(07-23-2017, 11:25 AM)Valence Wrote: My mistake, should have checked. But I think my point still stands.
Definitely, yes. The Second Umbral Calamity lasted a year and a day ("for a full twelvemoon and a day did nature's fury ring"), which isn't even going into the Umbral Era of the pestilence that tends to happen to large groups of people in tight enclosed spaces.
The Third Umbral Calamity was Fire and drought, which takes time to have an effect. The Fifth Umbral Calamity was Ice and "endless winter", which also takes time to happen.
So having a Calamity take several years from the time the problems start rolling to the final crash is entirely plausible. Admittedly, the Seventh Calamity's crash was particularly dramatic, matched only by the Fourth Calamity, ie Allag's fall.
(I love the parallels between the Fourth and Seventh Calamity too. Apart from both involving Bahamut, there's also the fact that it wasn't the elementals or the gods or nature that caused the two Calamities; it was humankind alone as the direct instigator and mover of events.)