SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF THE WAR OF THE RACES

Two thousand years ago humans began settling the continent of Galismar. Humans began carving out pieces of the continent for kingdoms, fiefdoms, barony’s, while pushing the native races off of ancestral homelands. Dwarves, Elves and other races had already been at war against each other for centuries. Adding humans, more numerous, with a higher reproductive rate, added to the hatred.

The followers of Grey took note, and withdrew from the constant battling, moving deep into swamps, deserts, bogs and mountains, and began building. A powerful leader of the forces of Grey arose, the Goblin Priest-King Marzipal. Marzipal was said to be at least three times the size of an average goblin and as intelligent as an elven wizard. Marzipal is believed to be the progenitor of the Hobgoblin race. Marzipal began uniting races through guile, cunning, assassination, and pure brute force. The Kobolds, Goblins, Orcs, Bullywugs, Troglodytes, Gnolls and Giant Kind were combined into a massive army about 800 years ago. It is believed that at its peak, Marzipal’s armies numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

Launching coordinated attacks of armies from the mountains, the desert, the swamps and the bogs, the humans, elves, dwarves and other armies (we shall call them “folks” from here on out), were soon overwhelmed. The folk, who had dominated the continent and the “lesser” races for centuries, were rolled over by the hordes of Marzipal. Tens of thousands killed, tens of thousands more taken prisoner, never to be seen again. Villages and cities were burned to the ground. Crops were razed, water supplies were poisoned.

The “Folk” were in trouble. Several races were on the verge of extinction. A group of Knights came from across the sea, it is believed from the Family of Atlantis island group. These knights, human males and females, were believed to be made up of two families, the Leodawnas family and the Morehead family. The nine, lead by Mason Leodawnas, were believed to be two couples, brothers and sisters, and their children. The nine Knights claimed the title Knights of Delaria, or the Nine.

Delaria was a little known Arch Angel of Light, said to be Eldar’s representative on Elisar. It is not believed that there had been any previous worship of Delaria to this point, not that there was much worshiping going on.

The Knights brought, it is said, their instructors, numbering four, in the martial, mystical and holy arts. The Nine, with their mentors, met with the remaining of the folk’s armies, one at a time, and soon, each army remaining was commanded by a mentor of the Nine. The mentors and the Nine started making coordinated hit and run attacks, and the Armies of the Folk started gaining victories against Marzipal. During the Battle of the Highlands the Kobold Horde fought on the side of the Nine, and to this day are allies of the folk.

In the climatic battle of Crecy, roughly 750 years ago, the two armies squared off for a final time. Over 200,000 troops participated in the battle. The Priest-King army slowly gained the upper hand. The Priest-King offered single combat with a Knight of Delaria. his ego getting the best of him. Anastasia Morehead stepped forward. The Priest-King was unable to damage Anastasia with either weapon or spell, while Anastasia methodically removed pieces of him. In the end, Anastasia, in a classic double feint with riposte, her holy sword, Patience, making the sound “snicker-snack” took the head of Marzipal.

The army of Marzipal, even though they were winning the battle and outnumbered the Armies of Light 2-1, broke, fleeing the field, the army believing the Priest-King was immortal. The Armies of Light gave chase, cutting down thousands of the Grey before they could escape into the mountains, swamps, bogs and desert.

Three of the four generals, all mentors of the Nine, were killed during the battle, the forth general disappearing.

The Nine followed a Human Dragoon Officer and his elite Dragoons, the Priest-King’s second in command, into the desert. It is said the Nine tracked down the Officer and his Dragoons. A battle ensued. Details are unclear but the Nine were victorious, Only one of the Nine returned, Valarian Morehead, with the bodies of her comrades.

It is said the Tomb of the Nine lay somewhere in the Wild Lands, under the ruins of the destroyed village the Leodawnus’s and Moreheads were born and raised in.

The races settled into an uneasy truce, as none had the population to wage war for centuries to come.