Yep, the kobolds are back, in part 5 of a work in progress. This time around we look at the Thiran eruption and the effect it had on the World of Dragon Earth.

(BTW, I was delayed by a minor stroke, otherwise this would've been up days ago.)

The Old Gods Pass

The island of Thira was where the Minoans came together as a people. Before they had been scattered bands fleeing from the invading Achaeans. After they were a nation. Thira became holy ground, home to the Bull God and where the most important rites and rituals were held.

One problem, Thira was a volcanic island, prone to eruptions large and small. A number of which had seen the island disappear entirely, to be followed by a period of rebuilding. The Minoans found that intolerable.

So they consulted with their gods, and together deity and mortal crafted a dweomer of great power. A casting of such potency most of today's theoretical wizards consider it more a legend than fact. Rather, they would, had it not worked.

For four hundred years Thira was made quiet. Not even a tremor. No steam escaped from the vents, no rumbles disturbed the inhabitants' sleep. But the method used was the wrong one.

Instead of diverting the magma that powered the volcano, the Minoans capped it. A strong cap, a lasting cap, but a cap that weakened with time. So the cap got repaired, made stronger.

And so the pressure beneath it became greater. Which in turn led to the cap being made stronger. Which in turn meant the pressure could build up even more. Until...

Overpressure Dream

The Minotaur awoke on his bench. He rose, dressed in his kilt, and taking the Great Mask under his right arm he went forth from his home.

Out upon the street, with the stars watching, he proclaimed, "Thira is dead. Minos will die."

He then put on the great bull mask, sat down crosslegged, and waited for the water to come.

The Birth of a Nation

According to Tammuz (Nightline interview, Jan 13th 1986) the Earth rang like a gong. After which everthing went to Hell in a handbasket. Tsunami swept across the islands of the Aegean. More hit Crete itself. Even distant Egypt suffered harm, and the island of Sicily had its coastline radically altered.

Even worse was the disruption in the magical realm. Great castings were rent and torn. Some destroyed outright. The enclosures in the great menagerie at Babylon failed, and many perished thanks to the escaping animals. The Lich of Shirrup-pak (the oldest ruler in the world at the time) was turned into a small, living, infant. (In the confusion he was adopted by a servant and lived out a normal life in the very palace he had originally built.)

The Dark Ages

Things had been going bad for some time, but Thira's eruption made it much worse. Cultures fell, cities disappeared. The Achaeans fell back into barbarity and new peoples arose. Many of whom migrated away from their devastated homelands in search of something better. It would be centuries before things settled down.

For the kobolds it meant hazardous times yet again. For the most part they were left alone, for their lands were not much sought after. Still bands and tribes of humans, gnomes, and even elves passed through, and with their passage came conflict.

Worse yet was the loss in trade. No longer did merchants come up from the south to seek commerce. Much of what the kobolds had come to depend on was no longer available. It was a lean time.

But time passed, and the world recovered. New cultures, new empires arose. Among the new cultures was the Hellenes, successors to the Achaeans. And the Phoenecians, successors to the Minoans. Trade was reestablished and travel resumed. The kobolds began to prosper once again. But in a very different world.

Next: A matter of Letters