The Elven War

Military action

The Elven War is a series of conflicts spanning roughly 2000 years. The war ended with the Battle of Latiran between the deities of light (the Ellesentiri) on one side and the dark deities and their allies on the other side. This battle was won by the deities of light and resulted in the banishment of the dark deities to the depths of the Abyss. Shortly after, their followers (the predecessors of the Drow ), shorn of the power of their gods, were banished to the Underdark by the armies of the Ellesentiri. With a powerful weaving of magic, a combination both of godly power and High Elven magic, they were sealed away.

The Elven War was a war fought on multiple scales and planes. Battles in the war ranged from small skirmishes between different groups of elves to all-out clashes between the gods. The precise causes of the war have been lost in the passing of time but many people believe that conflicts over territory and ideology as well as the arrival of humans have played a role. Yet, despite all these doubts, we know for certain that the goddess Aglinna has played an important role in instigating conflict among the gods.   In this time of history, the predecessors of the peoples that would later become the Dwarves, Orcs and Humans swerved over the planet in small numbers. The Elves reigned supreme and their power was unrivalled. However, the Elven deities had to share the heavens with the deities of the other races. Aglinna , consort of Kellaran who was the leader of Ellesentiri (the elven pantheon), was dissatisfied with this. She believed that the Ellesentiri should rule the gods, with her as the supreme goddess as she knew Kellaran would never agree to this. She gathered likeminded deities around her and started stirring up the already tense relations between the different elven peoples. Aglinna, patron goddess of the Mogriannirel, succeed in starting a war which caught the opposing deities unaware. Her Mogriannirel armies succeeded in conquering large areas and generally were quite succesful in battle.   Meanwhile, Aglinna looked towards the demons of the Abyss for allies. She planned to open an interplanar gate leading from the heart of the divine domains to the Abyss. In order to perform this feat of mighty magic, she needed free play. Thus, together with her allies she attacked the forest plane of Latiran, home to the Elven Pantheon. Her attack failed and she was captured by the Ellesentiri and her allies were routed.   Around the same time, Mogriannirel forces led by the demigod Gherlin launched an attack on the elven citadel of Sundawn. This went horrendously wrong as suddenly their source for divine magic vanished. This took away a big part of their magic artillery and threw their leaders into disarray. The commander of the forces of Sundawn, Alleren , decided to lead a sortie in order to deal a death blow to the enemy army. He defeated Gherlin in personal combat. However, in this fight, Alleren's body was heavily damaged. Kellaran intervened and merged Alleren's soul with the divine spark of the fallen deity Higanne. Thus Alleren ascended.   The Ellesentiri decided to cast the evil elven deities out. Their forms were changed to resemble the demons they consorted with: Aglinna became an hybrid of a spider and an elf. After, they were banished to the Infinite Layers of the Abyss. Eventually, the dark elven deities consolidated their rule over the 313th layer of the Abyss and could begin granting spells to their followers again.   The Mogriannirel were similarly punished. The Ellesentiri darkened their skin so they would always be recognizable for their misdeeds and elven mages and clerics banded together to weave one of the most potent magics ever created. Together with divine aid, they made a barrier that restricted the Mogriannirel to The Underdark . Eventually, this barrier broke down, giving the Mogriannirel (by then called Drow ) access to the surface world again.   After the Sealing, the elven goddess Vindrianne decided to change her appearance to that of a drow elf and went in voluntary exile. She retained her good nature and tries to get as many drow as possible to repent from their evil ways and to return to the light. This makes her hated among the rest of the drow pantheon and her church is quite small.