Dórun War (jan 1, 1007 – jan 1, 1012)
Description:
At the very cusp of its might, the Kingdoms of the Vourenkinn spanned most of Southern Ár, all along Valendir (The Old Lands - the mountainous reach south of Suur Hárindir - The Great Plainsland - which would later become the Southern Dominions), Vourenmar (Starry Mountains), Vraganvakk Walcet (Emerald Forests) and much of Donndir (The Badlands west of Vourenvánntelde - Range of the High Snows - which would later become the Bloodwild once the Arsala Dul swept southwards after the Vourenkinn Civilization Collapse to seize the abandoned lands). Though few of Ár's three peoples (The Vourenkinn, the Arsala Dul and the Xin-De) knew each other in full, it was known far and wide that the Mountain Children were the most numerous and most powerful.
Though the Vourenkinn many kingdoms warred extensively across their Vays (Roads/Mountain Tunnels & Warrens), every king knew from birth that the true enemies of their people were the Dórun (Dragons in the Old Tongue), most of which lived in the Boundless Aeries at the westernmost reach of Ár. For millennia, those Scaled Ones which had made their dwelling either on the highest peaks of Vourenvánntelde or in caverns all across them terrorized the Vourenkinn people every time they woke from their slumber and emerged from their lairs to hunt or otherwise burn those villages close to their territories. Few had the Vourenkinn been able to fell since they drew their first breaths, and towards the first millennium of the Sunborn calendar many of these Dórun stirred from their slumber at the same time, causing incalculable damage to the Vourenkinn lands.
Something had to be done, the Kunungur of the many kingdoms knew, and thus a Council of Kings was called, taking place within the halls of Khársakunun ([Fortress of] the First Throne), in the city of Syndermurkun (Deeprock), in the Vourenkinn's birthland of Murkunvir (Stonehome). For many moons the rulers squabbled over their petty land disputes and personal affairs, resolving nothing as their cities burned with each Dórun attack.
Ivv Hurmid Houn, Kunungur Vánnmiden Kavirfer (Of House Braveforge, King Highsmith Goldengaze) watched in shame as the Council he summoned served no purpose, and it would not be until Zóza Bourza (Lady Swift Tempest), First Spear of the Rówenvlader (The Plain Rulers - by this point the Xin-De had already abandoned most of their old culture in favor of the Vourenkinn's, and had developed well into their new language), berated them on how her people's forefathers had thrived in the harsh Northalnds of Ár, uniting and taming the elements themselves even when they had been forsaken by the very Gods and were left to die upon their awakening that the Kunungurs's squabbled quieted as a deep shame took hold of each ruler.
As First Spear Bourza spoke, that shame became a flame of purpose fed by words of pride and of courage. Soon the Vourenkinn were making plans and taking logistics as if they held no qualms against one another. The hosts of the Mountain Children were rallied as each Kingdom swore itself to "The Pact of the Scales", a declaration drawn as the Council of Kings came to a close, and joined their forces together to create one of the biggest, in not the biggest armed host in the entirety of Ár.
Many Dórun were felled in the following Cycles or were driven away from their dwellings, nearly ridding the Vourenkinn and Rówenvlader lands of their presence, but "The Pact of the Scales" did not end there.
Westwards the great Host of Dórunskrekk (The Bane of the Dragons) marched, crossing Vourenvánntelde into Donndir and advancing towards the farthermost coast in the West. As they went, hosts of the Arsala Dul joined in their march under orders from their God Kings, and although there was a measure of animosity between the men of the middlelands of Ár and the Vourenkinn of the Southern Reach, the Host of Dórunskrekk drafted these men into its breast and with them continued, towards the mysterious land known only as the Boundless Aeries.
They arrived many moons at the western coast where they would do battle, and there they beheld the sky-scraping crags emerging from the waves themselves as far as the eye could see. It was upon such shores that they learned of their folly, for where it was thought that merely a few hundred Dórun dwelt, thousands upon thousands flew from their peaks to meet the Host of Dórunskrekk.
For a time they fought, felling many, many Scaled Beasts before their impressive numbers began to dwindle as their foes proved to be more than a match. Before the retreat was called, the Arsala Dul had already fled the battlefield, and were well on their way towards their homeland. The Dórun harried the Host of Dórunskrekk as they draw back to their strongholds on Donndir and those further eastwards, killing thousands before the Host could seek refuge in the fortified Vourenkinn keeps.
For Cycles the Dórun War so went, with the Scaled Ones attacking the Dórunskrekk Fortresses and burning their surrounding lands.
Valendir was defended effectively from their attack, as a staggering amount of Vourenkinn were drafted into their fighting host to repel the constant assaults on their lands. Árveran was the reach that the Dórun razed the most, turning its cold grasslands into barren, gelid fields (Which would, in time, absorb the ashes of all that was burned and become a relatively fertile grassland, especially on the land which would later be called Soldir).
Many trees of Vraganvakk Walcet were burned, and where once the forest reached across the Antvand River (Widewater River) now now ever its western banks it touched. The groves near the Vourenvraganvakk remained untarnished, as the dwellers of the Forested Kingdom dabbled for the first time in the use of Spirits in their Arcane Arts.
Donndir, already a barren and dry expanse, was further ruined by the Dórun attacks, forcing many Vourenkinn to flee through the Vourenvays towards Valendir. Many Kingdoms were lost in the struggle, and those that remained eventually were abandoned as well. Of the keeps that held against the fiery breath of the Scaled Ones only Dovak Yuresikkál (Fortress of the Unyielding Shield - then Edenrathe when the Arsala Dul seized the Bloodwild) held fast were all others burned and laid waste to.
Zóza Bourza perished during the Host of Dórunskrekk's retreat, and her people fled all the way back to the Meadows of Tardóch, where they prepared to hold against the Scaled Ones on their walled cities. When the Dórun crossed Vourenvánntelde, however, the Rówenvlader held for less than a Season, and were forced to seek shelter with the Vourenkinn in their Vourenvays, whose gates were opened for them as well as their mounts. Two seasons did the Rówenvlader spend in these caves, and when they emerged from them after the news traveled from the highest peaks that the Dórun were returning to the West, they found their lands sundered beyond recognition, its groves burned and its rivers turned to dry swathes across the ashen land. Many of their great cities were no more, their stone melted and warped beyond repair, and so few living things remained that for a time the Rówenvlader feared they would have to abandon their homes as their forefathers had in ages past.
Their New First Spear, Varoch Bourza (Roaring Tempest), ordered his people to rebuild, avowing each and every single one of his living subjects to never again flee from the soils that were rightly theirs. In time, the Rówenvlader would regain a measure of their pride as they developed a harsh culture around their equine companions, as it was only because of them that they were able to move across the newly named "Long Grass" and hunt what little game they could to bring back to the very few strongholds they were able to inhabit again.
Fewer Dórun than before remained in Ár after their great flock returned to the Boundless Aeries, and these would continue to harry the Vourenkinn and the Rówenvlader for centuries.
The Kingdoms of the Mountain Children would never again be as great as in the days before the Dórun War. Thousands of warriors perished in the conflict, leaving at least one family every three with one less member. The Kunungurs would never again rally together for any cause, and it was not long until they began to war with one another again.
In the Kingdom of Kun Vánntelde, a group of mages were ordered by the Kunungur to research new means with which to wage warfare against the Dórun oncee more, and these would come to inhabit Dovak Vasamyr (Keep of the Tempest Hammer) where for centuries their order of Vourennac (Mountainborn) would research the old Songs of the Gods to obtain what powers the deities held (Eventually culminating with the opening of the portal to the Inexistence and the spreading of the Corruption across Ár).
Added to timeline:
Universal Timeline of the Existence
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