The Roaring Silence

"On the first day, Man was granted a soul. And with it: certainty."
— The Book of Qurilius 2:1
"On the second day, an evil rose from the earth which sought Man: a demon, coveting his light."
— The Book of Qurilius 3:1

The Roaring Silence (0003 BCE - 1109 AD) was a period in Aelish history in which humanity would face an existential threat in the form of an endless onslaught of demons. This era started shortly after the completion of Aelayeron's High Wall created and garrisoned at first solely by the steel men. But as the war continued, more and more of humanity's greatest would stand beside the ancient warriors to defend all which was good in the world.

Namesake: "The Roaring Silence" (album by Manfred Mann's Earth Band)
Leitmotif: "Blinded By The Light"

The Five Arch Demons

Awiimoweh: The Hand to Crush the Setting Sun

Bah'diah: The Mantle to Swallow the Gliding Moon

Alangalangalang: The Sword to Rend the Empty Earth

Obladi'oblada: The Light to Burn the Darkened Sky
Ah'Ah'Ah'Ahaah: The Promise to Shatter the High Wall

Date: October 31st 0003 – July 4th 1109 (1105 years, 8 months, 5 days)

Background

The Amal-Gahr Continent

Year 0 of the Aelish calendar marks the completion of the High Wall. Up until that point, the nation had enjoyed a very closed-off existence, keeping to itself as it tried to process the then-recent discovery of its divinity. Up until the war began, most Aelish probably assumed the High Wall was intended to keep out the Landesterne Empire, which at the time was the single most-powerful civilization of the known world. Yet this was not so. The Oracles of the High Wall, simulacra of priestesses some say were older than the Wall itself, spoke of something so terrible that even the gods, steel men, and High Wall may not be enough to survive it.

"The monster turns his shield to splinter; will Man survive to see the winter?
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust; now the armor shows its rust."

And in the months following the High Wall's completion, these greater things would come to light. Aelish who settled outside the massive structured would flock to seek shelter within, bringing tales of strange and horrifying things out in the east. And soon enough, these tales were proven as the monsters would trickle in from the lands beyond, defying both mortal and divine will to bend or break.

by Nincho | Ayonerra

The Wider World Beyond

Curiously, the Roaring Silence seems to have been localized solely to the Amal-Gahr continent. Stranger still, demons seemed drawn to Aelayeron, ignoring any path not taking them directly to the High Wall. Though they would still hunt and kill any humans in their sights, the monsters would otherwise explore no further than the edges of the Landesterne at the base of the Sabaton Mountains. Aside from a handful of records in which Destians witnessed the odd demon straying into their midst or a bubbling horizon, one could be forgiven if skeptical as to whether the monsters existed at all by how localized the accounts were.

Course of the War

The First Roar

One autumn day, the oracles of the High Wall woke in unison, uttering a single terrifying phrase.

"It begins."

Whereas the demons before were faint whispers and chance encounters in the scattered wilds of the continent, now uncountable thousands upon thousands of them had appeared. Just as before, even the major deities proved unable to simply impose their will and turn the monsters to ash, instead having to directly vanquish them with mortal magics. For reasons unknown, these monsters were driven by two primal desires: to head west towards Aelayeron, and to kill any humans they came across. They were ugly, bestial creatures much like bulbous salamanders or deformed fish which crawled upon the earth, each with the hauntingly beautiful face of a xotili woman mocking the human emotional spectrum.

An ocean of pale limbs, blank eyes, and laughing faces swelled outside of the High Wall, the structure's purpose at last revealed to the Aelish. But it was then that the gods showed that even if they did not know why, they knew what needed to be done, as they led the first of the steel men to garrison the nation's border. What followed was nothing short than a nightmare which lasted for over a hundred years, as a near-continuous stream of demons threw themselves upon the wall. Generations would be born, grow old, and die before at last the horrific conclusion of this war presented itself. One day, a new monster appeared. One that was felt as a rumbling in the earth months before it was a shape on the horizon. And at night, its golden halo was so bright it was as a second sun by the time it reached the High Wall. The demons proved that they too, had their own twisted gods.
And in that halo, even those who could not read understood, as the Arch Demon's power was so great it would not allow ignorance to its presence: Awiimoweh, the hand to crush the setting sun.
Described as a dragon composed of two colossal arms, Awiimoweh latched its maw to the top of the High Wall, pushing itself through and over the top in an attempt to enter. Thankfully, Kings Barossa and Heike had made it in time to battle the Arch Demon and for six hours did everything in their power to prevent its entry into the country. Come the dawn, Wiimoweh's corpse was greeted by the sun and the Aelish celebrated.

"That man— No, that boy has been dead for longer than our gods had lived. Yet I still remember him. He was young, sharp, and beautiful; every bit like the blue roses on his tabard. And like those roses, he was gone before the spring.
One of the demons, it grabbed him by the shoulder and in a blink threw him over the wall. However, he did not hit the ground; no, to be dashed upon the rocks would've been a mercy. Even from the Wall on high, we could hear him. He begged, and cried, and screamed as they tore him limb from limb.
And they laughed. It was a gentle sound, like a daughter would give her beloved father."

The Second Roar

For a time, people assumed that was it. The defeat of Wiimoweh was followed by the near-instant destruction of all lesser demons, revealing it was in fact the Arch Demon that shielded the monsters. The gods felt nothing as far as their aura could stretch, and the oracles said no more. All was well. Yet, this only lasted a single mortal lifetime, as one day the oracles stirred, warning of impending doom. The silence had been broken.
The Second Roar may have started the same as the First, but it would quickly differentiate itself. Demons in the Second Roar were noticeably more varied and complex than their predecessors. Flowers made of arms opening up to gaping maws large enough for a man, his aurochs, and their cart to be engulfed; walking trees with barbed tendrils swinging in every direction; scorpions of human torsos joined at the shoulder. All of it terrifying. All of it deadly. So too was the Second Arch Demon, a swollen balloon of flesh with thousands upon thousands of grasping arms as long as the High Wall was tall: Bah'diah, the Mantle to Swallow the Gliding Moon.
Though it managed to pass over the High Wall, Bah'diah's time in the country's borders was thankfully short at only four hours. However, the destruction it brought upon anything and anyone unfortunate to pass under it proved just how far above an Arch Demon was to the rest of its kind. It's estimated over 98% of Lenicce City, a settlement built directly behind the High Wall, was wiped out in the six minutes Bah'diah spent above it. On its way deeper into Aelayeron, Bah'diah would fall after being intercepted by Kings Calenvo and Qurilius. As the dawn rose, this time there was no celebration. Relief, yes, but no festivities; to the Aelish, they now had time to wrestle with the thought that first manifested with the initial sightings of these new demons.
This would happen again.

The Third Roar

"It flew onto the High Wall. They'd never done that before. It opened its wings, like those of a great butterfly, and the eyespots swiveled down to gaze upon me. Then it opened its maw, and let loose a sound like that of a crowd of screaming children mixed with something deep and terrible.
And I knew then, what it meant to prefer death over anything else."
— Anonymous steel man in regards to the first demons of the Third Roar

Where the First Roar was an age of simpler, crude demons, and the Second an explosion of experimental body-plans, the Third was unsettlingly uniform. Nearly every demon was a hulking, elongated beast of massive size and strength to match. It was an era in which dragons blotted out the stars at night and rendered the day a tattered cloth. Yet mankind had not spent the past Silence idle. By this point the most legendary of magi would be born to tip the scales in Man's favor. Notable figures from this era include Saints Priscilla of the Starlight Sword and Salvador of the Secret Door. This Roar is also where the strongest and greatest number of Miracles originated.

The Arch Demon in this Roar has the distinction of being the largest of the five. Alangalangalang was so massive it easily propped itself up the High Wall and climbed over it, proceeding to vomit an acid to eat through Aelayeron's great shield. It partially succeeded, as for the first time lesser demons had entered the country and proceeded to wreak havoc where they could. Though this chaos was mitigated to military forces nearest to the breach due to the sheer number of demons attacking positions which were largely difficult to defend. Humanity had learned from their last encounter. And in that same way, the gods too did learn, as this time all five of the major deities would arrive to slay Alangalangalang and the other dragons shortly after.

The Fourth Roar

By the Seventh Century, the old song would play again and the Fourth Roar would begin in earnest as the demons returned to siege Aelayeron. And just like before, the Aelish found that their ancient enemies had evolved, but in a way unexpected and most uncanny. The night of the Fourth Roar's first true battle, rather than a horde of of shrieking beasts or writhing masses, an army stood and awaited the command to move forward. It was an army of misshapen creatures which only vaguely resembled the body-plan of humans, standing upright with two legs and an average of two arms, but it was an army nonetheless. The bigger demons, having heads crested by the same gentle face as all others, stood at arms-length in front of the smaller ones with enormous clubs or axes made from uprooted trees; the smaller ones held crude bows, spears, or the occasional sword; but the real danger was presented when a white demon with the head of a crow raised its staff and gave a shrill cry.
The others joined their voices to the crow. And then they all walked forward.
And in a move none saw coming, before the first battle truly began, a pillar of light from beyond the horizon impacted the High Wall, shaking it from end to end. Though the hole was small, barely big enough for two men at a time, it was clean and went straight from one side to the other. The Wall had been breached in less than a moment. The battles after would be bloodier and more brutal than those prior, but relief would not be seen for years, as nearly every time one breach would be sealed, another blast would strike from beyond the horizon. Then one day, King Qurilius decided it would be worth the risk and flew out to find the source of these attacks.
Two days later, as if a bell had been rung, the remaining demonic armies were burned away in an instant, signaling their evil master's defeat. King Qurilius would return two weeks later, stumbling to the High Wall and in a state worse than he'd ever been, but his fist raised high in triumph. From his testimony, the Fourth Arch Demon Obladi'oblada had been the source of the beams puncturing the High Wall. It may have been weak enough in a direct fight for one of the major deities, but that only meant King Qurilius was lucky to have made it back by himself.

The Fifth Roar

To say the final era of the Roaring Silence was unlike anything that had come before would be an understatement. It was the shortest of the Roars by a wide, wide margin yet made up for it with demons far deadlier. These demons were as plentiful as those from the First Roar, as varied as those from the Second, held members as big as those from the Third, and possessed a clear organization like those of the Fourth. Yet what made the demons of the Fifth Roar so great a threat wasn't anything the Aelish hadn't seen before. In fact, it was quite the opposite.
The demons of the Fifth Roar were undeniably a people, however horrifying such an idea was.

Rough, fumbling bodies had been replaced by figures that were undoubtedly inhuman, yet possessed an air of resplendance. Rusted, crooked weapons and filthy rags were tossed aside for elegant steel and stainless robes. And eyes which were once hollow now shone with the same clarity as any human's. The same certainty. When the demons returned for their final battles, they spent forty days outside the High Wall: watching, waiting, and wailing.

"I wish they'd stop. The singing, it's...
it's so beautiful, gods forgive me."

When the fighting did begin, it came as almost a relief. For years, just as before, the demons threw themselves upon the High Wall and broke themselves against it. Thousands would die on both sides, but the Aelish knew every step they lost was a countdown to humanity's extinction, so they'd fight; sometimes down to the last soldier or magi to keep a single section of the High Wall from falling. It was a slow push and pull, but things weren't quite so grim.
Until the Fifth Arch Demon appeared.
Its halo so massive that unfurling it allowed those behind the High Wall to see it; its body so tall it stood shoulders above even the structure's highest point; and a face so beautiful it brought even the most devout to tears. It was said to be something so deserving of love it could not be content to show such affection through anything as impersonal as a painting; so bright the sun was but a candle in comparison; so pure it could not have been real. It approached the High Wall and with the mere utterance of a word destroyed it; a gap was created so large that many who were present chose to throw themselves either upon their own swords or off the wall itself. And the demons sang. As they strode into the lands forbidden to them, they rejoiced and threw their voices as high as they could soar for their champion.
But the Aelish would not submit. All five of Aelayeron's divine kings gave everything it took, everything they had to keep humanity from vanishing into the dark as the world ended. Fields would burn, great spires would erupt from the soil, stars would be born and die in an instant, the air would be engulfed by towers of lightning. The battle would go on for days, Arch Demon Ah'Ah'Ah'Ahaah never once ceasing its march deeper into Aelayeron, but on the seventh day, at last the brothers won. The final Arch Demon crashed into the earth, where it would remain a rotting corpse for days untold, the last of its warriors following it unto death. Without so much as a day to rest, the major deities would fly into the east, promising not to return until finding the source of the demons which had plagued Aelayeron for a thousand years.
One year later, the oracles would make their final statements in recorded history. "It is done. They have won." Shortly after, the major deities would return, confirming their triumph over the accursed pit from which the demons spawned from.

Aftermath & Impact

With the war over, this time for good, Aelayeron would go on to have centuries of overall peace and stability. After a few years, travel between the east and west would resume and word would spread about how there was something worth crossing the Landesterne wastes after all. In addition, the arts flourished and for a time it was considered a golden age for a country greatly tired of battle.
But it wasn't a complete halt to conflict. Common men and women would return to their squabbles of territory and other such matters, the steel men choosing to remain out of such affairs. The ancient warriors would keep to the High Wall, garrisoning it and preparing for demons that would never return, all the way up until the Soft Defiance of the Sixteenth Century.
The Roaring Silence remains a source of Aelayeron's isolationism and refusal to settle beyond the High Wall. Although many in the modern day do not believe the demons will ever return, the ingrained superstitions of the Aelish in generations past nonetheless keep infrastructure outside mainly to the industrial or militaristic.