Concerning the so-called Doom that Came to Sarnath

The dramatic, semi-apocalyptic end of a seemingly eternal, renowned, and much feared civilization such as Sarnath's would of course inspire equally dramatic tales, but sadly in such tales the truth of the matter can get lost in flights of fancy and the very human desire to feel that we have some control over our fate. Or in this case that Sarnath's fate was of its own doing. It is unimaginable to some that horrors can happen for their own reasons to both the wicked and the just, that there is no reason other than random chance.

In some instances Sarnath was responsible for its own demise certainly, but not in the way various superstitious cultures tell. Such oral histories describe events such as the old gods of the Forgotten Pantheon striking back against their children who had forsaken them, of blood rights gone wrong and the madness of the last Ecclesiarch and his supposed visit to the spatial and temporal anomaly known as King Eater Island by the uneducated, of divine intervention by "goodly" gods and spirits who could no longer watch the evils of Sarnath continue (which of course begs the question of why they waited nearly a thousand years to stop it)... The list goes on and on.

The superstitious tell their tales, yet if one takes a moment to try to find a natural explanation instead of jumping immediately to the supernatural, the events of the so-called Doom of Sarnath or the Doom That Came to Sarnath, are easily explained by simple cause and effect.

In the two centuries leading to its demise Sarnath had been in decline. The savage and equally heathen, though less civilized, Reavers of the West had grown weary of raiding southern Azand and moved north for greater prizes and even the mighty and powerful sorcerer and warlock priests of Sarnath could not stop them, nor their armies.

That said, the Reavers themselves were not the cause of Sarnath's weakness so much as they quickened an already steady descent from power. It is likely that if the Doom had not come to Sarnath then the Reavers almost certainly would have eventually.

No, instead in the last two centuries Sarnath had internal power struggles which severely weakened them and compounded with the Reaver threat, the city-state's might was rapidly waning. It is believed that many of the spells and techniques used by their ancestors to build the greatest city the world had ever seen had been lost to its later and eventually last inhabitants. Resources were stretched thin, workmen under paid. Basic building repairs began to become neglected.

And in that we find the true cause for the so-called Doom. Earthquakes were never an extremely rare phenomenon in the region around Sarnath, but the structures of the city were always well cared for both mundanely and magically and as such they could weather any storm, stand against any threat nature could throw against their defenses. But this time when nature came, it came in massive force, and the marvels of Sarnath found themselves uncared for and weak.

All the neglected infrastructure of Sarnath needed to fail was a catalyst and it came in the form of an exceptionally powerful earthquake, and oh did the the infrastructure fail. The Bridge of the Ecclesiarch fell into the sea, taking with all of the city's richest and their wealth. A fifth of the the Abyssal Pillar and the palace upon it collapsed into the sea as did many of the fabled statues of the High Fane. Many of the mines and vaults of the Undercity fell inward, killing thousands.

When the Doom was finished, the city found itself crippled and with no way to restore itself. Its leaders were dead or gone, its wealthy and their wealth gone, their major means of wealth, the mines, gone. And there was still a Reaver menace to deal with. Such was the end of the Sarnathi civilization and in the chaos that followed the worshipers of their gods were hunted down and slaughtered, their gods becoming the Forgotten Pantheon.

It may be troubling for the common man to accept, but often the smallest details, such as failing to maintain a bridge or a tunnel or two can lead to untold catastrophe, that major events needn't be put into effect by equally major forces. Such a notion is so troubling to the common man in fact, that the superstitious explanations for the Doom remain so prevalent, though perhaps such ignorance has been beneficial in someways for the kingdom.

After all, if common men were not so afraid of the ruins of Doomed Sarnath, wouldn't it and it's great treasures already have been plundered instead of being left unclaimed to fuel the growth of New Sarnath? [End of Excerpt]