First War of the Ûr Lords

## 1152-1169 First War of the Ûr Lords

Ûr Lord Badgor-Ga-Dott of the Shaddar had publicly decapitated the Ûr Lord of the Gagthûr, but instead of slaughtering the next-highest caste members of Gagthûr, as was custom, Badgor-Ga-Dott decided to offer them a choice: *Die as you were meant to and your clan will serve Gagthûr; or select a leader, ally with Shaddar, and invade Weak Madur.* They chose the latter.

### 1152-1156 Gagthûr & Shaddar Alone

These two largest of Ûr clans descended through the Gorgen Gap between Kazden & Kharin Dûn, and drove on for Thearth.  When they reached Thearth, the small fiefs had no chance of survival.  The Ûr Lords knew nothing except violence and war, and the comfortable raiding style of the feudal Thearth lords was swept away in minutes.  Each month a new keep was leveled and its inhabitants roasted alive or eaten[1].  It did not take long for the rest of Thearth to hear of the atrocities…or Roane or Devnah…or anywhere north or south of the Bryan.

Even though every land heard tales of the barbarism, only the fiefs in Roane and Devnah prepared themselves for war.  When 4 lords from each of those lands joined together to attack a regiment of the Ûr Lords, they were victorious, but they did not expect the barbarism or conviction that they encountered.  Nor did they expect the retribution.

The entire army of Gagthûr left Thearth to attack one fief in Roane.  Every person from that fief was killed; their bones were ground to dust and used in bread for the army to eat.

Slowly the continuous stories of horrible barbarism and unstoppable armies began to settle in on the other feudal lords.  The Azmunth, Gelden and Glenhome lords began to muster their troops and started to cross into Devnah.

Meanwhile, the clans of the Dunns, who were still somewhat considered barbaric, finally heard of the invasion from the East.  The giants and dwarves knew very well what the Ûr Lords were capable of, and so they convinced the human clans of the Dunns & Rhorden to join with them to attack the Ûr Lords.  Even orcs from Rhorden accompanied this northern force of fierce warriors to support the defense of Thearth, Roane & Devnah.

When battle was finally brought to the Shaddar, the feudal lords and clansmen were not fully prepared for what they needed to do.  The Ûr Lords fought without considering morale.  Kill one’s brother, and they would fight.  Cut off their arm, and they would fight.  Blind them and set them on fire, and they would fight.  There was no stopping the Ûr clans without complete annihilation.

The single battle was won, but Ûr Lords counter-attacked harder the next day and drove the feudal lords from the field.  The Shaddar numbers were reduced, but they pressed on driving the feudal lords back until they had left Thearth.

Now the lords in Gelden, Glenhome & Azmunth not only mustered everyone they could, but now they sent word to other lords in neighboring areas and all over the South that everyone should send as many people as they could.  If Shaddar and Gagthûr could destroy all of Thearth, Roane & Devnah without themselves being kicked out, then the other twenty Ûr clans might also get the same idea.

It took a while for the feudal lords of distant areas to understand the necessity of the war, but eventually, the forces thrown into battle were progressively becoming larger and larger, weakening the resident Shaddur and Gagthûr clans.

#### 1156 The Battle of Teiran Creek

At Teiran Creek, in northern Devnah, the feudal lords were ready and struck the Ûr hard. After several hours, the feudal lords felt that they were close to victory. Unfortunately, however, they did not realize that 10 more Ûr clans had arrived in Thearth.  The Ûr swept down and reinforced all of the lines that had been failing to the feudal lords. Aroused by their reinforcement, the Ûr dove into the feudal lords, engaging and disrupting their cadres with wild abandon. Although the feudal lords had been strong, defined and well-equipped, the chaos that ensued scattered their ranks.

The first casualty after their appearance was Badgor-Ga-Dott[2], who was slain by some magical bolt from one of the other Ûr Lords of the highest caste.  But it would certainly not be the last person to fall.  The battle waged on into the night, and by morning, the entire Western army had been vanquished or had been routed.

### 1156-1169 Desperation and Determination

The rape of Devnah & Thearth was horrible.  Lands were burned and made desolate.  No creature that lived on the land was left alive, no matter how small.  Trees were cut and burned for no purpose other than their destruction.  Truthfully, every Madur clansmen who had lived in Thearth or Devnah either left or perished.

At this point, the stories from Thearth & Devnah were so horrific that it was easy for feudal lords to find recruits regardless of how far they were from the front.  Year in and year out, the West found a way to build an army and whittle away bit by bit at clans who had broken off from the horde.  Meanwhile, the horde divided and sent half of the clans towards Gelden and the rest into Azmunth.

#### 1167 Battle of Bloody Copse

The hills and woods terrain of Gelden were suitable for making a defense, and the elves and people who knew the wood were able to keep the horde from annihilating everything they came in contact with.  The fiefs were burned to the ground, but the people of Gelden and Glenhome were always moved away to places away from the path of destruction that the horde left. They waited patiently and for an opportunity to strike rather than face the brunt of their army alone.

Elsarin Ildaran, a meadow elf of Gelden, had been leading skirmishes against the train of the horde as they wandered into Gelden, but he never committed enough to warrant the horde moving directly against him. When Elsarin heard that Gelden was about to be joined not only by forces from Glenhome, but from the dwarves and even giants from the Dunns, he decided to pick a place that the forces of the West could take advantage of the horde should they be found in it. Elsarin found a copse of river birch and brush that was at the bottom of valley near a stream that ran down not far from the main forest to the north. From here, he lead his skirmishers bravely to engage the train of the horde once more, but this time they would stay engaged until the horde actually would move against them. When the horde turned their attention to Elsarin, the elf retreated into the copse of birch and attempted to hold as long as possible. Although Elsarin and his partisans were lost by the end of the battle, the weakened, indefensible position of the horde in the half-ravaged copse was what the West needed. The main armies of Gelden, Glenhome, and the Dunns surrounded and descended upon the horde in the bloody copse, burning them out and cutting them down with none able to escape.

#### 1168 Battle of Nieman Field

In the south, Azmunth was easy terrain for the horde to pulverize, but there were many people in Surrin, Crocia, the Smothes, Lebben, Eastlom, Osebb and the Mote who would fight to keep them at bay.  The land was barren and bloodied for years as both sides pressed against each other, wearing each other down with their sacrificed flesh.

It was now known to everyone in the West that there was nothing that they could hold back when fighting the Ûr Lords and that only their determination could keep them from succumbing.  Fortunately, the other feature that the West was superior in was magic.  The Ûr Lords had great magicians, and the upper castes were filled with them, but it was also a measure of caste as well, so none of the upper castes wanted to teach the lower castes their ‘caste specialty’ lest the underlings would advance as well.  The West used this to their fullest ability, using any magic that was known to them, researching anything they could think of, just in hopes of gaining some advantage over the enemy.

The horde had consumed all of Azmunth, Surrin, Crocia and the Smothe when the West launched an attack at Nieman Field.  The attack would have been thought insane if pure numbers were all that was considered, but the feudal lords had been working on a plan.  They had identified all of the clan leaders through spies who had been able to infiltrate and join the higher ranks of the Dark Caste.  Using information and position from these spies, they feudal lords assassinated the bulk of the clans’ magic-using castes prior to battle.  Unfortunately, all of the spies were slain, but when the battle was invoked, the magical power of the horde was greatly reduced to a point where almost no counterspells could be issued from the Ûr Lords.  The battle went better than expected for the feudal lords. The result was almost total annihilation of the horde.

At once, the feudal armies of the South drove north across the Bryan to help the North free themselves from the other Ûr horde.  This time, the feudal lords would engage the Ûr clans with almost even numbers, and a lot more magic.  Again, the battle resulted in complete destruction of the Ûr horde.  For the rest of the year, the Western army cleaned out the hiding places where the assassin caste of the Ûr was hiding in Azmunth, Devnah, Gelden and Thearth.  Then they prepared the army to march against the remainder of the Ûr Lords still living on the Eastern Steppes.

### 1169 The Pact with Kharin & Kazden Dûn

Before venturing into the Steppes, the armies of the South sent scouts to Kharin & Kazden Dûn to attempt to gather support.  The ancient dwarves believed in their mission, but it was not the right time.  When the Ûr Lords attacked, they attacked with less than half of their number, and the armies of the West were greatly depleted by almost two decades of warfare.  The ancient dwarves suggested peace for now, but added that they would notify the West if their ancient brethren, the Ûr, dared to descend through Gorgen again.

## Links

Chronology of Eirethune

Previous, Wars of the Ûr Lords

Next, Second War of the Ur Lords

## Notes

[1] The *Iron Spit of Ûr Doom* was a great spit
which Badgor-Ga-Dott used on his victims in Thearth.  It was used to skewer human and elf bodies,
but it also had the power to draw out the essence of the victims.  After many uses, the spit itself became
difficult to manage because of the power of the souls which it contained.  Badgor-Ga-Dott’s chief executioner, Zadkor
Thaxx, wielded the spit in battle as a lance.
When he hit foes with it, some of the souls of the victims would escape
and cling to the new victim, causing intense agony and dread.  After a while, however, it was said that
Zadkor himself was affected in the same way; so much so, that Badgor became
worried about him and had Zadkor killed.
The spit was buried with Zadkor somewhere in the Ozen Hills.

[2]
Badgor-Ga-Dott’s body was roasted on a pyre after, but several of his bones
never burned even though a magical fire was used.  The Ûr weaponsmith, Jada-Ulahm, took Badgor’s
bones and constructed a multi-bladed double axe which could cut through any
armor.  The *Axe of Jada-Badgor* was used in battles until it was lost after the
Battle of Nieman Field.  It was said that
some warrior from the West acquired it, but no one has seen it since that time.