Great War

written by Victoria and Steve

When the world was young, the dwarves and elves fought for attention and favor from their gods. After an undetermined but lengthy period of time, the gods intervened and gifted magical gemstones of unimaginable power to the dwarven and elven leaders to show them that both races were equal. The gods simultaneously believed that arming the races with the gemstones would mean neither would dare challenge each other, as use of the gemstones would result in massive destruction of both sides. The gemstones distinguished the races from each other, and for a time, made it clear that all races were loved equally by their creators. The elves received Ilterendi and the dwarves were given Mithrus.

At this time, the Orcish Warlords began encroaching on Confederate land. Mok'gram's eruption had made them desperate for new, inhabitable land. The hordes of orcs, minotaurs, centaurs, and goblins was deemed a massive threat by the elves and dwarves alike.

The dwarven King of the time, King Thorin, thought to combine the power of the gemstones that the gods had gifted to the elves and dwarves in order to defeat the orcish threat. His smiths crafted a beautiful chain made from precious metals to hold Ilterendi and Mithrus. Queen Veladriel of the sun elves brought Ilterendi to King Thorin, and he brought forth Mithrus. Together, they placed Mithrus and Ilterendi into the necklace. In that moment, the King’s smiths betrayed him and slew him as he stood. They made an attempt on the Queen’s life and nearly killed her too — but her husband, King Ahellion, whisked her away to safety. Ilterendi and Mithrus were lost.

Believing the dwarves to be untrustworthy traitors, Queen Veladriel ordered her finest mages to hunt down and kill the dwarves who threatened her life and stole the gemstones. They set upon a dwarven settlement of innocents and ransacked it whilst searching for Ilterendi.

King Thorin’s son was only a child, and there was no one to take the throne in the dwarven kingdom. Mass panic ensued in the wake of his assassination and the elvish attack. The dwarves’ retired military general, an old dwarf who had learned strategy and tactics from Hejong himself, stepped up as the new King of the Mountain. King Lokkhan sent his men after the rogue dwarves who had stolen Mithrus and Ilterendi.

Eventually, the sun elves found the dwarves hiding with Ilterendi and Mithrus deep within the Snowfell Mountains. Their forces perished before the might of both gemstones. Queen Veladriel and King Ahellion were incensed that Ilterendi had been stolen and used against them, and blamed the newly-crowned King Lokkhan for being unable to get the situation under control. The elven Queen threatened further attacks into dwarven territory. Ever-wise and less fiery than Veladriel, King Lokkhan turned all of his efforts on hunting down and wresting Ilterendi and Mithrus back from the smiths who had stolen it.

Meanwhile, the dwarves took casualties from elven attacks. The dwarves retaliated in self-defense. The elves took to sieging the dwarves in their mountain homes. It was relatively ineffective, but without access to their crops, livestock, or trade, the dwarves’ quality of life suffered. It took many years, but King Lokkhan was finally able to infiltrate the group of smiths who had stolen the gemstones. He killed off all of the traitors that he could, but few escaped and became Dark Dwarves who worshipped Vandun. With the humans’ help, King Lokkhan returned Ilterendi to the sun elves and warily forged a truce with them.

Queen Veladriel and King Ahellion have had a shaky alliance with the dwarves since. King Lokkhan finds the elves difficult to work with, as they no longer trust the dwarves, and the sun elves find the dwarves reckless and stubborn. King Lokkhan maintains that the dwarves never did anything wrong and that the entire issue was caused by a few dark dwarves seduced by Vandun; Queen Veladriel believes that corruption lingers within the dwarven ranks.

The gods, realizing that their creations would never unite, created humans. Humans negotiate and keep the peace between their two ancient allies, and try to remind them of both good old times, and bright futures. They founded the Confederacy so that humans, elves and dwarves would both be able to work together to govern the land of Hellan and protect it from Isandor's threats.