The Elf Human War - Rhapsody in Blood - The Adventurer, Conqueror, King rpg's the Heroic Fantasy Handbook & The Bloody, Bloody, Arduin rpg

 The war between Elfs & Man  lasted 10,000 years on bloody, bloody, Arduin in ancient history. A fact that we're picking up from this blog entry here. Elves live a very long time & this war brought both Elves & humanity to the very edge of extinction on Arduin. 

This military entangelment must be one that needs hero's of myth & legend meaning this is the perfect type of campaign that Adventurer, Conqeuror, King's the Heroic Fantasy Handbook is ideal for. The Elves & humanity would try all kinds of risky, & dangerous magicks, tactics, & battles to end the war.  And we saw the exacutioner's blade arrive from the future according to Arduin.com; "Seven more attacks followed; all but the last failed. The seventh had the opponents coming from of the nexus that resided within Arduin itself; the Deodanth race and all their evil from the future had arrived. On the 27th day after their appearance, only 7,000 remained in the Elven army. 

They road to the great King’s Plain to the east of Thousand Thunder Falls where the main army of the Deodanths awaited them. The ebon ones attacked first, but before the first ebon killer had closed even half the distance, a great sound arose, accompanied by a cold, wild wind that swirled about the Deodanth horde, leaving a rime of ice upon their hearts. Faerie power had come. The sky seemed to buckle, and a blue twilight settled about the battlefield as the weird and ancient music sang its song of Elven power.

With shocking sudden swiftness, it was over. The plain seemed to erupt in a vast fountain of steaming black blood and blasted brains, covering the surrounding countryside with the withering stain that would take three centuries to fade. The few hundreds that had held back and thus lived immediately fled in all directions, bringing to motion for the first time this day the small Elven army. The king and his troops pursued with a cold fire of retribution burning in their hearts. For two weeks the Deodanths were harried and slain, but not without loss, the greatest being the mighty Elven King himself on the last day of the year.

His mourning men laid him to rest where he fell, atop the wind whipped Sorrow Slate Mountain, forever after known as “King’s Rest”.  Laid to rest near him were the eleven Deodanths that had ambushed him and been slain in turn by his guards, (though by the time they had arrived, the king had slain five of them himself before falling).  He had died as befits a true warrior king, in battle.  But when the king fell, so too did any hope that an Elven Arduin could truly have.

The news of the disaster that had befallen what had seemingly been one of Hell’s own armies gave many a grasping and scheming monarch short pause.  The only child of the dead king did declare herself Queen of Arduin and Warrior Queen of the last true Elves.  So Arduin stood with an inexperienced queen to guide an army of but 5,800.  The Human wolves gathered round their borders in increasingly bolder numbers.

Tarathala Dawnstar, queen and warlord, decided that if force of arms alone could not hold Arduin, they should follow the path pointed to by the hand of her dead sire: the path of magik and elder lore, the road to gods and demons, the trail to tears and danger.  So it came to pass that the Elven kind in Arduin became once again wizards, as well as warriors, and for 99 years, they reigned supreme in their ability to wreak havoc among their foes.  Each year, however, it became harder to maintain this ascendancy as the Human and inhuman foes of Arduin also became adept in those arts that invited doom and destruction.  Ever close crept the wolves of final, irrevocable defeat." That's right the deodanths arrived from the future to bring extinction to the Elves. The Elven races survives to this day on Arduin but what legacy did the War between Elves & Man leave across the planes & on Arduin?! Quite a bit is my take away from this incredible war. And the Human Elf war is an excellent time to set a campaign as well! The magicks are slightly different, the face of Arduin is also different, Faerie is a mess, and the future is far from certain. Making this the perfect time to have a marrage of the Arduin Trilogy &  the Heroic Fantasy Handbook

The Elves are desparate & highly dangeroys during the Human Elf War employing all kinds of dangerous magicks, demonic pacts, and perhaps even turning to the forces of darkness. History of course is written by the victors and Elves legacy might be found in Secrets of the Nethercity with Elven cult's secrets buried deep within that dungeon. These of course were fringe elements of Elven society but none the less they represent a desperate yearning to win the war. 

But there were doubtless other far more dangerous artifacts, research on other planes of existence, war time fortresses built just outside of reality, and much more now left in ruins & dungeons fit only for adventurers to explore. 
All of this was the Elves exploiting the Nexus gates of Arduin after all. They acted as the sole puppet masters making reality dance to their tune. This style of campaign is perfect because it last's 10,000 years enabling many adventures and possible campaigns to take place. With ACK's the ability is there for the PC's to carve out their own empire. But will it avail you naught?! Find out coming up!