Great Wars
From The World of Shannara
The Great Wars is a holocaust that happened thousands of years in the past of the world of Shannara and sometime in the future of our own world. The holocaust completely changed the world as it is known eventually creating the races and bringing about the rediscovery of magic.
Contents |
Old World
Deep in the past there was only one race - the race of Man. He knew nothing of magic. They knew nothing of magic because they did not need it, they where masters of technology and science. Their cities covered most of the face of the earth. They created great machines with their technology and science that allowed them to explorer to outer reaches of the sky, even space, and the deepest reaches of the sea floor. Man could travel the breath and width of the world in only hours, using machines that could travel faster than any airship. Their science allowed them to cure disease and slow the process of aging.
Unfortunately their fascination with the science of life was only equaled with their fascination with the science of death and destruction. Weapons of unimaginable destruction were created. Thousands upon thousands of these weapons created with only a fraction needed to destroy any given city in the world. [1]
The Great Wars
Conflicts during this time, though common, where initially confined to small areas and only effected small groups of people. But soon they began to occur more frequently and growing in scope.
More and more countries would get involved in these wars, until finally one day it reached a flash point. Then the doomsday weapons - never intended to be used on a massive scale - where unleashed on all the world at all the perceived enemies. Explosive devices of incredible power wiped out entire regions in a series of unimaginable firestorms. Artificial plagues where unleashed on whole populations that rotted them from the inside out. Though the Great Wars lasted only a few moments, the results where catastrophic - the eradication of thousands of years of advanced civilization and the extermination of most of all life on the planet.
As if the destructive energy that was release by man during these final moments was not enough, the earth itself trembled in response to the damage inflicted on itself. A violent cataclysm erupted in earthquakes and volcanoes. Changing massively the shape of the land. Floods smashed down on the shores, swallowing whole communities. Mountain ranges sank and the sea floor rose. Infernos raged in the forested wildlands. The skies darkened to blackness.[2]
Birth of New Races
The result of the destructive forces unleashed on the populations of the world was vast, immediate and immense. Yet ever the survivor, Men survived, and in the surviving many where changed or mutated and new races were born.
References
- ^ Brooks, Terry and Patterson, Teresa (2001). The World of Shannara pp. 2-3
- ^ Brooks, Terry and Patterson, Teresa (2001). The World of Shannara pp. 4
