Dawn War

The Dawn War was an ancient conflict that raged between the primordials and the gods at the Age Before Ages. The conflict was massive, spanning entire planes of reality, as well as many worlds of the Prime Material plane, including Abeir-Toril, Nerath, Oerth and Athas. The war encompassed the eras known on Abeir-Toril as the Blue Age and the Shadow Epoch.
==Location==
The Dawn War took place mostly on the Astral Sea, but some of the most intense battles were fought in the Abyss, the Elemental Chaos, the Shadowfell, and in many worlds of the Prime Material plane.
==History==
===Causes===
According to the sages of Faerûn, the Dawn War began when the primordials invaded Realmspace, as they coveted the newly born worlds of this universe. This happened soon after Toril was seeded with life, so Selûne and Shar both moved to defend the worlds of Realmspace against the primordial threat. Nerathian legends and the inscriptions found in the murals of Death's Reach gave more context to this. According to these sources, the primordials were the actual creators of the worlds of the Material plane, and they wanted to destroy them so they can start a new creation, following the cycle of creation and destruction of the Elemental Chaos. As the gods were already invested in such worlds, they decided to defend them against the primordials, starting the Dawn War.
The Demonomicon of Iggwilv suggest a more sinister cause for the war, however. According to Iggwilv, when the Oerthian deity Tharizdun found the Shard of Pure Evil in his quest for a weapon that would allow him to conquer the multiverse, he was corrupted by the creators of the Shard, the obyriths. They demanded Thariuzdun to plant the seed of evil within the Astral Sea, promising him total dominion of that realm in exchange for his fealty. Tharizdun was aware that the other gods of the multiverse would turn on him before he could fully seize the power the obyriths promised. Instead, the mad god traveled to the farthest reaches of the cosmos, planting the seed of evil in a primordial expanse of the churning Elemental Chaos, which he hoped to seize as his own. This seed eventually grew into the Abyss.
Infuriated against Tharizdun, the obyriths tried to destroy him, but the Shard of Pure Evil had given Tharizdun powers the obyriths couldn't have predicted. Using his newfound power to enslave the demons that were spawned by the Abyss, Tharizdun opposed the obyriths for eons before the two forces reached a stalemate. Meanwhile, a group of primordials went into the Abyss out of curiosity, and were corrupted in the process, becoming demon lords. Among them were Baphomet, Demogorgon and Orcus. They found the Shard of Pure Evil at the center of the Blood Sea, and fought each other for its possession. Demogorgon was the first to reach the Shard, but was confronted by the obyrith Dagon, who also wanted the Shard, before he could reach it. While the two were fighting, a second obyrith, Obox-ob took the chance and claimed the Shard, becoming the first Prince of Demons.
Like it did with Tharizdun, the Shard of Pure Evil corrupted Obox-Ob and compelled him to plant it in the Astra Sea. Aware that if Obox-Ob did that he would become the master of the multiverse, Demogorgon, Baphomet and Orcus joined forces and defeated Obox-ob. The battle was so violent that it created the Blood Rift, where the Shard of Pure Evil fell, never to be seen again. When he became aware of their presence, Tharizdun tried to control Baphomet, Demogorgon and Orcus, like he did with the lesser demons spawned by the Abyss, but they proved to be very powerful and opposed him. Avoiding to risk defeat at the hands of the demon lords, Tharizdun retreated to the Elemental Chaos.
Under the guise of "The Elder Elemental Eye", the first of the primordials (a ruse devised by Tharizdun to gain the trust of the primordials), Tharizdun marshaled the forces of the primordials, who were already angered by the gods' intervention with the worlds of the Material plane. This movement eventually gave origin to the Cult of Elemental Evil, rallying other elemental creatures and demons of the Abyss under the banner of "The Elder Elemental Eye". Among the converts, only a few knew the true identity of Tharizdun. Of those few, a tanar'ri known as Miska the Wolf-Spider soon advanced through the ranks and became a high ranking officer of the elemental forces.
However, the creation of the Abyss caught the attention of the other gods at last, who temporarily put aside their differences and joined forces in order to imprison Tharizdun. The gods spread misinformation about the location of his prison, leaving some forces led by the then archangel Asmodeus to watch over "Tharizdun's prison" in the Abyss, while they actually sealed him in the remains of a dead universe.
With Tharizdun imprisoned, Miska the Wolf-Spider took control of the forces of the Cult of the Elemental Evil and launched an attack on the Abyss, intending to reclaim the Shard of Pure Evil for himself. While he faced the forces of the Prince of Demons Obox-Ob, the Queen of Chaos appeared and killed the obyrith, giving the title of Prince of Demons to Miska the Wolf-Spider, who gave her his allegiance in exchange for her aid in destroying the gods.
Regardless of the actual causes of the war, the Dawn War started when the primordials launched an attack (either on their own or led by Miska the Wolf-Spider) on the Astral Sea, destroying the Lattice of Heaven, prompting the gods to retaliate.
===War on the multiverse===
While most battles happened on the world of Nerath, Abeir-Toril was one of the central fronts of the war. A primordial named Nehushta built the fortress of Glaur in what would be later the continent of Laerakond, as the main headquarter of the primordial forces. The primordials unleashed their forces of elementals, demons, and even giants and titans, in a chaotic fashion and pitted them against the gods. The gods soon gathered an army from their angelic servants and mortal followers to counterattack, but were overwhelmed. While the primordials didn't had an organized army, they were more powerful than the gods. They were confident of their victory, as the gods were fewer in number that them, were scattered and unorganized, and most of their soldiers were easy to kill.
Things became even harder for the gods when some primordials, led by the powerful Timesus the Black Star, went to the center of the Shadowfell, a place called Death's Reach, and began to consume the souls of the dead to increase their powers. With his new power, Timesus was able to effortlessly kill many of the younger gods. Eventually, Shar and Selûne summoned gods from other dimensions, among them the gods of the world of Nerath, to aid the native gods in their struggles against the primordials and their servants. 
Some sources say that Bane was the first to organize the forces of the gods. He devised clever tactics, instructing the gods to set aside their differences and work together in small groups of three or five members, and sending those teams to fight specially mighty primordials. In a battle that destroyed countless worlds, Bane led the gods to victory by killing Tabrach-Ti the Queen of Bronze, the first primordial to fall in the war.
At some point during this conflict, the goddess Auril killed the primordial Dur-baagal. Meanwhile, the primordial Rorn of the Rages, unable to control his temper, killed many gods and even other primordials during the conflict, earning the enmity of both factions.
The dragon god Io intervened in the war on his own, leading his army of dragons against the forces of the primordials. He killed many primordials on his own. However, in one of the most violent battles of the war, in his arrogance Io faced alone a primordial called Erek-Hus the King of Terror, and was killed when the primordial cleaved him in two with his adamantine axe. Some claim Io died in that battle because the god Zehir betrayed him to Erek-Hus, as he wanted to control the dragon race. 
The same legend told that Bahamut and Tiamat were born from the two halves of the dead god. However, another legend said that Bahamut and Tiamat were the oldest children of Io, born at the dawn of creation, and that they claimed the halves of Io's power after he died. Regardless of the truth, Bahamut and Tiamat joined forces to kill the primordial before they began to fight against each other. Only when Tiamat fled the battle did both dragon gods aid the other gods in the war, though they preferred to work alone. Some dragonborn believed their race was born in that battle, when the first dragonborn arose from Io's blood. 
Eons passed, and the Blue Age became the Shadow Epoch after the sun of Realmspace was devoured by the primordial known as Dendar the Night Serpent. During this phase of the war, Ouroboros the World Serpent was the major force leading the armies of the gods. All seemed lost until the primordial Ubtao the Deceiver turned against his kin and aided the gods in imprisoning many of his former allies. The gods were able to launch a full attack on Death's Reach, defeating Timesus and sealing him away, depriving the primordials of one of their most powerful assets. 
Meanwhile, Bahamut's allies, the Wind Dukes of Aaqa, and an exarch of Moradin, crafted the Rod of Law and defeated Miska the Wolf-Spider at the Battle of Pesh on the world of Oerth, which shattered the armies of the primordials, and the Queen of Chaos retreated with her armies back into the Abyss.
Legends told that in the final battle of the Dawn War, the Oerthian deity Kord slew the primordial Sehil barehanded.
==Aftermath==
The gods of the world of Athas were destroyed or driven away by the primordials during the conflict, and some of the primordials who survived the Dawn War became the masters of that world after the war ended.
Concerned by the unparalleled destruction caused by the gods and primordials to the worlds of Material plane, the nature spirits enacted the "primal ban", a powerful magic that bans outsiders from the Material plane unless they are summoned by its inhabitants.
In Realmspace, the sun was recreated and the oceans thawed. This ended the Dawn War and began the Days of Thunder.
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Category:History
Category:Wars