Post by Voices of the Elder Gods on Aug 6, 2017 19:26:38 GMT -6
The beginning of the Second Age was not with a whisper, nor with a word, but with a giant thunderclap, and then an explosion.
The Valar Kingdoms were no more. Years of warfare had torn them apart, leaving little of the Elvish civilizations but mysteries and ruins. For those years, magic was used at such an unprecedented scale that the echoes of each battle could be heard for miles around, driving the lesser races into the trees and caves out of fear, not just from the magic, but of the Unman, who follows closely.
And the Unman, the creatures who are drawn to magic, and to the imbalances created in its wake, did indeed come. The cataclysm of the First Age had come. Elvish cities were submerged in a thick, cloudy chaos, warped and twisted by foul magic and the machinations of the Unman. From which emerged the Orcs.
Orcs were thought first to be a foul, aggressive breed of the Unman, demons with no thought and desiring only the kill. However, the obvious could not be avoided, and it was soon discovered they were in fact elves who have lost all memory of their previous lives and been twisted into brutish, hulking forms.
A threat this large could not be ignored by the other strong races of Libertas. On the mountain of Winterspeak, the dwarvish Lord of Ur, the elvish Lord of Ea, and the human Lord of Lothar forged an alliance and joined their forces in pushing back the tide of the Orcs and the Unman. They drove the creatures east and cleansed the cities, and then banned the magical arts, before returning to their homes.
The Elves were crippled by the war, and a great Elvish kingdom would never arise to the same power. The Elven kingdoms of Ea and Eunor shrunk down to minor holdings. Lothar was fragmented by fratricidal wars of succession.
The Valar Kingdoms were no more. Years of warfare had torn them apart, leaving little of the Elvish civilizations but mysteries and ruins. For those years, magic was used at such an unprecedented scale that the echoes of each battle could be heard for miles around, driving the lesser races into the trees and caves out of fear, not just from the magic, but of the Unman, who follows closely.
And the Unman, the creatures who are drawn to magic, and to the imbalances created in its wake, did indeed come. The cataclysm of the First Age had come. Elvish cities were submerged in a thick, cloudy chaos, warped and twisted by foul magic and the machinations of the Unman. From which emerged the Orcs.
Orcs were thought first to be a foul, aggressive breed of the Unman, demons with no thought and desiring only the kill. However, the obvious could not be avoided, and it was soon discovered they were in fact elves who have lost all memory of their previous lives and been twisted into brutish, hulking forms.
A threat this large could not be ignored by the other strong races of Libertas. On the mountain of Winterspeak, the dwarvish Lord of Ur, the elvish Lord of Ea, and the human Lord of Lothar forged an alliance and joined their forces in pushing back the tide of the Orcs and the Unman. They drove the creatures east and cleansed the cities, and then banned the magical arts, before returning to their homes.
The Elves were crippled by the war, and a great Elvish kingdom would never arise to the same power. The Elven kingdoms of Ea and Eunor shrunk down to minor holdings. Lothar was fragmented by fratricidal wars of succession.