Okay I just spoke with the Drybone guard Z'llayan and she said: Fools being named by others as the newly come Archons have been heard spouting nonsense about the end of the world. Pay them and their empty words no heed.

So I guess the NPCs spawning around are the Archons, pretty cool how they tied everything with this event...I hope all events are this deep and play a role in the story from here on out.