Reweaving

Imagine you had a garment, all of one color. Rather, you have dozens of garments, each of different color and thread. And someone comes along and cuts them to pieces, some large, some small. But you need clothes, so you have to reassemble the garments piece by piece. But it's dark, so your clothes end up a patchwork. Ok, maybe that analogy is flawed... -- Dhirtarashtra Gharapure, scholar of the Reweaving.

In approximately 247 AC (but exact timing is unknown due to the effects of the event itself), something happened that fractured history and memory throughout the east-central Great Rift. Memories and records from various locations do not match, and physical artifacts and peoples are mixed together in ways that defy reason.

Area of Effect

As far as anyone from Ikela knows, the effect is confined to the watershed of the Ind river and its children the Jao and Sheo. The effect seems most pronounced (smallest "shards" and most discontinuities) as you go further south and west; the capital region and bay are only mildly affected (with regions the size of a city or larger being internally consistent). By the time you reach Surat, only blocks are consistent, and the river-side colonies are yet worse affected. Within any shard (and even between adjacent shards), memories are whole--no one remembers a discontinuity. It's only by observing separated shards that the picture of the damage becomes clear.

Outside of Ikela and its surroundings, this event is not known at all.

Theories

Alternate Probabilities/Shards of If

This theory holds that there are many possible universes, existing in parallel and branching off when decisions happen. "Something" happened to shatter some of the parallel universes and then stitch the fragments together like a stained-glass window. This theory is most common among the scholarly.

Malicious Memory Modification

This theory says it's a mass delusion, brought about by some malign power. This theory is most common among the common folk, who have any number of candidates for blame (a common one is the Evil Dragon, said to be reborn).

Divine Curse

This theory attributes it to divine (or primal) interference, usually for the sins of mankind. This theory is most common among the religious.