The Convergence

A Planar Event

As far back as anyone can remember, or perhaps even farther than that, the Convergence has plagued the world of Rhyst. It’s a bimillennial phenomenon, one that spells the end of an age nearly every time it occurs. Civilizations, no matter how grand, have been known to crumble and turn to ruins once the storm has passed, and though life is never pushed to the point of extinction, the effects are still classified as catastrophic.

Scholars and researchers have done what they can to study this event so that mortals may better understand and prepare for it, and while their work has not been fruitless, no one believed they were ever truly certain in any of it.

The Convergence is as its name suggests; a coming together of all three planes of existence. They collide and overlap, Void, Fae, and Rhyst alike, and where they intersect, they reject one another. The entities that live within each world are so foreign and so dissimilar to one another that war is the only reaction. Battles are waged amidst the natural destruction and chaos that occurs around the impacting worlds, and the death and violence is difficult to actually quantify.

Modern history knows of two Convergence events that may actually be detailed. The first occurred over 1000 years ago, and it was what marked the dawn of the current age. It was during this Convergence that the grand kingdom of Arcadia, founded upon the isle of Sarea, was destroyed. The rest of the world was racked with the challenges and trials that every Convergence brings, and the history before this time has proven difficult to piece together.

The second Convergence noted in the present day occurred nearly 500 years ago, and it was halted by the efforts of Felsen Skarn. The druid managed to conjure a ritual great enough to pull the Faewild’s relic, Yggdrasil, into Rhyst itself. This massive shift in balance and sudden alteration of the homogeny found in any plane while they are separated stalled the usual effects, and it was believed the time passed where the event of the Convergence would actually take place. Cities and nations were allowed to thrive rather than succumb to the usual effects of the bimillennial occurrence, and thus the Empire of Isegrad and the Realm of Arlandria flourished into the grand powers that they are today. Dozens of other nations and city-states have reportedly risen throughout Rhyst, and for the first time in history, sustainable civilization may be realized.

With all of this in mind, the next Convergence poses a very grave threat, not only because it is suspected by some that the effects may be doubled due to the halt of the previously scheduled event, but also due to how much is truly at stake now that mortals have had 1000 years to build, grow, and learn.