Kinslayer War

End of the Elves domination of Miranda

The Kinslayer War was a civil war fought between elves. Before the Kinslayer War the elves were the dominate sentient species on Miranda but have been on a steady decline since then. Although the first battles did not start until after the Demon Wars, the seed for the war was planted when Ellowyn joined with the gods to drive back the demonic horde.

Age of the Gods

The first elves (True Elf) were created by Ellowyn, a seelie Queen, during the Age of the Gods. For millions of years these near-immortal beings walked upon Miranda changing the world to suit their needs - and being changed by it. It would be nearly 60 million years before another sentient species was on the planet - this species would be created by the gods. Although the gods were the caretakers of this world they had little interest in it other than as a the key to Mir's prison. The arrival of the elves changed that.

When the gods came to this world they did so by opening the Black Gates that allowed them to live upon this world. They used their power to create sentient races in their own image. This sowed the seeds of confusion and isolation among the elves who viewed themselves as the caretakers of this world. The gods upended the world to suit those they created.

Demon Wars

When the gods entered this world their presence allowed the creatures of un-life to enter this world. Devils and their demonic horde so arrived in ever greater numbers and destroyed all in their path. While the devils worked to destroy the world and thus free Mir, the gods sought to save it. This stopped the gods from fully drawing upon their primal power, so the war was fought mostly between godly servants and those they created.

Elven lore speaks that the gods would have surely lost the war and the world would have plunged into darkness, except for the assistance of the elves. At first the elves considered the demons to be the punishment for the arrogance of the gods. As the war progressed the elves saw the truth of the demons and the darkness they would bring far surpassed that of the gods. Ellowyn summoned her Celestial Court and led the elves to battle.

Maiden Archers

At the height of the war, as both sides struggled for control, Ellowyn went to the Great Tree and beseeched the Faerie Queens for help. Although the Queens refused to intervene they did send her help. This faerie was a craftsmen without peer and from the limbs of the Great Tree he fashioned bows the harness the powerful spirits of their wielders. Ellowyn wept over each bow as its crafting required an elf to forever bind their spirit to the wood.

Armed with these bows, Ellowyn and her Maiden Archers cut a devastating swath through the demonic horde. Behind her followed the creatures of the gods. They destroyed or drove the demons and devils back through the Black Gates, sealing each one of them. The last Black Gate could not be sealed from this side as a powerful Demon Lord pulled the gate into the void between the Mortal Plane and the Infernal Realms. Ellowyn, her Maiden Archers, and her most elite warriors went into this dead place to destroy the portal.

The Age of the Gods passed when the portal was closed. The gods returned to the divine realms and closed Heaven's Gate so that no god or devil could return to this world. Ellowyn, her Maiden Archers, and her warriors were never seen again in this age.

Firstborn War

Mardac, consort of Ellowyn, had been trapped in the Fae Lands by an Unseelie Queen and while she made his watch his beloved go to her death - he could not help. This so filled him with rage that he slew the Queen and returned to the world. He could kill all of the demons but that would leave the surviving elves unprotected. In his darkest moment he was approached by a faerie who promised him an army to protect the elves while he hunted the surviving demons.

This faerie gave Mardac an army of orcs. These orcs stood guard over the remaining conclaves of the elves. They provided the physical labor the elves needed to begin rebuilding their cities. When the demons showed up the orcs would attack and kill them, while the elves stayed behind their walls. As the decades progressed the elves received greater number of orcs until they were finally safe in their cities. Mardac and his hunters were killing the strongest demons, unaware of the pending destruction.

Night of Blood

The motives of the faerie who created the orcs are not known, but the aftermath of her handiwork written in blood. Late one day as the moon appeared in the sky it was a blood-red color - an ill omen. When the last rays of the sun touched an orc they were possessed with a murderous rage. The orcs tore down the way, rampaging through the elven cities, killing any elf they found. The elves tried to defend themselves, but they were overwhelmed by the large number of orcs she provided to them.

Mardac heard their screams and then nothing but silence. He returned from hunting demons and found the elves slaughtered and the orcs desecrating their corpses. It was said that his rage was so great even the orcs still in their berserking throes quailed when they beheld him. The world flowed with blood - equal parts elven from the orcs and orcish from Mardac.

Dark Elves

The orcs were too numerous for Mardac alone. In isolated camps he found elves that still possessed the will to fight for their survival. He took those elves and gave to them the physical strength of the orcs, but tempered their rage with his own power. He called these men and women Dark Elves for they had volunteered to walk a dark and dangerous path.

For over a thousand years Mardac and his Dark Elves waged a war with the orcs - neither side asking or giving quarter to the enemy. As his Dark elves were killed Mardac continued to recruit more among the elves that still clung to this world. The only place he avoided was Ellendar. This forest was sacred to his beloved and he would not stain it with blood. The orcs also avoided it in fear of the Great Tree that stands at its heart.

When the orcs were driven nearly driven extinct, existing only in the most remote and darkest areas of the world Mardac send his Dark Elves to Ellendar while he pursued the faerie who created them into the Shadow Realms. The Dark Elves came to the elves of the sacred forest to heal their wounds and provide them succor. They had given not only their lives, but their very souls to save all elves from slaughter. The elves who had not partaken of the orcish blood spurned their dark kinsmen and drove them out of of their lands.

The Dark Elves despaired being cast down by their kin and in that despair they turned their weapons upon them. Although so very few elves remained upon the world a civil war raged in the few places where they still lived.

Ellowyn Returns

What should have been a joyous event forever drove a spike between all elves. A large explosion devastated the land around where the last Black Gate once stood. Ellowyn and her army had returned to Miranda; although they were far fewer in number. She returned to Ellendar expecting to find her elves had survived, but instead found them killing each other.

When she tried to intervene she was struck by an arrow from a Dark Elf and fell to the ground grievously wounded. The Maiden Archers immediately reacted and killed all of the Dark Elves they could see. While their Queen lay near death her maidens drove the Dark Elves from this sacred place.

The Dark Elves would have been killed but Mardac returned and drove back the Maiden Archers. Everything changed when a very obviously wounded Ellowyn took the field. Mardac could not fight his beloved nor could he see those who gave up everything suffer at the hands of their kin. Full of despair he connected himself to all of the Dark Elves he could and together they fled this world.

Death of Ellowyn

Ellowyn, like Mardac, despaired for her lover had turned his blade against her - had killed her children. It was in this moment of despair that she allowed and fae lord named Aelon to help her. Aelon was a powerful fae lord and spent most of his type helping the elves to heal the land. Unbeknownst to any he had fallen in love with the same faerie who created the orcs. She bound his will to her thoughts and sent him to assassinate Ellowyn with a poisoned dagger.

Aelon stabbed Elloywn and then turned the dagger upon himself as he jumped into the Well of Life. his vile act and the poisoned dagger corrupted the well of life. What remained of her court found her with only the shadow of life remaining. They stopped time around her as she sits forevermore on the precipice of death.