The Darkness

The Darkness was the single most cataclysmic event in Sela's known history. Occurring nearly three millennia ago, this event resulted in 1) the sundering of the major continents into their own dimensions, 2) an approximately 90% casualty rate, and 3) the disappearance or departure of the gods of Sela. The people of each continent, except for the most learned/wise/informed, believed that each other continent had been destroyed.

Causes/Origin
Though studies and research have been conducted for thousands of years, historians, magic-users, and researchers of all kinds have been unable to determine exactly what happened to cause the Darkness. All sources agree, however, that Balthasar the Mage had some hand in the event which nearly eradicated life on Erinyūl, Korohl, and the other continents.

Several facts have been uncovered throughout history, the most recent being Hennessy's discovery of a pre-Darkness journal belonging to an acolyte of Urtjid the Unbroken, a contemporary of Balthasar.

'''The Darkness was caused by Balthasar attempting to summon enough power to create his own reality, where he could have his wife and children back (they having been destroyed by Emperor Tzidjik). He failed to master himself and the summoned power (the summoned power being from/within the supermassive black hole which he cast Tzidjik into), and his pain and emotion leaked into the essence of the black hole, bringing it into active sentience. Void then overrode the spell, Balthasar was blasted away (in his ship Glory, which came to be known as Sorrow over the ages), and Void sought to destroy the planet and obliterate the pain. Its initial strike brought the Sundering, shattering the planet into 7 separate dimensions, layered over each other and just a few seconds apart in time from each other. This failed to destroy the planet, however, because Sela herself resisted. Void reached out through the Godstone Gates, trying to manually wipe out the people on the surface - his tendrils of power were known as Darkmen and constituted the ranks of walking death which annihilated almost everyone. The people of the Core (around 960 million) were all destroyed, save for 36 individuals. Every continent on the surface dealth with the assault differently. A fragment of the populations of five of the seven continents were saved by the intervention of Calistria, fey powers, and other powerful entities. One of the seven continents was saved by a combination of luck and technology. In the last dimension, only three semi-sentient beings survived. The gods of Sela assaulted Void, had the Godstone Gates closed, and sealed themselves on the Citadel, in the Core. This brought an end to the Darkness.'''

Repercussions
The Darkness essentially resulted in the collapse of all political systems and affiliations, though several notable exemptions occurred. In at least two cases, the Darkness caused the birth of two powerful organizations.