Time-Fracture Incident
Due to the 08/08/08 catastrophe and reset, the timeline was accidentally damaged. This resulted in the Time-Fracture Incident, in which Nioca wound up getting split into two different entities, and time itself wound up twisting and looping upon itself.
The events took place in three "loops", which were the same set of hours repeated over themselves with different outcomes.
First Loop
The incident was brought about when, during the 08/08/08 catastrophe and reset, as a result of him tinkering with Moderation panels at the time, Nioca was hit by a rogue blast of energy from the time bubble that had encompassed the forum. Aside from blasting him out a window, it also created a second Nioca, at the exact point where he had been during the original timeline.
As a result of the First Nioca's injuries, and the shock of the timshift, that Nioca went insane and went on a vendetta against all BoE players and supporters. Despite attempts by Jewels to help him, he wound up fatally stabbing Vergil. The timeline then was further damaged; the original timeline proceeded where Jewels got help from w-dueck and Robsta, and helped track the insane Nioca down. Jewels died after trading her life for Vergil's, who was brought back. Meanwhile, under the Blades of Avernum Board, the second, still sane Nioca, after figuring out what happened, confronted w-dueck and Robsta, telling them about the split. Unfortunately, he was unable to convince them before Vergil arrived.
Time became particularly unstable at this point, and multiple timelines emerged. The first had Vergil kill the insane Nioca, only to then be overpowered by the sane Nioca. The second had Vergil break the sane Nioca's sanity, and had Robsta kill the insane Nioca. Overall, about five different timelines emerged. At this point, though thanks to Jewels father, time reversed, and the second loop began.
Second Loop
Jewels was brought back to the point just after the time bubble had occurred. Determined to interfere and stop the events leading up to the catastrophe, she intervened and locked the insane Nioca in the BoA Moderation center before his sanity broke, so as to protect Vergil and Nioca. However, this only wound up putting Jewels in danger; Nioca's sanity broke as before, and he still wound up killing Vergil. This time, however, he also attempted to attack Jewels. Robsta intervened and saved Jewels, but Jewels' interference had unexpected consequences; the insane Nioca escaped and trapped Robsta and Jewels in the moderation center, and started arming the traps earlier then before. He also got the idea to attempt to take over the Admin Tower, though was stymied in his first attempt. The armed traps also left Jewels' and Robsta facing a hydra; they killed the beast, but not before Robsta sustained injury. Jewels' attitude toward Nioca had also taken a turn for the worse.
Furthermore, the tampering caused the sane Nioca to meet up with w-dueck long before they did originally((in the original timeline, the confrontation was the first time the two had met since the time bubble)). This resulted in w-dueck, after fighting his way through the insane Nioca's traps, to realize that there must be two Niocas. Unfortunately, he only had enough time to explain this, grant adminship to Jewels, and revive Vergil before the insane Nioca attacked them, sending a horde of shades after them and creating a vortex of blades in the Mod center where the four where located.
At this point, the sane Nioca attacked the insane Nioca with a smite spell. However, some previously unknown effect of the Time-Fracture caused the ice bolt to slow as it approached the insane Nioca, and it eventually stopped until the insane Nioca moved out of the way. Furthermore, it's been posited that the insane Nioca's fast recovery was a result of some sort of intrinsic connection between both Niocas as a result of the Time-Fracture itself. This would also explain the unusual amounts of energy the insane Nioca demonstrated.
Meanwhile, the fight with the shades moved out of the Mod center. The four had successfully fended most of them off, but w-dueck was ambushed by a shade with special orders by Nioca. After nearly killing w-dueck, the shade fled, taking w-dueck's keys with it. Meanwhile, Vergil caught up with the Insane Nioca and set his Butterfly box full of creatures against him. However, a control foes spell sent them back on their master, and the creatures broke Vergil as the insane Nioca fled. The sane Nioca, Robsta, Jewels, and w-dueck came to his aid, and fled the BoA forum. Jewels took Vergil to her office whilst the Sane Nioca, Robsta, and w-dueck headed for the Admin Tower, unaware that the Insane Nioca was also heading there.
The insane Nioca used w-dueck's keys to enter the 23rd floor of the Admin Tower, reserved for forum demolition. He then, thinking that everyone was still in the BoA forum, targeted it for demolition; the admin tower flung some kind of massive magical explosive charge at the forum, obliterating it, anything inside, and sending a massive blastwave across the entire island. Jewels got caught in the blast, but due to her nature, she survived. The insane Nioca then headed to the top floor, from which he would be able to destroy the entire island. w-dueck, catching on, and now joined by Jewels, sent Nioca and Robsta to the Dump to disable all of the security measures for the forum. Jewels and w-dueck were then joined by Vergil, and all three of them charged into the 23rd floor. Unfortunately, they were caught offguard when they discovered it empty, and the insane Nioca threw a Phoenix Egg in behind them and closed the door. Jewels and Vergil were unharmed by the flames, but they were forced to raise barriers to protect w-dueck. Despite best efforts, they were unable to quell the flames.
While that was happening, Robsta disabled security and activated Vergil's Prelude to Ultimatum. It killed the insane Nioca before he was able to destroy the forums. Rushing back to the Admin tower, the Sane Nioca, then riddled with increasing vertigo, burst into the top floor and discovered it empty. However, Robsta opened the 23rd floor, and let the Quickfire out. It consumed Calamity Refuge. When the Sane Nioca reopened the door to the 25th floor, he was blasted out the window from the Quickfire explosion.
However, the vertigo was a direct result of the Time-Fracture about to heal itself. As the CRF was destroyed, time reverted one last time.
Final Timeline & Aftermath
The second reset effectually healed whatever damage had been done; only one Nioca was present. When blasted out the BoA Mod Center window this time, however, Nioca managed to convince Jewels to stay put, which helped him keep his sanity. He made a full recovery, but is now seeing double; seeing current events played along with what would have happened.
Everyone lost their memories of the first loop except for Jewels, and of the second loop save for Nioca. However, everyone occasionally sees flashes of the events, indicating that the memories are not gone, but merely suppressed. However, they generally require some sort of stressor to be triggered. Another oddity is that memories that did not take place at the CRF were left entirely intact, which means that the revelations between Jewels and Vergil also remained.
As a result of a prank pulled by Nioca, during a meeting with the three admins and Nioca regarding the incident, Jewels became unusually belligerent and attacked Nioca. She also demonstrated abilities akin to her nature, which has prompted Nioca to start investigating her, her new-found abilities, and her connection to Vergil.
The entire incident caused major changes in character personalities and relations. Relations between Nioca and Jewels have become seriously strained. The dynamics between Vergil and Jewels are also likely to change since they discovered they were siblings. It also has resulted in a minor, yet noticeable change in character for Nioca; he's taken on a more serious and slightly malevolent attitude.
