Times of War
Overview
The two decades of fights, skirmishes and the two sieges of the Spiral, including funding the Electorial Congregation plus the establishing of the Mortal God title, and building the Black Fortress were called "Times of War".
The entire era was a wild mix of skirmishes, greater and lesser sieges, the two Sieges of the Spiral and the decimation of the demon army, mostly just called "Foe's army" instead of "demon army". Settlements, city, some islands and entire planes were lost in the fires of war; lost to the rage of an unforgiving enemy.
The beginning
It all started with the greed of the kingdom of Ganguk. They wanted to dig deeper, to get to the more precious things buried deep inside their mountains. They wanted gems and iron and mithril. They wanted tunnels and metal and stone to fortify their kingdom, to enhance their wealth and their trade. But what they did no one could have forseen.
Jochiwon as the capital of Ganguk was home to both the Academica Magicka and the Academica Manufactorum. While the Academica Magicka was responsible for creating new types of spells & rituals, the Academica Manufactorum was responsible for every other kind of non-magic usables like drills, quills, military warfare and everyday objects.
Both parts of the Academica worked frequently on projects to bring magic together with more or less common technology. This was the reason why in the depths of the Academica Magicka something went horribly wrong. The scholars and mages were trying to create a new drill to dig deep into the few mountains behind the city of Gwangseong so that they can reach the deeper lodes of iron and other precious things enclosed in the stone and earth.
The few survivors, who didn't get sucked into the portal, tell a tale no one wanted to hear and wasn't able to picture beforehand: the runes used on the diamond tipped drill were a little bit too good and had unexpected side effects. The drill started doing its intended job and on contact with the soil it opened the portal into the other realm, "digging" through the fabric of the realm.
The drill couldn't be stopped. It consumed an energy not provided by the researchers and drilled through everything in its way, sucking away stone and metal and wood and people. Slowly the Academica Magicka got sucked in, then the Academica Manufactorum and meter by meter the surrounding twenty square kilometers, creating The Spiral.
No one knows why it stopped. Why the destruction was not bigger then that. Estimates were that the drill had drilled itself into another world or that someone on the other side of the portal destroyed it.
These "someone" were inhabitants of the other realm. Coincidence or not, on the exact same spot they had built something like an Academica themselves, which also got destroyed and they are really, really mad at the human world. They flew out and destroyed everything in their wake, causing havoc and sorrow in the nearest kingdoms surrounding Ganguk.
The kingdoms screamed for help, creating armies while asking for help. A few friends like the Underlings, Dragonborn and some Garladans came to help, guarding the Spiral with a few thousand people. But it wasn't enough.
The First Siege of the Spiral
The event "First Siege of the Spiral" was nothing more than a hard fought battle with a few thousand soldiers and lasted for only a month. The mix of different species built several camps with defenses and logistics. They were fortified with heavy ballistae, burning oil, magic of all kind, even magic arrows which never missed their target.
The first few attacks were not so heavy. Sure, they were a few casualties, but in the lower double digits. They thought, the demons were tired, they wouldn't come again, they had exhausted their strength.
They were all wrong.
Scouts were send out to map the Spiral and the winding roads which lead downwards. Only a few came back. Limping, with burns, scratches, some scared with acid burns. Their tales were so horrifing, that the mixed forces asked for reinforcements, best brought to them ereyesterday.
No reinforcements came and so, at the beginning of the second year after the Spiral incident, the demons came. They emerged at midday, hundreds of flying beasts, thousands of soldiers on foot. At first the defenses got torn apart, then the defender themselfs. Even the proud and lustful Garladans screamed in agony as they were raped and butchered, one by one. Not even their strong lightmagic could hold the waves back. The powerful Dragonborn were the last ones who made a stand. They decimated hundreds of beings and monstrosities with claws, teeth and fire, but were overwhelmed at the end.
Only a few could fled and so the tale of the Spiral spread through the lands. But it was only the vanguard which came out of the Spiral, this monstrosity, this remnant of this once proud kingdom. They were killed by proud soldiers who believed the survivors. But then the Foe's Army came. They were ready now and they were really angry.
Foe's Army
The Foe's army brought more destruction then the lands had ever seen, even during the Times of War. This army was a more dangerous threat than hurricans, famine and pestilance together. The problem with the army was their composition. Most of the flying beasts were only this: beasts. Not human, not talking, not very intelligent. Just pure, raw brutality and animal instincts.
The soldiers were another problem. They consists of human-like soldiers; soldiers with the appearance of bugs, spiders and everything with more than four legs; human-like soldiers with tails, horns and larger than even Giants, Trolls and Orcs.
But the biggest problem was: there were humans too. Some could mimic humans and their behavior, but it appeared that there were humans on the other side of the Crimson Cave, the last cave of the Spiral. Those humans were beautiful. So beautiful, that they could easily venture into every human settlement and discover weak spots or kill soldiers. Some seduced the soldiers in such a spectacular way that the poor brains of the soldiers got stuck in a loopy dream of romance, sex and desire after the demon finished the first round.
Settlement after settlement burned, the fires of war reached even Pisocenia and were extinguished at the mountain ranges of the Long Neck with the full force of the mounted army of Pisocenia. Sceletons and armours are still found in the dunes of the desert. Prisoners of war were executed or brought to laboratories were most of them are still alive.
The dead were buried, mourned, and life continued.
The Second Siege of the Spiral
The story of the Second Siege of the Spiral is relatively short. The king of Hulwar, Saturio, the Grey King XIII, ordered two Scout and Reconnaissance troops to get a good view of the Spiral so that they know if the threat is real. One was lead by Halisca Fidelis.
He lost nearly all of his troop to the beasts lingering in and around the Spiral, more as he rescued his sister and a small troop of Garladans, including Morchana.
He returned home and told his story. Over and over again until he was elected to lead the army to the Spiral, north from the Emerald Planes so they didn't anger the Druids. He fought and he won, his actions setting things in motion. Halisca was brought before the king and sent out to the dwarfs. He even cooked the dumplings for the Dumpling Exchange on his own. He was sent to the elfs, to the Garladans (where he met Morchana again, but this is a different story), to the Underlings and to the Orcs.
Unknown to Halisca the leaders of the kingdoms came together in Pisocenia and after days and days of talking and negotiations and planing they funded the Electorial Congregation. The Congregation had two tasks: supplying a to-be-built fortress with resources and soldiers (the Black Fortress Sentinels) and the test and elect persons with the title Mortal God. They were the finest, the strongest, the most powerful beings on Koria, so they could venture into the Spiral and attack the enemy.
But first there were a fortress to built and a Spiral to fortify. Using the expertise of his brothers and his father Hascila used the Dragonborns, the Garladans and the Underlings to weave a magic net which could cast deadly magic into the Spiral if needed. It was a horrible sight to behold as flying beasts, human-like things and other monstrosities attacked the net. They were impaled by spears of light, burned by dragonfire, crushed by catapults, ripped apart by a hailstorm of iron bullets, shot by ballistae.
After a year the first three segments of the Black Fortress was finished, the siege continued. Halisca used the power of the elves to protect the builders, their longbows a deadly threat to everything that moved inside the Spiral. The dwarves used their strong runes to strengthen the basis of every segment so not even the strong Giants could rip them apart (at least not as easily as before). Humans brewed their strongest poisons to fill it in casks, throwing it into the Spiral.
I knew screams of death. But as we fired this poison into this abyss, this beautiful...woman? Yeah, this woman melted right before my eyes. At this point I wasn't sure if we were still the good guys.
Year after year the Fortress grew stronger, more advanced, even deadlier. As the Black Fortress was halfway finished and the dwarves started to built the great fortified bridge called Winged Cut, the magical net was torn apart by a giant monstrosity, resembling a kraken with legs and dozens of arms. It was bigger then three giants and ripped two segments apart, before venturing east. It was slain at the border of the Garladans with the help of a dragon. This dragon lost its eggs as the beast trampled over its nest. You can imagine the rage of a dragon which lost its eggs, even when it is only a wild dragon. Or especially when it is a wild dragon.
The setback was massive. The casualties great and not easy to reinforce. The invaders used their chance and a second assault was led against the Black Fortress and the - at this time - defenseless Winged Cut. Their leader, a being only called the "Dark General", slew at least a few hundreds of brave defenders, tearing the defense wide open.
This time the army couldn't even venture past the Emerald Planes. Humans from the west and the north stood against them, bringing forth the Frostmaidens who killed so many foes with their blizzards, that more legends emerged and the fear and awe of the Frostmaidens raised on the instant.
The Dark General didn't knew about the Frostmaidens and their blood-thirsty men. With axe, sword and shield they come over him and his army, butchering them while singing old battlesongs. He killed one by one, but even his might battleaxe and his dark magic was no match for the fury of the Frostmaidens. With the leading voice of Halisca and his brothers they trapped the General near the border of the Emerald Planes, impaling him with icicles, killing him with it.
A month later Hascila ventured south to speak with the Scholars of the Blood Moon to get their help. After a few negotiations Halisca led an army of twothousand Blood Knights and thirty magic-using Blood Seers back to the Spiral. He sacrificed them as the Winged Cut was finally getting operational. The Blood Knights fought their bloody way into the Spiral and into the Crimson Chamber. The Blood Seer magic sealed the Crimson Chamber and the Knights laid waste to everything in their wake. Only a few Knights and two Seer emerged - bloody, exhausted, happy - from the depths of this deadly abyss.
But the seal didn't hold long enough. Three sections of the Black Fortress were unfinished as a beautiful woman lead another army to the surface. She was taller than even an Orc and more beautiful than the Silver Elves with four arms and next-to-naked. In her appearance she was more horrifing than the Dark General. She sang and the defenders lost their minds, not even caring about her beauty or the swords ending their lives.
"Well, she is beautiful. But more than a man can take."
"Speak for yourself. If she were still alive, I would test my luck."
"Pathetic. Men and their... bah. You should be ashamed. She would have killed you before you could even say a word, except get undressed. But...men are disgusting!"
In the meantime the Winged Cut delivered death on a daily basis. Liquid fire, barrels with explosive content, poisonous liquids, spears, rocks and sometimes even magical spells. The Spiral couldn't care less, the walls and bottom were so hard not even the powerful dragonfire could melt it. Scholars assumend that this was no earth and stone from Koria, our world.
Not long after the last attack the Black Fortress got finished. Halisca, now more grey than before, negotiated with the leaders of the kingdoms, states and powerful organisations. They agreed to feed the Fortress and its soldiers with more soldiers, supplies, weapons. No one could close the Crimson Chamber, so the races of Koria had to defend it. As the last ballistae was made operational and the supplies organised, the Second Siege of the Spiral ended. Without songs, without loud noises, after fifteen years of war.
What comes after
Halisca Fidelis is now the supervisor of the Black Fortress and in regular contact with the Electorial Congregation, leaders of states and kingdoms, powerful organisations and with his family. The demons are still trying to escape, the magical net no more existing and "just" stones with iron and fire. They tried different attacks, tried it with various strategies, but not even the trickery female mimics could bring down one of the sections. Safety mechanisms aside, no one trusts a woman without weapons and a sigil coming out of the Spiral alone, bloody or not.
Halisca was awarded the "Hero of Koria" medal, got a nice residence at the soutern point of the Long Neck in relative proximity to the Caves of Joy where he gets sometimes visitors, but mostly he is in charge of the Black Fortress or travels through the land, to make visits or to see his Morchana.
At this moment he is thinking of retirement, but there are a few Mortal Gods at his doorstep now. He has to deal with them, give them clearance and all. He is tired, his hair is going grey and his sister Flavia worries about him. Maybe it is time.
Please write my brothers. I want to speak with them in private. Yes, now. And can you bring me a strong coffee afterwards? Thank you.
That is like an epic tale of it's own! I hope they fair better with the permanent threat than Tolkinens elfs in the first age did ^^