At the end of the God Wars, the Lich Queen's capital was destroyed by a cataclysmic explosion. The physical and magical shock-waves reverberated around the world. The shock-waves interacted with each other, sometimes strengthening, sometimes canceling each other out. Land masses were reshaped, civilizations wiped out, and magic itself was unstable on Norath for many years afterward. This event marks the beginning of the modern era.