After four years of mounting squabbles and with the eight-yearly duel for the Supreme Patriarch position coming up, Supreme Patriarch Alric of the Light Order was ambushed and frozen in crystal by an ambitious underling called High Luminary Horx, who then broke into the vaults of the Light College to engage in a little light reading of the Book of Volans, thinking it would make him powerful enough to take on all comers and secure the Supreme Patriarch position for himself. Instead, it drove Horx insane and unleashed a Storm of Magic upon Altdorf.
This was taken as a perfect opportunity to settle scores as everyone broke out all the most powerful of spells and artefacts that can only be used during Storms of Magic. The Bright Order fought against the Light Order, the Amethyst Order fought against the Celestial Order, the Amethyst Order fought amongst themselves after one of them summoned ghosts and was accused of necromancy. The Grey Order called in an allied Knightly Order called the Knights of Judgement to try to restore order, the Gold Order tried to pick off anyone that looked like they might be becoming too powerful, and the Jade Order hunkered down, animating all the trees in their quarter of the city to strangle any other Wizard that tried to approach. After a great deal of chaos, the Grand Theogonist of the time put an end to the matter by storming the Hall of Duels and executing Horx, which ended the Storm of Chaos so abruptly that the backlash killed everyone that was drawing upon it. The only College leader to survive was Alric, who gave up the Supreme Patriarchy in shame for not being able to stop Horx.
