Druids' Ruin

In 702 HCA, the Drovers had been gaining significant influence. With a powerful holy relic, the Troth of Life, and feeling a rush of confidence from their many recent success the Drovers began to feel like a major step in their spiritual kinship to Enfir would be to establish a permanent 'homeland'.

Over the course of a year the Drovers who had possession of the Troth of Life sent out messages to other human clans that they would be settling lands along the southern coast and that all were welcome under the invitation of the Divine Drove. Several smaller clans arrived first, joining fully with the new first to become one of the first human settlements. For several years the colony grew quickly, so quickly that almost no buildings were made at all. Living outdoors was part of their lives and the region quickly became populated by clusters of small communities, three-to-five families on average, each tending land and whatever animals they had.

The orc raiders of the era did not like the idea of humans congregating in such large numbers. Their leaders quickly joined forces to face what they perceived as a massive threat to their survival. A large colony would be much harder to prey on and might rally against their smaller raiding parties. The orcs saw that the Drovers thus far only had defenses for natural events, a horn to warn of incoming herds or stampedes, severe incoming weather, and the like. Using this to their advantage, they had time to prepare a massive first assault against the humans.

Gathering their most powerful druids, the orcs began a ritual that would deaden the very soil the humans had claimed. According to the legends, the Troth Hero of this era quickly used the Troth of Life to discover how they could thwart the orcs' curse. Working together the human druids followed the suggestions and directions provided by the troth to invert the effects of the curse and just when the orcs thought they'd reached the crescendo of their spell the whole thing flipped on them, creating an outward ring of dead earth and launching a destructive wave of necromantic energy so powerful it disintegrated hundreds of the frontline warriors stationed to protect the orc druids while they worked their ritual.

Despite taking heavy losses, the orc leaders still decided to rush the vulnerable and disorganized settlers. Seeing their people fighting for their lives, the Drover druids again turned to their goddess for advice before taking action. Searching for a spell or miracle they could use to repel the assault, it became clear they would simply have to fight through it to protect their people. The druids all pushed themselves past their limits and used their surging powers with grim effectiveness. The Troth hero was lost in the pandemonium of the day and with them the Troth of Life vanished from history.

The wild magic used by the Drover druids to counter the orc curse remains, somehow contained by the ruined soil that surrounds it. The region is referred to now as Capriccio by the Dannamore Institute and is a volatile area still fraught with danger. There are also many near-mythical tales of survivors, many of whom fled to their native prairies for safety until they could find another human clan to join.