The Great War

It was a bleak day for the citizens of Denaria.

Aside from the incursions of the undead in their town, supplies were limited and depleting quickly due to the unending winter upon their land.

Some believed they were cursed, inflicted upon by a witch for the recent witch hunts orchestrated by those Elutherai, a local name for a band of witch hunters.

Many prayed to their god Yarm for salvation and guidance, yet no said blessing came as the reminder of this eternal frost chilled the hearts of the townspeople.

Worst came to shove when reports of missing patrols of milita men at night were aggravated due to the appearance of the dead bodies near the town stables.

All-time paranoia was high among the people, with crazed mobs on the street and scared villagers closing their home to any person, no matter their status.

Though some people speculated on the appearance of winter and dead milita men through a local legend.

A legend that terrified the denizens of Denaria from the creation of the town until today.

It is said that the first people to settle in Denaria before the citizens themselves were a group of barbaric human tribes of men that settled here after their failed resistance to the allied forces of elves, dwarves, and orks.

A colossal war that spanned the entire forces of order and chaos on the continent: Eden.

Seeking to end the horrors of the human tribes, bloody lust for slaughter and their depraved obsession of sacrifices for their god Yrest, the evil god of the Dark, the leaders of each race of elves, dwarves and orks met in a summit located at Thror's Peak, a dwarven stronghold of the highest mountain on the mountain chain in the south-west of Eden.

Theere were also minor factions of dark elves, beast folk and fairies.

The leaders of the allied frontier first dealt with the barbaric invasions of their territories, and when the opposition were swiftly dealt with, they rallied and combined their armies and marched north of the continent, where the coalition of human tribes under the leadership of the warchief Erik Thrallson assembled in what is called the largest in history.

Though a few tribes refused to call his summons, they were swiftly dealt with, massacring their people as an example to those tribes who won't answer the call of the horn.

Most gave up and join the coalition, though some chose to escape to save their kin from annihilation as they knew the strong abilities of the elves, the technologically advanced dwarves and the ferocity of the ork people.

Yet the human tribes' strongest attribute was their numerous numbers and their favourable position on the map.

North of Eden was a large landscape of steppes, plain lands and grasslands where it was very punishing when winter came.

The tribes were accustomed to this type of climate, but it can't be said for their enemies.

The place is unforgiving, as frequent storms and rain of hails plague the area.

The warchief, thinking the war was going to be a battle of attrition, decided to be laidback and sent only small contingents of his army to harass the enemy and pressure their supply lines.

It did work for a time, wearing down the advance of the allied front until they adapted and improved, mainly because of the fairies who predicted the assaults of the barbarians with their great capability to sense and their connection with nature.

Strong supply lines consolidated the advance against the tribes, while building stategic forts to supply the campaign with fresh troops.

With the enemy slowly but surely advancing to the heartlands of his people, Erik Thrallson assembled his army and planned with his war councils on what to do next.

Reports came to them from captured dark elven spies who where caught and tortured for information that the invading army split into three parts, mainly the dwarves and orks as the vanguard while the elves, dark elves and beastfolk where the flank from left and right, hoping to catch them in a pincer attack.

Erik, confident about the power of his army, decided on a similar tactic of splitting his forces into three.

The strongest of his warriors, the Marauders, would contend with the orks and dwarves while the other would only need to stall the flanking armies until they crushed the vanguard in which the Maurauders would backstab the flankers with flash movement and finally end the war.

Though the war council rebutted his plan as the dwarves were stubborn and the most resilient race to hold their ground, Erik was confident and almost fanatically ignorant of other plans than his own.

Leading the frontal force of his army with Mamoths and foul beasts such as gigantic snakes and wyverns, Erik met with the dwarves and orks in the open plains near present day Denaria.

Leading a massive charge upon the contingents of order, Maurauders, mamoths and the war beasts led by Erik Thrallson collided with the shield wall of the dwarves and the war axes of the orks.

Breaking the first line of their defence, Erik was ferocious, striking down renowned warriors of the two races.

The first resistance of the Allied forces weren't able to contend with the wrathful tribes, but they were able to pin them down until shots of gunpowder and arrows flew to Erik and his army's direction.

Erik, high in his bloodlust, failed to notice his rapidly decreasing forces, battered down by enemy projectiles, and continued his crazed assaults on the armored dwarves and exhausted orkish infantry.

As the battle progressed, each side felt the unnamountable casualties of dead warriors.

The allied infantry were doing everything they could to hold the barbarians so that their ranged allies can pick them off.

Erik, now passed his raging state, felt his army losing and decided to sound a retreat, leaving massive deaths among his warriors from bullets and impaling arrows.

Everything was falling from his "great" plan and it only fell more when he gazed in the direction of their retreat and saw the great vast army of golden clad elven horsemen and fairy mages slaying the retreating barbarian soldiers in their path.

He instantly knew that the armies he sent to hold the flanker's advance had failed, and that the allied did succeed in their plan to entrap Erik and his army.

Though a smile formed on his face as he watched his people getting slaughtered.

His war council begging him, with their knees, to surrender to the enemy forces before all is lost.

They didn't know that this was all part of Erik's plan as the dead here were suitable sacrifice for their god Yrest.

Muttering a prayer to his god, Erik felt the sky change.

Changing into a red hue, everyone felt a great disturbance in the area.