Mera's Curse

Mera's Curse is said to be the redirection of the river away from the city gradually starving it, but given how gentle a goddess Mera is, her mighty wrath was fairly slow, giving the locals plenty of time to relocate.   Narecht City has had many rulers over many centuries but after it fell under the control of Vladimir the Conqueror, the river started changing course and drying up slightly. The river changed only a tiny bit a year, but after about a century, Narecht City was no longer able to accomodate barge traffic. The river was only a barely passable water source requiring a lot of magical Purification or boiling to drink safely.   The river continued moving away from the city after Vladimir was reportedly slain forever and his empire destroyed. The river movement slowed down but did not stop. Now Narecht City is not a river city at all and the surrounding area's farmland is far less fertile than it used to be creating a city that is only partially occupied while over half the city empty with only the grandest old buildings still occupied and the rest left to rot occupied by desperate squatters and the occasional poltergeist.