However not all was as it seemed. The Dragons, though alike the elves in many of their ideas were also very different and followed other gods. The Gods of the Dragons, during the time of the Gods War stood to the side supporting neither the Seldarine nor the Nid`Seldarine. It was their idea to wait and watch. One of the Dragon Gods, The mighty Styphon, Black Dragon God of Knowledge and Death, had the idea to conquer the survivors of the God War, and achieve power over all the Gods with little risk to himself and his kin. The other Dragon Gods knew not of this plan and were content to just watch and await an outcome. After watching the great battle between Corellon Larethian and Gruumsh, Styphon changed his plan.

Then was born the Last and Greatest King of Gila`Ysse. King Rhysal Starweaver, last of the line of Tharadryn and Gwenna, was both a powerful mage and a great warrior, and for a time seemed to shift the tide of the war.

Styphon sensing that all might be lost, inserted a new piece into the fray. He transformed his greatest warrior Alestria Tirandiel, the Silver into the form of an Elven Maiden. He then left her seemingly near death where she might be found by the Elven King. Alestria as well as being a warrior had the gift of prophecy and was well skilled in the arts of magic.

The Elven King played his part well. He found Alestria as planned and personally saw to her re-cooperation, and as time passed he fell in love with the false elf. All seemed as Styphon planned. However, Alestria, quite against the plans of Styphon, fell also in love with the Elven King. She told her Love the truth of her origins and of the designs of the God Styphon. Styphon, having learned of his tool's betrayal sought to strike her down. Almost was he successful, but the Elven King was able to save his queen and love.

In her near death state Alestria was taken by several prophecies. In one of her visions she saw both the destruction of the Elves and the Dragons, as well as a way to save both races. She foresaw the coming of a great Elven King who was a servant to the God Styphon. He would come to lead the elves and form a bond of love and marriage with a Dragon Queen who served the Seldarine. This bond would unite both races in friendship and ensure the survival of both. She spoke of this to the Elven King and together they then contrived to work a great magic that would ensure the survival of races. The magic would not be without its sacrifices.

After the fall of Atlan`Ysse, the Elven peoples entered one of the most sorrowful and uncertain ages in their long history. The destruction of the great realm shattered more than kingdoms and cities. It shattered certainty itself. Ancient lines of authority vanished almost overnight. Sacred roads disappeared beneath ruin and wilderness. Great temples fell silent. Entire archives of lore and memory were consumed by fire, flood, and war.

The Elder Folk had lost not merely a homeland, but the center of their civilization.

Leaderless, grieving, and scattered across the realms of the world, the Elves wandered for generations searching for sanctuary, meaning, and purpose. Some sought refuge within deep forests untouched by war. Others vanished into hidden valleys, mountain sanctuaries, island enclaves, or distant realms beyond the mortal world. Many wandered endlessly beneath the stars carrying with them little more than fading songs, ancestral relics, and memories of a greatness now lost.

This age became remembered among the Elves as the Time of Wandering Shadows.

During these dark millennia the once-unified Elven peoples slowly separated into distinct clans, houses, and wandering kindreds. Though all still considered themselves children of Corellon and members of the same Elder Race, the harsh realities of survival forced many groups to adapt to vastly different environments and conditions.

Some clans remained within the great forests where they preserved the ancient woodland traditions and druidic wisdom of the Elder Folk. Others settled among mist-covered mountains where harsh winds and isolation forged sterner and more disciplined societies. Some journeyed to hidden islands beyond the seas. Others crossed into realms touched deeply by Faerie, where magic altered both body and spirit over countless generations.

Still others vanished entirely from the knowledge of their kin.

Entire clans disappeared into distant worlds connected through ancient gates, leyline crossings, and pathways between realms. Some would later return transformed by strange magics and alien skies. Others were never seen again except in fragmented legends and half-remembered songs.

Yet despite the growing differences among the clans, the Elves of this age still remained fundamentally one people.

The divisions that would later separate the Elven races had not yet truly formed. There existed variations in appearance, philosophy, temperament, magical practice, and lifestyle, but these were matters of individual adaptation rather than deep cultural or spiritual division. The Elder Folk still viewed themselves as members of a single great family descended from common origins and bound together beneath the watchful gaze of the Seldarine.

The Elves of the forests welcomed their mountain kin as brothers and sisters. The wanderers of the hidden islands still honored the same ancient songs sung beneath the trees of distant woodlands. The clans that crossed between worlds through forgotten gates still carried with them the memory of Atlan`Ysse and the dream that one day the Elder Folk might again rise from ruin.

Though sorrow weighed heavily upon them, the Elves of this age did not descend into hatred or division.

Instead, they endured.

For nearly ten thousand years the Elder Folk wandered, rebuilt, explored, adapted, and survived.

Gradually the darkness began to lift.

The scattered clans rediscovered one another. Ancient roads were reopened. Lost sanctuaries were reclaimed from wilderness and ruin. Trade and communication slowly resumed between distant enclaves. Great gatherings were once again held beneath moonlit skies where lorekeepers exchanged songs, histories, and knowledge gathered during the long years of wandering.

It became clear that despite all they had suffered, the Elven peoples had not been destroyed.

They had transformed.

From this slow rebirth emerged one of the greatest eras in the history of the Elder Folk.

The dark age finally ended, and in its place began a vast age of creation, exploration, beauty, and renewal remembered in later centuries as the First Golden Age.

Across the worlds and realms touched by Elven civilization, magnificent cities began to rise once more. Towers of crystal and silver emerged among ancient forests. Living trees were shaped into palaces and temples through arts now long forgotten. Bridges of light crossed rivers and chasms. Moonlit ports welcomed ships from distant realms. Great libraries, observatories, gardens, sanctuaries, and halls of learning appeared across the lands.

The Elves no longer sought merely to survive.

They sought once more to create beauty worthy of eternity.

The magical arts flourished during this era beyond anything previously seen. The Elder Folk rediscovered ancient lore lost during the fall of Atlan`Ysse while also developing entirely new forms of magic shaped by the experiences of their long wanderings. Some clans mastered the shaping of living wood and crystal. Others learned to commune more deeply with the spirits of nature and the hidden powers of the stars. Those who had traveled between worlds brought with them strange knowledge gathered beneath unfamiliar heavens.

Throughout this age the Elves spread across countless realms and worlds connected through ancient gates, leyline crossings, and pathways known only to the Elder Folk. Though separated by unimaginable distances, the Elven peoples remained bound together through culture, memory, magic, and reverence for the Seldarine.

The First Golden Age endured for nearly fifteen thousand years.

It was an age of peace unlike anything later generations would fully know. Art, scholarship, magic, philosophy, music, and spiritual enlightenment flourished across the Elven realms. Dragons still roamed the skies and ancient dangers still lurked within forgotten places, yet the Elder Folk stood united, confident, and radiant beneath the stars.

Many later Elven historians would look back upon this age with deep sorrow and longing, for in all the long centuries that followed, the Elder Folk would never again fully reclaim the innocence, unity, and boundless hope that had existed during those shining millennia after the wandering ended.

For a brief eternal moment in history, the children of Corellon had overcome loss, exile, and despair and built a civilization so beautiful that later ages would scarcely believe it had ever truly existed.

Great forests flourished beneath the protection of ancient Mythals. Silver cities rose among the trees like living works of art. Sacred roads connected hidden sanctuaries and noble realms across vast distances. Music, poetry, philosophy, astronomy, and magical scholarship reached heights unequaled in the history of the world. The Elves believed that they had at last overcome the darkness of earlier ages and established a civilization that might endure forever.

It was during this era that the Art of High Magic truly blossomed.

The greatest archmages of the Elder Folk had come to understand that magic itself was not dangerous, but that the unchecked concentration of magical power within solitary individuals inevitably led toward arrogance, corruption, and catastrophe. Seeking a wiser path, they developed a new philosophy of cooperative spellcraft founded upon balance, discipline, shared burden, and mutual accountability.

From this philosophy arose the great Circles of High Magic.

A Circle was far more than a gathering of powerful mages. It was a sacred union of minds, souls, magical resonance, and purpose. Through years of ritual attunement and spiritual discipline, the members of a Circle learned to weave their powers together into a single harmonious whole. United in purpose, they could cast spellworks beyond the imagination of any solitary wizard.

The Circles became capable of stabilizing vast leyline nexuses, healing damaged Mythals, redirecting storms across entire regions, opening portals spanning hundreds of miles, and defending cities with magical barriers of staggering complexity. In times of crisis, a fully united Circle could unleash forces capable of annihilating armies or sealing tears within the fabric of reality itself.

Each Circle established itself within a great tower, and these towers soon became the spiritual and magical heart of every major Elven realm. Some rose above the forests upon arches of crystal and force. Others stood hidden within sacred groves where only those blessed by the guardians of the realm could safely tread. Within these towers were observatories, vast libraries, sanctums of magical experimentation, chambers of reverie, and halls where the High Mages debated matters affecting the fate of kingdoms.

Among their greatest achievements was the creation of the Silver Paths, a magical communication network allowing messages, visions, warnings, and magical signals to pass swiftly between distant Elven enclaves. No longer would isolated settlements vanish silently into darkness as they had in earlier ages. Through the Silver Paths, the scattered realms of the Elder Folk remained united as one civilization despite the enormous distances separating them.

For a time, peace seemed secure.

The Dragon attacks that had once terrorized entire regions diminished greatly. Though Dragons remained among the most feared creatures in existence, the combined strength of the Circles and the lingering consequences of the sacrifice of Atlan`ysse ensured that the great wyrms no longer threatened the Elven realms openly as they once had.

Yet as one danger faded, another rose from the dark and forgotten places of the world.

The greatest enemy of this age became the Orcs.

The Orcs had existed since ancient times in the savage regions beyond civilization. They dwelled within volcanic wastes, mountain strongholds, frozen highlands, deep caverns, ruined fortresses, and barren lands where few other races could survive. Brutal, violent, and astonishingly fertile, they multiplied with terrifying speed.

For many centuries, Orc attacks resembled little more than savage raids. Small warbands descended from hidden passes and wilderness strongholds to attack caravans, farms, villages, and isolated settlements before retreating once more into the wild. Most Elven communities were more than capable of defending themselves. Even remote villages possessed warriors trained in both arms and magic. Rangers patrolled the forests tirelessly while Moon Warriors guarded the roads and sacred groves of the realm.

What the Elves failed to fully understand was that the Orcs were not merely raiders.

They were a force of nature.

The Orc tribes warred endlessly among themselves, and for long ages this internal violence kept them fragmented and weak. Yet from time to time, driven by famine, prophecy, conquest, or the rise of a particularly powerful warlord, the tribes united into vast hordes unlike anything civilized peoples could easily withstand.

These hordes descended upon the world like living storms.

Entire valleys vanished beneath them. Villages burned in a single night. Trade roads disappeared beneath rivers of blood and ash. Forests were hacked apart for siegeworks and fuel. Temples were desecrated. Cities that had stood for centuries vanished beneath waves of violence.

Then came the greatest Orc uprising the world had yet witnessed.

From the mountains, frozen northlands, volcanic regions, underground breeding pits, savage wastelands, and ancient ruins came a gathering of Orc tribes greater than any previously recorded in Elven history. Tens of thousands became hundreds of thousands. Warlords united beneath monstrous champions whose brutality inspired fanatical loyalty among the Horde.

The Orcs overran kingdom after kingdom.

Entire cities vanished.

The Elder Folk suddenly found themselves slowly being overwhelmed beneath an avalanche of endless violence and numbers.

For the first time since the founding of Miryth Dragkor, fear spread openly among the High Circles.

The Elves understood that conventional warfare might no longer be enough. Every victory against the Horde cost lives that the Elder Folk could not easily replace, while the Orcs multiplied endlessly. Entire generations of Elven warriors perished defending forests, roads, sanctuaries, and cities that could not be abandoned.

It was during this dark hour that a faction among the High Mages proposed a terrible solution.

If the Orcs could not be defeated from without, then perhaps they could be controlled from within.

The proposal horrified many among the Elder Folk. Yet desperation silenced caution. Volunteers were gathered from among some of the greatest Elven warriors, battlemages, rangers, and magical adepts of the age. These Elves willingly sacrificed themselves to forbidden experimentation believing they might save their people from extinction.

Through terrible combinations of High Magic, alchemy, blood ritual, spirit manipulation, transformation sorcery, and ancient magical sciences, the High Mages sought to create a new race entirely.

The results surpassed all expectations.

The transformed beings possessed immense physical strength, extraordinary endurance, heightened aggression, and instinctive understanding of Orcish society and psychology. Yet unlike common Orcs, they retained discipline, tactical brilliance, intelligence, magical aptitude, and the capacity for organized warfare.

They became known as the High Orcs.

At first, the experiment appeared miraculous.

The High Orcs proved to be natural leaders of astonishing ability. Lesser Orcs flocked to them instinctively, obeying them with near-religious loyalty. Entire tribes submitted willingly beneath their banners. The High Orcs could command the Horde in ways no Elf ever could.

The Elves deployed them as elite warriors against the Orcs, believing they had finally discovered the means to end the wars.

But the transformation had changed more than their bodies.

The High Orcs did not merely understand the Orcs.

They became Orcs.

Though they retained much of their Elven intelligence and grace, their instincts, ambitions, and worldview transformed completely. They came to see weakness as contemptible and mercy as foolishness. Worse still, they came to resent the Elves who had created them. The High Orcs understood immediately that they had not been created as equals. They had been created as tools.

The High Orcs would not remain tools for long.

One by one they abandoned the Elven armies and crossed into the camps of the Horde. The lesser Orcs accepted them immediately as superior beings. To common Orcs, the High Orcs appeared almost divine: larger, stronger, more disciplined, and possessed of terrifying charisma and military brilliance.

The balance of the war shifted almost overnight.

Under High Orc leadership, the Horde transformed from scattered tribal swarms into a unified military civilization. The High Orcs organized supply systems, siegecraft, military hierarchies, communication networks, and battlefield doctrine on a scale never before seen among Orc-kind.

Their armies swept across the world with horrifying efficiency.

Where once Orc attacks had been chaotic raids, they now became organized campaigns of conquest. Elven strongholds fell one after another. Human kingdoms burned. Dwarven holds were besieged beneath relentless assault.

The High Orcs themselves were magnificent and terrifying to behold. Towering over lesser Orcs, they combined the raw physical power of the Horde with a dark reflection of Elven grace and nobility. Their movements were disciplined and precise. Their armor and weapons displayed remarkable craftsmanship. Unlike lesser Orcs, they possessed culture, philosophy, military doctrine, architecture, and systems of law.

They divided themselves into thirteen great clans, each devoted to a specific role within their growing empire. Their civilization revolved around a singular vision: the creation of the Chumras Orka, the Great Orcish Empire.

The High Orcs believed utterly that they were destined to rule the world.

At first, their conquest seemed unstoppable.

Under High Orc leadership, the Horde conquered vast portions of the world with terrifying speed. Elven defenders often fled before them, stunned by the discipline and tactical brilliance of armies they had once dismissed as savage rabble.

The war eventually culminated at the great fortress-city of Cear`Forgaen.

There, the fate of the world would be decided.

The thirteen clans united for one final assault upon the Elven stronghold. Many among the Elder Folk believed that if the Horde remained united, victory for the Orcs was inevitable.

Yet it was not Elven strength that ultimately destroyed the High Orcs.

It was betrayal.

The thirteenth clan, known as the Raging Bear Clan, had fallen beneath the leadership of a Troll named Xersus. Whether through manipulation, ambition, or brute strength, Xersus rose to command despite not being Orcish himself.

Unfortunately for the Horde, Xersus lacked the one quality the High Orcs valued above all others.

Courage.

When the time came to storm Cear`Forgaen, the Raging Bear Clan broke ranks and fled the battlefield beneath Xersus's command.

The remaining twelve clans fought with terrible fury, but the unity of the Horde had been shattered at the worst possible moment.

The Elves counterattacked mercilessly.

The battle became slaughter.

Most of the lesser Orcs perished upon the field. Vast numbers of High Orcs were hunted down and executed without mercy. The Elder Folk took no chances that such a race might ever rise again.

The surviving members of the Raging Bear Clan were relentlessly pursued. Most were eventually killed. A few fled into the frozen northlands where strange legends later spoke of pale warlords wandering beneath the auroras.

The Orc Wars did not truly end in a single victory. Instead they slowly diminished over centuries as the great Horde fragmented into smaller tribal conflicts once more. The surviving High Orcs vanished into remote wastelands, hidden mountains, underground kingdoms, and forgotten ruins. Some became monsters. Some became kings. Some disappeared entirely from history.

The wars themselves lasted nearly five thousand years.

By their end, the world had been forever changed.

Entire civilizations had fallen. Ancient forests had vanished. Great magical knowledge had been lost forever. The Elder Folk survived, but only barely, and many among the Elves began to fear that every age of greatness among their people eventually led toward catastrophe.

The Orc Wars taught the Elder Folk a lesson they would never forget.

No enemy was more dangerous than desperation joined to pride.

In the long ages following the horrors of the Crown Wars and the final judgments rendered within the courts of the Elder Elven Houses, the world entered what many later scholars would call the Second Golden Age. It was a time of breathtaking achievement, ancient magic, and wonders that later ages would scarcely believe had ever existed.

The Elven Empire, reborn from the ashes of internal conflict, rose to heights of glory unmatched before or since. Across the world of Otara the Elder Folk built vast and radiant kingdoms of impossible beauty. Towering silver cities rose beneath enchanted skies, woven from crystal, white stone, living wood, and shimmering magical energies. Bridges of force crossed impossible chasms. Great towers touched the clouds. Entire forests were shaped into harmonious living sanctuaries through druidic arts and Mythal magic.

The Elves mastered nearly every known form of arcane knowledge. Their scholars charted the stars, mapped the leylines of the world, opened gates to distant planes, and shaped magic into both art and science. Their priests communed openly with the Seldarine. Their mages bent light, weather, and stone to their will. Their bards preserved histories stretching back tens of thousands of years.

It was said in those days that the Elder Folk had become so mighty that they had nearly forgotten fear.

Yet this golden age was not the achievement of the Elves alone.

Beneath the mountains, another great civilization flourished beside them: the Dwarven Empires.

The Dwarves of that age were masters beyond compare in the arts of engineering, metallurgy, stonecraft, and rune-lore. Deep beneath the roots of the world they constructed colossal underground kingdoms that rivaled even the greatest Elven cities. Endless halls carved from living stone stretched for miles beneath mountain ranges. Bridges crossed underground seas. Entire cavern realms glowed beneath artificial stars forged from crystal and runic fire.

The Dwarves too possessed mighty forms of magic, though unlike the flowing arcane arts of the Elves, Dwarven sorcery was bound into rune, metal, crystal, oath, and stone. Their smiths forged weapons and armor of such perfection that many survive to this day as priceless relics. They shaped mithral, adamantine, silversteel, crystal iron, and enchanted alloys unknown in later ages.

For many thousands of years the Elven and Dwarven realms coexisted in relative harmony.

Where the Elves ruled the forests, rivers, and skies of the surface world, the Dwarves reigned supreme beneath the mountains and deep places of the earth. Trade flourished between the two civilizations. Elven mages exchanged lore with Dwarven runesmiths. Great roads linked mountain holds with silver forest cities. Alliances were forged through shared wars against Orcs, Goblins, Trolls, Dragons, and the horrors lurking beneath the world.

Many historians claim that during this age the Elves and Dwarves together formed the greatest alliance civilization had ever known.

But no golden age lasts forever.

Over long centuries the closeness between the two races slowly began to erode.

The Elves, possessed of immense magical power and nearly immortal lifespans, gradually grew proud and aloof. Many among the Elder Houses began to regard the shorter-lived races, even the Dwarves, as lesser peoples unable to comprehend the higher truths of magic and civilization.

The Dwarves, proud in their own achievements and deeply sensitive to insult, grew increasingly bitter toward what they perceived as Elven arrogance and condescension. Old disagreements over trade, territory, magical practice, mining rights, sacred lands, and political influence slowly deepened into resentment.

Where once the two peoples had spoken openly as allies, suspicion now began to replace trust.

Many wise rulers, priests, sages, and ambassadors attempted to heal the growing divide. Great councils were held between mountain kings and Elven lords. Treaties were signed and renewed. Scholars exchanged knowledge in hopes of preserving the old friendship.

But the seeds of division had already been planted.

And from those seeds, bitterness slowly grew.

Worse still, hidden forces watched from the darkness beneath the world.

Among these powers none were more dangerous than the servants of Lolth, the Spider Queen. The Drow, ever hateful toward their surface kin and eager to shatter the strength of the Elder Races, saw opportunity within the growing rift between Elf and Dwarf.

Through deception, assassination, sabotage, illusion magic, and carefully orchestrated atrocities, the Drow manipulated both empires toward conflict.

Dwarven caravans vanished beneath circumstances implicating Elven raiders.

Ancient shrines were desecrated.

Rune vaults were plundered.

Entire mining colonies disappeared.

Envoys were murdered.

Messages were falsified.

Fear became anger.

Anger became hatred.

The Dwarves, ignorant of the true existence and influence of the Drow, increasingly blamed the surface Elves for the mounting crimes and betrayals. Many believed the Elves sought to weaken the Dwarven kingdoms through treachery and sorcery rather than open war.

At last came the event that shattered the final fragile peace.

One of the great Elven cities, its name now deliberately removed from many surviving records, was utterly destroyed in a devastating assault by enraged Dwarven armies. The city burned for weeks beneath siege engines, rune-fire, and collapsing Mythals. Tens of thousands perished.

The Elves answered with fury.

And thus began the Elf/Dwarf Wars.

The collapse of peace was swift and catastrophic.

Ancient alliances shattered overnight.

Trade roads became battlefields.

Shared fortresses turned upon one another.

The great powers of the world divided.

For one hundred years the conflict spread across Otara in escalating waves of destruction unlike anything previously seen. Elven battle magic clashed against Dwarven rune engines. Forests burned. Mountains cracked. Entire underground kingdoms collapsed beneath arcane assault. The skies themselves were said to glow red at night from distant fires.

And still the war worsened.

Then came the tragedy remembered in later ages as The Sundering of the Peace Field.

At last, after generations of bloodshed, leaders from both civilizations agreed to meet upon neutral ground in hopes of ending the war before both empires destroyed themselves entirely.

Great armies gathered upon opposite sides of a vast plain.

Between them stood the pavilion of negotiation where generals, kings, diplomats, priests, and loremasters sought one final chance at peace.

But even there the hand of Lolth reached forth.

As negotiations unfolded, hidden Drow agents triggered illusions and false movements near the peace pavilion. Dwarven scouts believed they detected an Elven ambush moving toward their leaders. Elven rangers saw what appeared to be Dwarven forces preparing the same betrayal.

Panic spread instantly.

Both armies rushed toward the pavilion to protect their commanders.

Neither side paused long enough to understand what was truly happening.

The resulting clash became one of the bloodiest single battles in the history of the Elder Races.

Across the field Elves and Dwarves hurled themselves into slaughter. Rune cannons shattered cavalry formations. Sidhe archmages unleashed storms of silver fire. Dwarven shield walls ground forward beneath volleys of enchanted arrows. Dragons allied to ancient houses descended from the skies while beneath the earth Dwarven sappers collapsed entire sections of battlefield into fiery chasms.

By sunset the field was buried beneath mountains of dead.

The hopes for peace died with them.

After the Sundering of the Peace Field, reconciliation became impossible.

The Elf/Dwarf Wars continued for nearly eight thousand years.

Entire civilizations were crippled.

Countless works of magic and engineering were lost forever.

Many of the greatest cities of both races fell during this age:

• Elven Mythals collapsed.
• Dwarven Deep Roads were shattered.
• Sacred groves burned.
• Ancient mountain thrones fell silent.
• Entire bloodlines vanished into extinction.

Though the Elves are generally remembered as the eventual victors of the wars, the truth is far more tragic.

Neither side truly won.

Both civilizations emerged diminished, exhausted, and spiritually scarred.

The Elves retained much of the surface world, but at terrible cost.

The Dwarves withdrew deeper beneath the mountains, becoming more isolationist, suspicious, and rigid than they had once been.

The old age of cooperation between Elf and Dwarf never fully returned.

At last, after long millennia of destruction, the wars slowly faded into silence.

The surviving rulers of both races looked upon the ruins of their civilizations and recognized the madness that had consumed them. Gradually, cautious overtures of peace were offered. Limited trade resumed. Ancient hatreds cooled into wary distance.

But never again would the Elves and Dwarves stand as they once had during the Second Golden Age.

During the final centuries of the ancient Elf/Dwarf Wars, a younger race began its rapid ascent across the world of Otara. These newcomers were Humanity, short-lived when compared to the Elder Folk, yet possessed of extraordinary adaptability, ambition, resilience, and an alarming fertility rivaling even that of the Orcish hordes.

Where Elven kingdoms required centuries to recover from war, Humans rebuilt within generations.

Where Elven societies prized balance, tradition, and harmony with the natural world, Humanity expanded relentlessly, clearing forests, founding cities, building roads, and multiplying in numbers beyond anything the Elder Folk had ever faced. Human kingdoms rose swiftly across lands once held by Elves, Dwarves, and older powers. Villages became towns, towns became fortified cities, and within a surprisingly short span of history, Humanity spread across the continent like a rising tide.

At first, the Elves viewed the younger race with cautious curiosity.

Many Human tribes sought alliance, trade, and knowledge from the Elder Folk. Elven teachers instructed Human kings in agriculture, astronomy, governance, healing, architecture, and the earliest forms of civilized law.

For a time, coexistence seemed possible.

But the long centuries of warfare had already weakened the Elven realms terribly.

The Elder Folk had spent millennia locked in devastating struggles against the Dwarven kingdoms during the Crown Wars, against the Drow in the deep places beneath the world, against Orcish invasions from the wastelands, and against countless horrors born of ancient magical catastrophes.

Entire Sidhe bloodlines had vanished.

Ancient cities had fallen.

Mythals had been shattered.

Sacred groves had burned.

Though still magnificent in culture and power, the Elves no longer possessed the strength to defend every forest, river valley, and ancient kingdom they once ruled.

As Human populations expanded, conflict became inevitable.

What began as border disputes, woodland clearing, and territorial pressures slowly escalated into open warfare. Human nobles hungered for fertile lands, ancient roads, mineral wealth, and access to the great forests still controlled by the Elves. Many Human rulers feared Elven influence, envied Elven longevity, or viewed the Elder Folk as obstacles to the destiny of mankind.

The Elves, for their part, saw Humanity as dangerously impatient: wasteful, short-sighted, emotionally volatile, and increasingly willing to sacrifice the natural world for expansion and power.

By the end of the great Elf/Dwarf Wars, the surviving Elven realms had been pushed steadily backward across Otara. One by one, ancient territories were abandoned. Isolated clanholds disappeared into forests. Sacred roads vanished beneath Human kingdoms. Great towers stood empty.

At last, the Elves withdrew to the final great mainland bastion of their civilization: the vast enchanted forests of Ancient Kael, and the shining capital city of Miryth Dragkor.

For a brief time, an uneasy peace endured.

Within the silver forests of Kael, the Elves slowly rebuilt what remained of their shattered civilization. Ancient alliances were renewed. The great houses consolidated their strength. Druids restored wounded lands. Sidhe mages reinforced Mythals and sacred wards. The surviving people hoped that perhaps the long age of war had finally ended.

But peace proved temporary.

As the Human kingdoms continued to rise in strength and number, pressure upon the borders of Kael resumed. Roads crept closer to sacred forests. Logging settlements appeared along ancient woodland edges. Human warlords sought glory and expansion. At the same time, darker forces emerged among mankind.

Foremost among these threats was the rise of the terrible Archwizards of Myraletch, whose mastery of destructive sorcery rivaled some of the most dangerous magics of the ancient world. The Myral kings and their arcane lords wielded powers so terrible that later generations of Elves would forbid entire schools of magic out of fear of repeating the horrors of that age.

Thus began the great Elf/Human Wars.

The conflict would span nearly one thousand years and unfold through four major wars separated by fragile periods of uneasy peace, failed treaties, border conflicts, and brief recoveries. Each war proved more devastating than the last.

The First War saw Humanity testing the borders of Kael and discovering that the Elder Folk, though diminished, remained terrifying in battle.

The Second War erupted after Human settlers violated sacred groves protected by ancient pacts. Entire armies vanished within the forests of the Sylva`Shava, consumed by ranger ambushes, Sidhe sorcery, and the wrath of the land itself.

The Third War brought the rise of Myraletch and the widespread use of destructive battle magic. Great forests burned beneath arcane firestorms. Entire rivers were poisoned. Several lesser Mythals collapsed during the fighting, permanently scarring parts of the world.

By the Fourth War, the Elves stood upon the edge of extinction.

Though the Elder Folk still won battles, each victory cost lives they could no longer replace. Human kingdoms multiplied faster than they could be defeated. Entire Elven bloodlines vanished forever. Once-great houses dwindled to a handful of survivors. Some Sidhe abandoned the mortal world entirely, retreating into Faerie sanctuaries and hidden realms beyond the veil.

The bloodshed of these thousand years eclipsed even the horrors of the ancient Elf/Dwarf conflicts.

Many Elves came to believe the Elder Folk would not survive another century.

It was during this darkest age, when the silver banners of Kael seemed ready to vanish forever from the world, that the last great king of Miryth Dragkor ascended the throne: Endar Arcelduin.

Entire bloodlines vanished during the journey.

Some disappeared willingly into Taur-im-Aina and were never seen again.

Others perished protecting those who followed behind them.

Even as the Retreat continued, Endar refused to abandon Kael.

For many months he waged a desperate campaign against the Human armies threatening to overwhelm the remaining Elven strongholds. Yet each victory cost lives the Elves could no longer afford to lose. The war had become one of attrition, and Endar understood that Kael itself could not survive indefinitely.

At last, the king conceived one final plan.

Gathering the remaining strength of the Elves of Kael, Endar marched from the High Forests and carried the war directly into the lands of Myraletch. The Human city of Faredshaer was utterly destroyed in a swift and merciless assault. Villages were burned, fortifications shattered, and the surviving defenders slaughtered. The ruins of the city were then transformed into defensive earthworks where Endar prepared to make his final stand.

There, upon the scarred fields before the ruins, occurred the battle forever remembered as the Battle of Endar's Field.

Against fewer than five thousand surviving Elven warriors marched nearly thirty thousand Human soldiers and battle-mages of Myraletch.

For twenty-five days the battle raged.

The fields burned beneath sorcery and bloodshed.

Elven archers darkened the skies with silver-feathered arrows while Human war engines shattered forests and walls alike. Sidhe mages unleashed terrible powers drawn from the ancient leyline networks beneath Kael. Entire companies vanished beneath storms of arcane fire and living shadow.

In the end, the remaining Elven host was annihilated almost to the last warrior.

King Endar Arcelduin fell beside his banner beneath the burning skies of the battlefield.

Yet his sacrifice achieved its purpose.

The armies of Myraletch were shattered so completely that the kingdom never recovered. Rival powers soon descended upon the weakened Human empire, and the terrible threat that had hunted the Elves toward extinction collapsed beneath its own losses.

With the death of Endar and the destruction of the last great Elven war host upon the mainland, the surviving peoples of Kael finally abandoned Miryth Dragkor and completed the Retreat.

Many sailed westward to Lorien.

Others crossed into Arethane.

Still others gathered within Rhyanne, which became the last great mainland bastion of the Elder Folk and a sanctuary preserving much of the surviving heritage of Ancient Kael.

Within the hidden forests of the Sylva`Shava, the Elves endured.

There they preserved:

• their bloodlines,
• their Mythals,
• their sacred groves,
• their ancient wisdom,
• and the prophecies that spoke of the Final Days yet to come.

Officially endorsed by the Church of their God, the Order became a favored charity across many lands and grew rapidly in membership and power. Templar knights in their distinctive white mantles with red cross were among the best fighting units of the times. Non-combatant members of the Order managed a large economic infrastructure throughout many kingdoms, and built many fortifications across the Holy Land.

The Templars' success was tied closely to the holy wars then called the Crusades; when the Crusaders suffered defeat and lost the Holy Land, support for the Order faded. So great was the power of the Templar at this time that even kings became jealous of them and feared them. Rumors about the Templars' secret rites created mistrust, and a King, who's name is lost to history, and was deeply in debt to the Order, began pressuring the Leader of the church to take action. The King had many of the Order's members arrested, tortured into giving false confessions, and burned at the stake. The Church, under continuing pressure from this King, disbanded the Order.

The King thought that he had won, that the Templar treasure would be his, and as he raided the Templar headquarters, he found that all the records and more importantly the treasure had been removed. His deputies, as they moved to seize the Templar fleet, the largest in all the known lands, had already set sail. Where either had gone was a mystery.

The truth of the matter is that the Templar were taken from those lands and transported to the world of Otara by the God Moranthis. Dhelcrist, a land of the followers of Moranthis had been beset by attacks for nearly 2 centuries and could not hope to survive much longer. Their god decided to take a hand in their salvation and searched for a means to safeguard his people. He found those means in the Order of the Knight Templar.

Assuming a more familiar form that the Templar would recognize, he appeared in the dreams of the knights and indeed they did recognize their god. He told them that he had watched the plight that had befallen them and that their sacrifices in his name would not be in vain. He promised that he would deliver them unto a new land where they would be free of the persecutions of those who had betrayed them. He commanded that all that remained of the order as well as their treasures and amassed wealth be gathered and their Fleet set sail. He then told them that upon the third day of their voyage, he would deliver them to their new land. He then told them that although their salvation was at hand, there was a price to be paid, but one they were overly qualified to pay. They must save the peoples of the promised land from the ravages of the invading monsters and demons that threatened to destroy them and the lands they would soon inherit, and then once saved they must rule over the lands in fairness and kindness and help them prosper. Each knight of the order thus visited agreed. Within 2 weeks the vast fleet of the Templar, loaded with the entire wealth of the templar and it's knights, save for those incarcerated and unable to join their brethren set sail as instructed. 3 days later a massive rift was opened before the mighty fleet and the ships sailed through and found themselves on a vast ocean near the coast of a strange land.

That they were indeed on a new world was immediately evident as this world had several moons. They looked upon the land before them in wonder and Moranthis appeared before then in the skies and cried down to them.

“Here now the voice of your God. This is now your place and the lands you see ahead are the holy lands of Dhelcrist. In this land I am called Moranthus. From this time forth you too shall call me such. Go forth Holy Templars of Moranthus and save my peoples and thus be one with this world.”

Within seconds many of the knights and priests fell to knees in awe as the power of Moranthus filled them. When they arose they knew that they had been accepted as the first Paladins and Priests of Moranthus. The order to make for the Land and dock were given and the vast fleet came finally to rest.

The First Millennium: Glory Amid Trials

The first thousand years of Harak's existence were marked by both triumph and adversity. Encroachments by Orc warbands, Beastmen hordes, and rogue human factions tested the kingdom's resolve. Internal factions emerged. some loyal to the crown, others dreaming of independence or conquest. Yet through all, the Corvase line held firm, expanding the kingdom's borders through diplomacy and war, and founding key provinces that would form the backbone of the realm. Harak's armies grew into a disciplined, honor-bound force, shaped by the teachings of Mikal and the Dwarven war masters. Fortresses sprang up along the mountain passes, and vast roads linked the heartland to its provinces. Trade flourished, culture blossomed, and for a time, it seemed that Harak would become the continent's dominant power.

The Second Millennium: Decline and Discord

But as with all great empires, Harak's golden age could not last. The second millennium brought a slow and painful unraveling. A string of ineffectual monarchs and bitter succession disputes weakened the royal authority. Noble houses, once bound by oath and loyalty, began to act with impunity, carving out their own territories and forming petty courts of intrigue. Amid this growing instability, a secretive and heretical sect, the Order of the Black Flame, rose to prominence. Cloaked in shadow and guided by malevolent powers, they infiltrated the highest levels of society. Practitioners of forbidden sorcery and necromancy, they conducted vile rituals and sowed terror throughout the land. Paranoia and fear spread like wildfire, and one by one, the provinces declared independence or descended into anarchy. Harak splintered, and the once-proud kingdom teetered on the brink.

1,000 years would pass before the elves yet again found themselves embroiled in a war. However this time it was not a war against humans, dwarves, Drow or even Orcs.

It was with other Elves. The Shadow Elves, an offshoot of the Grey Elves that had settled in Arethane along with other elves of the retreat. These elves practiced darker Magics and though not evil like the Drow, tended toward a darker path then other Elven types. One thing they had in common with their Grey Elf cousins was the belief that they were the most pure of the elves and as such the only Elves with the right to rule.

It must be stated that at this time little was known about the Shadow Elves, In fact most considered them to be fairy tales, used to scare small children. The Shadow elves did everything they could to foster this belief.

Because they were an offshoot of the Grey elves they easily hid themselves, pretending to be just ordinary Grey Elves, scoffing at the mere mention of the shadow elf threat, all the time building up their strength and infiltrating the government of the Elves. Kaerathal Arcelduin, then King of Arethane, took Jairdren Kardimal as an advisor.

The Kardimal House, were to the eyes of the elves, the perfect Grey Elven House. They were skilled warriors, powerful mages and reverent in the ways of the Seldarine. They were also Shadow Elves. Jairdren, the speaker of house Kardimal, was a very charismatic elf, skilled in many arts, and evil to the core. He was a warrior without peer and a very accomplished Mage. He had to all appearances become very close friends with the king and when he was taken on as the chief advisor to the king no one was surprised.

Jairdren was also many other things, as well as being a wizard, he was also a necromancer of incredible skill as well as a Shadow Mage. He worshipped the Demon Lord Jubelex.

He held the position of chief advisor for several years "advising" his king into doing things that began causing rebellion.

What in reality was happening was that the King had been dead for several years, and Jairdren, through his necromantic arts had kept the king animated and under his control and had in fact been ruling the kingdom. Eventually the true nature of the king was discovered and all out rebellion and war set out.

Because of the time it took too discover the truth about the Shadow Elves and that they had been allowed to build up their strength without hindrance, the shadow War was swift and decisive. The Shadow Elves won. The Members of the royal house were either all killed or driven deep into hiding and Arethane was ruled by King Jairdren Kardimal for 57 years.

Through out this time rebels remained active but for the most part ineffectual, that is until the coming of Rhysanus Ariquis, a Grey Elven wizard of incredible power who was a Priest and Paladin of the Dragonwright, specifically to the Black Dragon God Styphon.

Little is known of where Rhysanus came from other then he was known as a World Walker. As stated earlier, Styphon was much desirous of being First among the gods, and thought that the elves were the key to this. Through the worship of all elves, he would ascend to the position of Supreme power. With the worship of Rhysanus he saw yet again a chance to accomplish this goal.

Styphon was well aware of the magics cast so many years ago by King Rhysal Starweaver and of the prophecy of the dragon queen Alestria. Within Rhysanus he found his prophesized Elven King. Styphon brought Rhysanus to Otara along with much of the Elven lands Rhysanus ruled on another world and merged them with Arethane. He then set Rhysanus with the task to overthrow the Shadow Elves and restoring the elves to grey elf rule, as well as the establishment of Dragonwright and the worship of Styphon as the principle god of the elves.

Rhysanus up until this time was a very devote worshiper and quite evil. He had already conquered several realms in his own right and was as said, an extremely powerful mage and warrior. When his lands were merged with Arethane by his God, he proceeded to do just as commanded, and in short order removed the Shadow Elves from Arethane. As the only surviving member of the royal house that could be found was a mere baby and that Rhysanus was able to draw the Kingsword of the elves he was accepted as King of the elves of Arethane.

With all the ancient Elven lands returned there remained only one Island to reclaim, the Island of Vordan. In this age of chaos, a tragic figure emerged, Seth Corvase, a duke of royal blood and once a national hero. Fueled by ambition, envy, and whispers from the abyss, Seth betrayed his kin and consorted with dark forces. He committed heinous atrocities, including a colony of 25,000 elves that were slaughtered, and ultimately performed the Rite of Binding, transforming himself into a Death Knight, a spectral mockery of his former self. Seth's reign of terror reignited ancient hatreds and nearly plunged the continent back into all-out war. His dark army ravaged borderlands, and it took a coalition of Elves, Dwarfs, and loyal Harakians to banish him. But the scars he left, on both the land and its people—would not fade easily.

The Resurgence of Faith

In the aftermath of Seth's darkness, a powerful movement rose in opposition: the Church of Light and Dark, a faith that embraced both balance and unity. It taught that only by accepting the duality of existence, light and shadow, life and death, could Harak survive. The Church became a political and spiritual force, spreading across villages and cities alike. Its clergy offered hope, justice, and purpose. Paladins and inquisitors hunted down cultists and monsters, while preachers reignited the old stories of Mikal and the Founding War. The Church also supported the revitalization of military traditions, promoting unity under a shared spiritual cause.

The Modern Era: A Kingdom on the Brink

Today, under the leadership of King Sigmar Corvase, Harak stands at a perilous crossroads. The king, a battle-hardened ruler of sharp wit and weary heart, must contend with a realm that is both proud and fractured. Whispers speak of Skaven lurking beneath the cities, of ancient horrors stirring in forgotten ruins, and of cults, both new and reborn, plotting in secret. The noble houses are restless, the common folk fearful, and the borders increasingly threatened by warbands and strange, otherworldly beings. Yet amidst the gloom, the fire of Harak's spirit endures. Festivals still ring with songs of Mikal's glory. Children dream of taking the Trial. Knights polish their blades by candlelight, awaiting the call. The fate of Harak hangs in the balance, but as always, its people endure.

Current Status: The Elven Kingdom of Arethane vs. The Human Kingdom of Harak

Relationship Status: Cold War of Culture, Power, and Memory

The Elven Kingdom of Arethane

Forming the sovereign and magical homeland of the Elves and ruled by the powerful and ageless Rhysanus, who governs both politically and spiritually.
The island of Jordaine, once the site of the ancient Human kingdom of Vordan, is now an Elven principality, governed by Prince Jarrod Nar'Xaid. Jordaine's reconquest from Human control (when it was known as Vordan) marked the Elves' resurgence on the seas and near-continental influence.

The Kingdom of Harak

A mainland Human kingdom that once drove the Elves from Jordaine (then Vordan) approximately 2,500 years ago. Harak sees the retaking of Jordaine by Arethane as an act of Elven aggression, a symbolic reversal of Human victory. Its monarchy supports military expansion, religious fervor, and Human pride. It views Arethane's growing naval and magical presence as strategic encirclement.

Geopolitical Reality

Jordaine is now being fortified and spiritually revitalized, serving as:

• A military projection base.
• A symbol of Elven restoration.
• A homeland for relocated Elves (including those from Rhyanne).

Harak, unable to challenge Arethane directly by sea, is:

• Beefing up its coastal fortresses.
• Developing fleets and magical deterrents.
• Spreading ideological resistance among Human cultures neighboring the Elven islands.

Tensions