The Ten and Five Year Wars
It should be understood that none of the quotes that follow are first-hand accounts, but the work of much study, archeological and historical research, and educated supposition by the Covenant’s archival prefects and their most accomplished apostles. Additionally, the following passages may not be entirely accurate as they weren’t transcribed as they were thought to be spoken. They’ve been translated here for ease of reading. Because of this, unfortunately, some things may be lost in the translation from the original Ångëlįc to common.
Translated passages will be indicated by the use of bold print.
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Selected Verses from the Afua Maisha: The Holy Book of the Covenant
The Goddess’ Holy Book; the Afua Maisha
The Queen Aamina Translation
The Book of Ululations – Chapter 10 – Verse 5
(V.) And so it was that with much sadness that Sånįgron approached Åmbrosįå as She stood in thought upon the fields of Omëÿocån just beyond the grand Ërëwħon Basilica. But there was very little that needed to be said.
(VI.) She knew His heart before He even spoke it.
(VII.) “We’ve lost far too many in the forests of Zachary since Athel fell and we lost our dearest Ëszërį.”
(VIII.) “Yes, we have my queen. Worse still, the Towers of the Green have just fallen to the Drågoon Dåÿvįåd; just east of the Valley of the Tree along the Rivers of the Mountains.”
(IV.) The towers of which He spoke were the epicenter of a vast eluvian city at the northern border of the Forest of the Tree of Life; home of the titular evergreen itself. These were dire tidings indeed. And The Lady of Ladies seemed as if She were at a loss as to what to do. “So the final safeguard falls between my lover and our gates. The assistance of their allies was for naught. Our other victories against this onslaught mean little if this force is still allowed to spill blood on the roots of the tree. We will have lost, and once again, the peaceful souls of Ëmpÿrë shall know war.”
(X.) “You said as much would be the case my Lady.”
(XI.) “Yes. Yet I hoped against it nonetheless.”
The Goddess’ Holy Book; the Afua Maisha
The Queen Aamina Translation
The Book of Ululations – Chapter 11 – Verse 1
(I.) “I fear that we can grant only but a scant few more Ångëls for the fray. Many more and we risk leaving Ëmpÿrë’s gates exposed should the worst come to pass.”
(II.) There was scant little hesitation in Her voice when She finally responded to Him. Resolute in Her decision. “Call upon Mįssħåël and have him fall upon them with a thunder of our Drågons. I’ll see this insanity ended. Far too long has it persisted.”
(III.) If shock could be a physical thing, it’s said that the First Drågon would have been knocked head over foot by it. “Are you certain we should do something that drastic? Should we not keep him and such a number of Drågons here for your defense? What would happen were we to lose them?”
(IV.) “What will happen if we dare not to try?”
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3000 A.G.G. – 3015 A.G.G. (1,618 Years Ago)
The Fourth Epoch, The Living World of Mundus
World Wide
Just a scant seven hundred years later, as the War of the Drågons finally began to fade into the world’s distant memory, Tįlåtħ was finally given leave to lead a portion of Lumå’įl’s Fallen, Drågons and Dark Drågoons to attack the wooded lands of Zachary and the Forrest of the Great Tree, whose canopies lay near the so-called backbone of the world…the eastern arm of the continent’s central mountain range. This while several contingents tied to Dåÿvįåd stood in wait, ready to lay siege to Ëmpÿrë once Tįlåtħ found success. But, in opposition to Lumå’įl’s beliefs, the Goddess’ mortal faithful who guarded the Great Tree proved themselves to be more of a complication than He’d bargain for.
As the battles raged on, the fighting swelled outward as a great many allies responded to envoys sent forth from the sunrise and grove elves who were being bled as they protected the sacred woodlands with all haste; calling for aid from the southern nations. But as the elves did this, so did Lumå’įl’s people do the same to likewise aid in bolstering their attack.
And as far-off armies answered these calls for assistance, the world at large was forced to suffer the sudden and unforeseen consequences of skirmishes erupting among the western and eastern powers who’d been butting heads with each other for decades.
The Western Coalition sought to take advantage of the destabilized south to upset the status quo between them and the east; desiring to tip the balance of power and worldly authority in their favour. Meanwhile, the Eastern Alliances engaged them in force in order to ensure that no one would ever see a queen or king sit upon a throne built atop the world, and that the final victors when the smoke settled would be lands ruled by republics of the people.
All the while, other smaller nations about figured there would be no better time to exorcise old hatreds and prejudices and oust what were seen by their denizens as unwanted influences who’d been living in their lands far too long. Influences that they sought to exile from their territories en mass. Regrettable slaughters whose frustrations seemed to primarily focus on several of the long self-righteous eluvian races; even as those very races selflessly held the line in their homeland’s forests on behalf of the world against the wrath of Brŭmal.
Stolen novel; please report.
Known today as the East/West Conflict, it’s a side war that caused too many people to focus far too little during those years on the true threat that stood before them as they allowed petty differences to consume them, nearly to the detriment of everything.
And with the fighting slowly spreading to nearly every corner of Mundus, so did the world come to see the true scope of the devastation of these combined conflicts that would collectively come to be known as the Ten and Five Year Wars.
Of those who answered Zachary’s call even as all of the peoples of the known world seemed to be intent on tearing at each other’s throats, the most visible supporters of the Goddess’ cause were Assami and Murrlel. Not surprising as they made up two thirds of the trifecta that formed the Southern Axis with Zachary and such a show of support was expected from their allies.
Assami’s monarchs, in cooperation with the country’s religious leaders, dispatched the holy warriors of their abbey sects to the front along side their Abyssinians. And together they were among the first to arrive on the fields of battle. Drapiers of the abbey commanded legions of warriors dressed in vibrant blues as the Drågonkįn Battle-Magi who’d oft situate themselves to the head of the rank-and-file Soldier made their presence known through their red-tented battle armour; not to mention their awe-inspiring hekan acumen.
Aside from the holy combatants of the abbey, Assami also sent its renown militaries to the front; their multi-cultural forces being primarily made up of two distinct races of native humans.
There were the bronzed skinned, raven haired, black eyed malani, whose forces carefully decorated their bodies in a dark elaborate war inking, which held the illusion of it being radiated from the onyx bindi on their foreheads. Their armour was additionally decorated with dark silk war sarees and they carried uniquely designed kora swords; the extreme curvature of their blades placing them among the most recognized weapons in all of the world.
The second race of native children, being of far fairer skin and lacking the body henna, sarees and koras of their compatriots, were the balani. The fierceness of the blue and green of their eyes was said to be matched only by their fighting prowess on the field of battle. Their blonde and brunette hair forming seas of gold and brown to any who would gaze out over their ranks.
The slatani people of Murrlel likewise sent their bushi to the war front. Warriors of legend among the Southern Axis. Beautiful embroidery soaked in shades of green ranging from emerald to pine adorned their thick armoured cloth robes which seemed to accentuate the exotic beauty of the bushi’s straight, jet coloured hair and the hooded nature of their pearlescent black eyes.
Considered to be some of the world’s most naturally proficient Battle-Mages, the slatani were. It was said that when the rest of humanity was still in its relative infancy in the art of warfare, they were already among the most militarily advanced warriors the younger races had to offer; boasting an absolute mastery of martial combat in their proficiency with staffs, long swards and long bows that were the stuff of legends.
Legends being what they are, it also came to be said that they rarely used the ballistic weaponry which was prevalent among many other societies of the time. Though that’s seen in today’s world as mostly fantasized hear-say.
Meanwhile, while the west and the east may have gone to war with each other for the political and religious soul of Mundus as the south struggled, neither the espresso toned, technologically gifted swalii, nor the equally dark skinned yet far less technologically inclined dwalli, had any desire to see the southern continents fall. While not out-and-out allied with the Southern Axis, both Hesijua and Khanas long held a warm relationship with them. So, as they were able in the mists of their own troubles, the two lent their assistance.
Hesijua by committing manpower in the form of Soverign’s renowned Knights and advanced weaponry to defending the tree as their Khanasian cousins granted them fighters and supplies.
The Western Coalition did this in cooperation with the monarchs of the sunset eluvian native to them, who traversed the Link to the southern continents alongside the dwarves. The spriteish kingdoms and the elder mares of the centaur races also committed resources to protect the tree out of solidarity with their kin who were native to Zachary.
But the Dark Drågoons’ retaliation for all of this support was swift and terrible. The dæmöns’ mortal allies were not so numerous, but they had nearly twice the number of Fallen Dįvonësë and Dark Drågons on the field given that both Åmbrosįå and Sånįgron deemed it a more sound idea to retain the majority of Their Ǻngëlics in Their lands for the defense of the ethereal plane should such come to pass that Zachary was lost.
And while She and the Drågon God dispatched many of the bravest and most fearsome of Their armies’ champions to reinforce their Dråconic and Ǻngëlic numbers in opposition to the Dæmöniȼ Plane’s relentless assaults, it was nearly a vain effort as Lumå’įl and Så’Ħdënåħ continued to do the same.
Then, as if there weren’t enough friction to go around, in the face of all of this, as shortsighted as it’s seen to have been through today’s eyes, the leaders of the Joined Lands’ Capital Isles collectively opted to risk starting a two-pronged civil war with both Alphava and Kazakoto by declaring official separation from the Eastern Coalition. This with the desire to stay neutral in their ongoing fighting with Hesijua and Khanas; not really caring to war over religion or governmental authority in the East/West Conflict; not wishing to risk their people’s lives in the fires of the fighting erupting all around them. Even as, at the wars’ collective heights, skirmishes had nearly reached their southern shore as the historically prevalent Battle of the Left Hand was waged by Alphava’s northern forces to keep occupiers out of its capitol city which, at the time, was located in Mundele. Leaving the rest of the world to face oblivion alone.
A decision that has never sat well with the Coalition and which continues to have consequences that reverberate to this day. Culminating with tensions between the Joined Lands and the rest of the east ebbing and waning like the tide; ever threatening to erupt in violence much to the dismay of many.
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Much of importance was lost during these years to the fires of the wars. Many are the Ǻngëlic that say the Dįvįnë Queen still weeps when She thinks of how much of the beauty of Mundus was lain low at the behest of the destruction let loose by both the dæmön hordes of Brŭmal and the souls of Ëmpÿrë.
But what more could She have done?
With so much heka tearing at the fabric of existence, it was all but ensured that it would be the people of the living world that would pay the heftiest price for this influx of frightening power. The scars of an other worldly battle waged by forces that even the most learned of mortals could barely understand. Drågon fighting Drågon as virtuous souls smote hordes of dæmönŝ. Mortals slaying their fellow mortals as Drågoon battled Drågoon.
Such was life for those that experienced these long years of the world. And such was the aftermath so great that the Goddess could scarcely hope to remake things as they once were.
Towns were razed, cities were devastated, grasslands and fields were salted and countless lives were extinguished. Much of the advanced knowledge and technology of the Hesijuans and Assamians was utterly destroyed. Entire isles were lost to the seas in the wake of hekan destruction. And an even graver matter was the loss of much of the continent of Assami itself; the western third of its land mass and all of the cities therein suffering utter obliteration when they were sunken beneath the cold waters of The Great Open Ocean during the country’s final fall in the wake of the Massacre of Athel.
A ghostly underwater grouping of dilapidated cities, royal roads and way-overs serving as a humbling reminder of the destructive power of heka. More than fifteen hundred miles of ruin whose sheer size and majesty are nearly as awe-inspiring as the events which led to their annihilation in the first place. The same fate was bestowed to Assami’s south eastern forests and mountains which now lay beneath the Far Waters, with all of the land in between the two left virtually in shambles. Burned and twisted by blood hekas.
A country that’s today little more than an empty husk. The corpse of a once great civilization.