Cataclysm (Cornucopias Earth)
The Cataclysm, sometimes called "The Calamity" was an event in Cornucopias Earth's history that started in an unknown year and caused widespread ecological and societal damage.
Details about the event are still missing and only the effect of moving a part of the human population up in the sky is somewhat documented.
It forever changed Cornucopias Earth from a prosperous human cradle to an arena of survival and hardships. At the same time it split humanity between the Sky and the Surface.
Causes
The Cataclysm is believed to have been triggered by experimentation conducted through scientists operating under unknown jurisdiction, somewhere on a tiny atoll in the Pacific.
The experimentations focused on new technologies, presumably world gate technology.
During experimentation an accident occurred due to, as yet undocumented, causes. The conflagration triggered by the accident consumed the atoll and presumably a large part of the Pacific was engulfed in the strange physics emanating from the epicentre.
Effects
Immediately after the accident, the Pacific was rocked by tidal waves pushed by the force of the explosion from the accident. Then the ocean and landmasses in it were subjected to shockwaves moved by forces from the accident's centre. Lastly most of the Pacific was rendered uninhabitable.
This accident also had long term effects on not only the Planet's ecology, but the very fabric of reality was unravelling in certain parts of the world.
In such unstable conditions, ecosystems and societies began to break down. More with every passing year.
Response
In response to this planetary emergency the governments and corporations of the World banded together to save what they could.
At this time we do not have information about how far along was the creation and construction of the massive sky arcologies. If these sky constructs were already in the works and repurposed to save humanity or their design and building was done after the Calamity occurred.
The idea was to use the sky arcologies to move the population at a distance and remove them as much as possible from the effects of the Calamity.
Escape
It is presumed that once the domes were ready, the Ascension began by which the human population, fauna, flora and portable human cultural achievements were moved from the Surface into the newly constructed domes.
A hundred million humans were moved from the Surface to the Sky and into the sky arcologies. More documentation work needs to be done to fully catalogue what else was saved.
At present
The initial thrust of the Cataclysm seems to have ended. At present the ecology of the planet is in a precarious balance, with many areas being scarred beyond life’s habitability and areas under constant threat. Smaller disturbances do appear in random locations at random times in the more habitable areas, including inside the sky arcologies.
However it seems that nature is very slowly healing and there are areas even in the devastated Pacific where we can see a reduction in the effects of the Calamity. Still a long journey ahead, but a hopeful one.