Dagortauré

Posthumously named, the Dagortauré was an arcane assault against the Convention of Elders, and the Elderwood as a whole.

The Conflict

Prelude

Over the course of four decades, Maedhros had built quite a large following to the Taurétyelca sect of Taurévarna across the eastern wood. This following covered not just the lay-people, but many influential individuals as well, including a number of Elders. It was through this avenue that he hand selected seven Elders to join what would become the Dark Alliance, a group whose goal was to seize control of the Elderwood and the Aéldelin peoples within.

As part of the preparation for the Dagortauré, Maedhros had rallied the Taurétyelcans for a great energy ceremony that was to begin the day they arrived at the Convention. Under the guise of bringing a cleansing ceremony to the Convention, the Taurétyelcans were to perform a ceremony which would combine their collective energies and send them towards the center of the Elderwood where the convention was being held. It was proclaimed that this channeling of energy would increase the strength of the cleansing ceremony to cover not just the Convention, but to also expand it over the entire Elderwood.

Deployment

The Dark Alliance arrived at the Great Hall, the site of the annual Convention of Elders, around mid-day the day before the event started. Under strict orders from Maedhros, the group was to show no signs of their plans until after the third day had commenced, upon which they were to sow chaos in the meetings via obscure and outrageous accusations.

The Engagement

As planned, the Dark Alliance kept their cards close to the chest for the first two full days of the convention, and into the middle of the third morning. Suddenly, one of the Elders made the accusation that opened up the Dagortauré. It was accused that one of the Great Elders - the oldest serving members of the Convention - of attempting to condense power under himself and the other Great Elders. The accusation was intentionally absurd, and the bait was taken as the room erupted in a chorus of bewilderment and defense of the Elders accused. After Maedhros threw his agreement behind the accusation, the uproar became loud enough and was sustained long enough that the other six members of the Dark Alliance were able to slip into the six remaining corners of the octagonal hall. Once the yelling had quelled enough, Maedhros spoke up, and offered for his "Leaders of Taurétyelca" to take the reins of the Elderwood. The second uproar muffled the sounds of the chants coming from all eight members of the Dark Alliance, distracting all other Elders from what was occurring until the streaks of purple lightning filled the air above them.

Bolts of purple electricity shot across the Great Hall above everyone, creating an intricate woven pattern as the Dark Alliance began conducting a binding enchantment. Survivors have said that everything under the weave of light suddenly became impossibly slow, as if time itself was slowing down to a halt. Suddenly, the dark mages turned sideways, the bolts firing from their hand pointed to the middle of the room continued to hold the woven web above in place, while from their outstretched hands shot another wave of purple lightning, this time crashing through windows and out into the world around. As they channeled the Taurétyelcans' energy out over the Elderwood, the chanting of the Dark Alliance grew louder until it was the only thing anyone within the Hall could comprehend on an auditory level.

Just as time under the binding seemed to come to a complete halt, the ground started to rumble. A few small pieces of the ceiling began to fall as the rumbling intensified before one of the eight walls fell away from the Hall. As the wall fell, the binding magic hanging over the Convention failed as well, freeing the Elders from the ritual. Incensed and ignoring the slowly crumbling nature of the Great Hall, the Elders trampled the Dark Alliance, tackling each of the members to the ground, and beginning to savagely beat them. The ground continued to quake as two more walls collapsed, this time falling inward and crushing a number of Elders. This collapse was the final warning, sending all the Elders fleeing from the hall, with a small group dragging out Maedhros, seeking to bring him to justice for leading this insurrection.

Outcome

As the ground quaked and the Great Hall collapsed, the Elders attempted to flee to their homelands in the Elderwood, unaware that the seismic shifting of land was not localized, but spread across most of Dendralis. The tectonic shifting, today known as The Separation, stretched the continent primarily to the east and west, creating two massive valleys that stretched nearly the entire length of the continent, and left numerous other changes to the landscape. As a result of this tectonic activity, any attempt to find refuge from the Great Hall was in vain, as Elders fleeing in any direction other than south fell victim to the quakes and land shifts.

Across the oceans, massive flooding occurred as a result of the Separation. Particularly to the east of Dendralis, this flooding overtook a massive swath of lowland areas, causing a mythical catastrophe that was attributed to the wraths of some divines until the mid-Second Era.

Aftermath

Today, the rippling effects of the Dagortauré are still visible across the northern hemisphere. Dendralis today is void of nearly 75% of the original Elderwood, and pocked with two great valleys, and numerous smaller river valleys and other undulating terrain. The Dagortauré also spelled the demise of the Aéldelin culture, who today are descended by the Greenwood Culture.

Across the ocean, lowlands to the east have remained as swamplands since the mythical flooding occurred, while numerous shorelines to the west have held on to a level of moisture and fertility they lacked in ancient times.

Historical Significance

Legacy

The Dagortauré is nearly universally viewed as the darkest event in Terramoran history. The carnage across the northern hemisphere left peoples displaced, the oxygen levels of the planet depleted, and a civilization almost completed wiped off the face of the planet. Now just over four milennia gone, the Dagortauré takes on a nearly mythical place within the collective mind, but it serves as a constant reminder of the fragility of the world as one knows it to be in a moment of time.

Etymology

Dagor means "battle" or "assault" and tauré means "forest" – Assault on the Forest

Conflict Type

Rebellion

Conflict Result

The Separation occurred, causing the collapse of the Elderwood

Location

Elderwood

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Summer Camp 2024 Submission
Conflict Involving a Changing Environment

*Recorded in written word by Talamus Wynned, the fabled historian of the early Greenwood, this record of the Dagortauré was compiled through the cross referencing of interviews and other manuscripts written about The Separation. All details are subject to the inaccuracies common with the passing of oral traditions over centuries.

All images other than the Summer Camp 2024 logo were created by the author with Bing Copilot | Designer
"Dagortauré" Generated with AI ∙ July 31, 2024 at 7:02 PM