Death of the Virtues

Death of the Virtues is a book recovered from the Pillar of Ualune.

## Description

Written by the Astedian historian Adran Amastacia, Death of the Virtues is a collection of miltary reports recounting various skirmishes and battles that made up the Siege of Iron, including the clash between Toravut the Banneret of Mettle and Unsung, a colossal Cogheart warrior and the desperate final efforts of the Atral spellslingers to hold back the tide.

## Research

### Completed by Hassk

In the face of the might of the Astedian Empire, few can deny that the people of Atralran were without spirit or merit in the defence of their homeland. The Siege of Iron alone lasted nearly two years, never static, but rather a shifting series of battlefields upon the east border of the Realm. Spellslingers and Knights alike made up a significant portion of the Atral ranks, numbering in the thousands, landed and otherwise, aspirants to the Trial of Spirit and those for which it was fulfilled decades prior, reinforced by tens of thousands of yeomen from the population of serfs residing within the Realm. Lowborn peasantry found as much glory as those with names and banners flown high and proud, and hundreds of new knightly houses were created upon the field - only to be extinguished once more in the days, weeks and months to come. While Atral forces outnumbered their foe, the majority of those deployed by the Astedians had not need for food, drink, sleep and rest - the constructs of Kevmorn Milltall unyielding in the face of continuous war. When three Colossal Coghearts, each over two-hundred feet tall were loosed upon the battlefield, striding through the waters of the Long Divide with ease, it was Toravut, known as the Banneret of Mettle for his persistence in the face of unwavering odds that led the charge against them, destroying one of the three by shattering through its eye and using his lightning breath to destroy it from within. When perched atop the smouldering body of the Cogheart, known to the Astedians as Creese, the dragon sought to rally another charge towards one of the others, only to be struck by a beam of incinerating energy, stunning him and leaving him defenseless. Unsung, another of the Colossi, siezed the opportunity presented, and struck quickly and viciously with a scything blade nearly thirty feet long - bisecting him in an instant.

It is said that the day that the Siege of Iron broke, the Virtues that had bound the Atral way of life for nearly a millenium died. Banners were sundered into the muddied banks within eyeshot of the Long Divide, heraldry that had been shaped by the Seven and Blessed by the Sixteen. The divine presence of the Battlemistress did not weep for the break, for the Atral Knights - skilled with arcane armament and mundane steel alike - had stood fast with confidence and pride, finding strength in those that stood at their sides. But in the end, it was not the Astedian advance that broke the siege, despite the might that it delivered, but rather the spellslingers, guided by the hand and power of Archmage Ealwant Besculus, that brought it to an end.

Channeling never before seen magics - an incantation yet to be replicated too, for sake of prosperity and decency alike, although it is rumoured that not even the mages of the High College of Claxinns are yet familiar with the magic utilised - the Atral side unleashed such arcane power that it shattered the soil, stone and sky alike, delivering unto the lands a festering wound that is yet to be healed. Now having come to be known as the Ashenvale, it is a place of desolation, despair, a blot of some thirty miles shrouded in an indispensable thick muffling mist. Thus far, the Emperor and the Increscent Six have resorted to set patrols along its borders to dispense with any and all that came creeping out from within. but no doubt in time the unparalleled minds of the High College of Claxinns will dispel it. For now though, the bodies of all that fell during the final battle remain seemingly untouchable, included amongst them King Goldlor IX, the last King of Atralran - his body to lay in the gloom for an eternity to come.