War of Blood & Union

The War of Blood and Union was a conflict that took place from 1261-1263 of the Third Age of Primordials. The three-way conflict rose between the kingdoms of Glass and Danicaar, as well as a collection of city states unionized as the Western Union. The war came to an end with the signing of the Three King's Treaty.

**Name**

The War of Blood and Union is also known as the Calderon Civil War and the Northern Slaughter.

**Background**

Calderon was one of the few Eesian countries not united through some form of central government, instead being split into two kingdoms which dominated the northern and southern parts of the region, and an assemblage of city-states to the west. The first of these was the Kingdom of Glass, ruled by King Motolla and Queen Sine Carnelian. There were many leaders of the west, who formed a council led by the Lord Tyranoir of Kravitz. The southern kingdom was ruled by Dromund Brightfire, a pillar among his orcish brethren and a conqueror king.

Due to his birth within the 12 Orcish Tribes, Dromund spent much of his younger years with a fascination for strategy. After rising to power in Danicaar he began to realize that if (and when) an external threat to Calderon arrived, the country's separate factions would not be able to mobilize a united front. Dromund would drive his armies through a central region of Calderon called the Sunhills in an attempt to conquer both Glass and the Western states under Danicaar's banner.

**Essential Players**

King Dromund Brightfire led the army of Danicaar to war, using the kingdom's funds to also draw aid from the 12 Orcish Tribes and the Silverblood Brotherhood. Dromund was believed killed in the Slaughter of the Sunhills, but it would be revealed some 500 years later that he had been trapped within the necrohedron.

King Motolla Carnelian defended the Sunhills from the army of Danicaar. Eager to end the war King Carnelian employed the Grand Magi of Glass to create magical weaponry. Grand Magi Jolax would instead gift the King the necrohedron (a device he and his master had previously discovered) to be used in battle. Motolla would die by mysterious circumstances only a few years after the war, but much of Glass' public favor had turned away from the king and his death was not commemorated.

Lord Tyranoir was a scholar and politician who originally hailed from Cicero. He became instrumental in the binding of the Western Union and was voted to speak on behalf of the many leaders of the west. Tyranoir had pushed the west into the war, urging his people to stand up against the two kingdoms and ensure their freedom from either side in the conflict.

**Important Events**

*The First Battle:* There were few who stood against King Dromund in the initial months of the war, as towns and villages continued to fall to Danicaar's army. The first battle happened at Pilaas, a town that Lord Tyranoir happened to be visiting when the assault came. His retinue of soldiers fought against the army of Danicaar but were forced into retreat. There are many who believe the destruction of Pilaas is what lead to the Western Union's involvement in the war.

*Draw of the Western Union:* The involvement of the Western Union came in the late months of the first year of the war. As the army of Glass attempted to set up military positions on their southern coasts, Lord Tyranoir would lead a number of push-back attacks to keep Glass out of their towns and villages. The Western Union's role in the war would be relegated to battles similar to these, done only in an attempt to protect their borders.

*Burning of the Sapphire Citadel:* In his occupation of central Calderon, King Dromund sacked a temple known as the Sapphire Citadel. The temple had been home to a group of Sylvarian scholars, and many were killed trying to protect their home. The army of Danicaar would use the ruins of the temple an advantageous base from which to launch their assaults upon Glass and the Western Union. The few sylvarians that managed to escape migrated north for some time, and were gifted a new tower in the aftermath of the war, but more than half of their numbers and their research had been destroyed.

*Slaughter of the Sunhills:* This was the first battle in the war which saw all three armies ride into battle against one another. It was here that Jolax unleashed the Necrohedron in an attempt to resurrect their fallen soldiers, infinitely replenishing the troops of Glass' armies. This plan would terribly backfire, as the Necrohedron reanimated every soldier who perished on the battlefield. The undead became monstrous, with no recollection of their former selves, and the battle quickly became a conflict between the living and the dead. The three armies were forced into retreat, suffering massive casualties, including the loss of Danicaar's own King Dromund.

*Reclamation of the Sunhills:* After the horrendous damage at the battle of the Sunhills, King Carnelian condemned his magi and retreated back to Glass. Recognizing there could be no one to blame but himself, the King sent emissaries to both Kravitz and Danicaar, in an attempt to make a peace treaty. An agreement was made between the leaders to decide the details of the treaty after each army returned to the Sunhills and worked together to destroy the undead threat. The three forces did just that, suffering massive casualties but surrounding and finally destroying the undead.

*Three King's Treaty:* With the undead threat neutralized and the Conqueror King no longer leading Danicaar, a group from each of the three factions met in the ruins of the Sapphire Citadel and agreed to end the war. Conditions were made for each of the three kingdoms, and the war of Blood and Union finally drew to an end.

*Black Goll Massacre:* Settled on the eastern coast of the sunhills was a monastery called Black Goll. The nuns and priests who taught here were extremely paranoid of the war and had heard rumors that the army of Danicaar would come in the night to rape and pillage through their home. When an army was spotted riding towards the monastery in the night, the nuns quietly gathered all of the children and brought them into the tombs. The monastery was lit ablaze so that the raiders would have nothing to steal. The army that was marching towards the gates was actually a band of united riders from Glass and the Western Union that had come to spread celebration of the war's end. None of the inhabitants of Black Goll survived.

**Aftermath**

- The Magi Guild of Eesia declared it a war crime for any grand magi to directly aid in the war effort of any kingdom.

- With their king dead, Danicaar had split into multiple factions in the immediacy of the war. Members of the Red Sigil (an anarchist faction) broke into the Lost King's home and murdered his two daughters. The Red Sigil was disbanded and a council of likeminded officials and politicians was created to form the Council of Danicaar.

- Danicaar was forced to pay for the reconstruction of multiple hamlets and villages which had been razed in their conquest.

- The Western Union dissolved, but alliances remained strong due to the work done by Lord Tyranoir

- King Dromund's own people the Brightfire Tribe would leave Danicaar to attone for the cruel actions of their leader. The tribe would change their title to the Quietfire Tribe in the decades after his death.