Great Mioky Catastrophe
The Great Mioky Catastrophe was a disaster in Mioky, capital of the Maengtau empire, occurring on 14 July 1473. It was caused by unknown and disputed circumstances and caused the devastation of 'much of the city', killing about 50,000 according to contemporary records. Official investigation into the event placed the blame on scholars part of the All-Powerful Cauldrons movement who attempted to synthesize 'transmundane materials', likely either dzunim or dzunyeng, in the capital city's observatory alchemical furnace, causing the disaster with their tampering of universal forces. This served as a catalyst in suppression of the movement, part of an anti-scientific reaction in the Cotric world.
Documentation
The contemporary official history Chronicles of the Empire reported the initial incident as:
In the afternoon of [14 July], a fireball consumed the Great Observatory [in Mioky] and around it gathered thick walls of smoke. The earth trembled and thundered. Much of the city collapsed and
hundreds of acres of houses were utterly flattened, great cracks emerged in the earth and far away a great force had swept debris to. Many parts of the city were soon ablaze and also blanketed in grey smoke.
The description is very vague as to the causes of the explosion, and was possibly deliberately worded as such to implicate transmundane tampering while avoiding risky discussion of heretical terms.
The History of Hwak compiled in the late 16th century however mentioned only a 'great earthquake' and no fires or explosions. The Hong dynasty The Preceptor-Emperors on the other hand reported it as a 'large-scaled gunpowder explosion that caused a fire which destroyed much of the city and the imperial palace'.
Speculation of causes
Earthquake
Gunpowder
Arson
Nuclear explosion
In the 20th century the outlandish theory of the catastrophe being a nuclear explosion was proposed by Asuran scholars, especially some circles in Carcossica, and other Ksaiist countries which bore doctrinal affinities for Cotrism and thus had a fascination with Cotric civilization. Proponents of the nuclear explosion theory claim the consistency of claims of 'transmundane manipulation' and the documentation of the incident with a possible nuclear meltdown. These theories were supported by and largely had the same subscriber base with the idea that Cotric civilization had attained superior technology in the 15th century especially lous which were believed by proponents to be primitive nuclear reactors.
This is today regarded mostly as a fringe theory, argued against due to lack of evidence as well as infeasibility of nuclear science at that time as well as taking records at face value. It has some popularity with conspiracy theorists, and has recently even found subscribers in Catai itself.
Aftermath
Emperor Kenlam had been away on a military campaign in what is today Tangkuo during the incident and thus survived, however many members of the imperial family including the Empress-Consort, the Crown Prince and multiple other princes were killed or otherwise missing. An emotional blow for the emperor, this was taken advantage by the Hanshiuists, a prominent school of scholars opposed to increasingly bold expansions of natural science in Cotrism, who were able to convince the Emperor that the disaster was the work of All-Powerful Cauldrons scholars. This was followed by an investigation repeating those claims. The Hong dynasty era Mioky history The Preceptor-Emperors claimed that the entire committee presiding over the investigation was without exception major Hanshiuist figures.
Poor alchemical practice had already caused numerous disasters albeit much smaller for many times before and the catastrophe was what was needed to convince the public and much of Cotric scholarship the dangers of 'unrestrained cosmic exploration'. As Preceptor, Kenlam declared any attempts to synthesize transmundane materials 'a heresy of the highest degree' and also banned production of certain makes of furnaces. About 5,000 scholars involved with the All-Powerful Cauldrons were arrested, many were stripped of their positions and even put to death for propagating heresy. The major observatories the movement operated in were burnt down.
In the long run, scientific efforts in Cotrism would stagnate in favour of greater philosophical and occult developments that emerged as part of the reaction, however with political crisis unravelling in the 16th century and instability wracking southern Catai later this ultimately marked the period as one of little accomplishment.