The First Battle of the Great Plains
The Cagstone gnomes began their existence on in the Otherworld, a land often called the Feywild. The lives of the gnomes in the Feywild was not pleasant, harassed by the evil Unseelie who would steal the children of the gnomes. The Unseelie would use dark magic to deform the gnomes they captured and force them to serve them. The gnomes would attempt to hide among the forests of the Feywild to stay safe from the Unseelie but every few generations the Unseelie would discover their homes raiding and kidnapping the children.
A powerful druidic shaman named Dagda rose to lead one of the largest tribes of the Cagstone gnomes. Dagda was a wise and powerful practitioner of the arcane arts. He conversed often with the many fairies and spirits of the Feywild learning their secrets, from whom he discovered a method to create portals connected to the Material Plane. With this knowledge Dagda formulated a plan to escape the foul Unseelie forever by transporting his tribe to this world freeing themselves from the reach of the Unseelie. Dagda convinced his tribe to accompany him on this wild journey and created the portal and his tribe migrated to the Feywild.
The Unseelie were crafty however and realized the Dagda's plan. Unable themselves to leave the dark corners of the Feywild they created the fomorions, a twisted, grotesque group of giants. The fomorions were dim witted but strong and were blessed by the Unseelie with cursed magic of the Evil Eye to aid them in capturing the Cagstone gnomes. The Unseelie used their powerful magic to create portals of their own unleashing the fomorions upon the Material Plane with instructions to find and return with the gnomes to be turned into slaves.
When the gnomes traveled through the portal there transferred to a large grassland they named the Great Plain. They lived here in small nomadic bands gathering wild plants, berries, and nuts for food. The gnomes encountered a few dangerous beasts but nothing so vile as the Unseelie and for a time they thrived. Dagda however began to have premonitions of the fomorions hunting for his people. Further Dagda could sense the encroaching evil of the fomorions magic. Dagda was powerful in the arcane arts but his abilities were stronger under the boughs of the forest than the open grasslands. He bid his people to gather and travel away from the fomorions searching for a forest they could move into for safety.
This was a slow process for though Dagda tasked scouts with traveling ahead of the tribes to locate a forest they still wandered the plains for weeks. Finally the scouts reported to Dagda that they located a forest to call home but as they neared this new homeland the fomorions finally caught up to them. Dagda feared that the gnomes being far smaller would prove little match for the power of the dreaded fomorions.
As Dagda exclaimed in despair a brave young craftsman name Goibnu stepped forward. Goibnu announced he would stand against the fomorions so that the remained of the tribe could flee for the sanctuary of the forest. Goibnu had a secret for before they fled the Feywild he had spent time forging a magical spear. As Goibnu held forth the beautiful weapon Dagda placed his hand upon it, drawing from the power of the sun Dagda blessed the spear with fire, naming the weapon Tiene.
Goibnu followed by a handful of young gnomish warriors turned to meet the powerful fomorions in battle. To their surprise they were able to resist the dark magic of the fomorions and the dull-witted giants dithered upon seeing the flaming spear. Goibnu and his warriors used this delay to slip between the ranks of the giants hobbling them before striking them down. Goibnu feeling invigorated by his troops success fell upon the fomorion leader attmepting to duel the monstrous giant. Though Goibnu fought valiantly he was quickly outmatched and with one fierce swing the fomorion cut off Goibnu's arm.
The shock of losing his limb caused Goibnu to faint. A group of the gnomish warriors gathered around Goibnu carrying him from the battle. With the gnomes distracted the fomorions began to regroup and Goibnu's cousin Micah realized that if the fomorions were able to gather their wits the gnomes would be slaughtered. He rushed forward with a small number of gnomish warriors swarming upon the legs of the giants. As Goibnu was rushed from the battlefield and carried into the forest with the retreating tribe Micah and his unit of warriors were killed.
Upon reaching the forest Dagda was able to use his magic to through a magical veil over the retreating gnomes. This spell hid the gnomes from the sight of the fomorions keeping the gnomes hidden. The fomorions unable to locate their prey soon gave up and retreated back to the portal created by the Unseelie. Goibnu was healed by the sister of Micah, the master herbalist and healer Brigid. The Cagstone gnomes spent the next few months building burrow homes in the forest, gathering food from the wilds and living in peace.
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