Piltshire Accident (AoC Universe)

The Piltshire Accident was a major man-made disaster occuring around -4,000 in the human nation of Anthromor, within the city-settlement of Piltshire. The event resulted in expensive damage done to both infrastructure and countryside, widespread deaths/injuries, and long-term ramifications for the empire (it catalysed the fragmentation of Anthromor into five, later six then seven kingdoms) when a high-level arcanum reactor melted down.

The accident
Otherwise a relatively peaceful settlement, Piltshire was forever changed when, after a length consultation, planning permission was given by the local ruling council - and signed by the King of Anthromor - to build an arcanum reactor in the heart of the city. The humans of Middle-Earth had been taught arcane magic by Mytnas Dawnchaser's high elves, and were now drilling the earth for signs of the resource behind it - arcanum. Piltshire was chosen as a good location for an arcanum reactor due to its proximity to Pylsyre, a settlement containing an underground mineral mine with trace amounts of arcanum.

After drilling and exploitation began, arcanum began being transported in large quantities, via Mizzendor-manufactured airships, to Piltshire. Despitel local opposition to the reactor, building work was completed within 22 months, and the magi started using arcanum crystals to harvest pure, liquid arcane magic.

The first attempt at processing the crystals worked, but slowly, and only produced a little bit of product. The magi realised that arcanum crystals themselves did not produce much magic in low quantities, so they started investing larger amounts of arcanum in at once. The reactor began producing greater amounts, and this practice eventually became a daily occurence. Ever egged-on by their own greed, they shovelled more and more arcanum into the reactor with each passing week.

Eventually, around May -4,000, the reactor stopped working. Human engineers were on the scene immediately, and managed to force-start the machine to work - or so they believed. In reality, they had caused it to self-destruct due to severe pressure (the excessive funnelling of arcanum was causing the crystals to back up, so the cooling systems failed). The reactor core then had a severe meltdown, first imploding, then exploding and spraying Piltshire with contaminated arcane magic, resulting in hundreds of deaths.

The disaster led to a widespread public revolt against the use of magic, known as the Rune Revolution, and led to the formation of the Citizens Against Magic group.

Trivia

 * The Piltshire Accident is inspired by other nuclear disasters throughout history, such as Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima (2011).