Calamity

Calamity
Date	AC -150-0
Location	Pacific Rim (start) Worldwide (Long Cold)

"The Calamity erased mankind once, our chance to start again!"

― Crimson 1

The Calamity was a global catastrophe that took place 150 years before the After Calamity Era, documented only by a handful of historical artifacts and records. A cascading geothermal event occurred in the Ring of Fire that led to tectonic disasters that ravaged the planet. Despite the collapse of the world order, humanity itself survived the Calamity and designated a new base zero year for the AC Era.

Timeline

Disaster

An ignition of recently exposed cordium beneath the surface of Earth caused by unknown circumstances incited more cordium to ignite, resulting in an uncontrolled cascading domino effect of cordium ignitions. The effect on Earth's tectonic plates resulted in volcanic eruptions and powerful earthquakes, primarily within the Ring of Fire. The largest of these was the eruption of the Yellowstone Supervolcano in North America.

The Calamity devastated human civilization to the point that it was considered an end of an era. Worldwide communications broke down and some nations collapsed. The Yellowstone eruption and its destruction in North America was considered an extinction-level event on that continent. The supervolcano and the Ring of Fire also spewed a volcanic ash cloud that blotted out the sun around the world, ushering in a temporary global ice age referred to as the Long Cold.

Long Cold

The Long Cold is officially considered to have started immediately following the Calamity. Without any sunlight, crops failed and natural fauna perished in many ecosystems, with the known exception of whales, which were forced to evolve with the new conditions in the Pacific Ocean. Millions of people that survived the Calamity itself died in the famine and environmental conditions caused by the Long Cold.

The Calamity caused geothermal fissures to appear around the world. These fissures provided surviving humans who huddled around them with warmth and usable soil. Over time, the survivors reestablished formal international communications and began working towards resuming humanity's path of development, owing to the species' inherent resourcefulness and survival skills. Political relationships were formed around who had the best access to the geothermal fissures.

After Calamity

The Long Cold lasted an estimated 150 years after the Calamity. Once it was determined that the Calamity was no longer a hindrance to human development, a year zero was established to mark the start of what was named the After Calamity Era. The average citizen in the After Calamity Era lives a safe and comfortable life, free from the threat of natural disaster. Cordium was properly studied early in the After Calamity Era, eventually leading to cordium mining in addition to geothermal energy collection.

Remnants of the Calamity still persist worldwide. Tectonic and volcanic activity is still commonplace within the Ring of Fire but mostly localized in certain areas. Local governments treat these areas as exclusion zones. One of the largest is the Yellowstone Exclusion Zone, where most of the territory is unmapped and dangerous geothermal flare-ups continue to occur. To most of the developed world, however, the Calamity is ancient history.