The 30-Year Winter

The effects were worldwide. Not a single surface was spared. In some regions with volcanic activity, snow and ice accumulated in caldera and cones. The drop in temperature and massive amounts of snowfall and debris accumulation acted as a cap for these volcanos, and when the magma finally built up enough pressure, they erupted with many times the force they normally would, sending even more debris into the sky, further elongating the effects of the original blast.

After the Cataclysm, massive amounts of dust and debris were hurled into the atmosphere. The resulting cloud began encircling the planet, and within days had blocked the light of The Twin Suns, dropping the temperatures on the surface precipitously. Unfortunately, this coincided with the cycle of the suns eclipsing, which added to the drop in temperatures. Seas began to freeze. Snow covered the land.

The winter dragged on for 30 years, and the few Arnathians and animals to survive struggled to stay alive.

Thirty years after the blast, the suns were in another warming cycle. The timing was ideal, and it had been 3 years since the last volcanic event. Without massive dust in the sky, light was able to reach the surface. The darker oceans warmed first, warming the coasts. By the peak of the warming, most of Arnathia had thawed, at least those sections that were normally more temperate. There were no massive cities or factories to create heat islands. Just nature returning to its cycle of birth and renewal. The celebration of survivors coming back into the world is celebrated in the Festival of Tonoos.