The land of Ehris: Nhal'riun

The world of Ehris is dying. Unbeknownst to the people of the world, the land in which they live has been deemed an abomination. Evolution is forbidden, and without evolution the cycle of life is nothing more than an unyielding entropic tendency that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of reality.

The corporeal forces that bind the world together are not strong enough to prevent the unraveling of the land. And the hypocritical matriarchy that rules the world is incapable of reversing the apathy inherent in the civilization they created. The chaos rages on, and the inhabitants of Ehris are disillusioned into believing it is wrong to care.

The chaos is a manifestation of their world’s demise. This manifestation reaches ascendency every eight to fifteen hundred days in the form of Nhal’riun, the catastrophic event that is at the heart of Ehrisian society.

Nhal’riun, which means “new death” (often referred to as The Great Dying, Great Death or Great Darkness), is a period of turmoil when natural disasters of apocalyptic magnitude rip through the land destroying everything in their wake. Earthquakes batter the earth, and floods rampage the land. The sky becomes clouded over and black as volcanoes explode into the air causing fire to rain down from the sky. Massive storms tear through the small towns dotting the Ehrisian landscape leaving nothing behind but ruin and despair.

Nothing survives exposed to Nhal’riun. The only way for the people of Ehris to deal with destruction on this scale is to run, to uproot themselves from their homes and move to somewhere safe. Two of the most prominent events in the lives of the people of Ehris are based around Nhal’riun: the Period of Migration and the Period of Rebirth.

• The Period of Migration is the period preceding Nhal’riun. It is the time of the Great Migration, a massive world-wide pilgrimage of the inhabitants of Ehris from their outlying towns or villages to the nearest Protected City.
   
• The Period of Rebirth is the period following Nhal’riun. It is a time of thanks and praise to the Arlith, for once again providing a means to defend against the chaos of the world. It is also a time of rebuilding when the people of Ehris must return home and rebuild everything that was destroyed.