Great Rising

From SFWiki

The Great Rising is the name of a catastrophic event which occurred over a thousand years ago in Terracopia. It refers to the rising of the sea level and the flooding of the known world.

Before the Great Rising, most of Terracopia was a single continent. According to legend, for some unknown reason, the sea level rose to an enormous degree, destroying any civilization that had been created in lower-lying areas. This had a tremendous effect on every aspect of the world, and is the point of reference for many calendars.

Modern geology scientists will rapidly point out that what occurred was more akin to a "Great Sinking" rather than a great rising: many of the land masses remaining were lowland areas before the event, and huge mountain ranges (which would theoretically become islands) dropped beneath the waters. Written accounts of the event refer to the land shaking and heaving, so this gives credence to theories that it was an enormous, powerful earthquake rather than a flooding.

The actual reason behind the Great Rising remains a mystery, though several theories have risen and fallen in popularity throughout the past millenia. A commonly held belief is that the great Atlantean sorcerers caused the flooding in retaliation for losing the First Elvish War; in fact, it was this belief that directly led to the start of the Second Elvish War.

(It should be noted that Atlantis was not immune to the effects of the Great Rising; the city of Atlantis found itself surrounded by concentric island rings after the Great Rising, where before it had been built on several concentric hills).