An Old Story - The Great War

[Josh3738 3137]

He felt the strength beginning to return to his limbs again as he sat up in bed and went over again to his writing. With a smile, he again begins to write out the story as his memories come flooding back.

Anthos

    When we sailed for the lands of Anthos I was a mere Stoneguard who was promoted to the rank of Ironbreaker upon arrival. It was here, after several years, that I was offered a Lieutenant position under the command of Dreek Ireheart. Those were far better days than these, I will tell you. When our commanders gave a command, they need only say so once and we were in formation. Give us five seconds and we were in a loose formation. Enough to repel orcs or bandits at the least.  Give us ten… Even the old White Rose could not penetrate our ranks.

    Yes… Those were better days when the legion was revered by its allies and feared by its enemies. Good old Anthos. Those times were not all peaceful though. We had our fair share of wars. The first war I remember was with the orcs. Following the main road south across the river, the path split into a crossroads before a mighty hill that divided it like a knife and bread. Soon after our arrival in these lands the orcs set up a fortress atop the hill from which they conducted any a raid into Dwarven held lands. Slaughter of the innocents, burning of crops and farmsteads, and even raids on the capital itself! This was not to be tolerated. With orders from the Grand King, we marched eastward to draw out our enemy and destroy them. In a siege that lasted for several days, two stone hours, we fired siege weaponry into their fortress and breached through the rear wall where we proceeded to enter through and purge the remnant of the Uruks from within, much as we had done in Elysium. This taken fortress was gifted to Clan Stormhammer, who later was absorbed by their parent clan, Clan Ireheart, and the fortress was rebuilt into a sprawling complex of tunnels and traps which was later named Storm’s Crossing. This more or less ended our series of wars with the Uruks at the time.

The next war I took part in scholars of the Dwedmar will refer to as The Great War, or the First Human War depending on how you look at things. Following the coronation of Grand King Thorin Grandaxe The Conqueror, and my kin Dizzy’s promotion to lordship, I was promoted to the rank of Commander in the legion. Something I took great pride in and my service reflected the same. At the time, the old Emperor Horen sat atop the Empire of Oren. Beneath him rested the largest army of humans I can yet remember, the likes of which have not been seen since. Beside them sat the Elves and the halflings. For most texts you will read, the Orenians refer to these groups as vassals who rightfully and willingly put themsElves beneath such a rich and powerfully just empire. This is not the case. I still remember the day when Princess Titania and the council surrendered their lives and lands to the White Rose and their Horen masters. This was dark news indeed as it called both our strategic position and our moral position into question. At that point, Oren held the entirety of the North of Anthos under its dominion and desired to continue its expansion south. What could have stopped them? Unfortunately enough for us, we were in their way. With ever increasing raids on the south, House Blackmont and their Flay bannermen were notable in their capture and flaying of Dwed citizens. Following a series of nasty and bloody conflicts between them and several other human groups with the legionnaires stationed at Storm’s Crossing, Grand King Thorin sent an ultimatum to Emperor Horen to put a stop to these bloody raids or else the blood pact between our two nations would be terminated and war would ensue. In a completely unexpected action, the Emperor ignored the ultimatum completely and chose instead to allow these raids to continue.

It was on a visit to the city of Salvus that Lord Nalro Grayhammer was shot by some White Rose in the middle of the street. This news was taken immediately to the council in Kal’Azgoth whereupon hearing the news Grand King Thorin declared immediate hostilities with the Empire of Oren, thus starting the Great War. Despite many attempts to penetrate the south through raids, the majority of conflicts were won by the legion under the command of Kjell Ireheart, myself, and several others. When one final push came in an attempt to make up for these loses, the Battle at Nation’s Crossing took place, or the Battle of Snow as some scholars will refer to it. The battle itself was a sad affair to remember. The legion showed up in force with its mustered vassals and allies. The Kha, the Uruks, the Adunians, and all the rest. The first shots fired when we reached that bridge weren’t even arrows! The minute Dwarven boots hit the stone there we unleashed a hailstorm of snowballs! We held of the invaders for quite some time before word came that there was a second bridge the engineers had missed and failed to destroy. When the call came that we needed to charge across, it was a strange event. I turned in my place in line to look to the Grand King who stood erect in his fancy plate armor, as befitting a king. Yet his gaze seemed distant and all calls to him failed to bring his attention back. Only when it was too late and the flank had hit us did he scramble into action and our forces were ordered to pull back in a route. This was a sad blunder that cost the lives of many of my friends and kin yet it remained the only true battle of the entire war. Following this battle, Emperor Horen and his White Rose entourage sailed from the shores of Anthos, never to be seen again.

Soon after, the remnant of the empire asked to meet with us in the library of the Cloud Temple to discuss peace terms. As is usually the custom of such events, Grand King Thorin sent terms of surrender ahead to the Orenian ambassador who would have to fill in for the new emperor who was bedridden in his chambers. When we reached the temple, we marched into the library and stood across the table from the humans. To either side stood the Elves and other dignitaries who would watch and give input as time went on in the negotiations. This was the expected outcome of course. What happened next… I can only speak of it in words yet the feeling I get when I recall this day… I remember it as clearly as one might remember their own name. The ambassador slid a paper across the table to Thorin and said simply that they disagreed with any terms we had sent and that these were their new terms which demanded things from us as “recompense for the damage we had caused”. In a slow but steady movement Thorin climbed onto the top of the table with this paper in his hand and turned to Lord Gorum. “The torch.” Producing a simple wooden torch from his bag, Lord Gorum lit the tool and handed it to Thorin who turned back to the ambassador as he lit the paper aflame. “There’s yer peace…” Those simple words. They bring back a sense of glory and honor the likes of which I cannot describe. We marched from the temple with screams of “Kavir oz umros!” and “Kavir oz Oren!” (“Death to humans!” and “Death to Oren!”).

Within a few stone hours the Kingdom of Salvus surrendered and only a day or so after the rest of Oren followed. In one swift action we had freed the Elves and the Halflings. In one swift action we had won the war.

He finished writing this portion of the story before tying the papers together and sending them on their way to the Remembrancers.

Edited November 15, 2015 by Josh3738

[Lima 774]

"I feel controversy brewing from you telling this tale." Lori says. 

Edited November 15, 2015 by Lima

[Hanrahan 2983]

Arnorian remembers the battle of Storms crossing, and how the dwarves gallantly prevailed after their first crushing defeat.

[WuHanXianShi14 0]

"I do believe that if Oren made one of these propaganda posters for every time they've triumphed over the dwarves, the scribe they tasked to do such a thing would likely lose his hand due to carpel tunnel. Those who live in glass houses shouldn't write propaganda...or build houses out of glass, rather foolish building material." Mused Artimec, professional propaganda analyst.

[Pureimp10 5691]

Britannus recalls a military history of the dwarves written by Peter Chivay himself....

[Aengoth 2890]

"W'ere is tah part w'ere Thorin 'ad our armeh decimated n' most ove tah old crew deader t'en Salvus's self esteem!?" yells Aengoth without reading the story

[James 425]

Moved to the Archive. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly.