Bulwari Age of Monsters

The Age of Monsters is a period of time in Bulwari history from the fall of Karqašlu in 1134 BA to the death of Castan II in 568 BA. It describes the rise of the subsequent monstrous dominions and invasions of Bulwar, starting with the Harpy Queendom, which is followed by the invasion of the gnolls and their four century long influence over the region. It culminates in the Great Xhaz and the Xhazobine's wars in and around the Salahad to spread a new demonic cult, until she finally falls to the Castanorians and they establish their influence over Bulwar.

### The Harpy Queendom

The Harpy Queendom was established during the Onslaught. A document from 1159 BA describes the declaration of the sovereign Harpy Queendom by Firanya. She is the first harpy according to some legends. While that is not certain, there are no earlier recorded instances of harpies, except a text from around the same time, warning travellers in the hills of Northern Bulwar of attacks by winged women. But despite this lack of evidence of previous presence, this young harpy state came to dominate those hills within a short period of time. As such that region is known as the Harpy Hills to this day. It is not surprising that they managed to dominate there, as the region is a myriad of crags, cliffs and rocky outcroppings. Human settlement in the region had only existed around the few wider valleys and the high lakes, while the harpies built their roosts far out of reach of potential enemies. That is not to say they pushed out the local human population. The all-female race needed humans males to reproduce, and so the lakes and valleys remained settled by the Bulwari.

They didn’t only dominate in the hills. The city-states of Bulwar were forced to pay them tribute. There is no written evidence of why, but later evidence suggests this was two-fold. Harpies in later times would raid all throughout the Bulwari plains. It seems reasonable to assume that the early Bulwari cities were under this threat also. A regular payment of tribute seems much less harmful than frequent raids. Additionally, the harpies controlled Invader’s Pass, and so they had direct control over the movement of people and armies from the Forbidden Plains to Bulwar. They must have used this as a method to threaten the Bulwari city-states into paying their tribute. One instance in which they made good on this threat was in 1116 BA, 18 years after the fall of Karqašlu. After an extended period of time of no tribute, the harpies let in another group of nomads from the Forbidden Plains. The main damage was dealt to the cities around Lake Naza, before the group moved west and devastated several cities along the Baranun. Finally they settled along the depopulated coast of Bulwar, founding the city of Anzabad.

### The Cult of Surakel

The oldest records of Faith in Bulwar describe the war between the forces of Light and Darkness. After this war the only god that remained was Surakel, who sacrificed himself to become the sun. The sun had been a popular motif all throughout the age of the God-Kings, however it appears during the empire of Karqašlu it attained a religious aspect. The myth as it has been passed down to us suggests that the Bulwari once worshipped many gods, but no sites of worship have been found. The oldest temple sites are those of Surakel. The general consensus among modern scholars is that during the time of the God-Kings the people of Bulwar worshipped their rulers as divine beings. Which is partially why we use that term for them. It is highly likely that the story of Surakel is an agglomeration of many misremembered stories that were conjoined into one. Possibly the worship of the sun was brought in by the proto-Zabatlari invaders, as it is in the palaces of Karqašlu that we first see the sun motif gain a religious aspect. The War in the story could refer to a war between God-Kings or between them and the Genies. The similarity between Brasan the Emancipator and Surakel rising up to save the people of Bulwar should also be noted. Finally the aspects of darkness echoes the attacks during the Onslaught and the sun as saviour of the people can be found back in the Battle of Brasan as recounted by Thirec the Younger. Though his account cannot be considered as reliable.

Regardless of its origins, we see the Cult of Surakel solidify during the 11th century BA. A series of temples appear all throughout Bulwar, with some of the largest ones being built in the cities of Bulwar, Eduz-Vacyn and Azka-Sur. The city of Bulwar especially found itself in a primary role within the religion, housing the high priests of the faith. The priests of Bulwar retain a certain primacy over those of other cities until this day. The Sun Cult became a religion of hope for the coming of a better time. This is a message they would carry with them throughout the centuries, but their situation would become worse before it becomes better.

### The Gnollish Invasion

In 997 BA a large host of gnolls under the leadership of one Rakhor invaded Kheterata. They would do great damage to the kingdom that had not yet fully recovered after the Onslaught, until they were defeated in the Battle of Anarat in 984 BA. After 13 years of rampaging through Kheterata they had looted most of the valuables from the river kingdom, so instead the remaining horde moved east to Bulwar. The city-states were still weak and poor, paying most of their excess wealth in tribute to the Harpy Queendom. They were wholly unprepared for the tidal wave of gnolls sweeping away their defenses. There was little to no resistance as the horde plundered city after city, taking valuables and condemning great parts of the population to slavery. Within a year the band had split up into three smaller groups which each came to establish their own domain.

In Bahar, Uak the Tremendous founded the Tremendous Kingdom of Uak. Gnolls had a penchant for giving themselves grand titles and it is likely that this title was as much a self-aggrandizement as the naming of his kingdom. This is something that returns for the naming of the other two kingdoms. Uak’s domain covered Bahar from the gates of Ovdal Tûngr to Kaboustraz, exacting tribute from the slowly repopulating region, while at the same time freeing them from the harpies. The western part of Bahar was under the protection of the Tûngric dwarves, and while Uak initially hoped to rule over the entire region, he could not break the dwarven fortress.

In the mountains to the south the gnolls find an abandoned Bulwari fortress. There, their leader Zehia founds the Eternal and All-High Kingdom of Zehia. Her pack quickly expands its dominion over the mountains and the adjacent coast. It controls the lower reaches of the Suran as well as becomes the overlord and protector of the slowly rebuilding Brasan. Ever the opportunists, they see the potential of the city and put to use the slaves they captured during their plundering of the city-states. Soon the city is rebuilt and trade begins to visit the mouth of the Suran. This new commerce mainly revolves around the trade of slaves, something that the gnollish overlords of the city excel at.

On the plains of Bulwar the matriarch Proxacha founded her kingdom, the Ever-Greater True Gnoll Kingdom of Proxacha. At the site where the sun elves later built the city of Sareyand, the gnolls took over the ruins of an old Djinn palace and built the Ever-Greater True Gnoll Palace of Proxacha over it. From there she and her successors terrorized the city-states of the Bulwari plains. The states of central and far Bulwar all paid them tribute. And soon the Proxacha Eklu, Proxacha’s Palace, transformed into a gilded hall where the gnolls lived in luxury while being served by thousands of slaves. It is also during this time that the gnolls established themselves in the eastern Salahad and they took over many trade routes that had previously existed between Rahen and Bulwar. Their position on this trade route also meant a great source of wealth for the Proxachan gnolls.

During later times the tales of success from these kingdoms would attract many more gnolls to come up north from Sarhal in order to join in their success. But before that happened there was still a great deal to be fought over. While initially the packs when off and did their own thing, as soon as their territories got established they started to clash. Zehia learned early to rely on forts and fortifications and had used them in her entrenchment into the mountains and the rebuilding of Brasan and her other, smaller tributaries, so wars between her and her competitors consisted mainly of them trying to take her things and she easily outlasting them. In turn she made few attempts at claiming territory of her own from the other two kingdoms. Instead she watched and waited as the First Uaki-Proxachan war broke out, in which the two gnolls fought over domination of the lower Bulwari city-states. From 980 BA to 975 BA the packs waged war, until by the end the line was drawn and Proxacha claimed domination of most of the  inland cities, while Uak’s domain came to revolve around the Gulf of Glass, which was not yet called that at that time. Later, other small gnollish kingdoms would appear and some of the city states would thrive as independent states. But the three kingdoms founded in the early years of the Age remained dominant for centuries.

### Life During the Age of Monsters

In the three centuries that the gnolls had the final say in what happened in Bulwar, the society saw a gradual shift. The first century saw a growing gnollish presence. Especially the kingdoms of Zehia and Proxacha received a large amount of immigrants from south of the Salahad. But while the gnolls in Bulwar changed Bulwari society, they were in turn changed by their surroundings. Especially the gnolls that arrived in the later stadia of the immigration noticed that difference. Where in the south they were clearly tribal and would fight and raid one another and their human neighbours for slaves and glory, in the north the packs had made way for kingdoms, and matriarchs made way for queens. Uak’s kingdom saw the greatest integration of gnolls and locals, possibly because it retained a relatively low amount of gnolls compared to the other two kingdoms. There especially gnollish slavers worked alongside Bulwari colleagues to capture their merchandise and to practise their trade. Uaki raiders were seen all along the coasts of the Northern Divenhal. The city of Anzabad became a main trading port for the Uaki raiders and it overtook Brasan swiftly during this time, prompting that city’s merchants to shift their trade to revolve around the exotic goods that made their way down the Suran from Rahen.

Amidst the gnollish rule of Bulwar the Cult of Surakel remained strong. Especially among the lower rungs of society the message of hope and return of their sun god was popular. Slaves looked forward to their freedom, while peasants sought a way out of the heavy taxes that the greedy gnolls laid upon them. Its main temples were closed, the buildings converted to palaces and shrines of the gnolls’ old religion. The main place it retained a clear public position was in Azka-Szel-Azka which was under control by Ovdal Tûngr. Bulwar in this time was a harsh country, but not one without virtues. The strongest and meanest survived, be it gnoll, dwarf, harpy or human. And so, while in the first years after the gnollish invasion the region was controlled by them for the vast majority, soon some city-states, those controlled by the baddest human kings, would be able to retain their independence for long stretches of time.

### Changes of the Middle of the Age

While the Age of Monsters covers the span of the existence of the gnollish kingdoms of Uak, Proxacha and Zehia in Bulwar, it was by no means a static period. Especially in middle of the age, but certainly not exclusively, there were several great shifts that meant that by the end of the Age Bulwar was a much different place than it was at the start of the Age. The after the deaths of the founders of the kingdoms, the extent of the control of Proxacha and Uak receded. Zehia’s kingdom would remain more stable, though it also saw its own infighting. The Drolas peninsula saw the appearance of a small gnollish kingdom, while gnolls in the Far Salahad found that Proxacha could do little to control them. It has been speculated that they may have made an alliance with one of the remaining local Djinn and allowed them almost full control over the desert and the desert trade with Rahen. Proxacha saw further losses in control as the city-states in the west formed an alliance to free them from their gnollish overlords. A myriad of small kingdoms and city-states also became independent and resubjugated as well during these centuries.

One of the major appearances of new peoples in Bulwar was after a war between Proxacha and the Harpy Queendom around 950 BA. After their hopes of regaining control over Lake Naza were crushed by the gnollish forces, the harpies invited another group of nomads in from the Forbidden Plains. Their movement wasn’t much, but their impact was great. They came down from the harpy hills and settled in the lands north and east of Lake Naza, with their capital placed at Akalšes. In fact it is likely that the Bulwari word Akal as a ruler title was introduced by these people, whom scholars have dubbed the Akalites. They became a fiercely independent kingdom that repelled repeated attempts by both gnolls and harpies at subjugating them.

The largest change within Bulwar of the middle of the century is arguably the fall of the Harpy Queendom. The exactitudes of this event are not known, but Cannorian texts talk of a human woman who killed the harpy queen Firanya in a battle in 817 BA. Cannorian priests claim that she was the avatar of their Hunter-Goddess Falah, which was a goddess originally local to the harpy hills and which later joined the Castanorian Pantheon. But there is no clear evidence of divine powers, instead it is likely that the story of her heroism made her into a local hero and eventually led to her worship as a goddess. Beyond that, it is also unclear whether this Firanya she killed is the same Firanya who proclaimed the Harpy Queendom some 350 years prior. There are no records of harpies ever having had a lifespan of that time, so this has led to some wild speculation. The three leading theories are that either Firanya was some kind of supernatural being, either divine or primordial, or that that was merely the name of the queen, which coincided with the name of their founder, or the alternative is that Firanya was the title by which the harpies hailed their queen. If the latter is the case then ‘queen Firanya’ is redundant and it would be a battle between Falah and the Firanya, similar to how we will later see the Xhazobine. Lack of written sources by the harpies themselves leaves us to rely on later accounts.

Regardless of the event itself, its consequences are much better recorded. Tûngric records from that time report the complete collapse of the Harpy Queendom following 817 BA. The Harpy Hills were consequently divided among several different Matriarchies, each controlling a much reduced territory. Their structure became much more tribal, revolving around their individual roosts that all became rivals of one another. The subsequent conflicts between the Matriarchies also kickstarted the first of the harpy migration out of the Harpy Hills. Large flocks of harpies were seen heading south, east and west. The southern and western migrations disappear from the records, presumably they were exterminated by the gnolls or the castanorians during one of the Cleansings. The eastern migrations are more well recorded as they settled in the mountains on the border of Rahen. Records from Verkal Gulan and from the Rahenraj date the appearance of the Siadunan harpies to around 805 BA. And like in the west, they would also soon break up into several matriarchies, causing one another as much grief as they did the neighbouring civilisations.

### The Great Xhaz

While the title of this chapter refers to the Great Xhaz, we will first briefly explore the Castanite Exodus, since it so directly influences the final events of the Age and will have great impact upon the future of Bulwar and the whole of Halann. However, the Castanite Exodus has been better documented in other texts, so only the years relevant to our story will be elaborated on in-depth here.

These events were set in motion by a sacking of Kheterata by a host of gnolls. During this sack a large group of Kheteratan slaves managed to escape, amongst whom were the Castanites. This group of slaves trekked eastward to Bulwar, which was caught in a period of civil unrest and war, assimilating other groups of former slaves and refugees along the way. In Bulwar they went through several hardships as they came in conflict with the local gnolls. Especially the Zehian gnolls did great damage to their numbers after they passed through the mountainous pass of Salahad Gate. But as they arrived at the plains of the Suran delta they defeated a host of gnolls and humans sent by the kingdom, showing their aptitude for fighting against great odds, something that would foreshadow conflicts between gnolls and humans in the future. A number of slaves left Brasan and joined the Castanites on their trek northwards. Their numbers swelled even further as they broke the garrison of Anzabad and freed even more slaves from their chains. With these swelled numbers and aid from the Tûngric dwarves they managed to march through Uak and beyond gnollish control. By the end of their trek, 23 years later, they reached the Burning Hills, around modern day Bal Ouord, which would be their home for the coming decade and a half. At this point their host was made up of Castanites, kheteratan slaves, Bulwari slaves and others; refugees, criminals, priests, adventurers. Anyone who sought a way out of Bulwar.

Supposedly it was that same year, 666 BA, that the Xhazobine was born. Her actual name has been lost to time and in chronicles she has always been referred to as the Xhazobine, but this title was one she only took later in life. She was a powerful warrior and possibly possessed some innate magical abilities and at an early age she was already able to beat any gnoll in her pack. In 654 BA she came seemingly out of nowhere, possibly she had been part of one of the wandering tribes from the Salahad, and challenged the Great Matron of Proxacha to single combat over the rulership of the clan. The stories about the duel itself are probably exaggerations, but she quite possibly wielded some powerful magic and destroyed the Great Matron. This incident has been cited as a shift in gnoll culture to value strength over wisdom or age. Now, ruling over Proxacha, she claimed the title of Xhazobine and renamed the kingdom to the Great Xhaz, proclaiming a demonic inheritance and the goal for her and her gnoll brethren to enslave all the world.

There has been much speculation about the relationships between gnolls and demons. The oldest records of gnolls were found in precursor libraries in Aelantir dating back to 27000 BA. These do suggest a demonic heritage: They describe gnolls coming out of ‘A Mouth of Fire’ and capturing humans before disappearing back through this fiery gate with their captives. While this demonic connection could have been there in precursor times, the gnolls of the first millennium BA did not actually seem to have a demonic nature. It was only once the Xhazobine proclaimed the Great Xhaz and started spreading her demonic cult that this connection emerged, and it has remained ever since.

She whipped her new pack into a frenzy. And fueled by a demonic fire they swiftly subjugated the other kingdoms of Bulwar in a series of brutal wars. The city-states were easily toppled, with many humans finding themselves bound in slavery, and some were sacrificed in demonic rituals to appease the Xhazobine’s patrons’ lust for blood. The ensuing ‘Decade of Flame’ may have seen the death of as much of a third of the human population of Bulwar. The Xhazobine also fought to unite the other gnolls of Bulwar under her control. The fortress capital of the Zehia gnolls was broken open by demonflame and the fallen kingdom was added to the horde. Uak was the last of the great kingdoms to fall, but fall it surely did. The Xhazobine steered her horde onwards and westwards from there, looking to subjugate all the free peoples of Bulwar. It is unclear how long the siege lasted, but it must have been an impressively siege for the prowess of a dwarven hold. The Xhazobine eventually broke the gates of Ovdal Tûngr with her demonflame and the dwarves retreated deep into their hold. Tûngric records from 652 BA tell how the gnolls ravaged the upper levels, taking all the gold and wealth that they could seize. Now the way west was open again, and the horde pushed into the last remnants of free Bahar. Azka-szel-Azka fell to gnollish domination, along with the surrounding hills. But the horde didn’t stop there, and in its advance northward it would encounter the recently settled refugees from Kheterata and their Escanni allies. And the Xhazobine would meet the first defeat of her demonic reign.

While the majority of her force was tied down repelling an attempt by the Copper Dwarves to retake the upper levels of their hold, the Xhazobine led a smaller force to raid the tribes along the Dostanesck river. The refugees from these raids all joined the Kheteratan and Bulwari refugees under the banner of the Castanites that had settled the hills of the area. The Xhazobine brought defeat after defeat upon them, before they made their last stand in the Battle of Burning Hill. There, aided by a silver dragon, the Castanites defeated the Xhazobine and her forces. She was left with great burn scars from her own demonfire that had been blown back at her host. After that was known by the epitaph, ‘the Flamemarked’.

While the Xhazobine retreated to lick her wounds, the Castanites, under Castan I, son of Humac, who died in the battle, flee into the Great Forest. Eventually they will found Castanor and Castan will meet the Xhazobine again in battle. In the meantime the Xhazobine had other matters to attend to. While the rumour of her defeat made its way back into Bulwar, many of its oppressed people saw this as a chance to rise up, aided by the harpy matriarchies who looked to this as their opportunity to deal with the threat of the gnolls. The Xhazobine gathered her host again and marched back through Bahar, brutally suppressing revolts. Finally she also dealt with the harpy clans. She chained the matriarchs and sent them to be sold as curiosities to the merchants of Rahen, while the high matriarch became her personal pet, to remind the harpies to never challenge her rule again. The Bulwari Sun Cult remembers 649 BA as the darkest year in history, when the Xhazobine slaughtered thousands of men, women and children to fuel her dark rituals.

In 647 BA the Xhazobine gathered a new host, this time to set out westwards along the southern coast of the Divenhal. The gnollish campaign in Kheterata was just as devastating to the land of Elikhet as it was to Bulwar. The kingdom had still not fully recovered from its sacking 18 years prior, and the Xhazobine’s host easily swept their armies aside. Kheterata was sacked once more, and the gnolls pushed southwards, to their ancestral homelands. Little has been written down about that time, as the gnolls did not take scribes with them, but in the few years the Xhazobine was south of the Salahad she successfully spread the Xhazobkult to the local gnoll packs and swayed some of their best warriors to follow her horde northwards when she returned to Bulwar.

The Xhazobine had not forgotten about the shameful defeat she had suffered to the castanites at Burning Hill, she carried the scars from it everywhere she went. And now they had founded their own kingdom her intention seems to have been to wreak her revenge upon this young Castanorian state. She had been reinforced with a great host of southern gnolls and her demonic powers had been amplified by the many dark and bloody rituals she had carried out in Bulwar and Kheterata. The estimates of the size of her horde range from 30 000 to 100 000 gnolls from different packs and kingdoms all around the Salahad.

The gnollish host marched through Bahar and up past the Burning Hills. And in those days the hills were literally burning, as the gnolls burned every sign of settlement on their way north from Bahar, through the plains and riverlands that would become Daravan’s Folly some 1300 years later to stop the advance of another gnollish host. Castan I, who had led the Castanites after the battle of Burning Hill, had gathered the forces of Castanor and marched south to the ford of the Dostaneck river, known as Dostan’s Way. This place gave direct access to the plain of Castanor beyond. The two forces met there in the month of Teysuren in 634 BA.

Tales from the battle reach us almost exclusively from the sources of Castanorian scholars and Castanite propaganda, so it is difficult to construct the gnollish side of the story. The Castanorians’ claim about the summoning of demons by the Xhazobine and her followers is most certainly true and was but one manifestation of the power the Xhazobine had gathered through her plentiful and bloody sacrifice. The Castanite forces were on the defense and held the ford, while the gnolls crossed in their thousands, only to perish when they reached the Castanorian defensive line. Modern scholars still debate the array of other spells available to the Xhazobine, and she did use many during this battle. However the accounts are too confused to give any clear description. But clearly the Xhazobine engaged personally into the combat at the head of a group of demons. They broke through the Castanorian line and started tearing them apart. The formations of the Castanorians shattered and it seemed to turn into a rout, until Ormac, Castan’s cousin, killed one of the great beasts and inspired the men to hold fast.

While the battle raged and more gnolls poured across the river, Castan and the Xhazobine sought each other out. Both were fueled by hate and yearned for revenge. One for his father, and the Xhazobine for her burning and defeat 17 years earlier. She had learned that Castan was the one to summon the silver dragon that had meant her defeat and she would be sure to torture him as her wounds had tortured her. Castan’s plight seemed hopeless under the demonic fury of the Xhazobine and many of his companions fell to her foul magic. But when all seemed dire he managed to plunge a holy spear into her side and the Xhazobine fell. Not dead, but incapacitated, she fled. And the resolve of her horde shattered with her flight. Many more gnolls died in the river during the retreat.

### The First Great Cleansing

Bulwari records tell of the destruction that the Xhazobine had wrought during the Decade of Flame after her first defeat at Burning Hill. It can therefore be understood that when news of the defeat at Dostan’s Way reached the oldest cities of humanity, there was no great revolt and no great celebration. The priests of the Sun Cult whispered of hope, but many of the cities were fearful of what was to come. What was to come was much different to what they expected, however.

The Xhazobine’s host had slowly regrouped after the disaster at Dostan’s Way. But their leader was still gravely wounded and her powers a shadow of their previous strength. So their retreat was aimed at returning to their heartland in Bulwar to regain their strength. But Castan was not satisfied with a simple defeat. He wished to see this threat dealt with once and for all. His forces pursued the Xhazobine’s relentlessly, and so to buy their packmates and leader more time a large force of gnolls stayed behind at Burning Hill to hold off their enemies. While this did not defeat Castan, it did allow the Xhazobine to escape through Bahar. While Castan spent time reinforcing his southern border and hunting down and exterminating gnoll backs still within his newly conquered land, the Xhazobine went to Bulwar and started gathering new forces.

The human population of Bulwar was too afraid to rise up against their demonic overlord, but that was not the case for her gnollish subjects. The Kingdom of Uak in Bahar proclaimed its independence once more, while many gnolls south of the Salahad left her service to seek their own demonic strength. With the independence of the Uaki kingdom, the humans of western Bahar claimed their freedom under the protection of a resurgent Ovdal Tûngr. This short-lived kingdom of Akal-Szel-Akal became the first Bulwari subject of Castanor just 7 years after the battle of Dostan’s Way, as the Castanorians seemed the most likely to be able to protect them against new gnollish incursions. And while the Copper Dwarves did not submit to Castan, they did offer military and financial support for a campaign into Bulwar proper, which started in 624 BA, with the devastating Liberation of Aqatbahar against the newly independent Kingdom of Uak.

Castan’s army halted here to set up a base of operations and to integrate the region into the Castanorian administration. The presence of this new foreign power in Bulwar itself seems to have brought a great deal of unrest to the region. And the Xhazobine had to spend a great deal of effort keeping the region under control. Eventually the Castanorian army would march out again to invade the lands of Bulwar proper, but the armies of the Xhazobine were waiting for him. In a narrow pass in Eonkavan, she had set up an ambush that was sprung in Tearfal of 618 BA. When Castan marched his forces into the pass to fight what he thought was a smaller force, he found himself outnumbered and outmaneuvered. But again a miracle saved the Castanorians. While the forces of the Xhazobine descended upon their line from all sides, the silver dragon appeared. This was the same one that saved the Castanites at Burning Hill and is associated with the god Castellos in Castanorian myth. It burned the Xhazobine and her host and reduced them to ashes. After this Battle of the White Flame, nothing was left of the Great Xhaz and the gnollish unity in Bulwar was shattered once and for all. Castan I was not seen after the battle either. Some speculate that he sacrificed himself to summon the dragon. Without their leader, the Castanorian armies turned around and marched back to Aqatbar and Bal Ouord, where they had been stationed, as they waited to be called into action once more.

Without the Xhazobine the exhausted nations of Bulwar were left fighting over the scraps. Proxacha was reestablished, but it had to contend with a newly founded human kingdom in Hašr that aggressively sought to usurp the trade with Rahen. In the west the city state of Medurubar established a domain around the lower reaches of the Suran, retaining its independence from the gnolls that still lived in the Šad Sur. During this time the Cult of Surakel became the official faith of many of these human kingdoms as a reaction against the still predominantly Xhazobkult gnollish kingdoms.

### The Second Great Cleansing

More has been written about the Second Great Cleansing elsewhere, as the majority of the violence that Castan II ‘Beastbane’ wrought against the less civilised races of the world occurred in Escann and so falls out of the scope of our story. It is worth noting that he hunted down the last gnolls in Cannor before his campaign into Bulwar and Sarhal.

In Bulwar the tension between the gnolls and human states was at a high ever since the atrocities during the Decade of Flame, but the devastated region was not in all-out war due to the exhaustion of both groups. Instead it was a mess of alliances between city-states and petty kingdoms that broke out into occasional short wars over minor disputes. By no means did all human kingdoms oppose gnollish rule. Many remembered the prosperity they lived in before the Xhazobine. The state of Anzabad still actively traded in slaves with the gnollish-occupied kingdom of Kheterata and the city state of Duklum Tanuz had enjoyed protection from their gnollish overlords against harpy raids.

So when Castan II marshalled his troops in Aqatbar and marched into Bulwar, he found many allies among the human kings, but also many enemies. His campaigns against the harpies of the harpy hills were of little importance to the greater conflict within Bulwar, but as he made his way south the great division within the region became clear. His greatest allies became Grand Maraš Kikud of Brasan, King Nahroon of Medurubar and King Arashq of Akalšes. Brasan’s fleets aided the Castanorian and Tûngric admirals as they engaged the Drolas, Anzabad and Kheteratan fleets throughout the Divenhal. The other two kingdoms supported the Castanorians on land.

Castan’s main force came down from the Harpy Hills in the spring of 571 BA and linked up with Arashq’s army, and together they swept the gnolls out of the Naza plain. Meanwhile the army of Hašr clashed with a warband in Kutiriq and managed to push them back to Proxacha Eklu. The three armies then met up there to siege the great gnollish capital. Meanwhile the fleets of the Drolas Kingdom and Anzabad clashed with the Tûngric and Castanorian fleets at Drolas’ Tip and defeated them soundly through expert knowledge of the rocky shallows. On land the armies of Brasan and Medurubar joined up with a secondary Castanorian force and set about clearing the lower Suran plain from any gnolls. Seeing their strength, many of the city states of western Bulwar joined their cause. But Duklum Tanuz and several other Bulwari city states allied with the gnollish kingdoms of middle and south Bulwar to stand as a united front against the foreign invaders. To them the gnolls were as much a part of Bulwar as the priests of the sun cult, and it was the Castanorians who were the hostile and alien threat.

It was in the late autumn of 571 BA when the fortified palace of Proxacha Eklu fell. Castan had all the gnolls he found inside slaughtered and sent their pelts off to be turned into leather. The Bulwari took to this with a fervor, as these men had not forgotten the horror the Xhazobkult had wrought upon their people and all the blood that had been spilled. After the sacking of Proxacha Eklu, the armies in the east marched down the Suran to aid King Nahroon who led the armies of the western city states against the gnolls and their allies in central Bulwar.

The two armies met at Ginerdu in Esmarment of 570 BA, on a plain between the banks of the Baranun and the ruins of an old genie palace long left without name. The Castanorian side was made up of some 30 000 Castanorian soldiers, augmented with 12 000 Akalšesi horsemen, 8000 Medurubari soldiers, 5000 Brasanni soldiers, and 10000 soldiers from various other city states, such as Bulwar, Hašr, Kalib and Suran Narit. On the other side were 40 000 gnolls from various kingdoms of the Šad Sur, the Bulwari plain and Drolas, along with 6000 soldiers from Duklum Tanuz and another 6000 from Anzabad, with some 7000 soldiers from other allied city states, such as Kaboustraz, Azanerdu and Surib. Under the leadership of Castan II the Bulwari-Castanorian alliance clashed with the gnollish alliance. The gnolls, who were being led by a packlord named Lyhz Breaker-of-Enemies, held their ground and showed clearly the ferocity that had allowed them to become the lords of Bulwar four centuries earlier. But things had changed in those centuries and the once divided nations had now formed a unified front alongside the Castanorians, while the gnolls were no more united. The Breaker-of-Enemies’ control over the various packs was only fleeting and when Castan feigned a retreat, her orders to hold their ground were thrown aside and gaps in the gnollish lines appeared quickly. As Castan halted his line, Arashq led his 12 000 horse out of the ruins into the disorganised flank of the gnollish line. Man and gnoll alike fell under spear and hoof and as the Castanorian line bent to support their Akalšesi allies they began pushing their enemies into the river. While gnollish alliance collapsed, Castan gave the order to kill every last one of them, regardless of whether they were gnoll or human, as they would not tolerate any treason against mankind.

After the Battle of Ginerdu the remaining gnolls were chased from Bulwar and into the Šad Sur, where the Castanorians pursued them. But due to superior knowledge of the terrain many were able to escape and flee into the Salahad. Meanwhile Castan’s attention turned westwards, to the Kingdom of Kheterata that was still under gnollish control. The kingdom had started to meddle in the eastern Divenhal and was supporting the Drolas and Anzabad fleets as they used the sea to dominate and resupply their besieged cities. The Brasanni fleet was now ready and had joined up with their northern allies, but it was difficult to deal with the expert sailors of the pirate kingdoms. So, accompanied and supplied by his fleets, Castan marched west upon the kingdom of Kheterata, which he freed from gnollish dominion and made a Castanorian ally. Next he marched further south, where according to legend he fought the remaining gnolls and closed the ‘gates of hell’ from which they came. But he never returned, and there were still many gnolls left after his heroic or misguided march south. It is unclear what really became of him or his army, perhaps they were all slaughtered and eaten by the local gnolls, which is what their stories say. But they rely purely on oral tradition and it has been a millennium since those events before the stories were recorded.

In Bulwar, Anzabad eventually fell and it became a Castanorian possession, along with a large part of the coast of the Gulf of Glass and the Bay of Mirrors. Castan’s commanders handed the control over the Bulwari city states to their allies in the region and would oversee the peace there. And so, despite his disappearance and presumed death in 569 BA, Castan II ‘Beastbane’ ended the Age of Monsters in Bulwar and started the Castanorian Age.