Adefalt

**Overview**

Adefalt is a unique continent as it is said its fate is bound to that of Asken. Most native Fey races call Adefalt home, with the exception of Drow, which immigrated to Adefalt from Asken. Adefalt is considered closest to The Feywild, with Gunterland being the second closest. There is a large natural stone archway, called Ghaatiil, or "The Window to The Wild", which is said to be where travel to the other realms is easiest on Marso, not that such a thing has been done in many Millenia. Many other Feywild native creatures can be found in Adefalt, including large mushrooms, pixies, and the rare Displacer beast. Numerous smaller kingdoms used to be dotted all over Adefalt, but 100 years ago they were all forcibly unified under the banner of 'Coressir', a monarchy led by the world renowned (Orcs would beg to differ) Helexe royal family. Has a population of 7 million.

**Continent History**

It is fabled that Adefalt and Asken were two wolves, lovers which chased one another across the sky for thousands upon thousands of years. Eventually the two wolves grew tired, and settled down on Marso. They had a child, Brinterf, which eventually became the Greater Moon in the sky. It is debated among Elven kind who the mother and father specifically were, but it is agreed that one of them passed away during the birth of Brinterf, and the other died next to them, whether that be of starvation, a broken heart, or something else, it is not known.

**Brief History**

It is generally agreed upon that Elven kind came from The Feywild, when or how it is not known. It is commonly taught that most other major races mutated from Elven races at some point, including humans, but this is controversial even in Adefalt to a point. For most of Adefalts history, there were dozens of smaller kingdoms denoting culture, climate, geography, and racial demographics. Most notably was Talasoond, a previous monarchy ran by the Azuregaze family for 700 years before the rise of Coressir. They were notable for being a benevolent Kingdom, and constructed a vast road network that centered from the capital of Alushtas, renamed to Elverquisst after the Coressir's took over.

600 years ago, the first conflict with Asken began. An army of Hobgoblins, Goblins, and Bugbears burst forth from underground passages, sacking several villages and taking control of a fortress by emerging from underneath their cobblestones. This incursion was quick, precise, and ruthless, and only Militia men and garrisoned defenders had time to react. By the time Talasoond knights came, they were already gone, having killed all they touched and looting as much food as possible from the surrounding area. Not wanting to allow such a blatant attack on their soil stand, Talasoond assembled an army to follow the green horde back down into where they came. What they discovered was a massive underground network of caverns, caves, and forbidden ruins that make up The Underdark. They never found the Goblinoid attackers, but this began their relationship with Asken, and started things off on a bad note.

Goblin attacks from underground became somewhat common as the years went on, increasing tensions between Adefalt and Asken. 400 years ago, the first direct invasion of Asken from Talasoond was commenced. This was known as the 'Crithdala' or battle for the sun, and became to be known as the first of many Crithdala's. The Knights of Talasoond landed on Asken and were the first to encounter the armies of Varncoorar on the battlefield. Attempts were made at Diplomacy, but ultimately they were short lived. The Knights demanded that the Vancoorar armies help them rid the goblin menace, the Vancoorar armies refused. The Knights of Talasoond said that they would exterminate the goblins themselves, the armies of Vancoorar fought back. The ensuing battle was a long and drawn out affair, The Knights of Talasoond were signifigantly more armored and experienced, but the armies of Vancoorar knew the terrain and outnumbered them 20 to 1. After losing three quarters of their men, The Knights retreated, having their rears kicked right back to Adefalt.

A decade later, and multiple further raids by the goblins happened on Adefalt soil, a second Crithdala was undertaken. And again, even with a larger force, it ended in failure. Thus began a vicious cycle called the 'Era of Crithdala' where Talasoond would send forces to try and stop further attacks from goblin raiders, and fail, over time accumulating knowledge and experience about Asken and the underground.

The era of Crithdala ended 150 years ago when the Coressir's, a small northern kingdom, made a bid to send diplomats to Dargever, the source for the organized armies of Goblings, Hobgoblins, and Bugbears. The process was tenuous, due to language and racial barriers, but miraculously talks began. Dargever argued that the reason it sent raids to Adefalt is because of the poor soil and a lack of food, and comparatively Adefalt had a lot of food and rich soil. With council among the other kingdoms, a treaty was signed, called the "El Treaty". It stated that an alliance would be formed between the elves and goblin people, and in exchange excess food stores would be sent to Dargever and knowledge of better farming techniques would be given to help with the food situation on Dargever.

It seemed like a win-win situation, however, at the last minute, Talasoond, the largest kingdom in the union of Elves voted no, and because the treaty needed to be unanimous, it was denied. Talasoond sent one more force of Knights, this one a specialized force that was suited for navigating the Underdark, through the Underdark to attack Dargever directly. This was known as the final Crithdala, and because of the language barrier alongside the tenuous communication arrangements, diplomacy broke down. Dargever saw this final Crithdala as a betrayal of the treaty. Thus, all talks were broken off. The final Knights of Talasoond were sent, and had the most successful campaign yet. They successfully made it Dargever, and tore through massive chunks of the goblin population. With no supervision, and orders to eliminate the goblin threat, they set alight fields, destroyed housing, and exterminated civilians like vermin, with some accounts mentioning them targeting women and children. This went on for an entire month before the knights of Talasoond finally retreated back into the Underdark. The elves call this the 'Final Crithdala', but among goblins, it was known as the 'Stev Deaqu' or 'Season of Murder'.

**The Coressir Unification**

   The Knights of Talasoond came back from their successful campaign to find that their home was in chaos. Coressir, uniting with all of the other minor Kingdoms besides Talasoond, had declared war against Talasoond in response to them blatantly disregarding the wishes of the union of kingdoms and ruining decades of diplomatic work to establish long term peace in exchange for genocide which would, at best, create a pause in the goblin raids.

The armies of Talasoond were mighty, mighty enough to potentially repel the invading forces and unify Adefalt once and for all, but unfortunately for them Coressir declared war expecting to win. 100 years ago an ancient great volcano between Adefalt and Asken, suddenly rose from the ocean after being submerged for millions of years, and kept rising until it was revealed to be no mere volcano, but a massive Stone Golem, which came to be known as Svanencour or 'Walking Mountain'. It is kept secret as to how the immense godlike being is controlled, but miraculously it follows the will of the Helexe family. All it took was for Svanencour to *walk* to the shore of Alushtas's port, and immediately peace was called for. Honor comes from battling even when defeat seems certain, ignorance comes from battling when defeat *is* certain, wisdom comes from knowing the difference.

After peace was called, Svanencour walked back down into the ocean, where it has yet to be called upon again. But thanks to the unspoken promise that the Helexe bloodline could call upon such a titanic being again, Talasoond agreed to give up their independence, with the caveat that the royal family was spared, which was obliged. Suddenly, Coressir went from a tiny Kingdom to the, largest kingdom on Adefalt, and in control of a walking mountain to do their bidding.

It came naturally then that Coressir made the remaining Kingdoms unify under its banner, which, under the threat of Svanencour, was promptly obliged. The conflict was so bloodless it could not even be considered a war, merely a beurucratic changing of hands. The only conflict came soon after, as many militia and indipendent revolts rose up against Coressir, only for each to be promptly squashed and stamped out. In only 20 years, it was safe to say Coressir owned all of Adefalt, but they were not done.

**The Dueling Lands War**

In complete contrast for their peace bid less than 30 years ago, Coressir begins to mobilize a massive army to invade Asken. It is unknown why Svanencour was not called upon again, but it is generally theorized that there is some sort of cost that is unknown as of this time, the Helexe family has kept this a complete secret.

Recently, the Ancient Vancoorar had been weakened due to a mass slave revolt. Once owning most of Asken, they lost the inner mountains ranges to a brutal uprising by Tiefling, goblin, and other humanoids alike, which formed their own kingdom, Harshak. Coressir sent a diplomatic envoy to Vancoorar, and they agreed to begin talks about an alliance. The Drow wanted their slaves and land back, Adefalt wanted to mitigate the threat of goblins and begin to control the new continent. Unlike last time, without Talasoond there to prevent such an alliance, it was ratified quickly, thus Adefalt joined the the Vancoorar slave revolt on the side of Vancoorar, which the elves called 'The Dueling Lands War'. The drow do not consider it a war, merely a slave revolt, but use the term as shorthand regardless.

(see The Dueling Lands War for more details, the resulting war is modern history and thus outside the history of Adefalt)