Military action
Details the War begun by Hosia the Dragonlord, which ended the 2nd Age of Meaghana.
The Great War and the End of the
2nd Age
The world has changed. Not slowly, or
carefully but with the sudden burst of war,
was the old world torn away leaving little
more than ruins and ashes with which to
build a future.
It is said that the first tremors of this
change came at the command of the
Dragonlord. He saw the death of the
Lord of Strife as the beginning of the final
war in which good would eradicate evil
and leave the world a blessed paradise.
Deeply desiring this, the Dragonlord
called to his followers that they should
make ready and carry out his crusade on
the mortal world.
And so it was that the newly crowned
King of Asteria; Thorne Quall, took up
his father's sword and called for all the
other kingdoms to join him in Holy War.
Sil'korma heeded his call, but neither
Medina nor Fetesca would join him,
worried as they were that this battle was
simply his young hot blood thirsting for
glory.
But King Thorne was blinded by the
righteousness of the Dragonlord's cause,
and declared that those who would not
answer the call to battle had sworn
themselves to darkness and would be
treated in kind. And so Asteria marches
on Medina.
With Lightning speed, the forces of
Asteria swept through southern Medina
and came to siege the city of
Southpointe, where the church of Pthalo
was strong. The Asterian forces,
supported by the Lorekeepers of Aiden,
commanded the city to surrender and join
in the great crusade. But the Knights of
the Crimson Tear who defended
Southpointe would not have their people
forced into what they saw as an
unrighteous battle, and refused.
Thus was Southpointe the first casualty of
the war. Brave and stalwart as they were,
the Knights of the Crimson Tear could
not stand against the arrayed might of all
of Asteria, and so was the city broken,
and the few survivors fled into the
mountains.
But the echoes of Asteria's aggression
carried far. And Fetesca declared
themselves allies of Medina and mustered
their forces south to defend the Bardic
Kingdom. But their progress was stopped
by the Dragonriders of Sil'korma, who
unleashed their power against the
Fetescans Also at this time did another of
the Dragon Lord's allies show themselves.
Lythus god of the sea, believed that the
Dragon Lord's war was to be the final
struggle between Good and Evil and
commanded that his Sea Elves join into
the fray. This command was the last
spark needed to ignite the tinder of a
strained relationship with the humans of
Fetesca, and so the Sea Elves marched
upon the ancient port city of Soidon.
And so too the Followers of Viridian,
seeking the favor of the Dragon Lord, did
sail out from Arakeen and attack the
islands of Sebram, to claim them for the
glory of the Silver Seraph. And with the
destruction of Soidon, no help could
come to Sebram who fell quickly to the
Arakeenian onslaught.
But not all of the mortal forces of Lerias
bowed to the Dragonlord's will. The Elves
of Talen' Seere decried the aggression of
Asteria and swore to oppose them, but
their military might was limited by the
Godly oaths taken to not use the Elvish
Portals in War, and so the Elvish council
remained undecided on how to proceed.
On the other side of the Continent, the
Gnomes lead by the Mirsol of Brilla
declared Asteria the hand of Tyranny and
so the Gnome Protectorates emptied
themselves to spread chaos throughout
Lerias in opposition to Asteria.
And in the Heavens, the Gods themselves
became split on how to react to the
Dragon Lord's actions. Some sided with
him; while others, including Meaghana
herself, chose to remain neutral. But one
god in particular could not remain
uninvolved. Robanus, lord of the Dead
and God of Judgment, saw the Chaos
that the Dragon Lord was unleashing and
is scarred him to his core. He also saw
the cowardice of his fellow gods who
failed to stand up and defend their
charges, and he knew shame. And so he
was moved to act as he never had before.
Drawing upon his powers Robanus called
forth the soul of his true father, of whom the
Dragon Lord was just a reconstituted
shard. And so by the power of the Lord
of the Dead was Hosia, God of Time
reborn. And with this act, did the war
spread to the Heavens themselves. For
Hosia, the Timelord would not shrink in
his duty and would bring this rebellious
shadow of himself to heel.
Unknowing that the Timelord had
returned to oppose them, the Asterian
forces pushed through the central
mountains of Medina towards the capital
of Whiterose. The clerics and adventurers
loyal to Mittierim sought to oppose this
mighty army but were swept aside as
easily as the remains of Medina's army.
However, upon taking the capital King
Thorn discovered the Queen Faeborn and
her family had disappeared, and no one
knew their whereabouts.
While King Thorne spent his time trying
to recover the Faeborn queen, the forces
of Karsis and those of the Drow from
beneath Medina joined together and
poured over the border in an attempt to
overpower the Asterian forces. This
obvious movement from the forces of evil
drew the attentions of the Dwarfs of
Eastforge and Stonesong, who like their
brothers from Asteria joined the Dragon
Lord's forces in opposition to them.
Meanwhile in Horizon, the Time Lord
attacked his great citadel to reopen it and
reclaim its power which was rightfully his.
The Goddess Viridian, who had sworn
herself to defend the Citadel of Time at
any cost faced off against him. Their
battle was one for the ages and their
blows shook the foundations of that
heavenly realms, but in the end there
could be only one outcome. The Time
Lord reclaimed his power and now would
bring the time stream itself into battle as
his weapon.
In response to the Time Lord's victory,
the Phoenix Emperor, honoring ancient
oaths, swore himself to the side of the
Time Lord and commanded the forces of
Ritsaku to sail for Sebram where they
would bring the forces of Arakeen to a
halt.
On the other side of the continent, the
Sea Elves and forces of Sil'korma pushed
the Fetescan's back. Seemingly
outnumbered, Empress Liara prayed to
help from the Holy Union. The Union in
turn sought aid from the Time Lord. In
response Robanus and the lands of
Gwyneth marched south and engaged in
bloody battle with the Sea Elven forces.
While this action was successful in driving
the Sea Elves back into the ocean, the
cost was high. Much of the forces of
Gwyneth were destroyed and the lands
that once served as Fetesca's coast were
corrupted and became overrun with
undead and other monsters.
Fearing the power of this coalition of
Law, Brilla commanded his forces to join
with those of Glug the Goblinlord to
increase the power of chaos in Lerias.
This new alliance swept north, bringing
chaos and madness to any they
encountered.
In Medina, the combined forces of the
Asterian's and the Dwarfs broke the
forces of Seras. Rather than be destroyed
like their allies, the Dark Elves accepted
the protection that Talen'Seere offered
to all elvish people and retreated to the
island kingdom.
This pushed even harder for the new
Elvish Homeland to enter the war, but
Sepia was still bound by her oaths. That
is until a mysterious advisor appeared and
proclaimed that the only way to break the
God Oath was the with the power of a
different God. This advisor then leads
Sepia into Arcadia to steal the soul well of
Storms from Brilla himself.
Back on the Main Land, the Dragon
Forces of Sil'korma continued to push
their advantage into the lands of Fetesca.
In response the Time lord called forth
Menlok the Grey Dragon from the depths
of the Citadel of time. This ancient
Dragon god used his powers to strip the
blessings of the Gods from the Mortal
Dragons of Meaghana. Not only did this
weaken the Dragons of all species, but it
broke their loyalty away from their mortal
masters. Without these massive creatures
to support them the battle for Fetesca
became much more even.
With Sepia's attack on Arcadia common
knowledge, the Gnomish forces choose to
accelerate their plans. Half of their
number continue on to Asteria as
planned, and the others travel with the
Goblin Forces to the Black Gate. Their
aim is to open the black gate and bring
forth daemons to end the war by plunging
the world into chaos.
The Dragonlord's forces join the attack
on Fetesca, and in response the Holy
Union pledge themselves to the Time
Lord. Seemingly in response the Druidic
Lands of Keltria were beset by forces
loyal to the Goddess Lust, who sought to
destabilize the region as did the other
Gods of Chaos.
At this time the Dwarf God Folgrim
realized that he had joined the wrong side
of the war, and forbid his followers from
joining in on the attack against Fetesca.
Instead they traveled south to lend their
aid to the Elves of the Whitebark Forest.
During the battle, Sepia Goddess of
Storms and Punisher of the Gods
revealed herself and lead the Elves of
Talen'Seere against the Gnomes.
The Time Lord finally faces off against
the Dragon Lord as their forces clash in
Fetesca. Meanwhile, the Goblin/Gnomish
force at the Black Gate released the
trapped daemons, who immediately begin
destroying everything within reach
including much of the remaining Minotaur
forces in central Lerias, who had avoided
notice up to this point.
It was then that Sepia's mysterious
advisor revealed herself to the
Tarathenelia Stargazer, the Goddess of
Magic. She reveals the actions of the
Gnomes at the Black Gate to the rest of
the mortal races and brings the Mages of
Drem into the battle to help force back
the Daemons.
Knowing that it would take more than
pure force to return the Daemons to the
Abyss, the Time Lord summons Omadon
from the past to break the seal around
the Nine Hells and restart the Blood War
to draw off the Daemons. Omadon
agrees on the condition that the Time
Lord also restores Cylence Coldeyes, the
greatest of his Strife Lords. The Lord of
Time agrees and so Omadon God of
Strife returns to the world, without the
powers of the soul well of Evil.
Having been routed from the Whitebark
Forest, the Gnomish forces arrive in
Asteria and begin attacking the humans
there. Sepia commands her forces to
protect the humans, much to everyone's
surprise.
The final battle for Fetesca occurs outside
of the city of Blackholm. Here the Time
Lord finally destroys the Dragon Lord and
reclaims the name of Hosia. The other
Gods who opposed him are captured and
will be judge in a tribunal.
Cylence Coldeyes leads an assault on
Avernus, the first level of Hell. Here she
destroys Saeran Lord of the First and
those most loyal to him. With the Borders
open, Grynwell Lord of the 9th swears the
forces of Baator to Omadon.
At the same time Hosia now unites the
Fetescans, Dwarfs, and Elves in joining
the Dremites to push back the Daemon
Forces. What little remains of the Asterian
forces return home to engage the
Gnomish Threat.
With pressure from both sides, the
Daemons are driven back through the
Black Gate and the Mages of Drem reseal
it.
With the War over Hosia reforges the Sun
Throne and reclaims the post as head of
the Pantheon of Gods. No one opposes
him in this. His first order of business is to
hold a tribunal of the Gods for each deity
involved in the war. Most of the Gods
were found to be acting in within their
purviews and were not punished.
However Meaghana was found guilty of
betraying the Sun Throne through inaction.
Her punishment was to be sealed
with the world and remove herself from
all contact for 1 mortal year for each year
she ruled as head of the pantheon. However Meaghana decided rather than accept this imprisionment, she dispersed her godly essence into the world itself, essentially giving up both her powers and her life as a separate entity.
Folgrim Dwarflord was also found guilty
of supporting destruction over creation
and was bound to forge a new moon in
which to seal the growing portal to the
Barrens which was swelling with the new
power accumulated from all of the loss
inherent in the war. This moon appeared
in the sky in year 102 of the 3rd age.
Finally the Tribunal uncovered one last bit
of information, that the true cause of the
battle was Timandra, Goddess of
Balance. She worried that the strength of
the gods of Good would upset the
balance and so it was she who advised
the Dragon Lord that the end of the
world was nigh and to begin his war.
While this information stripped away
much trust the other gods had in
Timandra, she was commended by Hosia
for supporting her Purview.