Fleeting Rebellion

A rebellion against the elves at the start of the fourth age.

The Conflict

Prelude

Following the second years of darkness the elves of the Ancient Kingdom of the Forest moved the descendents of the shortlived they had saved to villages on the west bank of the Renaduin. They had followed this pattern before, gradually rebuilding the population of humans, halflings, and dragonborn while maintaining control of them. These shortlived had been taught from birth that their lives to the discipline imposed by the elves so there was no expectation that this cycle would be any different to the last.
Even the emergence of some rogue fleets from their own shelters did seem lo pose much of a problem. With at most a few hundred survivors emerging at once, many too young or too old to resist the forces of the elves had no difficulty subjugating them. At least until the arrival of The Twelve.

Deployment

With centuries of training and experience and little to no threat from their charges, the elven forces were spread thinly cross the fleeting settlements. As weapons were largely banned for the fleets, the 4-5 soldiers stationed at each settlement spent most of their time keeping away wild beats. Any disputes that broke out amongst their charges could normally be settled with a spell and a hand resting on s sword hilt, so they were not as alert as they could have been.
The twelve on the other hand were all too alert. Carefully scouting out the fleet villages and the elven forces supervising them, the humans of the twelve split into two groups to raid several of the most remote settlements.

The Engagement

The initial attack by the twelve caught the elven forces completely unprepared, and the soldiers didn't even have the chance to dispatch a message before being slain. By the time the soldiers at other settlements became aware of the problem the fleets from the two raided villages had been taken elsewhere.
Unwilling to admit they could be bested by a group of humans, the soldiers were slow to request aid, and several more settlements were raided while they searched futilely for the attackers.
By the time help was requested the original attackers had had time to train up some of the fleets they had lured away from the settlements. This presented the elven forces with a dilemma. The fleets didn't have the skill or experience to stand against even a small proportion of the elven forces, but killing them would be self defeating as they had been saved in order to help repopulate the world.
The fleets had no compunction about killing elves and used the elves' reluctance to kill against them. Forced to defend settlements along the Renaduin, the elven soldiers had difficulty mounting any attacks, especially after the fleets showed the capability for using magic. Unused to having their own hit and run tactics used against them the elven forces were slowly whittled down, with only a few fleet raiders captured in return.
With each elven life worth far more than a fleets the ongoing conflict was becoming far too costly so the elven forces were withdrawn back over the Renaduin. It was hoped that without a clear enemy to fight the fleets would revert to type and begin fighting each other, allowing them to be subdued with much less effort.

Outcome

As expected the fleets splintered into various groups, but rather than engage in outright conflict the groups separated to set up settlements across the continent. Efforts by the elven forces to provoke conflict between these groups and take control from the shadows were only partially successful and much of this was undone when descendents of the original twelve created the Kingdom of Caresnas.

Aftermath

Unlike in the third age the elves lost control of the fleets, and they now pose a significant threat to the kingdom of the forest.

Despite the name the Fleeting rebellion lasted for around 15 years.

Battlefield Type

Land

Start Date

20th year of the fourth age

Ending Date

35th year of the fourth age

Conflict Result

The rebels drove away the elves and began creating their own lands.

Maps

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  Kingdom of Caresnas and Surroundings