The Great Reckonings

Like all great stories, the history of Gaia is riddled with conflicts, struggles, and triumphs. No greater battles have been fought between man on the Material Plane than the Great Reckonings. The ultimate clash between order and chaos, the Great Reckonings saw death and destruction on scales never experienced before on the Material Plane and changed the shape and future of the Material Plane as a whole. While Gaia is no stranger to conflict, having been created out of one, these conflicts were integral in crafting the landscape of the Modern Era of Gaia, and left behind scars and reminders of days long past.

A Great Reckoning is a special kind of conflict wherein the very fate of the Material Plane hinges on who wins and loses. Notoriously fought between the Deities of Chaos and Order, these wars involved champions wielding great weapons of destruction that were crafted using gifts from the Gods themselves. These weapons and their destruction can be found today, be it largely covered by time, and the heroes that carried them lost for eternity.

Up to the Modern Age, there have been two Great Reckonings in recorded history. These are subsequently dubbed Great Reckoning I and Great Reckoning II, and their rich history is well-known to scholars and laymen alike across the continents of Gaia. In fact, the battlegrounds of these conflicts still contain traces of the raw magical power and death and destruction that took place there, with some causing strange anomalies and housing powerful arcane constructs animated by the lingering magics. As such, if one is brave enough to endure the troubles one of these sites brings, expensive, rare artifacts can be harvested from them, and sold to collectors on the open market.

It is believed, theorized really, by some, that these sites contain pools of untapped magical essence, much like a radioactive site retains the radioactive elements that remain from a reaction, that taint and mutate the very essence of the Material Plane around them. Furthermore, since these battle sites were once fought on by heroes of days of old, the weapons that these heroes carried, the manifestations of Divine Power, are buried there, lost to time.

Great Reckoning I

The first Great Reckoning came in the year 5 BC in the Age of Heroes, when the balance of power between the Deities of Chaos and Order were evening out after the Holy Wars ended. The Queen of Chaos managed to influence many of the First Men on the Material Plane to do her bidding and collect the necessary artifacts in her reawakening her on the Material Plane. With promise of great power once she held the Material Plane, the other Deities of Chaos aided her, resulting in the first widescale war across all the continents of Gaia. Mostly taking place on Caldron, many vestiges of power were created during this war, each attempting to end the war.

Great Reckoning II

Briefly, the second Great Reckoning came in the year 1000 AC in the Dragon Age when the Queen of Chaos and her followers attempted to awaken her Divine Soul once more to the Material Plane. Taking place mainly in Tal'Dorei, this great war almost saw the Deities of Chaos control the Material Plane. If it wasn't for the Aarokocran society at the Starry Mounts uniting the powerful Elemental Gemstones into the Rod of Law, the Queen of Chaos and her forces likely would have completely enraptured the continent and world soon after. These brave warriors lost their lives, sacrificing themselves for the preservation of the world at large.

A Look Beyond

While it's true that only two Great Reckonings have taken place in Gaia, the future is always changing and with it, the possibility of another one taking place becomes more and more possible. It's been some time since Great Reckoning II took place, and some say the Deities of Chaos and their followers are biding their time, rebuilding their armies, in preparation of events to come. Small clusters of cults and fanatical groups are found in increasing numbers, each with different means to a single nefarious end. Resurrection of the champions and creatures of old are a constant threat to the Material Plane in the Modern Age, and those attentive enough are starting to draw connections between recent events and the threat of the next Great Reckoning.