This event caused the creation of the Central Blight and was caused by the powerful sorcerer known as Gurpo, a young member of the Vrankish Empire’s Elite Royal Guard of Mages. In the year of 1056 AB, during the war between the Vranks and the Vlaanderen Empire, a ritual was conducted at The Amphitheatre in order to bring ruin to the capital Rotterden. During the ritual 10,000 souls were sacrificed to funnel energy into The Catalyst, which was the Chosen, Gurpo.
The intent was to utilise the Ampliphyer Musique De Crescendo to enhance the spellcasting ability of Gurpo allowing for a massive Force energy wave that would flatten the neighbouring region, cities and all. The target was Rotterden. Once the sacrifices were completed, at the moment of the transference, something ancient and Rotten was awakened for the first time in millennia. This unleashed a torrent of Necrotic Energy that, through the The Catalyst, summoned forth the first example in history of the Blight.
In that moment, such a large amount of power was impossible to control by young Gurpo and shot forth in an enormous beam of Rot that shattered a continent in one minute. Facing South-East, the beam annihilated everything in a narrow cone that stretched for 1000’s of kilometres, nearly reaching the Mycean Empire. The force of the beam was so immense that it lifted the earth below it, forming the Broken Spine Mountains. The only area unaffected in the path of the beam was Chamrousse, which by virtue of being located in a valley, was below the height of the ritual site, thus sparing it from the beam, which passed overhead cleaving the peaks off of the surrounding mountains.
Millions of souls were subsumed into the control of The Horned Rat, allowing the affected areas to be seeded with Blight. The ancient Aradonian city of Nullimell was the largest population centre destroyed by the blast, creating the Central Blight that would infest the land for centuries. In the regions affected by the Festival, over time the Ratmen arose from the Blighted ruins of once great cities, seeking to expand their terrible domain. The effects of the Festival had an unbelievable impact on magic itself. 100,000s of mages were killed by the spell, which dampened Saidar’s influence. The horrific emergence of The Horned Rat destabilized reality, calling the Void Beings (from BnD Jono) which began hunting magical sources in this reality. It wasn’t until after the Arad Spring and the formation of Draymora that reality was stabilized again and the Void Beings banished after an assault on Nullimell.