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I: The Land of Galwenor II: The Four Clans III: The Social Order IV: The Organizations V: The Tome of Honor VI: The Game Play VII: The Rising Legends Maps of Galwenor Legends of Galwenor Wars of Galwenor Faiths of Galwenor |
Galwenor's thousands of years of history has largely been molded by various wars. The majority of these wars have only been small isolated battles between rival clans lasting only a few years. But there are some recorded wars that have lasted for well over a hundred years, claimed thousands of lives, and even nearly obliterated the entire land. While details of some battles from long ago are very scarce, some battles have volumes written on all aspects of them. THE WAR OF THE TRIAD This is one of the first recorded wars in Galwenor, and is even one of the first recorded events in the history of the land. The exact date of the war is unknown, but took place towards the end of the First Age, just over three thousand years ago. From the lyrical doomsday descriptions of the war, and the fact that it's memory has lived on for so long, shows the true intensity and size of this ancient war. Still, not many actual facts are known about the war. The one record of the war describes the lands as being alive with fire from the body heat of the recently slain strewn about the countryside after battles. Cities that were then civilization metropolises were buried in the ruin of war. It is believed that the population of the realm at that time was around one million people - about the population of the realm today - and that perhaps up to a hundred thousand soldiers lost their lives. For such an early war, this is quite an astonishing number. While the cause of the war is not directly stated in the records of the war, the Triad that the war is named after is believed to be possibly two things. Some believe that three sons of a powerful emperor of the time all claimed right to be heir to the throne which caused a tremendous separation in the leadership of the land, instantly throwing the realm into war. Others believe that the Triad was actually a group of three powerful warlords who raised massed forces to topple an early kingdom. Either way, the records refer to each of these three of the Triad as incredibly fearsome, cruel, even demonic people pushed by the lust for power. It is from this description that the common phrase has evolved, "The Triad has taken his heart," meaning one's actions have been driven by greed. THE HIROMASHI PERIOD After the War of the Triad, there was a long period where little history was recorded and events of the time seem to be very obscure, a dark age which ended with a flourish of political separation and evolution at the beginning of the Second Age. During this re-igniting of historical records and events in the realm, the entire land of Galwenor was highly separated into several city-state type governments and small regions, claimed by numerous city leaders, each envisioning themselves as kings. For centuries these cities went without much conflict with one another due to the lack of capital or population to wage wars. But these cities became prime targets for a powerful rising army lead by a man named Hiromashi. About five hundred years after the War of the Triad, a city leader sought to prove his dominance with a brand new tactic. Although he had very little military history, Hiromashi became an impressive soldier and tactician. He realized early on that it would require a great number of soldiers to build a strong army, a large population base to support an army, and rich resources to pay for supplying and keeping an army - all the things which he did not have. So Hiromashi took an alternative route and focused heavily on using powerful magics to win his battles. During this time, Hiromashi built his skills with magic immensely and trained a small number of powerful soldiers and wizards to become a very powerful army. With this force he was able to plan how to strike defensive cities, utilize their weaknesses, and overwhelm their armies with magic. But Hiromashi was only the beginning of it all. Other city states sent armies at one another, trying to utilize some of the tactics used by Hiromashi, but no forces were greater at this than Hiromashi's. He accumulated land and riches incredibly fast, declaring that he would be king of the kings, and all treasures would be his. However, Hiromashi's own desire for conquest and leadership grew much faster than his armies or wealth. By this time Hiromashi had attacked and overwhelm dozens of cities in the southern regions of Galwenor. He felt his forces were almost unstoppable, but he underestimated a crucial enemy: himself. Hiromashi threw his forces against a much stronger and larger army and was astonished when his army was crushed. Overwhelmed with the outrage of his defeat, he sought to find a way through magics to completely scour the realm and completely obliterate his enemies as if by the divine wrath of the gods. Hiromashi's end came when he believe too much in his powers and tried to summon forth an Armageddon. The magical forces required for the ritual swallowed him up, ending what would be known as the Hiromashi Period. THE ANCIENT WAR In the history of Galwenor there is no war more well known or as destructive as The Ancient War. This period of one hundred and thirty years of constant conflict was also called the War of Heroes, as many legendary names came about during this time, and where began the entire history of noble and honorable actions in combat. The Ancient War began just over two thousand years ago and engulfed the entire realm in bloody warfare. There is still much speculation as to the exact cause for the Ancient War. However, more focus of historical context is actual put on the war itself. As it is recorded, there was a sudden explosion of hostility between human and elven settlements throughout the central regions of Galwenor, believed to have begun in what is now the Celene province. Human armies would lead attacks against Elven lands, and would be retaliated by fearsome Elven attacks on Human military forces. The skirmishes between forces quickly erupted into full-fledged battles and spread like wildfire across the realm. Within the first year of the war, the Elves had removed themselves from human territories and establish the Kingdom of Lohengrin, a united realm of elves sought to reclaim their heritage lands. The humans had also banded together, the previous city-state governments forming clans that would fight brutally against any and all Elves. For the Humans, the Ancient War started as a battle for land developed into a battle for dominance over a race that had always worked hard to prove their superiority. For the Elves the war began as a fight to reclaim their lost lands and political and social dominance and eventually became a struggle for their very existence. In every corner of the realm bloody battles were fought, especially in the heartlands of Galwenor, places where the Elven civilizations had been established for well over a thousand years already. The Elves called for aid from the Dwarves, but fearing they would be targeted and destroyed as well, the Dwarves instead disappeared, creating great hidden strongholds in the places far from Human lands. Throughout the many years of the war, a dozen or more human clans were established through united city-states from before intent on destroying the Elves. Some clans were completely destroyed by the Elves before the end of the war, and those that remained became the dominant clans of Galwenor up to this very day. There were also a great many famous warriors born during these times who performed acts on the battlefield warrantying them record in history for ages and ages to come. The final battle of the Ancient War took place at Drithas Moore, the ruins of a once great Elven temple city in the mountains converted into a fortress during the wars. Here, a small force of Elves stood to defend the valley leading to their homes against a strong invading force of Human soldiers. When other Elven armies heard of the attack on Drithas Moore and the disaster it could mean should the fortress fall, they quickly made their way to raise the siege. But other Human forces also heard of the siege at the fortress and quickly marched to reinforce their troops, hoping to pierce straight through the heart of the Elven lands. A written account of the battle still remains collected at the library in Olreans. "On the slopes of the mountains for miles all around Drithas Moore were the sounds of clashing steel, the rubble of the earth from thousands of feet, and the cries of battle like nothing of this world. Day and night, echoing throughout the valley, the sounds of war continued without a break for well over two months. In the end when the few remaining forces on both sides drew back to regroup, nearly one hundred thousand souls had died in that mountain pass. Bodies upon bodies where Humans and Elves had splintered shields and clashed swords time and time again. The ground was piled with the debris of Man and armaments, spears and swords sticking oddly from the ground as far as the eye could see like a tangled forest of rotted trees stripped of beautiful leaves and greenery. It is with complete disbelief that we now see, truly, we have slaughtered not only each other but every single bit of life from this entire land." Appalled by the complete and utter destruction they had let come to pass, the Human and Elven armies departed back home to try and cope with the grave annihilation they had caused. The war was finally over, but it would take a great many years before Humans and Elves would again coexist in the same lands, and let heal the wounds of old wars. THE PROVINCE WARS The last great battle to take place in all of Galwenor was the Ancient War, but there were still several small skirmishes or shorter-lived wars between rival clans or nobles. One such war was known as the Province War, and took place about four hundred years ago. During this time, the clans of Galwenor had mostly established their territories and land claims, but within the clans themselves there was still debate over which nobles would control which parts of land. It began in the Lorisse province, when a nobleman of the Balian clan named Algor Crandon claimed that he should be rightful leader of territory actually controlled by the Shimazu clan. He moved his military camp into the area to try and intimidate the local guard of the villages there to join him and expand his land. Instead, the Shimazu marched their entire armies at Crandon. But the Shimazu's intent went beyond just driving the enemy soldiers of Crandon's army out of their lands. They realized that if they could swiftly crush the smaller sized force, they would eliminate the only standing military at their border and stand a good chance at taking some territory from the Balian clan in the Blackwoods province. But the Balian clan also knew of this possibility, and to keep from exposing themselves to a possible invasion, they were forced to march their military in to the Lorisse province to reinforce Crandon's soldiers already encamped there, building a castle and establishing the city Bissel Keep. Tensions rose high as both armies squared off to bear their arms in hopes of intimidating the other out of the southern territories of the Lorisse province, and it all erupted near the village of Badonhill, the largest battle of the war. The Shimazu army was pushed back at the Battle of Badonhill, but they were not completely defeated. As the Balian army regrouped and celebrated their victory, the Shimazu army had conveniently been pushed to a pass through the Balian scout lines. They marched their army straight south and quickly besieged the castle at Bissel Keep before the Balian army had a chance to return. The Shimazu began a campaign of cutting the supply lines, communication, and reinforcements to the stranded Balian army until they had been greatly weakened and faced a serious threat now against the Shimazu. Forced to admit their cituation, the Balian and Shimazu clans called for a cease fire under the condition that the Balian army would return to their homes, and all land originally belonging to the Shimazu would return to their claim, including the now well-fortified and established trading center Bissel Keep. The names, dates, events, and all other aspects in the campaign setting of Galwenor are all works of fiction by Brett Bandy, Adam Mead, and Hannah Bandy. It is intended purely for imagination and creativity in a fantasy setting. This layout is copyrighted by SenkouRyu (http://www.senkouryu.net) |
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