The Londaran War

Dwarves

Dwarf - 1

The First War of the North details the events that occurred over the course of Y3A-1125 to Y3A-1130 and involved primarily humans, elves and towards the very end, dwarves.

The elves and the humans lived in relative peace together for well over five hundred years until around the year Y3A-1100 when relations started to turn sour. As a show of friendship at the start of their relationship, the humans from the east had been granted open access to much of the elven territory of Londar and they had enjoyed the freedom that had been granted to them, building homes and starting families within the elven communities, even going so far as to take part in their customs and rituals.

Unfortunately for the elves, some of the humans didn't agree with their ways and began acting out, causing trouble where none was needed. Squabbles and disputes started to become more common and would rapidly develop into fights and brawls, often injuring those involved as well as bypassers. The High Priestess of Londar noted the increased level of aggression and realised that something would have to be done before it got too far out of hand.

The elves had been gifted long life spans, but a consequence of such was that their birthrates had drastically fallen, meaning that in just a few dozen years, the humans were close to outnumbering the elves in their own country and held a significant advantage over them should they ever decide to rebel.

The High Priestess, scared of what would happen, slowly started to restrict access to certain aspects of their culture, limiting free travel in and out of Hyvern City and gently making human lives more difficult in order to make them want to leave of their own free will. She didn't want conflict but she was unable to push back without starting something she didn't want. By the time she finally acted, it was too late.

In the year Y3A-1125, small disputes were rapidly exploding into full-on feuds that often ended in severe and numerous casualties. Elves were subject to frequent, targeted assaults and many of the human problems were being blamed on them without just cause. The entire kingdom was a tinderbox waiting for a spark to ignite it.

That spark finally caught when a young human boy decided to show off his father's crossbow to his friend, a ten-year-old elf girl. They had been playing together when, in an effort to show off, the boy accidentally loosed a bolt. It ripped through the girl's chest in a flash and impaled itself into the wall behind her. Freaked out and terrified of what he had just done, the boy dropped the crossbow in a panic and fled back to his home.

The girl was left to bleed out for almost fifteen minutes before she finally died.

When the girl's parents finally found her body, they were distraught and wracked with grief. Looking for who could have possibly committed this horrific act, they recognised the crossbow lying on the ground and, in a blind rage, hunted down its owner and shot him with it.

The humans retaliated immediately, not understanding the cause or reason for this sudden murder, just reacting. The humans grabbed any weapon they could find and attacked in retaliation. Within minutes, the market square was a bloody and gruesome scene, pikes and spears protruding from both human and elf corpses alike. Rallied under the leadership of Renoveld Borea, a blacksmith that held a great deal of respect from many of the humans and had been a good friend of the killed man, they marched through the streets and began the Hyvern Uprising.

Hundreds were killed in the bloodbath of the uprising, including the elven High Priestess who had attempted to calm matters. Both sides were totally consumed in their hatred and fury for the other race. Not caring who stood in their way, the two fought with a bitterness that was utterly unparalleled.

The elves were the first to break off their fighting, suddenly realising that they were hopelessly outnumbered and falling quickly. They were losing ground at a rapid rate and though they attempted to flee the city, the humans were everywhere and there was no escape to be found. Later count of the corpses revealed the death toll to be at 746. 532 elves and 214 humans.

Even after the fighting had finally stopped, the humans continued in their onslaught as they began tracking and hunting down the elves that had fled. For weeks and months, the fleeing elves hid, taking refuge in the forests and hills of the wildlands. While some humans gave them refuge, many more ratted them out to the hunters for a hefty sum. Over the course of the five years that followed, almost two thousand elves were hunted down, captured and publicly executed.

With the backing of his supporters, Renoveld Borea was declared the king of Londar.

Following the uprising and subsequent massacre, a few of the elves that had somehow slipped through the nets finally managed to return to Elhaíg and relayed to the High Priestess what had happened. With deep disdain for the human race, the High Priestess of Elhaíg called for volunteers who would help assist in their destruction and thousands rallied behind her.

The following years were difficult and tense for the humans as they were accosted relentlessly by the elven survivors of the uprising and constantly on edge, waiting for the elven attack from Elhaíg that they were convinced would one day occur. But as the years went by and no attack came, the humans began to settle, making themselves comfortable in their new kingdom. They knew elves were strictly against the notion of war and perhaps the blow they had dealt them had been so severe that they had just given up. It was unlikely, but as time passed on, people started to forget that the elves were even a threat.

Almost five years passed while the elven forces steadily built up their forces. During which time, the elves of Elhaíg had completely withdrawn themselves to their island. All communication to the outside world was completely cut off while they trained and build the equipment they would require.

In Y3A-1130, five years after the uprising, an army of elves, some two thousand in number, made the crossing to the mainland and immediately launched into their attack. The elves were merciless in their engagements and swept through the land like a great scythe, cutting down all who stood in their way. Tales of the Night Hunters spread like wildfire as news of their arrival rippled through the kingdom. They attacked at night, setting fire to everything they encountered and scorching the lands and fields from end to end. Terrifying shadows that detached themselves from the night, wiped out entire villages and withdrew back into the darkness before anybody could react. They ravaged everything and everybody, razing every village and every town they passed to the ground. In only a few weeks, half of the lowlands had been burnt to cinders.

The humans were quick to pull together their defences but they had been totally unprepared for this sudden engagement and with only a meagre trained force to combat the elves, they had no chance of ever being able to fight back. Still, as more and more people fled to Hyvern City for refuge, the number of people willing to fight rose. To defend their homes from these monstrous invaders.

Almost every able-bodied man stood on the walls of Hyvern City and somehow, against all odds, managed to repel each attack, staving off their utter destruction for another day. For six days, the humans trapped within the city fought for their survival, fighting for their lives and for the lives of every other person within the city.

On the third day of the attack, a small detachment of elves broke off from the main force and journeyed south along the Highback Mountains. Hyvern City was their city, it had been built and maintained by elves for over a hundred years and they knew of many secrets that the humans did not. The group entered a series of caves that wound their way up through the mountains and eventually led out into a hidden chamber deep within the Citadel of Hyvern City. It had been originally intended to act as an escape route, but it worked just as well as an entrance.

With the element of surprise, the elves stormed through the Citadel and killed the entire council of elders and most of the royal family before finally being killed themselves. When the bells tolled and alerted those within the city of the deaths, the defenders broke and the wall fell shortly after.

King Renoveld managed to pull most of the defenders back from the front wall in order to organise a retreat and flee the city but the attempt was a shambles as people ran in every which direction. Many of the defenders were tragically killed in their retreat.

The humans eventually managed to escape the burning city and fled north to the mountains, hoping to lose their pursuers in the deep gullies and crevices that crisscrossed throughout the mountain passes. For ten days the humans marched and for ten days the elves followed them, cutting down any who lagged behind.

Desperate and rapidly running out of options, scouts informed the human refugees of an ancient keep that had been found within the mountains and so, with no other choice, they decided that Mistward Keep, as it had been named, would be their final stand. The human forces had been utterly ravaged by the elves and by the time Mistward Keep became their final sanctuary, almost all of the fighters had been killed, leaving mostly only the elderly, women and children to fight for their lives.

The women and with what remained of the men, picked up any weapon they could find and together, stood atop the walls, knowing that this would be their final chance to defend themselves and their charges against the fate that loomed over them.

For almost twelve hours they fought, pushing back wave after wave of the onslaught, but losing numbers and strength all the same.

The humans would have been wiped out then and there had their dwarven allies not arrived when they did. The dwarves entered the valley from the rear and cut off any elven retreat. Within minutes of this new force appearing, the elves were boxed in and cut down from both sides. Their force finally obliterated.