The Great Shadow War(Part Two): Northward to Victory

With Zeal out of the way and the north shaken by assassinations, Toth-Gadal was ready to march his new army to victory.

 Passing through lands that were in those days known as the Narrow Way, the Arcanian army first attacked the nation of Thrice, still reeling from the death of its king. Thrice fell easily to the Sorcerer-King’s forces. It was at this point that Toth-Gadal made a crucial decision, and some say mistake, concerning his strategy. Debate still goes on as to whether the Sorcerer-King had planned all along to follow this course, or if he changed his plans after seeing how easily Thrice fell. Either way, it is widely believed that this choice was his largest mistake.

After conquering Thrice, Toth-Gadal decided to split his forces in two, sending half his army east to conquer Sivilar and Mylkar, nations he believed relatively weak. He himself would lead the remaining forces west, toward Telengard. The capital city of Syre was widely known in those days as the most heavily fortified city in the north, second only behind the Arcanian capital of Cerasin-Cera.

The Arcanians met fierce resistance in Telengard, but their forces were far superior despite being outnumbered. Armed with powerful magic and weapons made from the magical metal known as Sil, the Arcanians pushed ever closer, until they were outside the gates of Syre, poised for ultimate victory.

For days the Arcanian war machine pounded on the walls and gates of the city. It was only a matter of time now, until all of Bordelon belonged to the Sorcerer-King.

So bent on his razing of the city, Toth-Gadal failed to notice the army assembling in the far north. So it came as an almost complete surprise when, just as the Arcanian forces were about to breach the walls, a huge army comprised of men and women from both Telengard and Thrice, poured down on the entrenched and unprepared Arcanians.

Both sides fought bravely, but in the end Toth-Gadal’s siege was broken, and the Arcanian’s were forced to retreat. Each day was another step backward for the Sorcerer-King, until he was forced back to the capital of Thrice. He received even worse news here, and must have known it was the beginning of the end for his glorious campaign.

Just as his army was fortifying the city, a few stragglers came in from the east with grim tidings. The Arcanian Army had conquered the Sivilar capital, and were preparing to move out when a massive counterattack trapped the Arcanian forces with the city. Then the Sivilar set fire to their own capital, destroying both the city and the Arcanian army within. Almost no one escaped the conflagration.

With half his army gone and the northern forces about to press him on both sides, the Sorcerer-King had little choice but to retreat southward. But he was not about to give up, merely down but not out.

The nations of the north formed a hasty alliance, and began pushing the Arcanians back. The Sorcerer-King’s forces lost ground nearly every day, until the armies were back at the small strip of land known as the Narrow Way. It was here the Sorcerer-King played his trump card, and decided the fate of north and south for centuries to come.

Toth-Gadal had been holding back his most terrible weapon, his necromancers. It is widely held that the Sorcerer-King didn’t want to use them at all, but felt he had no choice, as the northern forces were about to invade his own homelands, much as he had just done to them.

And so Toth-Gadal ordered his sorcerers to cast their deadly spells. The sky above the Narrow Way became dark. The lands were stricken with terrible disease, and imparted a terrible sickness to anyone who stepped foot thereon. The Arcanian’s themselves were immune to this disease, of course, but the men and women of the Northern Alliance began to fall sick almost immediately.

Toth-Gadal saw his fortunes changing again. Until word reached him that the illness was being cured.

Spies within the Northern Alliance reported to the Sorcerer-King that a strange group of people had suddenly appeared among the northern forces. There were only nine of them, but they possessed some kind of healing power that was curing the illness inflicted by the necromancer’s spells. Angered almost beyond words, and seeing his last hope of victory being snatched from him, Toth ordered his forces to prepare for a last, all-out assault.

And then everything changed.

The Great Shadow War(Part One) Ambition

Nothing has so defined the early beginnings of the New Age as that terrible military campaign known as the Great Shadow War. A ruinous affair that split a continent and decimated two burgeoning civilizations. The effects of the Shadow War resonated for centuries afterward, creating strife between two distinct cultures where could have existed unity. It all began with the ambition of one man, Toth-Gadal. His desire for conquest burned not just for his home continent of Bordelon. He one day envisioned uniting all of Aeonith under his protective arm. But it would start with his own people, the new Arcanian Empire. Toth-Gadal came to power in year 351 of the New Age(N.A.), acquiring the title of Sorcerer-King at the young age of twenty-five. Already the Empire had begun to fracture as various lords and ladies vied for the Imperial throne. Toth-Gadal quickly rose above the others, gaining the respect of the kings of the southern nations. With their support, Toth-Gadal consolidated his power and almost immediately began his strategy for uniting all of Bordelon. The first thing the new Sorcerer-King would need was an army, a standing army loyal to him, personally. Until his reign, the southern nations had merely sent their own men to fight for the Sorcerer-King when he commanded it, but the soldiers were still loyal first and foremost to the kings of their birth-nations. Toth-Gadal saw the need to create an Imperial loyalty, and the first step would be to create an Imperial Army. And so in late 351 N.A. the first Arcanian Defense Force was born. The logistics and formation of this new army Toth left to his most faithful lieutenant, a man who’d served with him since their youth. Zeal was his name, a name destined to become as ingrained in southern history as Toth-Gadal’s. By all accounts Zeal was personable and charismatic, yet bold and decisive. He was one of those, it was said, who could get people to do what he wanted, even if they themselves didn’t really want to do it, and without using the slightest bit of force. As time went by and the new army came together, Zeal’s reputation as a tough, but fair commander grew, ultimately gaining the attention of his ruler. Toth began to grow jealous of his lieutenant’s popularity, and fearful as well. In the end, Zeal’s personality, and Toth-Gadal’s jealousy, became their mutual downfall. With the army nearly assembled, it was time to for Toth-Gadal to launch his strategy. The Sorcerer-King’s plan was two-fold. First, he sent his deadliest assassins north, to seek out the kings of the northern nations. Once these men were dead, and chaos ran rampant in the north, his army would march easily over the land, conquering all in the name of the Arcanian Empire. It was a good plan, if somewhat ruthless. But like many designs of such grand ambition, it didn’t work out quite the way the Sorcerer-King envisioned. The assassins did in fact make it to the north, and the king of the nation of Thrice fell to their blades in early 352 N.A. His other killers were less successful, however. King Melnus of Telengard survived his attack. Toth-‘s other assassins, sent east to Sivilar and Mylkar were never heard from again. Whether they were caught, executed, got lost or simply abandoned their mission was never known. With his first hand played, the Sorcerer-King was ready to begin his unification of the continent of Bordelon. He had just one last thing to do. Zeal’s popularity among the men and women of the army reached a zenith the Sorcerer-King could no longer stand. So before leaving on his campaign, Toth-Gadal sent Zeal on one last assignment. Toth ordered his second to travel to the mountain range in southern Bordelon known as the Stand. There he was to find the body of the great dragon lord, Virex, and use his necromantic powers to raise the dragon form the dead and force it to fight for the Arcanian Empire. Toth hoped this would be a suicide mission, knowing full-well that if Zeal did in fact succeed in raising the dragon, its first order of business would be to slaughter everyone in its path. No human could ever hope to have the power to control a dragon’s will, whether live or undead. Debate has raged ever since that fateful decision. Some believe that Zeal must have known the Sorcerer-King was sending him to die. Others think Zeal went believing he could actually control the dragon. But go Zeal did, following his emperor’s orders to the last. With Zeal out of the way and the north shaken by assassinations, Toth-Gadal was ready to march his new army to victory.

Next Week Part Two-Northward to Victory