The Mortal Wars

The wars are said to have began when Harlak looked upon the world shaped by Halenth and Lorinth and grew envious of their dominion. Though he was given the power to breathe life into flesh, he found biterness in the gift of mortality. In his jealousy, Harlak whispered to the Elves. Some turned from the wisdom of Halenth and the knowledge of Lorinth, embracing Harlak's promises of power. These corrupted kin became the Harlish, and from their rebellion sprang the wars that would pit the Gods against one another and set the world aflame.   The Elves tell of brothers and sisters crossing blades. Dwarvish legend speaks of the earth shaking as they sealed the gates to their mountain halls, the world above being torn apart. Humans recall the wars as their first breath as their race was born from the void with the purpose of waging war against Harlak's legions.   The wars ended only when Harlak was cast down and banished and his corrupted legions broken. Yet this was not achieved without consequence. It is said in the final act of the Mortal Wars, Halenth and Lorinth unleased a weapon so terrible it sundered the world itself. A powerful force consumed Harlak and his legions but in its wake shattered the land that had craddled civilisation. From that unhealable wound was born the Wastes of Harlak, a blasted, desolate and cursed expanse where only the remnants of Harlak's most abominable creations endure.   The devestation was so profound that the Gods themselves recoiled. Halenth and Lorinth, filled with grief at what they had wrought are said to have turned their faces from the world. In their silence and shame, the Age of the Gods ended, ushering in The Mortal Interregnum.  

"Then did Lord Halenth take the light of wisdom, and the Lady Lorinth the flame of knowledge, and together they bound them into a single force.   The heavens split, the earth groaned, and the seas fled from the shores.   Harlak was broken in that fire, yet in the silence after the blast, a deep hunger stirred.   From the wound of the world it rose unseen, and it devoured him in spirit and in name, swallowing the Lord of Mortality into shadow.   Thus, were the Wastes born, a scar upon the world, and thus the Gods turned away in shame, for they had unleashed a thing even they could not master." - Inscription found on a tablet in Thaloris. Source unknown.

Though told in songs and poems, the Mortal Wars left scars on the land that cannot be dismissed as mere fable. Scholars of the Imperial Era continue to debate whether the wars were myth, allegory or a distorted memory of an actual prehistoric conflict. Most Human chroniclers treat the Mortal Wars as a mythologised memory of a great cataclysm, the cause of which has as many theories as there are scholars.

Elven Myth

  The Elves sing of the wars as a test of loyality and purity. Their lays speak of brothers divided, of kin seduced by Harlak's whispers. In their Epics and Songs, it was the wisdom of Halenth and knowledge of Lorinth that guided their people through the darkness.  

Human Myth

The Mortal Wars are remembered as the origin of humanity. Born of the Void in the world's darkest hour, humanity claims the glory of turning the tide against the Lord of Mortality. Some tribal legend holds that Harlak was outright destroyed at the hands of human hands, proof that even gods may fall to the might of human courage. Others, particularly in Jaryanne and further east, preserve tales that Harlak was swallowed by the world itself.  

Dwarven Tradition

Dwarves seldom sing of the Mortal Wars. They record it as a time of endurance, sealed in their halls as the world burned. Yet among their most ancient records, certain runes hint that the sundering not only gave birth to the Wastes, but a hunger in the depths. These carvings are obscure and their meaning debated among Dwarven lorekeepers.