western Elves (straining the Hazadi elven ghettos), and some Dwarves.
- The party’s whole first mission — watching a smuggler drop-off for “concerning people” — exists because of this influx. It’s how Gandolfini, Ari, and the coded documents arrived. See Session 1.
Speculation
The dissolution of the Order of the Owl during the Troubles is directly connected to the party’s assignment: the recovered documents are Phoenix interrogations of Owl members about three uncovered sanctums. Are the Troubles background noise, or is something orchestrating them? See The Sanctum Investigation and Why Did the Phoenix Knights Come to Hazad.
Speculation
With dates attached, “cascade of catastrophes” starts to look like the wrong metaphor. The Hazadi read the Troubles as the West being punished for bad faith. The dated version reads more like a campaign: the one order looking into sanctums loses its leadership, gets a bought commander, and is eventually killed to the last man — while everything else that could have stopped it (a king, an heir, a rival claimant, a Most Holy, a prince, a university) also conveniently dies or burns. See The Fall of the Order of the Owl.