Dawnrakers

The Dawnrakers were a band of adventurers who became renowned or infamous for hunting down Aurian bounty hunters during the War of Ears in the Oakland Forest.

## Origins and Background

1758PE= The Dawnrakers combined from the survivors of the Wraithbone Massacre and a group of clerics and paladins who destroyed the wraithlord and the necromancer who caused the massacre.

1759PE: The Dawnrakers assist the Temple of the Light in fighting demon and soulcraft emergences across Alkan and Auria.

1761- Emperor Vikor sanctions the bounties on elven ears allowing the hunting of elves in the woodland of Oakland even beyond the Imperial border.

1770PE: The Blood Coin Bounty Hunters' guild is founded in Tor Honarik. It is the largest conglomeration of Bounty Hunters yet. They become exceedingly wealthy by hunting the elves in the northern forest sanctuaries.

1770-1775PE: The genocide of the elven nations in the forest continues. The Quinkorin became increasingly extreme in their response. Some humans that were taken were brutalized and tortured before they were killed something elves had not been known to do in the past. The Dawnrakers returned to the area and pled with the Alkar to intervene but were turned away. The Alkar were reluctant to draw Aurian attention and precipitate a war.

1774PE: It was claimed the Dawnrakers were against the The Battle of Oakhome but the Quinkorin were too angry and desperate to end the pain of the War of Ears. The pitched battle was an all out attack on Oakhome the core city of the Aurian Empire in the forest. It was a disaster for elven forces. This is the last pitched battle fought between elves and humans in Oakland Forest.

1774PE: The Dawnrakers were sleeping in an elven village when it was hit by a group of Blood Coin. They rose from their beds and fought without hesitation against the bounty hunters. One of their own number was killed in the fighting. From that moment they did not leave the war zone until the bounty was rescinded in 1779PE.

1776PE: The turn of the tide that took place in 1776 was partially related to the Dawnrakers. They began to hunt down the Bounty Hunter groups and kill them or turn them over to the elves. They had tried to reason with the Aurians and stop the war after that had failed they decided to limit the damage by protecting the innocent. Though after the Battle of Oakhome they were frustrated with the Quinkorin and would not cooperate directly with them they acted out of compassion to defend the weak and destory the roving bounty hunters.

Not one of the group was a pure blooded elf but one of the humans in the group was secretly the son of an important Aurian noble family. He had held a commission in the Red Protectoran before becoming part of the Darnrakers. He used his contacts to learn of Aurian movements and to add to the pressure caused by the embarrassing defeats, Eventually it was this public pressure along with another key factor that brought about an end to the bounties and the war.

The second event was the Shrouded druids of Karritan came south in force and brought with them for the first time in known history the Shadeborn. Normally these groups did not operate beyond the borders of the great northern forest but the genocide in Oakland Forest apparently became enough. The humans were not ready for the fury and deadly savagery of these new elves. They began to systematically cleanse the forest of human life. Aurians began to cower in their towns rather than displaying their previous arrogance. The Dawnrakers strongly disapproved of the Shrouded's methods but did not directly oppose them. Instead they protected the most helpless and then turned their attention to Aurian nobility.

1777PE: Due to the turn around and the influence of the Dawnrakers a new pro-peace faction takes root in Tor Honarik. They become focused on anti-Emperor rhetoric noting the death toll and the limited benefits this ongoing oppression of the elves had had.

They also stopped an attempt to blackmail Aurakas Milo the key Senator who argued for the abolition of the Ear-bounty.

The bounties did not stop and the new Bounty Hunter guilds were not disbanded. They were only kept up due to fear of the Shadeborn and the personal will of the Emperor however.

1778PE: Emperor Victor takes ill and his son, Vincent, though supportive of his father's policies starts to move towards the ending of the War of Ears. Though it is not officially ended until the repealing of the ear bounty mid way through 1779PE the War of Ears was all but over now.

1779PE: Victor the Elfslayer dies and is succeeded by his son Vincent. Vincent waits two seasons and then repeals the ear bounty officially ending the so-called 'War of Ears'.