History

The Urknall

The event in which eight objects of unknown origin fell across Origor and transformed the world.

The Urknall (literally "the first sound" in old Thalvori) is the name for the event — or series of events — in which eight objects of unknown origin fell across Origor and transformed the world.

What Is Known

  • Eight objects fell. Each landed in a different location. Each emitted a different Nevril type.
  • The event is estimated to have occurred approximately 300 years before present, based on the oldest reliable records.
  • No text survives from before the Urknall. All pre-Urknall knowledge comes from oral tradition and archaeological evidence.
  • The cave paintings found in pre-Urknall rock strata are the only visual record from before the event. They are large, indistinct, and have not been definitively interpreted.
  • The world was grey-green before. The biomes grew from the impact sites afterward.

    • What Is Not Known

  • What the eight objects are or were
  • Where they came from
  • Why they landed where they did
  • Whether the event was intentional, accidental, or the result of a process
  • What the grey-green world was like in detail
  • What the Hearthstone anomaly represents
  • Whether other Urknall-type events have occurred elsewhere

    • The Seven Interpretations

    Each faction has a theory of the Urknall. All are internally consistent with their native Nevril type's nature. None is provable:

    FactionTheoryShort Form
    ThalvoriNatural eventNo meaning
    Molten ScarThe First ForgeReality smelted itself
    Verdant DomeThe Great SeedingSomething planted eight seeds
    Frozen SilenceThe Preservation PrincipleDivision to protect against total loss
    Mountain PlateausThe Foundation WorkThe world needed structure
    Gilded VoidThe RevelationLight was always there; Urknall made it visible
    Seeping FenThe Honest EndSomething died; new life grew from the remains
    Chromatic PasturesThe Great CompositionThe universe was composing something

    Historical Usage

    "Urknall" is the dominant current term. Older texts use "the Shattering" — a term being phased out of public usage as it implies a pre-existing whole being broken. The Thalvori Archives have standardized "Urknall" in all current publications. Most factions prefer their own interpretive language ("the Forge," "the Seeding") and use "Urknall" only in cross-faction contexts.

    Related

    NevrilThe CoresThe HearthstoneThe Pulse