Firstborn War

See also: Timeline

Without the gods to give them substance and guidance many of the godly races fell towards barbarism, while others looked longingly at the gifts given to their neighbors. War raged across Miranda lead by those who were corrupted by the devils when they walked the land. These wars would last for over a thousand years before the survivors were too weak to continue.

This was the first major war to really encompass the entire world, change vast swaths of land, and nearly destroy an entire race. It was only the intervention of their creator that saved the dwarves from annihilation.

Unlike the other godly races, the dwarves where given the gift of creation by Terra in the form of living forges. From these forges new life sprung to life crafted from metal and stone. They were not able to give their creations true life, but many of the most complicated came eerily close. When Terra left this world, the dwarves continued to craft, but they were never able to reach the same heights as they did under her guidance. The exception to this general malaise were the Truestrike brothers, Nathan and Quentin. The two of them not only surpassed the most skilled masters who served under Terra, but Nathan was able to do what no dwarf had ever done - he created true life when his most complicated creation (see Soul Metal) gave life to another of its kind. Nathan was named Grand Master of the dwarves with no equal anywhere upon Miranda.

A few years later his workshop was destroyed in a fire that consumed his living forge and with it any chance of creating another being like the incar. Suspicion immediately feel upon Quentin who had grown increasingly jealous over the years as accolades were heaped upon his brother. Clans of dwarves began to support either Quentin or Nathan, with some clans splitting over which brother was true. What started as fights within the alehouse quickly great out of control until every dwarven clan was warring upon the others. Several of the holds became the scenes of deadly battles so much that the stone was forever stained with blood and violence.

When Terra saw her children killing each other she opened Heaven's Gate and journeyed to Miranda. When she arrived on Miranda most the dwarves had either been killed to driven from their ancestral lands, their living forges destroyed, and the blood of their brothers upon their hands. Only the stronghold in the Stoneheart Mountains was still unsullied by the battle. Terra descended from the heavens and ripped the land asunder in her anger. The dwarves, ashamed of their actions, tried to hide from her but to no avail. She tore from them the power to create living objects and gave them as slaves to the giants of the northlands. She only spared the Stoneheart clan as they alone refused to raise a weapon against their fellow dwarves.

When Terra entered the inner realms she left behind the pure power of creation because it could no longer exist within these realms. Unable to return to the divine realms, she used what power remained within her to merge with the stone and earth of this world and sleep. Her people scattered and her own body merged with the physical world, she passed into legend - only remembered by the gods and dwarves.

One of the great tragedies happened during this war that forever divided the elves and dwarves. When Stoneheart Hold was the only hold still standing, several dwarven armies came to the great mountain range to plunder its riches. Before they could reach the Hold King Thorin gathered up the those unable to fight and sent them to the safety of the elven sanctuary of Ellendar. When the dwarven refugees reached the elven woods they were turned back and denied the safety of the forest. With no where else to go the refugees setup camp just at the end of the forest. Warriors of the Darkstone clan arrived and fell upon the refugee camp killing with abandon.

While the dwarves of Stoneheart fought off the numerically superior Darkstone warriors the elves in the forest refused to offer their aid. The Stoneheart refugees knew the elves were watching them and could have offered either their aid or the safety of their wood, but no word came from the forest. Finally, when the land was slick with dwarven blood and the refugees reduced to a tenth of their starting numbers the sky blackened with elven arrows. The arrows fell among the Darkstone and were an arrow struck true a dwarf fell. Five more volleys flew from the forest until the Darkstone were no more.

When the elven leader exited the forest and came to the battlefield he expected to be thanked for saving the dwarves from sure annihilation, instead their leader spat upon him. The dwarf swore upon his clan-blood that the elves would pay for their treachery that day and the loss of dwarven blood that day would be repaid in elven blood a hundredfold. The refugees packed up what supplies they could scavenge from their camp and left to return to their mountain home. It was a difficult road home and the refugees were attacked several times by various marauding armies. When they finally reached the hold less that three percent of the dwarves that left the hold had survived.

The Kinslayer War was the largest of the war during this time period. It is the war between the elves that not only severed their their link with the fae lands, but tainted the spirits upon this land.

When the gods left this world those races they gave birth to faced a dangerous world with none to shield and guide them. The exception to this was the elves because Ellowyn was not a god, but a faerie queen. While the devils and their demon army had been forced to leave this world, the horrors of un-life they left behind still plagued this world. The elves worked tirelessly for many centuries to heal the land and restore its natural order, but the damage was far too great.

In an attempt to use what the Sha’rek’ta left behind to aid them the elves found the Bronze Door. They already had studied the Black Gates and understood that they drew power from deep inside this world to the surface (see Mir). The elves opened its massive doors hoping to find the power to destroy the last of the un-life; instead the Demon Lord Un'gothar stepped out and slew all of the elves near the gate.

Through the Bronze Door came a demonic host intent upon claiming this world for their own. The elves fell before the seemingly endless chaotic host. While the gods could only look upon the world for fear of destroying all of the realms, the fae were beings of the Shadow Realms. Mardac and a few of his followers were away, so Ellowyn led her court into battle along with all of the creatures of this realm. To aid them she called her strongest warriors before the Great Tree and from their sacrifice she crafted powerful bow staves.

Together with these new Maiden Archers, the elves battled the demon host for several years, even driving them back towards the Bronze Gate. Although Ellowyn slew Un'gothar at the door she knew the war was not over until the door was destroyed from the other side. She knew that many of her elves would never return, trapped forever in the infernal realms, but still the entire elven host voluntarily followed Ellowyn through the door with no hesitation.

When Mardac returned he found his love had traveled from this land to a place he could not follow as the Bronze Door was now closed. The elves were still being harried by demons that roamed the land and Mardac was not powerful enough to stop them all. It was then that he was visited by cloaked figure who claimed that he could help protect the elves, with no other options Mardac accepted. The stranger brought to Mardac a vast host of orcs, changed from what they were like when first given life. Originally the orcs were agrarian and peaceful, these orcs had been changed by a dark spirit into powerful warriors. These orcs not only protected the elves, but guarded their surviving cities and hunted down the demons still left upon the world.

Unbeknownst to Mardac the stranger was Reik'tunra, one of the Sha’rek’ta, who was sleeping deep within the world until he was awakened by the presence of the gods. He was angered that these “gods” stole the treasures of his people and drove off the Magi that they left as caretakers upon this world. As much as he hated the gods and their creations he hated the demons and their un-life more, so he worked to turn the gods own creations against all of them. Reik'tunra used one of the great machines to draw forth the power of Miranda and change the orcs. The elves only saw the orcs as simple-minded warriors whose only duty was to protect them - they never saw the orcs as a poisoned dagger meant to kill them.

During this night the elves suffered as they had never suffered before or since. When Ley was a new moon Reik'tunra turned on one of the great machines that remained hidden from the gods. This machine woke up the spirit of rage who dwelled upon Lecia, the same spirit he bound to the orcs. When the spirit of Lecia raged the moon turned as blood, great streaks of red lightning burned the world, and the orcs went berserk. The elves never had a chance to defend themselves as within moments orcish blades dripped with elven blood. During this night there was nobody left to defend them, Ellowyn had taken her Maiden Archers and warriors with her into the Infernal Realms and Mardac was currently hunting down some powerful demons with his best huntsmen. The elves could do nothing but flee or die and very few had the opportunity to flee.

When the orcish warriors with Mardac went berserk he quickly killed them losing only a few of his huntsmen. Fearing the worstm he quickly returned only to find the elven cities burning and the air filled with flies. Everywhere he went the scene was repeated and while he had killed many marauding orcs there were still tens of thousands of orcs remaining. When he reached Ellendar he found a large number of elves had taken shelter in the woods under the protection of the Elder Tree.

What happened in those woods saved Ellendar and the elves sheltering there, but changed the elves forever. Mardac understood Lecia well as he had hunted many of her children upon this world, so he knew the power of her rage. He drew upon her power and tempered it with the strength of his own discipline to strengthen the elves that agreed to fight beside him. These elves were forever changed into (Dark Elves) - no longer part of the fae lands they would be forever bound to this world, unable to ever return home. Mardac led his followers into battle with vengeance in their eyes and for the first time since this nightmare began the orcs knew fear.

When the orc berserkers were defeated and their survivors scattered to the four corners of the world, many of the Dark Elves finally returned to Ellendar for some much need solace, while Mardac continued to hunt down smaller warbands of orcs. Instead of being welcomed home, the Dark Elves found themselves forced to encamp outside of the forest. As the Dark Elf camp grew larger tensions began to rise and so it was only a matter of time before an incident happened, when it did several Dark Elves were killed. The Dark Elves immediately accused their kin in Ellendar and vowed revenge, while the other elves professed their innocence. What neither knew was that Reik'tunra killed the Dark Elves to drive the elves to war with each other.

The return of Ellowyn to this world was preceded by the Bronze Gate exploding. This explosion gave off so much power that this land remains blighted to this day. Ellowyn and those who followed her into the Infernal Realms who still survived left that blighted land and returned home. When she saw elves killing each other she ordered her Maiden Archers into battle once again as she saw the Dark Elves for what they were, twisted and evil. The Dark Elves were driven back from Ellendar, but they were so numerous that the Maiden Archers could not defeat them entirely.

When Mardac returned from fighting the last of the large orcish armies his heart broke. Those elves that gave everything for all elves were being killed by the warriors of his true love. Worse was when he saw Ellowyn herself in battle, frightening beautiful as she killed those who entrusted their lives to him. He went to confront her and stop the bloodshed, but it was too late for Ellowyn saw the corruption within him. She attacked him with all of her strength and drove him back. Rather than kill his beloved he gathered up the Dark Elves and ran into the wild lands, the Maiden Archers close upon his heels.

Over the next year he avoided fighting the Maiden Archers while he gathered up as many of his Dark Elves as he could find. Upon the Reijah Plains he was finally trapped, surrounded by Ellowyn and her Maiden Archers. His final pleas for an end to this bloodshed fell upon deaf ears as they attacked. Rather than see one more drop of elven blood spilled he used his own life to open a portal to another land. His Dark Elves carried out his last command to them and fled through the portal carrying his body with them.