The Iron War

The great war between the Giants and Dwarves that changed Jotunheim forever, and the entire way of life for the Dwarves, very early in the history of both species.

The Conflict

Prelude

The conflict began around the year 170 as the Dwarves ventured north into the cold lands of Jotunheim to explore further resources for the great crafts they were creating, building some strongholds and fortresses along the way. The Ironwood trees of Jotunheim do not grow or seed, and their wood can be worked like metal, crafting the hardest, most durable metalworks in the Realm.

The Ironwood trees are sacred to the Giants, and precious, their wood is only used when felled by natural events like storms. The giants were soon up in arms.

Deployment

The Giants had been retreating northward from the areas where Dwarves would pop up, some of the more serious ones congregating around the year 220 to form what would become the Capitol City of Glamrengwen, the heart of the resistance. There they organized their first strikes on the fellers in the forests.

The first skirmishes began around the year 250 in the forests, picking off the Dwarves in groups. Over the next 50 years, Glam grew more and more sophisticated and the attacks from the Giants grew in number in both the forests and the route back to Nidavellir, and the Giants even in further off lands were coming to the fight.

Meanwhile, the Dwarves had enlisted the Gnomes back home to help them build the Dwarfforged, mechanized humanoids made from the Ironwood they had harvested from up north. These sentinels evened the playing field between the two combatants of drastically different sizes.

Seeing the sentinels for the first time, the Giants knew they had to end this conflict, and word went out to all over the kingdom for the forces they would need to do it.

Battlefield

The Giants laid seige to the Dwarven strongholds for two years before the Dwarves made their escape to the forests. Once the Dwarves were on the retreat, the largest of the battles raged in The Bastard Lands and the surrounding mountains for nearly two more decades, with more warriors pouring in from north and south of the mountains that divided the kingdoms.

Conditions

Jotunheim may be entirely frozen now, but in those days it did have seasons warm enough for growing food in the short summers. Even so, battle was hard, and rarely in decent conditions.

The Engagement

The final battle was fought on the Fields of Gwaspen. While Gweluon Peakstrider strode across the battlefield with his 30 foot height, squishing the puny dwarves, Losdaer Snowfell filled the skies with heavy snow and Lúrëaon Longstorm shot off huge thunderclaps in the clouds and hurled lighting upon the enemy, while Sýlil Windwalker whipped the snow into a frenzied wind storm.

Taulir Northmountain raised the mountains even higher, and Glemeril Ghostecho called the echoes to make the din in the huge valley come from everywhere at once, thrice as loud as it should have been. Ringnis Coldbones called the cold, Helcë Icespear seized the ground to solid ice, and Nixë Frostfang frosted the armor of every last Dwarf.

The Dwarforged sentinels proved hardier than the Dwarves themselves and gave the giants as good as they got with sheer force as opposed to magic. The battle was finally brought to a halt when the Mountains of Creation, as they would later be called, kept the opposing forces distracted and on their heels long enough for Alagosdes Stormbringer to conjure the shredding Wall of Winds and all the rocky and icy projectiles those winds pick up, walling off the entire kingdom of Jotunheim from Nidavellir.

Outcome

Some Dwarves, and the Dwarf Giants who came to be in the earlier parts of Dwarven encroachment became trapped on opposite sides of the wall. Most of the Dwarves were picked off in the aftermath, but some fled to Dwarf Giant settlements in the southeast.

The giants scattered, many of their homes having been destroyed in the war, with many refugees congregating in the woods and mountains north of Glam, and others making their way across Lif's Bridge to get away from the memories on the mainland.

Aftermath

The Wall of Winds stands to this day, the climate having changed forever and the land becoming desperately hard. The Giants are a hardy people though, and acclimated well to their year round winters, as they were already used to them for nearly 10 months a year.

Historical Significance

Legacy

There were nine Giants that were created in the beginning who helped shape the building of Jotunheim, and were deciding heroes of the Iron War, some of the few from the Age of Creation whose names made it into the history scrolls. It is a great honor to be able to tie one's lineage to one of these Mountains of Creation, as they are called, especially Gweluon.

1. Gweluon Peakstrider: The First Giant
2. Losdaer Snowfell
3. Taulir Northmountain
4. Lúrëaon Longstorm
5. Glemeril Ghostecho
6. Sýlil Windwalker
7. Ringnis Coldbones
8. Nixë Frostfang
9. Helcë Icespear

There is another, not one of the nine, but the child of Sýlil and Losdaer, Alagosdes Stormbringer whose name is writ large upon the histories for creating the Wall of Winds that ended the war and stands to this day.

Conflict Type

War

Battlefield Type

Land

Start Date

250 AF

Ending Date

11 Falwinter, 320 AF

Conflict Result

The Wall of Winds was erected, and Jotunheim was walled off from Nidavellir

Location

Jotunheim

Belligerents

The Dwarves

Led by

• Hýlil Battleclaw

The Giants

Led by

• Gweluon Peakstrider

Strength

Casualties

Objectives

Maps

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  Jotunheim Map