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The Great Flood

"The wealthiest citizens finished building the upper city as it is known since the flood of the year 900."

The catastrophe that reshaped Cadwallon. In 900, a devastating flood tore through the city's districts — and the rebuilding that followed created the Upper City in its modern form, formalized the Architects' permanent alliance with the Cynwäll, and (the Architects now fear) was an early symptom of something far worse stirring underground.

What Happened

The flood devastated the city's low-lying districts. The Drakaër district was particularly vulnerable — the colossal Cynwäll pillars that support Dyrsin's Tower sit on land that floods badly. Much of the lower city was inundated; the death toll and property loss were severe.

The Rebuild

The disaster became a turning point:

  • The Upper City reached its modern form — the wealthiest citizens used the rebuild to finish the upper city as it stands today: the towers, the suspended bridges, the crossbeams
  • Lanever Cynwäll engineers crossed the sea to help the Architects rebuild the vulnerable Drakaër pillars
  • This collaboration formalized into a permanent technical alliance — Architects have studied alongside Cynwäll masters ever since, which is the foundation of the guild's deep pre-Cadwë engineering knowledge
  • The surface sewer network of the lower city dates substantially from this period — the Architects ran pipes above ground because the flood proved the buried Cynwäll network couldn't cope

The 902 Aftershock — Non-Transferability

Two years later, the sale of the Rampart fiefdom to the Orrkrk family (902) prompted the Duke to declare the non-transferability of the fiefdoms — no fief may ever again be bought or sold. While not directly caused by the flood, the declaration came amid the same period of upheaval and reform, as the Duke moved to stabilize a city still recovering.

The Deeper Reading

The Flood as symptom

The senior Architects — the few who understand the city's true underground structure — have come to a disturbing conclusion: the Great Flood was not simply weather. It correlates with a period of increased Labyrinth activity and Desire-stirring. The Cynwäll-Sphinx barriers that hold back the Garden of Desire's waters and Desire's prison were failing, and the 900 flood was the surface bleeding through. If true, the Flood of 900 was a rehearsal — and the micro-subsidence the Architects have detected in three districts since 999 is the warning of a second, worse one. The Tractor's secret deep-bore is the engineering response. (see Guild of Architects, The Labyrinth)

Significance

  • Created the modern Upper City — the skyline Cadwës know dates from the rebuild
  • Forged the Architect-Cynwäll alliance — the city's deepest engineering knowledge base
  • Built the surface sewers — the lower city's exposed pipe network
  • First (suspected) tremor of Desire's waking — the geological dimension of the cosmological threat

Relations

The second flood

An Architect engineer's micro-subsidence readings suggest a second Great Flood is coming. The senior council is split on whether to warn the city (panic, economic collapse) or stay silent (and gamble that the Tractor bore stabilizes things in time). A free league hired to verify the readings holds the decision in its hands.

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