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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 3580404" data-attributes="member: 2020">The Doomgrinder clicked into position.  Vecna and his Legions came from the past into the present.  Vecna elected not to become a deity.  Conversely, he was not opposed by any deity directly.  Kas came forward in time also, ready to oppose Vecna.  But Iggwily the Arch-Traitor had foreseen the coming of Vecna and was enamored of him.  She slew Kas and hid his sword.  The combined strength of the Flanaess would have been sufficient to withstand Vecna, had they been united and at full power.  But the Flanaess and other places were decimated and divided.  And Acererak declared himself Vecna's loyal vassal, and placed himself and his services at Vecna's feet.  Vecna immediately went on the offensive, after emerging from Tovag Baragu in the heart of the Spirit Empire of Garnak.  He decreed annihilation for all the Baklunish, all elves, all drow, all humanoids, and most other chaotic beings.  His legions, countless millions strong, moved swiftly to make those edicts into reality.    The Union of the Flanaess - Furyondy, the Urnst Nations, Nyrond, Keoland, the Duchy and County of Urnst, the Yeomanry, Greyhawk City and the Council of Eight, Varnaith, Nippon, the Pearl Elves, the Pomarj (Turrosh Mak faced destruction otherwise), the Fellreev, and others allied against Vecna.  Even the Celestial Imperium joined.  But Delrune stayed apart, Chauntosbergen out of sheer terror did not join, the Solistarim refused to even talk to diplomats sent their way, Zingia declared it's support for Vecna against Varnaith, and the Skydwellers were indecisive.  The drow refused to ally with anyone, but the illithid immediately and eagerly took Vecna's side, much to Vecna's pleasure (they would be rewarded for this, later on.)  The Baklunish would have joined, but the war was over for them before they had a chance.  Other nations of Oerik in the west did not heed the diplomats in time, so by the time they armed and readied, the war was upon them.  In Greyspace, the powers out there simply did not react fast enough, and the war was upon them also, by the time they were ready.  Swiftly Vecna destroyed the Baklunish, then the drow under the Hellfurnaces, Crystal Mists, and Barrier Peaks, then the Valley of the Mage.  He then crushed the Union of Oerth, broke the Celestial Imperium, accepted the surrender of the Solistarim and Skydwellers, then conquered the western parts of Oerik.  Simultaneously, his legions destroyed the Pearl Elves and the merfolk and triton nations of the Solnor Ocean.  Acererak's peoples were spared.  Vecna allowed that suloise humans would become citizens of his new Suloise Imperium.  The oeridians and flannae would be allowed to remain ... as slaves.  Dwarves were welcome to remain, as long as they worked for him.  The illithid were granted full rights and vast cattle farms to suit their needs, and given large realms to be their own.  Halflings were useless to Vecna, so they were given over to the illithid.  Gnomes were considered chaotic, and exterminated wherever they were found.  As a general rule, the solistari races were spared, and put to work for the greater glory of the suloise people.  A similar situation to the one in the flanaess, occurred elsewhere across the planet, then across Greyspace.  Trade with other crystal spheres broke off.  The gith mercenaries fled the system, along with many others.  Vecna declared himself Emperor, and made his new seat of power Greyhawk City.  He began the restoration of the Sea of Dust to it's original green state.  Peace descended upon Greyspace, Oerth, and the Flanaess.  Vecna's peace.  In Delrune, the elves and drow - regardless of their new dark power - found themselves up against an opponent they could not win against.  They fought, and they perished.  All of them.  All except the elves of the city of Haldendrea.  That city was missed, for the same reasons one stepping on thousands of ants might miss some of them.  The fifteen thousand elves therein found themselves suddenly alone, totally isolated, and not daring any communication outbound.  The blood spilled caused the planet of Oerth to convulse.  The Yatils heaved upward in plateaus, lakes of magma, and spewing volcanoes.  The Yatils crumbled and sank beneath the waves of the Whyestil (Chautosbergen remained, however.)  The former ridges of Swantmoor surged up into a line of jagged teeth.  All the land northwest of what had been Perrenland rose into highlands.  Delrune sank, badlands and all.  The pools grew and joined.  The poison from blood shed spread into every tree and shrub, every rock, every inch of topsoil.  The now frigid Whyestil enlarged and ran into the region.  The new swamp spread into former Calrune, and right up to the cliffs of the convulsing Yatils.  It spread north to the highlands beyond Perrenland.  It lapped at the base of the rock spires to the south.  It became known as the Great Grungy Swamp.  The climate of western Delrune became superheated, the east arctic, and the central region where Haldendrea was became stormy, alternating from hot to cold, water to snow, pure air to poisoned air.  Very quickly after this happened, all manner of monsters came into the swamp.  The swamp killed most of them, but some thrived and made a bad place even worse.  The civilized races around the Swamp avoided it, and - thinking all the elves therein were dead - Vecna turned his attention elsewhere, to bigger things.  This, then, was the environment in which the elves of Haldendrea had to live in, from that point on.</blockquote>

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