The Book Of Years

The Elderwar is often referred to in ancient history but it is unknown if they consisted of multiple conflicts or a grand, singular battle. Most creative works, lacking basis in historical fact, speak of the Elderwar as a single decisive battle.

The Titans stood above all other life on the World. They fashioned cities of gleaming marble and metals. They strode the land and brought light to every dark corner. They were merciful and powerful, fearsome and compassionate. The Titans drew together the threads of civilization for the first time and all dwelled under the aegis of the Solar Assembly. The vassals of the Titans, the Ehlovanni, were a gifted and beautiful race that served the Titans faithfully for long generations of their lives. And so Light was brought to all of the World.

These new Dark Titans, the Shaitan, were discovered by their brethren in the Solar Assembly and war was inevitable. The sorceries, might and all of the power contained in darkened hearts struck out and shattered the Solar dominion of Titans over the World and Beyond. The Shaitan brought forth monsters of war created in sorcerous rites, drew on dark powers from the Elderwraths themselves and even bargained freely with otherworldly nether-beings in search of victory. The mortal armies of the two sides slaughtered each other indiscriminately as Ehlovanni and mortals chose sides in a war that would not allow anyone to survive. In the end, the Shaitan reigned supreme.

As the ashes of Life blew over the ruined World, the Shaitan stood supreme. These years are so dark that no one has sought to reimagine them and I will not do so here for fear that my imagination will become Reality. But, with the Shaitan in power, Reality grew bleak and murderous for all. The weight of oppression over all of the mortal races was crushing and the Shaitans power served to keep it there for hundreds of years as their hearts grew darker and darker.

No power based on the cause of the Elderwraths can prevail in the Material for Reality itself fights back itself when threatened by extinction. And it did, by taking our heroes and raising them up, the first of the Young Gods were uplifted from our greatest heroes, most powerful sorcerors and most dedicated defenders. They rose up and ascended to Immortality, drunk on the power of the divine, and returned to fight alongside us. It was only then that the tide began to turn and yet we still struggled against a tidal wave. The confrontation drew Powers from elsewhere such as the Abyss, the Hells, dark and light dimensions alike, and we worshipped them such that they would fight on our behalf. So, with our Young Gods and the aid of Powers from all places, did we bring the fight to the Shaitan.

On one side, the Shaitan with their Ehlovanni slaves and sycophants, the Wartorn of their creation, and the power of the Elderwraths. Arrayed against this, we numbered the Mortals such as Mankind, the Duergar, the Hin or Halflings, and our own Wartorn legions. Standing beside us were our once-mortal Heroes now gifted unto divinity as well as light and dark powers from around the Omniverse. With our worship, they grew stronger and each battlefield was a sacrificial altar of offerings. Even some of the Ehlovanni cast off their shackles and joined our ranks although they were few and ill-trusted for their strange and eldritch ways.

The mortals and Wartorn alike drifted their separate ways and sought to rebuild individually instead of together. The beastmen and other Wartorn were created for one thing and it was not long before they succumbed to their impulses. It was a dark age that fell not so much of oppression and wickedness but of loneliness as the numbers of the Mortals, even augmented by the ranks of the Wartorn, were but one speck of sand remaining from a sandy shores reckoning of the War’s toll. Civilization was a tattered dream as existence sank to red teeth and claws, and hunger, and self-preservation ruled all.

We do not know what caused Thera to fall beneath the waves. But fall it did and a diaspora of its people and multitudes of others from all over the World spread out in search of safe havens. Some found what they searched for but, with the light of Thera gone, many more found the darkness of savagery and war. The Beastfallen fell into old ways violence, the beastmen hordes of goblins, orcs, ogres and others descended on the remnants of the Therans in never-ending waves. The Sylvanni and Duergar, ancient folk that had seen similar times, closed their borders and sealed their gates.

In the region known as the Approach and surrounding lands, a great seismic event ensued with aftershocks lasting several weeks. It is referred to in regional histories as the Collapse.

Amidst the Strifelands, the last armies of the Western Kings fought the great hordes of the Taking to a standstill. The battle ended with the hordes falling apart and back, disorganized and no longer driven by a mad ambition. The Last Generals held the line but they did not stop the Taking.