Betrayer War
Many historians believe the Betrayer War was a clash of iron, blood, and fire. A contest of tactics and physical might. But behind that, it was a contest of wills. A challenge against a horrible darkness that threatened to swallow the very soul of Summerdark.
- Danrion Uave, Herbalist of the Embermyst Fellowship
The Betrayer War, a bloody conflict that ended the Third Age and ushered in the Fourth, stands as a stark testament to the enduring spirit of the Free Peoples. This conflict showcased the best and worst, with heroes and villains on both sides.
It was a harsh time when a dark shadow covered the lands of Summerdark, and the world teetered on the brink of oblivion. A period when the Free Peoples were besieged by the forces of the Gorgon Lord Yir’vass and his horde, the Dread Scourge.
But it was also a time of unity, bravery, and resilience not seen since the Last Alliance in the War of Death’s Fall during the mid-First Age. This conflict ended after five desperate years at the Battle of Blood Bog and the fall of the dread fortress, Oz Malid. The foul, haunted citadel that was central to the Gorgon Lord’s plans, and home to the ancient relic, the Midnight Forge.
The war was officially brought to an end with the Treaty of Virkana on 28th day of Nemea in 1407 between the Pact Iron Alliance and the surviving Skarnish warlords.
Dark Shadows Rising
Villages of Hodami Bay by CB Ash *
Dagen Yir’vass had been a promising arcansmith from the northern reaches of Wolheim. An area known for its fishing villages along Hodami Bay. These villages conduct a modest amount of trade, exporting salted fish and related items south to the larger settlements.
The winter of 1401 had been the hardest on record. Northern Wolheim had been hit harder than most, with storms having cut off the fishing towns from the rest of Wolheim. Food and supplies grew scarce. Then an
According to those that knew him, Dagen Yir’vass worked tirelessly to devise a means to navigate the storms to get help. Forgecasting protections on a boat against the storms, he sailed south. On reaching Port Noble, he was greeted by the healer’s guilds and promised help for his family and friends.
But the plague and storms ravaged Wolheim towns. Resources were thin, and the help promised Yir’vass never appeared. Desperate, Dagen sought any means of help he could find, even in the darkest back alleys. He caught the eye of the Shadow Council.
The council promised him skill and power that could help. Ancient magic that could preserve, heal, and even destroy the plague itself. Before he could return to the villages of Hodami Bay, the plague had done its ugly work. The area was devastated, abandoned.
Shattered, Dagen turned to the Shadow Council once more. They sent him north beyond the Blue Mountains to the haunted fortress of Veilmarrow. Once there, he was to uncover an ancient relic from the distant Age of Illumination. Three Starfall Sapphires etched and bound in silver that legend said could perform miracles, like raising the dead. A relic called the Elden Embers.
The arcansmith vanished behind the ancient, jagged walls of Veilmarrow once the iron-bound doors sealed shut behind him.
Veilmarrow by Night by CB Ash *
Dagen Yir’vass wasn’t heard from again until four years later, with over 10,000 Skarnish calvary behind him. They rode under the red-eyed banner of the Shadow Council with Dagan as its Gorgon Lord. A twisted being of shadow and death, obsessed with the goal of conquering Summerdark and to reshape it into his vision of a ‘True Way’. One of clockwork precision that is free from the shackles of free will. The Shadow Council’s way.
Conflict of Shadows and Iron
Skarn invasion by CB Ash *
Conflict Type
War
Start Date
1st Day of Bloom, Year 1402 of the Third Age
Ending Date
Last Day of Frost, Year 1407 of the Third Age
Conflict Result
Formation of the Pact Iron Alliance for mutual defense and trade. Increased trade and collaboration among Summerdark's kingdoms in the Western lands.
Belligerents
Pact Iron Alliance
Dread Scourge
Strength
Casualties
Objectives
This Betrayer War wasn’t just a question of arms and armor, but of wills and mind. Yir’vass wanted to bend the will of free beings and turn friend against friend. That was a dark time, where the greatest weapon anyone had wasn’t a sword, but determination, will, and trust in each other.
- Danrion Uave, Herbalist of the Embermyst Fellowship
The war began with the invasion of Contigo Falls, a small farming region along the southwestern edge of the Blue Mountains toward Hodami Bay. It was early morning on the first day of Bloom when the skarn calvary of the Dread Scourge appeared over the hills.
They struck the city of Lockbree, Contigo’s capital and main trade city. Surprised by the skarn calvary and fire salamanders, the city fell in hours. A trickle of refugees out of Contigo Falls was the first and only warning of what was to come.
Lord Dagen Yir’vass led his forces south. There, the Dread Scourge cut a bloody swath from the mountains along the western coast of Hodami Bay. A trail of death and destruction that led to the black iron gates of Oz Malid in the Virkana Hills.
As smaller lands fell to the Dread Scourge one by one, the larger kingdoms in the southland and around the Thicketthorn Wilds in the north quickly assembled a rough defense. The kingdoms of Rinland, Wolheim, Dranahael, and the ancient realm of Montaire formed the Pact Iron Alliance. United in the common cause to curtail the advance of the Dread Scourge.
Soldiers of all stripes, from rabitaurs to the fox-like vulpini, stood with humans, the bovine-like oxar, and the squid-faced spirulii. The first battle put 5,000 Alliance soldiers against 10,000 skarn calvary with fire salamanders and sorcerers of the Dread Scourge. Alliance forces were no match for the corrupt sorcery, lightning-fast tactics of the skarn, and Gorgon Lord’s use of the Elden Embers.
This last was the most devastating. As Alliance forces broke ranks, Yir’vass used the Elden Embers to raise the dead on both sides. These became ablative armor for the Scourge. Against the living, the Gorgon Lord used the dark magics of the Elden Embers to force them to betray the Alliance. To twist their minds to his will, forcing them to join the Gorgon Lord’s cause.
We rode in the wake of shadows for a war of honor. But we were led by something not of our world. Honor became twisted with darkness and ambition. The tribes became a horde tempered in blood and flame. A living weapon of chaos. In that chaos, even then, I felt an unnatural storm brewing. I feared we had lost sight of our true path.
- Harok Windrider, Skarnish warlord
A New Hope
At the Gates of Darkness by CB Ash *
Spring follows even the darkest winter. The war was no different. When everything seemed lost, there was still hope. The moorstriders of Trailwatch and the Embermyst Fellowship reminded us that hope grows from the smallest seeds in the most unlikely places.
- Danrion Uave, Herbalist of the Embermyst Fellowship
Where the Alliance's main forces failed to stop the Dread Scourge, there was another hope. This was the fabled moorstriders of Trailwatch, and the herbalist monks of the Embermyst Fellowship.
As the Alliance fought a slow retreat, the moorstalkers worked tirelessly to harass the Dread Scourge in their attempt to live off of the southern and western lands. Using the terrain to their advantage, the moorstalkers conducted a series of hit-and-run attacks with small bands on the Scourge’s flank, then fade ghost-like into the wilds. While the Gorgon Lord could raise the dead, his forces needed food, fresh mounts, and other items the
In between these hit-and-run attacks, the Embermyst Fellowship focused their attention on the skarn calvary itself. The Skarnish tribes made up the bulk of the Dread Scourge. They followed their sorcerers and warlords, who in turn followed Yir’vass. Some out of greed, others out of fear. The Embermyst Stewards put their vast knowledge of herbalism with their study of history to use. Herbs can heal, but they can also harm.
Using potions and mixtures, Stewards would ‘salt’ the water or food with mind-altering herbs. Skarnish soldiers would become sick or see terrifying visions. The Scourge sorcerers mistook this for a magical curse and tried in vain to counter it. This didn’t take long to wear down the Dread Scourge and sow discontent in their ranks.
An End to All Things
Historians consider the Battle of Blood Bog to be the last battle of the war. But it wasn’t the fight that brought the war to a close. It was part of a larger strategy. A plan was conceived by Sagecaster Friwind, Eldermage of the Gray Company.
Throughout the war, it was obvious the Pact Iron Alliance was outnumbered. The Alliance was not equipped to combat the Dread Scourge. They couldn’t field enough soldiers to counter the Skarnish and allies with their lightning tactics using calvary and fire salamanders. Sagecaster Friwind used this to his advantage.
In the early morning hours of the 25th day of Nemea, 1407, Sagecaster Friwind led 4,000 haggard Alliance soldiers against the bulk of the Dread Scourge. Confident in victory, the Gorgon Lord sent his forces to wipe out the Sagecaster and his small force. Meanwhile, Yir’vass retreated behind the walls of Oz Malid. The dark lord buried himself in his studies of the Elden Embers and the ancient relic in the depths of the dark fortress, the Midnight Forge.
This was exactly what Sagecaster Friwind had hoped for.
Fall of Yir'vass by CB Ash *
A small band of moorstalkers and Embermyst Stewards slipped inside Oz Malid through its unguarded sewers. There, they caught Yir’vass by surprise. Using an enchanted device created by the Heartwood Academy called the Resonance Prism, they shattered the silver bonds of the Elden Embers. This disrupted both the magic keeping the dead resurrected and the living allies of the Dread Scourge mind-controlled.
Once the relic shattered, it was recorded that Yir’vass himself was caught in the magical blast. The last any living creature saw of the Gorgon Lord, he was grabbed by bands of shadow, then dragged into the blue fires of the corrupt Midnight Forge.
Without the dominating personality of the Gorgon Lord, many of the Skarnish warlords either turned on each other. Those that didn’t signed the Treaty of Virkana declaring peace between the Alliance and the Skarnish tribes. After that, the surviving Skarnish forces returned north to their homeland beyond the Blue Mountains.
As for the Elden Embers, the bonds were shattered, but not the stones. They proved resilient against the Resonance Prism. To prevent them from ever being used again, sagecasters of the Gray Company scattered the stones in hidden locations to the far ends
Resolution and Aftermath
In the darkest hours of the Betrayer War, we glimpsed the abyss of annihilation. But we also found hope and unity. It was a harsh lesson that even in our darkest hours, we must work to be the beacon that defies the suffocating darkness.
- Sagecaster Friwind, Eldermage of the Gray Company
The Betrayer War was a bloody and destructive end to the Third Age. But it was also a catalyst for change that heralded the start of the Fourth Age, also called the Age of Rising Light.
Isolation and mistrust were a hallmark of the Third Age. Trade was thin, and mistrust among the Free Peoples ran high. A dark holdover from the Second Age, which also ended with catastrophe. The cost of the Betrayer War was high in both lives and resources, but it forced a new level of cooperation.
The Free Peoples of Summerdark teetered on the brink of darkness and oblivion. But despite that, they faced overwhelming odds. They found a reservoir of unprecedented unity, bravery, and resilience. Trade routes opened between distant lands as far south as ancient Montaire to the far northern reaches of the Thicketthorn Wilds. Intricate crafts, food, and other goods followed the former wartime routes and bolstered the new allies. New magical and other inventions and collaboration flowed from academies to guilds across Alliance lands. All a direct result of the war effort against the Gorgon Lord.
But the Betrayer War also stands as a stark reminder to stay vigilant. An ugly reminder of the devastation that unchecked power and ambition can cause. A dark page in Summerdark’s history that also fuels a beacon of hope for the Fourth Age of Summerdark.
Peace. A thing as delicate as the morning frost, sparkling yet fragile. The Free People can preserve it, if they’ve the courage to defend it with patience and care.
- Sagecaster Friwind, Eldermage of the Gray Company
Post-SC23, I'm circling back around on a few items I had earmarked to spend some more time with. I can't tell you just how much I LOVE this article. It makes me want to know SO MUCH MORE about Summerdark. Keep writing! I am so entranced by your world!
:D Thanks! This one was hard to write. But after I got it all polished, I really thought it captured a lot of Summerdark's recent history.