Fourth Great Maelstrom

The 'Fourth Great Maelstrom began on July 1, 1916, triggered by the enormous loss of life at the Somme River battlefield. A massive nihil opens there and remains open until the storm ends; other nihils open around Europe, especially where other major battles have taken place. Spectres flood forth from the nihils, stirring the Tempest into a frenzy. Almost immediately, the Spectres conquer the Necropolis at Florence, creating their own Citadel and using the captured wraiths and relics to make enourmous pyres. From here, they spend the rest of the Maelstrom attacking the other major European Necropoli.

The storm becomes one of the most difficult to navigate; all but the heartiest Harbingers are afraid to navigate even well-known Byways. Trade between continents shuts down, Stygia finds itself cut off from the rest of the Shadowlands, and wraiths find that even their Fetters that rest on other continents are unreachable; any wraith that loses all of the Fetters on the contenent they are trapped on goes into a Harrowing as if they had no Fetters at all.

The Dark Kingdom of Ivory takes advantage of the Maelstrom to cleanse themselves of the invading Europeans; white and Indian soldiers who went to Africa to fight for the colonies and died there were forced into the Maelstrom by the Ivory Queen. Some estimate that only one wraith for every ten sent out of the Bush of Ghosts made it through the storm to Stygia or a Necropolis, and even then, the Indian wraiths want to continue to their homeland of Swar. Most Necropoli, already under a great strain, make as much room as they can for these pitiful, ragged souls.

Most of the Necropoli withstand the storm; several successful campaigns are made against the Spectres by the Legion divisions not wrapped up in the struggle against the Smiling Lord. The dead soliders from the War to End All Wars prove to be a great asset by bringing relic planes with them to fight above the storm. By 1929, the nihil at the Somme closes and the Fourth Great Maelstrom ceases to be.