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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Knightfall" data-source="post: 279627" data-attributes="member: 2012">THE FOURTH ERAThe Black WarsWhile the Empire of Swords self-destructed from within the rest of Harqual’s human population fell on one another like rabid dogs.  For hundreds of years before the creation of the New Calendar (q.v.) and a few hundred after the rise of the Kingdom of the Jagged Peninsula (q.v.) did the city-states battle each other and anyone else who got in the way.  This time was known as the Black Wars.The dark warriors and priests of the Empire divided up the land and warred with each other until nothing was left of the Imperium's legacy.  Old alliances and friendships were forgotten and city-state after city-state fell into the bloody conflict.  It was almost like the mortal war during the time of the Divinity War never really ended.  Human armies simply switched sides, formed new alliances and fought former allies.New city-states rose to take the place of the fallen and then crumbled after years of war took its toil.  The barbarians of the Northlands isolated themselves from the wars as much as possible but even they were forced to defend themselves from time to time.  The elves of the Great Forest watched in horror as humans slaughtered each other for centuries.  Most of the warlords were smart enough to not attack the elves but every dark time has its fools and madmen.Roughly three decades before the creation of the New Calendar a truly vile warlord dedicated to Mussin took 5,000 troops into the forest near what is now modern day Thallin and proceeded to sack the elven lands of Amilynion before being overrun by the combined might of the remaining elves.  The lands around Amilynion were burned and infested with disease.  And all that remains of this region now is miles of vile, haunted swampland and the remains of the elven capital, now called Caer Amylinyon or the Ruins of the Grey.Amilynion was the homeland of the grey elves on Harqual and it widely known that the elves were betrayed by one of their own. The betrayer was said to be a vile female necromancer that supposedly made a pact with Xuar, which would grant her eternal life.  In return, she would use her influence and magic to distract her kin when the warlord’s army attacked.Amilynion’s people were either butchered or fled to the lands of the silver elves in Silverleaf or left for other lands across the continent.  Some believe that this is how there came to be elves in the desert wastes of the Great Expanse.  However, most scholars believe that most of the remaining grey elves left Harqual altogether.  Very few grey elves still live on Harqual now and most humans believe that there aren't any left.The warlord died, yet the elven necromancer lives on to this day, her real name forgotten.  Now, she is known by many names and aliases – Elrina the Foulsoul, The Betrayer, and The Enigma Sorceress being the most well known.  If killed she rises from the dead the following evening by possessing the nearest elf’s body, male or female.  Thus, she is impossible to recognise based on previous encounters.  She is completely loyal to Xuar.As the Black Wars continued to rage across the land, more and more demihumans fled or isolated themselves from the bloody conflict.  The dwarves of the Greystone and Sunus Mountains withdrew into their mountain homes completely, denying entrance to all, even others of their own kind.  The silver elves of the Great Forest placed high magic wards at the edge of their kingdom to prevent the humans from attacking their homeland.  The forest elves living in the southern half of the Great Forest protected their forest home more militantly than their northern cousins did.  Human warriors that dared enter the southern forest were usually never seen again.The gnomes and halflings either joined the silver elves in the Great Forest or fled to Southern Harqual where the fighting was a little less widespread.  In fact, almost all the gnomes left for the southern lands of the continent and settled in the Heverkent Forest and the Hinderfall Mountains.  They became steadfast allies with the rakasta against the few human warlords that dared to ride across the savannas of the southern lands.  Most halfling families weren’t as fortunate and those that didn’t seek safety with the elves or went south with the gnomes were soon either enslaved or killed.  As a result, halflings make up only about 10% of Harqual’s population to this day, while gnomes are a little more stable at 15% (35% in the south).The First Ogre War and the Eastern CouncilIn approximately 449 N.C., an event happened that would cease the Black Wars and bind humanity together.  Hordes of humanoids rose from the deepest swamps and swept down from the desolate mountain peaks, to ravage the cities of the north.  Lead by tribes of huge ogres loyal to the gods Gruumsh and Vaprak, these hordes of gnolls, bugbears, lizardmen, and orcs nearly swept humanity from the face of Harqual.In fact, in some places they were successful in destroying entire city-states in less than a week.  So busy fighting each other, the humans were taken totally by surprise.  The strange part was that the hordes simply took what they wanted each time they attacked and then continued south past the Great Expanse.  It was here that the hordes truly overwhelmed humanity as they wiped out human cities, towns, and fortifications in Southern Harqual.For a hundred years the First Ogre War, as it was called, raged across the land and humanity hung on for survival.  Only with the help of the dwarves of the Greystone and Sunus Mountains did humanity survive in north.  The dwarves, who knew how to fight ogres better than anyone, helped organise the human city-states and scattered soldiers into a force to be reckoned with.  Soon the humanoid hordes found themselves outmatched; they had spread their forces too thin and retreated to out of the way places to gain strength and seethe in anger (the First Ogre War officially ended in 551 N.C.).The dwarven people had hoped that all of humanity would reunite and bring stability back to Harqual.  Instead, most of the humans retreated to the coasts to distance themselves from the humanoid hordes and started to build and fortify new militant city-states.  The dwarven Thanes shook their heads in disbelief and returned to their mountain homes, vowing that humanity would stand alone the next time the hordes came.Only a small group of city-states on or near the eastern coast of Northern Harqual realised that an alliance amongst themselves would protect them all from another humanoid horde.  Thus, in neutral lands in the west near the shores of an (then) unnamed lake did the city-states sign the Treaty of Nest Lake and form the Eastern Council.  Binding them in honor and war against any that would threaten even one of them (including other members).  No one knows why the lake was given that name by the council or why other city-states near the lake were not offered a chance to sign the treaty.The current members of the Eastern Council are more like countries now than city-states and the Kingdoms of the Eastern Shores, as they are now called, is one of the most civilised areas of Northern Harqual.  Dominated by a few remaining kingdoms, these states comprise of Minar, Stonn, Thallin & Wolffire.  And while only two of the four are called kingdoms, they are all sovereign states.Of the four that are currently on the current Eastern Council, only the Barony of Wolffire joined the council after the original signing.  And only one major kingdom has resigned from the council peacefully, the Kingdom of Navirosov.  All other city-states that originally signed the treaty are now either part of one of the four kingdoms or turned on their rivals in a bid for power and were wiped out.  Oddly enough, the dwarves of the Sunus Mountains, who were offered a place on the council, decided against signing the treaty and disappeared from the mountain range altogether several years later.An Strange, Uneasy PeaceThe end of the First Ogre War brought peace to the continent, for the first time, for as long as even the elves could remember.  Everyone knew it wasn’t going to last.  The demihumans knew that the ogres would come again and the humans knew that if the ogres didn’t come soon they would start to fight amongst each other again. It was inevitable… for a 150 years it was inevitable.No one thought that the ogres would wait that long and that humanity would war with each other way before that much time had pasted, rather than live in peace.  Yet, for a century-and-a-half the continent was a quiet, tranquil place (for the most part).  Still divided, yes, but peaceful.  Old soldiers itched for battle, while younger ones wondered what all the fuss was about.  If the ogres did come, they’d be ready for them.  Why waste valuable resources and time fighting with each other?  This was the viewpoint of the young and it should be remembered that the young decide the future.In the Eastern Shores, harsh stability was the rule.  As noted above, council members that did try to conquer the others were quickly defeated, their city-states annexed as a warning to other council members not to violate the Nest Lake Treaty.  Soon city-states banded together to form countries and marriages between nobles of different countries cemented the Eastern Shores together.In the west, it was a little less stable.  Over a dozen minor skirmishes happened in 150 years but these conflicts never lasted long. No one wanted to fight a war in the middle of winter and there was always the threat of the ogres.  Two major city-states rose to prominence in this region at the time, completely oblivious to the civilisation that was growing in the Eastern Shores.  Onaway and Steins still stand to this day even though their names have changed countless times since then.Even the decadent Empire of Swords lay quiet during this time.  Sure they backstabbed and betrayed each other but they never invaded the surrounding lands once or fought any internal civil wars.  It was eerie to behold if you lived south of the Imperium in one of the many struggling city-states.  It was like the Imperium dogs were taking a long nap.  And in the lands of the elves and the dwarves, they waited.  150 years was nothing to them.  If the humans south of the Greystone Mountains stood together then they would join the fight.  If not, they would mourn the passing of a barbaric people they once called friends.The Second Ogre WarWhen the hordes came, they came in the thousands.  In 701 N.C., ogre chieftains led the hordes of humanoids once again, descending on the remaining city-states and countries of Northern Harqual.  And while places such as the Wild Plains and the Imperium were devastated by the war, the Eastern Shores held on for dear life.  They pushed back the ogres to the fringes of civilisation and refused to give in as more humanoids poured out from desolate plains, high mountains and the desert known as the Great Expanse.A group of heroes rose to fight the hordes.  A young paladin of Jalivier named Jacard Winternight, a family of rogues and mercenaries named Tigerstorm, a stanch soldier named Travathian Dragonguard, a sorcerer named Heward Tallinson, a dwarven fighter-priest named Brekk Thunderstone, a silver elf priest named Menkhar Silversun, a humble forest elf named Minonus Redwater and a barbarian chieftain named Recmair Hault.These adventurers turned heroes were key to stamping out the hordes of humanoids and the Second Ogre War lasted for less then a decade in the Eastern Shores.  However, the war did not end in the western lands until 713 N.C.The ogres and their followers fled back to most inhospitable regions on Harqual but some (most notably gnolls and orcs) stayed behind becoming regional bandits, whose descendants still raid the surrounding lands to this day.  In time, the heroes would become prominent citizens of the Eastern Shores.  Some would even become the rulers of their homelands.NOTE: Jacard Winternight rules Navirosov, Travathian Dragonguard became king of Thallin, Menkhar Silversun was crowned High One of the Silver Leaves, and Recmair Hault built the barbaric lands of Wolffire.In the west, all but Onaway and Steins fell to the ogres and the area is just starting to recover from the war.  Cut off from the east for almost 200 year, the west is now reconnecting with the Kingdoms of the Eastern Shores.  Elves are not as welcome in the west, as in the east, due to the fact that the city-states of the Wild Plains didn’t stand together against the ogres and the elves left them to their fate as a result.The Imperium suffered the most from the Second Ogre War or one should say the citizens did.  When the ogres attacked the rulers and nobles of the remaining city-states herded the people out into the countryside to sate the ogres’ bloodlust.  In return, the ogres didn’t sack all the cities of the Imperium.  Even some of the remaining dark gods turned away from the Imperium, fearing that the vile humans would drag down the Pantheon of Swords with them.Several ogre tribes also tried to conquer the gnomes and rakasta of the south but met heavy resistance and were forced to flee north into the Great Expanse.  However, once there they had to flee the mysterious desert dwelling elves of the Expanse, moving further north into the Sunus Mountains or across the waters to one of the many islands that dot the region.For years after the war ended, the civilisations of Harqual rebuilt and fortified their lands, building new kingdoms and forming trade alliances with new neighbours.  Hoping that the conflict and strife would finally end.  They were wrong.The Year of the Dawn (748 N.C.)The year 748 on the New Calendar was a year rife with rumors and change.  The spring began like any other over the previous decades after the Second Ogre War, a wild peace waking from its slumber.  Into this peace came rumors that the Empire of Swords may be on the move again and that a third war against the ogres loomed on the horizon.The High Thane of the Kingdom of the Greystones, Ulfgar Blackforge, was killed by a small band of ogres leaving his young, inexperienced daughter, Sannl Blackforge, as his successor.  Brekk Thunderstone becomes the unstable child’s sole confidant and advisor as she refuses to listen to anyone else.  Eventually, she seals off the dwarven kingdoms from the humans and elves, trusting neither race to the point of paranoia.In the capital city of the Kingdom of Thallin, a young band of adventurers is chosen for a mission to travel to Onaway in the western lands and try to solidify a trade alliance with whoever might still be living there.  This group of adventurers faces orcs, ogres and a mysterious foe during the journey.  Once through the Wild Plains they reached the city-state of Onaway, make a pact with its ruler, Than LaMarche, for an alliance with the Kingdom of Thallin, and uncover a plot to assassinate him.Then the forest elves in Woodknot shock their northern cousins and the people of the Eastern Shores by sealing off the southern half of Great Forest from all other races.  All those forest elves that were currently away from Woodknot were ordered to return or become outcasts in the eyes of their people.  Some did return home but others did not.Decades earlier, a wild-eyed old priest of the Pantheon of the North preached the coming of an old evil back to the lands of Harqual.  Very few listened or even cared.  The people were tired of listening to the old stories, now was the time for change and peace.  They should have listened because change was the least of their worries.</blockquote>

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