The Conflict
Prelude
In 189 BLC, Bothandal the Crafter signed the Treaty of Guharr, a legal document stating that Silimanis could be used by human farmers and loggers, although expansion of logging activity should always be requested from the elves. The Treaty was signed by human representatives, too. Yet this did not mean all humans were aware of the agreement, especially not as time went by and human generations came and went. Almost 200 years later, a short amount of time from the perspective of the elves, the Treaty of Guharr was the stuff of legends for humans.
In 8 LC, when the Kingdom of Laeryll was ruled by the Second Diarchy, human loggers settled down near Toktar Forest in Northern Silimanis and started taking down portions of the forest. The elven druidic circle known as The Watchers was upset and sent an emissary to Prydisyrr to demand action, after which Queen Morsyana encouraged the druids to retaliate.
The Watchers and wood elves from the region prepared for war and ambushed the human loggers, who fled back to their outpost. There. the humans fortified their position before the elves arrived.
The elves attacked the settlement with fire and arrows once night fell, and set parts of the encampment ablaze. This forced the humans to come out, who engaged in direct attack by attempting to flank the wood elves. However, the humans were strongly outnumbered and fled back to the more distant human village Greenweald while their logging camp burned to the ground.
The wood elves, drunk on victory, determined to proceed towards Greenweald. Greenweald was a larger settlement with stronger defenses, and the elves were greeted with a torrent of arrows and other missiles. Druidic spellcraft, however, allowed them to push through the barrage.
After fierce battle, the elves managed to dominate the settlement and yet again set it alight while pushing through, killing every man, woman and child they came across. When dawn came, the village of Greenweald was destroyed and its inhabitants were killed, save for the few who managed to flee in the darkness of night.
With around 300 humans dead, the attack of the wood elves was a massacre. Queen Galythiel, who had not been informed by the developments near Toktar Forest by her sister, was shocked to learn of the events and reprimanded Morsyana for encouraging the violence. Galythiel then went on a diplomatic mission to the humans to apologize for the transgression and restore the terms of the
Treaty of Guharr. It was the beginning of the schisma of the Diarchy.
On the human side, panic erupted and people became fearful of the forests. Towns increased their defensive structures and logging was limited to smaller (and heavily armed) operations.
The spat between Galythiel and Morsyana was not resolved and Morsyana set up a coalition within the Kingdom that wanted to reclaim land from the humans. In 9 LC, Morsyana took over Prydisyrr with this coaltion, kickstarting a series of events that would lead to the War of the Sisters.
Historical Significance
The Toktar Massacre still carries forth in human civilization in the forms of nursery rhymes and fairy tales, but the humans of Silimanis have largely forgotten the historical events. The elves, in contrast, remain very aware of what happened and consider the event to be a shameful first act of the dark drama that lay ahead.
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