El’Anthar was a much different place before The Invasion. Humanity had built great kingdoms in the western part of the continent, though they weren’t immune to their own conflicts and strife.
While they had two great kingdoms, one in the Ashtounge Mountains and the other in the Berisan Steppes, The Durogon, or dwarves, had feast halls, fortresses and scattered across El’Anthar. Trade was their bread and butter, and they shipped the goods to anyone who had the coin to pay. They met any who encroached upon their lands or interrupted their business with a swift hand and a heavy axe.
Throughout the civilized world, El’Anthar’s people came to trust the Durogon for their dutiful devotion to honest trade and fair business sense. It was a reputation the dwarves fought as hard to protect as they did, preserving the quality of their craftsmanship.
Dwarven towns became trade hubs that humanity and the elven races could rely on, though the elves themselves were less open to allowing others to handle some aspects of commerce. Still, it was a different time than the world in its present state.
The elves of El’anthar were divided into three great kingdoms: Aethrandis, in the distant northlands. Hal’Qalon, in what is now known as the Black Marshes. And Daeshal, in the Shadow Wood. Each culture was unique and sophisticated, with advancements ahead of the other nations and peoples.
The Aethar of Aethrandis had made great strides in education, sciences, arcane practices and well as art and entertainment. They were a fierce and hardy people, enduring the icy north with a resilience few couldn’t deny. The land enjoyed brief periods of spring and summer, but left little room for agriculture. Yet the Aethar found bound balance in this winter cycle and thrived, finding alternatives to ensure they would survive.
In time, as their advancements grew, some believe they began looking to what lay beyond the world around them, and to the very stars themselves. This pursuit let them to study’s in astronomy and establishing nautical feats that in the present entire kingdoms would empty treasuries just to gain even a fraction of this knowledge.
But with these advancements, as impressive as they were, the Aetharians changed. Pride and indifference reared their ugly heads shaping Aetharian opinion toward outsiders. Only those they felt worthy gained any benefit of their advanced knowledge. Even as other kingdoms in the south attempted to negotiate, Aethrandis saw them as, in their words: Having nothing to offer.
Daeshal, however, particularly interested the people of Aethrandis. Their wooded homes among the enormous redwoods of the shadowy forest encompassing the kingdom were a curiosity. The Shaper’s of Daeshal could mold the land to their will with ease, making them highly sought after by wealthy Aetharians who would pay exorbitant amounts of gold and silver to keep them as retainers or paced under contract.
The Shaylin were masters of agriculture and botany, as well as magic and crafting. With the help of the Shapers, they created vast subterranean chambers to grow fields of crops without having to clear cut the land. This specially interested the Aetharians, who lived in a cold winter climate.
The rare plants of The Wood also made the Shaylin valuable trading partners. The herbs couldn’t be found anywhere else on the continent, and some were invaluable as ingredients for use with magic and healing the sick. Another factor of these plants was rarity. Apart from their natural environments, these plants struggled to grow and thus the Shaylin took great care in cultivating them so that they might thrive.
Ironwood was an especially important export since these trees were difficult to maintain in The Wood’s competitive ecosystem.
Last, there was Hal’Qalon. The land of the Sihde was sparsely wooded, but boasted many rivers and streams. Its rough, uneven terrain also made overland travel difficult, but its many rivers provided an excellent means of transport throughout the nation.
These rivers connected Hal’Qalon to its neighbors, enabling it to export much of the natural resources it possessed, but also import that it needed. Each of the three kingdoms used the rivers like natural highways, easily moving goods and commodities between them. Unlike its sister nations, Hal’Qalon had few reservations about trading with the human lands bordering it. It was of the few exceptions the Sihde ever made concerning anyone who wasn’t elven.
Hal’Qalon’s greatest import was the minerals and metals it mined. While the terrain was hard on farmers, the vast minerals and ore within its hills and rocky regions offered a wealth of opportunity to the nation’s economy. The Sihde regulated how these deposits were mined as a precautionary measure of preventing them from being depleted too quickly. Nothing lasts forever, and these deposits were the key to their future. No rescource could be wasted.
Time progresses, however, and change is ever constant. The elves grew indifferent, too consumed by the small world they lived in. El’Anthar had its fair share of conflicts, but each of the elven kingdoms became like an island sanctuary. One where outsiders were rarely tolerated as trade with other nations dwindled. Soon, they only trade amonst each other, their symbiotic relationship growing ever stronger and each providing the other what they alone could not for themselves.
El’Anthar could burn, and truthfully, the elves wouldn’t bat an eye. But the most frightening truth was that the world was indeed burning, albeit at a very slow rate. The shorter lived races fought and died, as kingdoms were replaced, and new ones rose in their wake.
The elves saw themselves as separate from the rest of El’Anthar. Their advancements had set them apart, at least in their minds, yet had they been more aware, perhaps the coming storm could have been prevented.
The Invasion
The Invasion, one of the darkest moments in recorded history, lay on the horizon. A plan centuries in the making as the Dakren waged all-out war on the world. A war that, sadly, none saw coming.
Even today, most of the records from that time are scarce, if not nonexistent. The empire forged by the Dakren now lies as but a distant memory in the present. Yet, the impact left in the aftermath of its destruction has lingered for three millennia, creating a long, dark age that El’Anthar had to claw its way out of.
But, alongside the Durogon, the Shaylin remember. Both races weathered the storm, though at the cost of near extinction. It was the elves of Daeshal, however, who lost the most.
In the wake of the dark elves’ war and conquest, their cousins, the Aethar and the Sihde, perished. The rich kingdoms of these two elven races lay shattered, and their cultures burned to ash.
The Dakren of Nol’Etar had laid careful plans to wage their war of conquest. The warlords of the Blighted Lands, with their attentions diverted to the world as a much larger prize, formed an alliance. Through subversion, deceit and trickery, the evil elves supplanted themselves into nations across the continent.
Through their influence, nations of the west changed with the laws of the lands they infiltrated growing more restrictive. The dark elves hid among royal officials, stealing their identities and subverting policy. Wars broke out, weakening the nations of the west, and sapping their military strength. After a generation of planning and subterfuge, the Dakren turned their eyes toward their kin.
With the cold conditions in Aethrandis and the peculiarities of The Wood, the dark elves had abandoned the idea of infiltrating both nations. The risk of their agents’ discovery was too great. The evil elves had a particular distaste of the cold.
Hal’Qalon, however, gave them a prime staging ground. They could easily access both countries through the rivers running through them. In a few short decades, as they replaced more ruling officials, many of the freedoms enjoyed by the Sihde were slowly taken away. Eventually, permits to freely move anywhere in the country became commonplace. Mercantile trade became the privilege of a select few, many of which were loyal to the Dakren.
Outsiders vanished in the night, and any who questioned their whereabouts disappeared soon after. Eventually, after a generation, the Dakren were ready and seized total control of the government. In a single night, gateways they had carefully hidden and spent over a century preparing opened, paving the way for hordes of slaves and servants to attack the nation from within.
Hal’Qalon quickly fell under siege, its people unprepared for the slaughter to come. Cries were heard throughout the streets and settlement as the nation’s borders closed overnight. They slaughtered outsiders like cattle, with the Sihde themselves faring little better.
The nation and its military were in chaos. While it was far too late for a viable defense, the Sihde fought back. But the cunning of the Dakren proved as sharp as a dagger’s edge. The evil elves already had pre-established staging points already in place. With unrivaled brutality quelled any resistance, and many cities fell within the first few hours.
Of the slaves under Dakren control, the war trolls became the real terrors of their army. The orcs and goblins, and other beasts were nothing compared to the troll’s savagery. The dark elves bred them for war, to sow fear and despair into their enemies.
The brutes were monstrously strong and healed quickly. So quickly, in fact, that they could regrow lost limbs, regenerate their organs and seemingly return to life. Not even fire could slow them, though the trolls displayed a deep disdain for it.
The Sidhe weren’t prepared for the war troll’s might and fury, and by dawn, the nation had fallen. Only a few border towns and villages scattered across the country remained. But with information so restricted, they were blind to what was coming.
The Dakren prepared trading barges to ferry their troops to these towns and villages, quickly subduing them. In three days’ time, Hal’Qalon lay in ruins. The Dakren had seized the nation, appointing those who swore loyalty to them in roles of leadership, but with a handler to stamp out any hope of betrayal.
In the days following Hal’Qalon’s fall, the Dakren executed hundreds of Sihde and enslaved thousands more. The Dakren did unspeakable things to demoralize their cousins, burning libraries, destroying monuments and erasing all traces of their tradition and culture.
The dark elves offered some among the Sihde as sacrifices to the fel beings they worshipped, or, using forbidden magiks, turned others into monstrous horrors to serve as part of their army.
When Aethrandis and Daeshal finally learned the truth about what had happened to their sister nation, the Aethar and Shaylin were so enraged they mobilized their forces immediately. The nobles of Daeshal unanimously voted for war. It was one of the few times in Shaylin history when a decision was reached in only a few hours’ time. Trained or not, nearly every Aetharian who could hold sword or spear took up arms, yet it wouldn’t be enough. The Dakren were already on the move.
The Dakren wasted no time reinforcing Hal’Qalon’s borders. The war trolls, orcs and ogres, serving as their shock troops, overpowered the Aethar, pushing them back. To the east, along Daeshal’s border, they repelled the armies of several noble houses, using fel magiks, guile and, and horrors summoned from the shadow realm, the Shaylin forces arrayed against them were shattered.
In a year’s time, Hal’Qalon was firmly in dark elf hands. The portals they’d erected allowed them to reinforce their armies, while the rest of the world looked on with bated breath. Both the Shaylin and Aethar knew what was coming, and began working to bolster their defenses. The threat of the monsters and demons the Dakren commanded left them fearful of an uncertain future.
With humanity already engaged with its own quarrels, thanks to Dakren subterfuge, the elves knew they were alone. The actions of their dark cousins had made it clear of their intentions. The Durogon within these nations were in retreat, closing up trade routes and abandoning their keeps as they began the long migration to their homeland in the Ashtongue Mountains.
Many boasted large armies, most of them clansmen or mercenaries for hire. While the sight of such a large migration of dwarven armies was impressive, the determination written on their grim features spoke volumes. The world was on its own. The Durogon would fight for their own and no other.
The Shaylin gave those who made the journey free passage through The Wood, in hopes their kindness would be remembered in the years to come. The Aethar implored the dwarves for help, but none came. The Durogon remembered well the Aetharians arrogant and dismissive attitude toward them.
Desperate, they sought aid from the frost giants of neighboring Norenheim, but the giants simply laughed. The Aetharians promised to share their knowledge, but again, the giants refused. The giant king claimed he wanted no part of a war with the Dakren.
Despairing, the Aethar continued preparing for the worst, but treachery abounded. The true reason frost giants refused to aid the Aethar was because they had already forged an alliance with the Dakren. The dark elves promised all of Aethrandis to the giants if they were to either stay out of the war or join in the fight on their side.
The giants chose neutrality, but allowed any of their chieftains seeking their glory and honor to aid the Dakren. A few dragon riders answered the call alongside a handful of tribes. Most, however, simply waited. Decided that whoever proved to be on the losing end would be the one to attack when they were at their weakest.
War raged across Aethrandis, testing the might and knowledge of the Aethar. The Dakren, too, were tested, but their cruelty was matched only by their devotion to the demons they served. The Aetharians had never faced such a foe, nor had they imagined the dark elves had grown so depraved.
Wherever their evil elves marched, villages burned, demonic effigies were erected, and crops were destroyed. The cities the Dakren besieged fell under heavy assault. Costing lives, soldiers and resources on both sides. Yet the Dakren were determined.
In just a few months, it became clear to the Aetharians what was at stake. Their twisted cousins had no interest in conquest. Rather, they seemed more focused only on genocide and ensuring the Aethar were forever scoured from the face of El’Anthar all together.
Their only hope lay in winter. The Aethar had noted how much the war trolls hated the cold. The dark elves also showed they had little tolerance for it as well. Winter in Aethrandis was harsh and few could withstand how cold it got.
Yet in the last weeks before winter came, The few remaining leaders among the Aetharian people noted how the Dakren were pulling back, consolidating their lines and moving closer to Hal’Qalon’s borders. Hope sprung within them, thinking they had won, but once the first snows came, despair set it.
Taken From Journal of Kallien Sharahren, last prince of Aethrandis in the year of Invasion, during the siege of Alivandrus:
“The days have blurred together, I do not even know the day or date. When the first snows came we had hope, we thought, ‘Now we have a chance.’ How wrong we were.
This chill, it lingers, cutting to the bone. We sit huddled in the cold, burning whatever we can for warmth, but the fires offered no respite. Where had we gone wrong? What sin had we committed to deserve a fate so terrible? I look to my people, to their starving dying children and I cannot find the words to comfort them.
Our enemies have withdrawn, they seem satisfied to leave us to die. I fear this will be our end. Many are taking ill and food is running low. We hear howls on the wind at night, as if some horror conjured by the Dakren stalks the snowbanks. I dare not imagine what they might have left waiting for us beyond the walls.”
In the following weeks there had been no reports of movement. Some believed that Daeshal might be attacking the flanks of the Dakren horde from behind, but that was far from the truth. The Dakren had prepared one last act of spite. They had knew the War Troll’s could not adapt to the cold weather and like their Aetharian cousins, they too, had also been waiting for winter.
Once the first snows fell, a ritual they had undertaken was complete. The weeks of preparation and constant attention had borne fruit. Soon after, an unnatural chill fell upon the land. While at first the Aetharians tried to recover, burying their dead, and rebuilding. The real horror hadn’t yet come.
With the ritual complete, the Dakren withdrew, consolidating their forces within Hal’Qalon’s even further borders. In a matter of months, when spring should have settled in, the land grew ever more inhospitable. Even those who died came back as ghoulish undead, ever hungry for the living.
The Aetharians saw they had no choice but to abandon their homeland. By this time, there were less than three thousand survivors from the long months of war and bloodshed. They set their eyes toward Daeshal, hoping to reach their cousins in time. Many died of frostbite, exposure, starvation, and disease as they began to prepare.
But all wasn’t completely lost. As the two kingdoms fell, Daeshal had not stood idly by. With the Dakren’s sudden assault and rapid deployment, they knew the Aetharians only hope was to find a sanctuary within The Wood and bolster Daeshal’s defenses.
Aethrandis wasn’t the only elven kingdom with skilled practitioners of The Arts. Through powerful divinations, the High Magus’ of Daeshal opened portals of their own, secretly rescuing refugees from all over the frozen north. The diviners foresight had been crucial in the first few months. At the same time, Shaylin Shapers worked to the kingdom’s borders with a massive barrier made from great redwoods the ancient forest was famous for.
The people of Daeshal were determined to weather the coming storm at all cost and if possible, save whatever kin they could from the Dakren. But the handful of spies the Dakren manged to sneak into the kingdom, learned of this deception.
Upon hearing the news, the warlords leading the dark elven hordes were outraged. They marched toward the eastern border of the Shadow Wood, gathering a massive army. They had already repelled their cousins once and assumed they could easily invade and wipe them out. But Daeshal’s king was no stranger to magic and as the massive army gathered, he ordered the natural barrier erected by the Shapers reinforced with magic.
The dark elves spent days trying to cut their way through, but the great redwoods regenerated too quickly. They summoned demons of fire and flame next, but the enchantments held. Not even their terrifying war machines could break through.
With the barrier unyielding, the Dakren relented, turning their attention to the humans kingdoms and surrounding nations. For now, the Shaylin could wait, huddled in a corner and alone. Another massive was coming from the far east, and with their woodland kin caught between such an army, they too would fall.
