The Gray War

While the forces of Spirefell began to muster, small enclaves led by the progenetors of the Wolfram Monks also gathered across Cinder's Hope. These forces were preemptive, collecting mainly in villages and outposts just out of reach of the Tiergeros Empire, but still well within danger. Their inital postage was to repel or dissuade the offenses of slavers, however, as these forces began to coalesce at Helmsfall it became apparent that action was required. The Wolfram Monks and members of a budding order within Spirefell began to communicate and launched a joint assault, the forces from Spirefell coming from north of the Omenteeth Mountains while groups of wolfram monks bolstered by the early Arcane Universities opposed from the south and west along Lake Omen.

The Majority of the battle and war therin occured through what is now the omenwood forest. Shadow Druids of the Cult of Tiergeros began to enchant the forest itself to make passage towards the inner city more dangerous. At the time, the Gnarlwood were a weapon crafted by this group for the purpose or repelling the advancing armies. This rapid terrain switch caused the fighting to devolve into smaller skirmishes, essentially elongating engagement times and causing the war to stretch on.

Engagement mostly delt with capturing and eliminating Empire of Tiergeros Elites and warlords, taking them out of the action while avoiding the main force of slavers and bandits. While disorganized, the bandit hoard was a large single army which focued on dishonorable tactics and brutality. For this reason, direct conflict with the bulk of this army was avoided as they often attempted to take any soldiers they found alive and were known to swifly route when either outnumbered or outflanked. A frustrating enemy, but they were a terror force, not elite defenders. Once the line was broken the Gray order found themselved embroiled within a helscape they now call the Jagged City. Corpses littered the walls and evidence of many profane acts and occut ritals were scattered amongst the makeshift houses, all of which cowered under the shadow of the blackened spires of Damonet's Castle, a monument to hellish ambition erected from iron slag mixed quenched in the ashes of his victims. Once there, the battle moved swiftly, Damonet Tiergeros was no more, at least as a mortal and the remains of his empire was annihilated by all but history.

At the onset, many people were united under one cause. This led to the tranfer of catregraphic information and the knowlege of settlements among budding city-states. Many Families, however, lost their elders which caused great loss of information pertaining to the first 100 years after the calamity and a scattering of the remaining population.

The Long-Term effects of the war were quite costly. For one, the profane rituals of the Cult of Tiergeros caused the spawning of the God Tyndalion and thus the unification and consolidation of the Dismal energies into Heltide and summarily the habitable Dismal Plane. While many sorcerers and druids were left to take care of the aftermath of the Gray War, they failed to contain the spread of Gnarlwood Trees until the last of the shadow druids were hunted down and the flow of dismal energies staunched. It also cannot be overlooked, that the war directly led to the creation and vitality of The Gray Order.