Second Unhuman War

The Second Unhuman War was a conflict between elves and the scro that spread over several crystal spheres of the Prime Material plane in the mid-14th century DR. It was a direct consequence of the events of the First Unhuman War from four centuries earlier, as the scro―originally a group of orc survivors from the first conflict―sought revenge against the elves. They referred to the war as the War of Revenge.

My people are impatient―I shall teach them patience. My people are cowards―I shall teach them courage. My people think only of today―I shall teach them to think of tomorrow. My people lust for elven blood―this requires no teaching.

- Dukagsh

The Conflict

Prelude

The uncontested elven victory at the end of the First Unhuman War established the Elven Imperial Navy as the sole major power in all the known spheres for the next four centuries. Despite their good intentions, many spacefaring nations viewed the elves as overbearing and authoritarian maintainers of law and order across space, keeping the peace by quickly eliminating anyone who opposed them or did not recognize their inherent superiority. This arrogance led many other species to harbor resentment against spacefaring elves.

A group of orc survivors from the first conflict settled in a distant crystal sphere and, under the leadership of Dukagsh, developed into the highly advanced culture and civilization known as the scro. They were disciplined and organized, and all united in their burning hatred of elves.

The primary goal of the scro was to destroy every single elven ship and colony in the Material plane. Their secondary goal was to supplant the elven fleets as the main military power of Wildspace, allowing safe passage to spacefarers only in exchange for taxes. Some sages believed that the ulterior motive of the scro was in fact to become the only spacefaring power, pushing all other races back to the ground and perpetually keeping them there. Over the years, the scro recruited a large number of sympathizing individuals and groups to their cause,[3] including families of bionoids who had been cast out by the elves after outliving their usefulness.

Although no spacefaring nations formally aligned with the scro against the elves, their resentment was enough for them to assume a position of neutrality throughout the conflict. Others, such as the insectare, installed spies on both sides, hoping to benefit from both powers exhausting each other in a long war.

Deployment

The extent and brutality of the Second Unhuman War made it difficult to determine the total number of casualties of the conflict. However, a few elven fleets kept tally of their losses. In Greyspace, the fleet of Captain Kryssos, which originally had a crew of 4,160 elves and consisted of 24 armadas, 120 flitters, 18 men-o-war, 8 shrikeships, 7 radiant ships, and 12 eel ships, was reduced to a compliment of only 967 elves scarcely crewing 10 armadas, 12 decommissioned flitters, 1 man-o-war, 4 shrikeships, 1 radiant ship, and 5 eel ships. The fleet managed to capture three damaged mantis ships and took a few scro prisoners.

Battlefield

Although the conflict reached multiple spheres, it was not as widespread as the First Unhuman War had been. Some spheres, such as Krynnspace, remained largely untouched by the war. Some of the major battles were fought in Realmspace and Greyspace.

The Engagement

The war spread in earnest to Realmspace around the year 1360 DR, and to Greyspace approximately two years later. However, secret attacks and skirmishes were recorded to take place in other spheres as much as five years earlier, which made it difficult to establish an exact starting date for the conflict.

The early stages of the war were marked by an overwhelming advance of the scro fleets. For every scro ship destroyed, ten elven ships were lost. One of the first major engagements took place on the elven planet Lar, located in a remote crystal sphere. The attack by the scro rendered the entire planet uninhabitable and all but wiped out the elven fleet present in the sphere.

At the same time, scro established several bases of operation across Wildspace. In Moragspace, the scro found an old artifact from the First Unhuman War inside the corpse of a gammaroid: a dormant witchlight marauder, a planet-killing monstrosity engineered by orcs during the war. The scro intended to awaken the marauder and use it as a weapon against the elves.

In Realmspace, the Elven Imperial Navy was reinforced by the spelljammer fleet of Evermeet. After more than a dozen battles, the combined elven fleet managed to force a retreat by the scro over approximately two years following the initial invasion of 1360 DR.

In 1369 DR, the planet Arborianna was destroyed by a scro fleet, which set the entire surface of the planet on fire. An elven ship carrying gold elf refugees from the planet was saved from a scro attack by a ship with followers of Malar. With the help of Lolth, the gold elf survivors were then manipulated into joining Kymil Nimesin's attack on Evermeet.

In the phlogiston, near the Broken Sphere, the scro battlewagon Eviscerator attempted to take control of the Spelljammer, but the attack was unsuccessful.

Outcome

The Elven Imperial Navy narrowly managed to drive the scro fleets away from all crystal spheres they had invaded after a few years. However, the elves suffered extremely heavy losses. The damage to their ships and communication lines was so extensive that not even the elves themselves knew how much of their fleets had survived.

The decimation of their fleet broke the elves' hegemony over arcane space, opening the possibility for local spacefaring forces to exert more direct control over the wildspace of their respective spheres. However, a period of piracy, raids, and smaller wars was predicted to extend for decades after the decline of the elves until the situation stabilized again.[1] Historians also suggested that the surviving spacefaring elves would undergo a period of dispersion across different worlds, in a similar fashion to what happened to the humanoid races at the end of the First Unhuman War.

Aftermath

As a consequence of the war, weapon merchant guilds increased the distribution of smokepowder weapons across many spheres, hoping to provide adequate defensive weapons to humans, dwarves, gnomes, and other humanoids that had not not been directly involved in the conflict.

A few survivors of the scro fleet that were left in Realmspace were captured by the mind flayers of Glyth, while others were captured by the beholders of H'Catha. The scattered scro were also responsible for an increase in the presence of firearms in different spheres. In 1368 DR, a small scro fleet contacted Faerûnian humanoids to sell them weapons through Waterdhavian merchants and other contacts, but the fate of that fleet following the incursion was unknown.

In Realmspace, elven survivors and Elven Imperial Navy officers established residence in Evermeet, Evereska, and in the Elven Court in Cormanthor, where some acted as observers and advisors. A few elves from Evermeet were tasked with hunting down any surviving scro ships still present in the sphere. The The Lords of Waterdeep were also aware of the possibility that scro ships might still have remained in orbit around Toril after the war.

Although the main confrontation between the elves and the scro had died out over a few years in most affected crystal spheres, some sages suggested that the scro assault had been only an initial phase of a much larger conflict, which would be followed by further attacks in a prolonged war. The next phase was predicted by Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun to be a massive offensive by the descendants of ogre survivors of the First Unhuman War, who were regrouping and rebuilding their strength around the Steel Star.

Conflict Type

War

Start Date

1357

Ending Date

1362

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