The Ashen Accord

The Ashen Accord was born from a war so brutal it almost consumed two empires. The conflict began over control of the Tremenydh Pass — the only safe passage through the Bellever Mountains between Tamaria and Aberval. For centuries, it was governed by an uneasy neutrality, with trade flowing freely under joint patrols. But greed, as it so often does, carved its own path. When the ruling clan of the Dwarves began levying steep tariffs on caravans passing through the tunnels beneath the Pass, the Al-Qamari desert tribes—dependent on that route for trade—declared the tolls unlawful. Envoys sent to negotiate were turned to stone by a rogue dwarven geomancer. Outrage erupted. War followed. What was meant to be a swift retaliation spiralled into a generation-long bloodbath. The Desert Reclamation War, as it came to be known, saw alliances shift like sand in a storm. The Dwarves sealed the mountain tunnels, forcing the Al-Qamari and their Riverfolk cousins to scale deadly peaks. Raiders attacked supply lines. Centaur mercenaries were hired. The skies turned grey with smoke. Then the avalanche came. Whether caused by geomantic sabotage or the gods’ judgement, no one knows. But the entire Tremenydh Pass collapsed, burying thousands and severing the only land route between east and west. The war ended in a stunned silence. The Dwarves withdrew. The Al-Qamari turned their focus inward. The Riverfolk adapted, converting their wains into barges and birthing a new people who would dominate the rivers of Tamaria. The Ashen Accord was signed a year later—named for the mountains still choked in ash and sorrow. It forbade military presence near the new fault line, declared the Tremenydh ruins sacred ground, and marked the Riverfolk’s birth as a sovereign, nomadic nation. From devastation, a people rose. To this day, a single flame is kept lit at the Accord's signing site; a reminder that peace, like fire, must be tended.