They believed that the Elves should return to their ancient ways and remove all human influences from their society. They advocated a course of total isolation from the humans. When they could not sway their brothers and sisters, these Elves left the Elven kingdoms to found their own primitive communities hidden deep within impenetrable forests, far from any humans. After the Great War, the mages were completely preoccupied with rebuilding Sumdall. Much magical energy was expended in its reconstruction.
Mages are a vain lot and each tried to outdo the other with their towers and other constructions.
The conquered peoples rebuilt their civilizations the best they could with whatever they could hide from the mages or whatever the Mages deemed useless. With the only real force in the empire preoccupied with tower building and the other peoples decimated, it wasn't long before the humanoids began to pour down from the north unopposed. It was only when they began to actually impact the trade of the new empire that the mages took action, drafting the displaced dwarven population to combat their ancestral enemies. The dwarves found new purpose and spirit as they organized into proper armies and brought the orc armies to a standstill. When the dwarven losses began to affect the productivity of the mines the mages finally began to take the orcs seriously.