The First Magic War of Abeon

INTRODUCTION

The First Magic War of Abeon took place in the final years of the second period, during the emergence of the magic revolution and the discovery of alchemy. The Late Second period saw the rise of many future empires, including Porsonal, Tsonlar, and Archia. The war lasted twenty-nine years in total, and resulted in a complete stalemate in the Battlwrath Plains. Although little was accomplished by the bloodshed, the war ultimately resulted in the permanent decline of the dwarves' presence in Middleton and Abeon as a whole. However, it would not be until The Battle of the Broken City in 3701 that the Meleuhur dwarves would disappear completely.

FIRST COMBAT

In Seolos of 1271 2p, the dwarves in Jolster had recently discovered the magic of Erdiamicy, found by draining the rays of light from the red sun using the Arvenon invention: the Synapis. With their new dwarven legion, nicknamed the Goldhammer Dwarves, the states of Dwarves had become a force to be reckoned with in Middleton. With tensions rising between the human states concerning the sudden boom in technology, the dwarven high-king, Glamden, declared that the recent Arvenon discovery of Alchemy poised a serious economic threat to middleton, which largely used metal coins for currency, while the Arvenon already used gems and rare substances. The Archian Overlord, Engelbert II began pushing back against Alchemy, garnering trust and support from the other nations of the plains, namely neighboring Orsolon. After garnering massive support, Engelbert took the defiant Arvenon to the brink of war by launching a trade blockade in the West Seas. However, Tsonlar would not escalate to war until the combined The Archduchy of Wreinn and Jolster forces attacked Lleipae in 1273 2p. Seizing the oppurtunity, the King of Orsolon launched an invasion of the Tsondalian mainland, pushing through Vocra and forcing the Alchemist armies as far back as The Deep. However, the tide began to shift when Orsolon's siege of Lu'rain, the capital of the Tsondalian Empire, began to stall and turn sour. In 1277, the valkyrie in the eastern plains of Tsonlar joined with the Alchemists, sending a fierce fighting force of six hundred to break the siege in Lu'rain. The armies of Orsolon scattered at the fiercesome sight of valkyrie charging down the plain, and would leave the plains of the Deep and not return until they marched with Elferun Sireron almost five hundred years later.

SHIFTING MOMENTUM

In the reeling of the anti-alchemists following the defeat of Orsolon, King Manuel VII of Tsonlar led a large force of 1600 Arvenon to push the dwarves out of his lands. With the remaining valkyrie joining them in Lu'rain, the combined allied force struck a massive blow to King Glamden, despite being outnumbered 8-1. Seven hundred dwarves fell, including sixty of the highly touted 'Goldhammer' legion. It was at this point, that the major stronghold nation of Hofslond, then located in the Jade Expanse, joined with the Alchemist League in order to reclaim lost land to the Goldhammer Dwarves. With the odds heavily swinging in favor of the Alchemists, Engelbert II of Archia shrewdly offered Manuel VII a treaty, in which the Archians would slaughter Glamden and his dwarven legions in exchange for peace between Archia and Tsonlar.

THE BETRAYAL OF GLAMDEN

Facing defeat after defeat at the hands of the Alchemist League, King Glamden finally turned to his ally, King Engelbert II, for help in stopping the unending momentum of their enemy. However, Glamden did not know of his friend's betrayal. In Blossoming of 1294, Glamden and his largest force of Goldhammer Dwarves retreated all the way to Barrowhorn, where they hoped to be greeted by a fresh army of Archian Soldiers to relieve them. They found the army, but simultaneously found themselves at the brunt of its force, personally led by Engelbert, a defiant act of betrayal which forever crippled the dwarven kingdom. After the battle, Glamden and most of the army lay scattered across the field, mere food for scavenger birds. Engelbert's betrayal was accepted by Manuel of Tsonlar, and the First Magic War remained all but completely over. For the next six years, Archia and Melehur continued to pummel Jolster into oblivion, resulting in more casualties than the first 23 years of the war combined.

RESULT

The First Magic War resulted in the deaths of sixty-two thousand soldiers, with countless more civilian and innocent lives lost in the crossfire of battles and sieges. The sheer loss of population drove a massive decline in advancements in Abeon for a good two hundred years, stalling the beginning of the massive and widespread violence that consumed the entire third period. On the Alchemist League, Tsonlar gained a massive victory over the human states of Middleton, while the Vei nations of Olchar and Phagees reclaimed lands lost to the dwarves during the Titan Age in the first period. On the anti-alchemist side, Archia lost virtually nothing. Due to Engelbert's shrewd handling of the war following Orsolon's defeat, no lands were lost and very few soldiers died. The most severe blow was dealt the Meleuhur, which remained fractured and split until the decline of the dwarves from Abeon altogether. The War unintentionally set up the strife between Orsolon and the Dwarven States in the coming years, finally coming to a climax in The Seventy Years War in the 18th century.

THE HERETIC OF ORSOLON 
 A fascinating character of the First Magic War was an alchemist known only as 'The Heretic' (pictured above). Her antics were legendary and her effect on the war was only known to those present in the age. However, her allegiance to Orsolon was often called into question during her short reign as commander of the shadow forces of Middleton. In the first years of war, when Orsolon began to push the Arvenon back further west, a human from Orsolon found her way into Tsonlar and managed to learn the rudimentary skills of toxin brewing. While the King of Orsolon openly referred to anyone who learned the technology as 'a witch and caster of dark arts', he also secretly employed a number of alchemists to secretly fight with his army to help push back the Arvenon in Tsonlar. Even though both sides claimed the war was over Alchemy, almost all historians recognize that the true war was about gaining land and power in an increasingly crowded region of Abeon. The Alchemists of Orsolon pushed the Arvenon all the way back to the Deep, subduing even the masters of Tsonlar in an epic showdown near the northern shores. However, 'The Heretic' was killed and the remaining alchemists disbanded and returned to Middleton. This was when Orsolon began to stall and momentum began to swing back in favor of the Alchemist League. The entire history of the Third Period could have drastically changed if Elliot Gould had not smote this largely unknown hero of Orsolon. 

Conflict Type

War

Start Date

1271

Ending Date

1300