The Crown Wars

Until a more comprehensive synopsis of the Crown Wars is ready, here's the history of each nation, which contain within them the skeleton of the events of the crown wars.   Asfetheas: The elven nation of Asfetheas was once the largest and strongest of the elven empires. At its peak, its borders included all of the Westerlands north of the Worldspine Mountains, as well as modern day Nittergard. Elven histories place much of the blame of the Crown Wars on Asfetheas, stating they began the kinslaying with their attempt to lay claim on Aethel Loren when their southern neighbor faced a crisis of succession. They fought several bloody wars with both Aethel Loren and Thalanor before eventually collapsing into a handful of smaller nations that warred with each other until each had diminished into near obscurity. As the human nations rose to power in Astora, most surviving elves in this region migrated elsewhere, leaving only a few small pockets behind in the more remote woods of the region.   Aethel Loren: One of the smaller elven empires birthed by the Era of First Flowering, Aethel Loren occupied central Astora, including the lands now covered by the Desolate Waste and the nation of Reinestad between the Northspire and Southspire mountains. The nation was actually a tight confederation of several elven clans who ruled jointly until the unexpected death of their king left the empire without a designated heir. Several successors of varying legitimacy stepped forward and attempted to claim the throne, but none had the support needed to do so. As the crisis of succession grew, the Asfethean empire to the north used the opportunity to lay their own claim to the region in an attempt to annex the smaller nation. This act started the era known as the Crown Wars, several millennia of near constant fighting between the elven empires that brought most of them to complete collapse. Aethel Loren, for its part, suffered countless invasions during this time, being slowly battered down by its more aggressive neighbors over the course of millennia. Finally, growing jaded and spiteful of their brethren, they turned to worship of the Dark Seldarine, elven gods cast out from the pantheon for their evil acts. They began performing dark rituals and making pacts with demonic forces in exchange for more power, and grew mighty through their Fel deeds. When the Thalanor armies invaded them seeking easy prey, they instead faced an army with strength well beyond their own, and were quickly wiped out. The savagery of destruction at the hands of Aethel Loren made them an enemy of Ose Alari, who sought to contain them before they could spread their evil any further. Aethel Loren quickly struck at their neighbors, overwhelming them and threatening their destruction until they enacted the last Astoran Mythal, cursing the people of Aethel Loren to suffer under the light of the sun. Powerless in the face of this curse, the Aethel people fled from Ose Alari and into the underdark, where they established the kingdom of the Drow.   Thalanor: The Thalanor Empire occupied what is now the Bloodstone Peninsula for around 7 millenia, from the Era of First Flowering until midway through the Crown Wars. They were a maritime focused nation, with a fleet of merchant and navy ships unmatched by any in Astora. They grew wealthy from trade with the other nations of the continent, and were a prosperous and peaceful kingdom for most of their existence. With the collapse of peace between the elven nations, trade between the elven nations largely ceased, leading to an economic crisis within Thalanor. The nation slowly declined as it went through a series of different ruling houses, each promising to fix the nation’s woes and each failing to stem the decline. Eventually, the dissent at home turned violent, and Thalanor fell under the rule of a violent, militaristic king, who sought to solve the kingdom’s problems through conquest. Thalanor finally began participating in the Crown Wars in earnest, invading Aethel Loren only to find themselves overwhelmed by the power its people had obtained through dark magic and Fell pacts. The collapse of Thalanor was fast and destructive, taking less than a year after their failed attempts at military expansion. While the nation itself collapsed, most of the surviving elves remained, living in independent enclaves throughout the peninsula, eventually joined by the Netherese empire in peaceful coexistence for several millennia until the destruction wrought by Karsus’ folly wiped them out.   Ose Alari: Considered the Paragon of the Elven empires, Ose Alari controlled most of Eastern Astora at its peak. They came to the defense of Aethel Loren when Asfetheas attempted to lay claim to the kingdom, sparking generations of war that would eventually see the death of most of the great Elven Empires. They fought alongside their smaller neighbor for millennia, up until the fall of Asfetheas in the north. By this point, they had grown wary of Aethel Loren’s moral decay and descent into worship of the fallen Dark Seldarine, and eventually broke all ties with them. With the failed invasion of Aethel Loren by the Thalanor Empire, and the demonstration of demonic power and savagery of the Aethel people, Ose Alari declared war on them in an attempt to contain their evil. Weakened from millennia of fighting and facing overwhelming odds, they turned to their Seldarine deities for aid. As Aethel Loren invaded their territory and laid waste to their people, the most powerful Seldarine clerics came together to cast a great Mythal to save their people, the last true Mythal to be cast in Astora. Upon completion, all those who had turned to worship of the Dark Seldarine were cursed to suffer in pain and powerlessness in the light of day, and they fled to the relative safety of the underdark, where they now reside as the Drow. While victorious, the destruction faced at the hands of Aethel Lorel led to a complete collapse of the kingdom several years later, with the remaining elven people dispersing into smaller enclaves throughout the continent, where many still live today.   Tor Dorthanolin: The last surviving Elven nation from the Era of First Flowering, Tor Dorthanolin is a land which time seems to have left behind. Little has changed in this land over the ages, dating back to the end of the crown wars. Tor Dorthanolin was spared from the collapse inflicted upon their brethren through self-imposed isolation. While other nations fought brutal and costly wars over supremacy, Tor Dorthanolin withdrew into the forest at the southern end of their territory and cut off most contact with the outside world. The large swaths of land they left behind were soon centers of activity for orcs, goblins, early human tribes, and other nomadic forces that created an effective buffer between the other elven empires to further their isolation (and also earned the eternal indemnity of clan brass hand for their perceived abandonment of mutual defense against such forces). While the elves of Astora diminished, Tor Dorthanolin endured. The success of this strategy ingrained itself in its people, and to this day the nation is one of the most insular in the realm, topping even the likes of Shan Lun. Little has changed in this land in the 12 millenia since, and few live outside its borders who have seen its interior, just a few live within that have more than a passing knowledge of the world outside. One exception to this is the port city of Aluaith, on the southern coast of the nation. The desire for goods and wealth beyond what the forest has to offer has led to a thriving trade industry within Tor Dorthanolin, centered primarily in Aluaith. While still part of Tor Dorthanolin it is exempted from restrictions on outsiders, and hundreds of merchant ships make port there every year to trade with the reclusive elves. Trading posts are also present on the Dunedrein and Rhunedrein rivers on the northern border of Tor Dorthanolin that offer a land route to their northern neighbors. One of the nation’s greatest exports is lumber; it is often joked that the Reinestad navy is half-elven, given that most of its ships are crafted with Taure wood.