Civil war triggered by the Flaying, divided and eventually broke the Erlyid Empire
1855
The damage of the Ritual of Flaying in 1850 extended over the eastern border and engulfed most of the war zone between Nhased and the Erlyid Empire, destroying ninety percent of the fighting capability of both nations in one stroke. Five years later The Erlyid Empire dissolved into chaos as the nobles of the relatively newly settled northern provinces perceived the Emperor as weakened by the loss of his troops in the Flaying, and revolted. Duke Antorian Arric emerged as the leader of the Northern Empire and made his bid for the Imperial Throne. Civil war tore the Empire into two, then into more parts as other factions surfaced and the fighting escalated over the following years
City after ancient city was destroyed as one or another faction gained or lost ground, and priceless, irreplaceable things and knowledge were lost forever.
By 1950 the War began to gutter out, more because all the factions were becoming exhausted rather than due to any move towards peace. Only shreds of the Erlyid Empire remained. Little kingdoms and petty warlords rose and fall and consumed each other in the shadow of the ruins of greatness. After a thousand years of empire, the ability to subsist in small isolated communities was lacking in the Erlyid, and starvation and hardship increased the rate at which the population dwindled. Thornal fell for the first time in 1963; it was taken again and again over the following years until it was entirely ruined and nearly worthless.