The History of Avlis - Volume III

• Published by the Academy of Mortal Magic, an Entity of Andrinor's Trust. Information within this book may not be used without the permission of the High Mage Council of Avlis*

VOLUME 3 - The Great War, Revised Edition

• • • The fall of Dobrekon. (100 years to 70 years BAoP) ***

For all the suffering caused by the Fairy War, that conflict was but a prelude to the clash that grew from it: the Great War. To this day, stories of the Great War, waged more than two millennia ago, bear witness to the horror of unbridled aggression, and the dangers of magic unbound by restraint or caution. History records that the orcs of Dobrekon began the Great War, though exactly why has been lost to the ages. All accounts hold that before the war, Dobrekon was a nation at peace, engaged in brisk trade with its neighbors, and with sizeable populations of elves and humans dwelling among the more numerous orcs. It has been speculated that perhaps the orcs were angered at the bloodshed caused by the Fairy War in their own nation's forests, or perhaps Dobrekon saw an opportunity for gain provided by enemies divided against each other. Regardless, Valok's children decided that after a century of escalating battles between the fairykind, the time had come to purge their home and the lands around of the fey.

The Dobrekon military's assault, strengthened by baatezu from the their god's divine realm, broke the fairy armies swiftly, driving the fey from the orcish lands. In the face of this common foe, O'Ma's and Titania's fairies turned from their own war, pledging to delay that fight "until evil was purged from Avlis", and rallied together against the orc armies. Even so, both fairykind continued to take heavy losses and faced defeat after defeat to the well-organized Dobrekon soldiers.

However, the Dobrekon military made a tactical error. In their ambition to purify their nation, they did not limit their assaults to the fairies, but attempted also to forcibly remove the humans and elves that inhabited Dobrekon at that time. These men and elves took up arms in defense of their homes, and gained the support of the elves of T'Nanshi and the dwarves of Galdos. These combined forces broke the Dobrekon military and drove the orcs from their own homeland.

• • • The coming of the dragons. (50 years BAoP) ***

For two decades more, the armies remained locked in battle. For the forces arrayed against the orcs, it became a war to eliminate the aggressive orc armies permanently. Each side called what forces they could, and the Gold Order mages and the church of Valok aiding the Dobrekon military and their giantkin allies with spells and summoned baatezu, while the holy orders of elven Avengers and dwarven Paladins and the elite force of dark elves, the sereg¡¦wethrin, fought back at the side of the elven and dwarven armies. A turning point came when the forces arrayed against the orcs made a plea to the great Platinum Dragon, the first of the dragons of Avlis. His Most Splendid Majesty heeded their call, and at his will, great reptilian dragons of metal appeared across the face of the world to join in the Great War against the orcs.

The dragons sent the disciplined ranks of orcs fleeing in fear, and the draconian, elvish, dwarvish and fairy armies set to obliterating Valok's people. The orcs were driven westward to the very shores where Brekon and Dubunat now stand, and the dragons and allied races were poised to destroy them utterly.

But the victory was not complete, for as the orcish people were on the verge of extermination, a second wave of dragons appeared on Avlis. These were not of metal, but are said to have been born from the very stones of M'Chek. As a race, these dragons were of similar heart as the orcs, and joined with them, balancing the war. The source of these dragons is said to have been Mikon, the Keeper of Balance, who was displeased at the imminent destruction of one of the races made by the Nine Gods. With the new dragons, the din of the Great War now rose to a crescendo across the face of the world, as the skies became the battleground for the dragons, and the lands and seas were fields of conflict between the peoples.

• • • The final evocation. (1 BAoP) ***

Over five more decades, the War raged. The orcish and giantkin armies regrouped in this time on the western coast, one force to the north building the stronghold of Brekon (the precursor to the self-same city), and another to the south loosely holding its lands. They fortified their positions as best they could, particularly around Brekon, but even with the aid of the stone dragons, they slowly lost ground. However, the Gold Order of Mages had divined a ritual for an evocation of immense power. This spell would end the war by releasing a horribly destructive force, powerful enough to kill all the peoples that stood against the orc armies, from the smallest pixie to the mightiest metal dragon.

In what was to be the final year of the Great War, the orcs cast their spell. But the evocation did not function as expected. It is uncertain what went wrong, as all who were present at the actual event very likely died. Some legends handed down suggest that an artifact of great power was used during the casting, twisting the spell, while other legends indicate a cadre of elves and dragons from T'Nanshi sacrificed themselves to thwart the orcs. Regardless, that final spell by the orc mages is now known as the single greatest disaster to ever befall Avlis.

It cannot be overstated the scope of the destruction this spell wrought. In the blink of an eye, a tremendous wave of power swept across the entire world. Lands were ravaged from as close as the grassy plains just north of Brekon to as far as the former orc homeland of Dobrekon, which to this day largely remains a barren waste rumored to be habitable only by the changelings. The destruction was not complete, but countless people of all races were killed. Most devastated of all were the orcs themselves, among whom all mages were killed by the arcane power, effectively eliminating the Gold Order of Mages. Such an impact this had on the orcs' psyche that in subsequent years, the church of Valok founded the Holy Order of Dominators, whose purpose it was and still is to put to death any orcs that sought to wield arcane magic.

All the races of Avlis were stunned at the destruction. The dragons of stone and metal both withdrew from the fighting, with agreements between them that they would not make war again. The smaller folks regrouped to heal their peoples and their lands. And so, the Great War came to a close.

• • • The rise and fall of the Kurathene Republic. (140 years to 1 year BAoP) ***

Many of the peoples of Avlis remained aloof from the war, notably the dracon of Toran Shaarda, the humans of M'Chek, the shaahesk of Drotid, and the mysterious changelings. But the Great War was actually welcomed by the humans and dracon in the northwestern plains of Avlis who lived under the rule of the Overseer Tomil Kurath (later pronounced Kuras) and his line of descendants. With the start of the Great War, the fairies finally abandoned their own fight amongst themselves to engage the orcs, leaving the beleaguered people of those plains in peace. These people had united into a nation during the Fairy War through desperation, but records suggest that for roughly fifty years after the end of the Fairy War, the region remained unified, and saw great prosperity while the Great War was fought in other lands.

Governance by the Kuras line came to be shared with a representative Kurathene Council that drew its members from the various smaller states of the region, establishing the Kurathene Republic. The Kurathene Republic grew culturally, economically, and militarily for another fifty years, becoming what many consider one of the most enlightened nations to have ever graced Avlis. The Republic's neutrality was a deciding factor in its success during this period, as it continued to engage all sides of the Great War in trade. This stance on the war could be traced in no small part to the pervasive influence of Mikon's teachings of neutrality among the human populace, although strong currents of dissent among the Kurathene people argued for their Republic to take a stand against the aggressions of the orcs.

The flowering of the Republic was brought to an abrupt end with the final evocation cast by the orcs. The new orcish stronghold, Brekon, lay just south of the Republic, and when the spell was released, the people of the Republic were hit particularly hard. The lands were rent by the power of the magic, and tens of thousands of dracon and humans were killed. A critical event of particular misfortune for the Republic was the death of many of the Kurathene Council. In the absence of much of the nation's leadership and in the face of such total disaster, the Republic fell into anarchy. The exact timing is uncertain, but in a matter of years, the last Kuras, Joral, was left holding just a small remnant of the former Republic.

By Hilde Meyldur