The Dusk War
A war and subsequent occupation of Northern Terrenos by Elven forces of Feyr Ardun
Mistrust between the delvers and the elven race runs deep, and much of this mistrust springs from a period of elven expansion that began almost 3000 years ago, and culminated in an aggressive Elven empire occupying much of Terrenos. To the humans, halflings, gnomes and other shorter-lives races, the events of this war has faded into legend; but for the longer-lived delvers, many living today have grandfathers who remember the tales of their grandfathers who fought in the war.
In the years preceding the war as the human civilisations to the north rebelled against the Dragon Kings, their fledgling kingdoms were beset by a resurgence of Pallite invaders from the Dyrnspines, empowered by the slow weakening of the Celestial Scale and the revival of demonic cults to the north. A great comet flared across the sky, and the elves believed this heralded the beginning of a new Starfall.
The war began with the incursion of fey creatures into the world during a time known as the Age of Paucity. In the aftermath of the First Dragonform War, much of the magic that had suffused the world in the age of the Gods had fled. The long lifespans of the first races diminished, and many among the Elves knew death for the first time. This Age of Paucity ended as the ancient enchantment known as the Celestial Scale weakened with time and neglect from the clerics of Selyne, and the first fey creatures managed to find their way from the previously inaccessible Feywild into our world. Their whispers turned the ears of the Elven ruler Ionen III, and they ushered in a new age of magic as they rekindled the arcane arts for the elven empire.
Ionen’s Folly began with the elves sending support to the human Kingdom of Calladron to the north to assist on their defence against Pallite invaders from the mountains to the north. Initially altruistic, as the tide of the war turned, the elven assistance turned into occupation. Within centuries, both the Seelie and Unseelie courts had entered Dyrn and the elves had abandoned any pretence, occupying much of northern Terrenos in an ongoing war that would last over a thousand years.
Eventually, the Elves were pushed back by an alliance of humans, delvers, halflings, and gnomes. After a vicious attack on the ancient Safehold of Titespur, a Forecleric of Gyrd called down a divine curse on the entire elven race, creating within them a vulnerability to the material known as lynesalt, an iron ore found deep within the mines of the delvers. This curse gave the delvers an advantage as they developed the ability to brew the potent elven poison known as Elfsbane.
The war ended as a group of elves and fey creatures, in opposition to the ongoing bloodshed, martyred themselves to reinforce the Celestial Scale, once more preventing easy access to the material plane. Their sacrifice reignitds the leylines across the world of Dyrn and led to a new Age of Abundance, as wild magic entered the world. The elves withdrew back to the jungles of southern Terrenos, and as his last action as ruler of the elves before he was usurped by another, Ionen III raised the Thornwall to isolate the elven kingdom from the rest of the world.
Start Date
3137
Ending Date
3493
