Editing Mercantile Alliance (section)

===The Shattering===
In [[Calendar#Year 2964|2964]], the weather in Orodeth began to grow chaotic and unpredictable. Earthquakes became more frequent, as did attacks by monsters. An adventuring group known as [[Drake's Company]] determined that four elemental cults were behind these disturbances, and reported this to the leaders of Drakkengarde. Unfortunately, Drake's Company was stymied by local bureaucracy. In addition, many whom they spoke to were hesitant to put resources towards fighting what they saw as a minor threat--and one they saw little direct profit in--and trusted Drake's Company to do what needed to be done on their own. Though a token force of soldiers was dispatched to the caverns below [[Feathergale Spire]] after the [[aarakocra]] [[Bran]] pulled some strings, the Mercantile Alliance did little to battle the cultists themselves.

Tragically, the Alliance's lack of support led to the defeat of Drake's Company in [[Calendar#Year 2965|2965]]. Less than a month later, the [[Cult of the Black Earth]] and the [[Cult of the Crushing Wave]] summoned the [[primordial]]s [[Ogrémoch]] and [[Olhydra]] into the Material Plane. The clash between these two beings created a series of cataclysmic earthquakes that sunk most of Orodeth beneath sea level, and tidal waves that scoured the land. Drakkengarde was completely destroyed. Northeron survived, being built into the high cliffs, but its harbor and the fleet moored there were obliterated.

With virtually its entire leadership killed at Drakkengarde, and the complete loss of its power base, the Mercantile Alliance was for all intents and purposes defunct. Those who remained in Northeron focused their attentions almost entirely on the city, leaving the rest of Orodeth's beleaguered survivors to fend for themselves.

[[Category:Organizations]]