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Great War of Magiks and Things

Page history last edited by Tim 15 years, 6 months ago

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Great War of Magiks and Things

 

15843 to 15882

 

Introduction

 

The Great War of Magiks and Things was the first and only war waged by Trolls and Giants, under the leadership of the Priest-King Brothic Gandlebar. It was waged over almost the entire Shield and encompassed most of its peoples. It is chronicled in the trilogy The Brothic Cycle, containing the books Servant of the Elements, Priest-King, and Wander-God, by Jenson Matthews. It is the tragic tale of a half-breed Giant/Troll Brothic, who, desperate to rejuvenate his people, begins a war that envelops a continent. The last battles of the war are also shown through the eyes of S'yrf'yl the Immortal in Rivers of the Sword.

 

Synopsis

 

The Great War of Magiks and Things, referred to as The Great War of Magicks and Trolls and Giants and Various Well-Armed Armies of Many Nations by the Troll and Giant historians, raged unabated for 39 years, earning it a third and mostly unused name of the 39 Years War. The causes for the war are founded in the unique and fascinating personage of Brothic Gandlebar, a half-breed Troll/Giant. Interbreeding between the Mountain Trolls and Giants was not unheard of, as while the Trolls had always been a hardy race, the life-fire had been extinguished in the race of Giants after the destruction of their ancestral home, The Valley of the Giants in the Million Year War. It was the thought of Brothic's father, Danthic Gandlebar, the Servant of the Elements and leader of the few remaining Giant clans in exile, to infuse their race with the strength of Trollish blood. Though a failed attempt (as Trollish women are repugnant to Giant eyes) his sole child and heir with his wife Mandra Gandlebar, a Troll, was the famous Brothic, born in 15,763.

 

Brothic looked upon his people as he grew up among the Giants, and saw that they had lost the will to thrive. Perhaps it was his Troll blood, but he wasn't willing to let his people fade out of history. And so the Great War began. Upon his 80th birthday, when he came of age and into his inheritance as Servant of the Elements and Giant chieftan, he set his plan into motion. He began by approaching the last of the great Giant craftsmen, Dommelham Gentral, and asked him to forge five great weapons, the Axe of Everlasting Flame, the Living Spear, the Stone Sword, the Ice Dagger, and the Whip of the Wind. Brothic, armed with these five Epic weapons, then went to the Giant's Council and spoke to them of his plans. He proposed that the Giants, who eked out a living in the mountain valleys bordering the Chasm of Eternal Sorrow, would never be renewed unless they found a new home. He proposed that the Giants, with their great strength and led by the Council armed with the Weapons of the Elements (for indeed, that is what they were), march as a nation upon the Mountain Trolls, join with them, and then combined occupy the verdant (and currently unoccupied) land of Blee.

 

The Elders consented, and Brothic led the five Giant clans to the lands of the Mountain Trolls in the Wang Mountains in the year 15,843. As they marched, 50,000 Giants attired for war, they passed through The Kingdom of Parsonya. Perceiving the clans on the march as a threat to his Kingdom (and a fearsome sight it must have been) the then-King Pentral Wellbarrel mustered his armies and marched against the Giants in the Battle of the March, the first battle of the the Great War...and were thoroughly (and literally) crushed. Though they had been a peaceful people, centuries dwelling near the Chasm of Eternal Sorrow had made them hard, implacable, and formidable warriors. Their chiefs, led by Brothic and armed with the Weapons of the Elements, were forces of nature and all fell before them. They brushed them off like gnats and continued on to their true prey, the Mountain Trolls.

 

The shamanistic religion of the Mountain Trolls forbid the union of their race with others, and so the forceful marriage of Mandra, Brothic's mother, to Danthic was seen as an aberration in their eyes and the offspring of that union was declared anathema. So it was that Brothic, in order to take what he saw as his place as Grand Chief of the Mountain Trolls, had to contend with the all of the Mountain Troll tribes arrayed against him at once. However, using the knowledge he had gained from his Troll mother, he led his army, whose pace was unmatchable, quickly to the Clanhouse of Trunharow and killed Grand Chief Maanthil Demalthane and his entire tribe before anyone could retaliate in the Slaughter of Trunharow, in 15844. He then set up his court in the Clanhouse and called a Trungang, or meeting of the tribes. Utilizing the strong social and authoritarian structures of the tribes he placed himself at their head, citing his victory over the Grand Chief and his tribe as proof of his ascendancy. There were naturally dissenters, including the entire Shaman Council, but Brothic began a bloody pogrom in which all of the shamans and their followers were ruthlessly hunted and killed. In the void which remained he implanted Petramina, the Giant religion, which worshipped the Elements and of which he was the head. After 10 years of propaganda, brain-washing and oppression, Brothic gained ultimate power over the trolls. As Priest-King of the Trolls and Giants, he turned his eyes towards Blee.

 

As Brothic solidified his hold over the Trolls, the survivors of the Battle of the March fled far and wide, everywhere spreading the tale of a conquering Giant army, poised to make war against the entire world. King Pentral began to arm his country for war, waiting for the Giant army to return. When, after 10 years had passed they did not, he marched his army of 100,000 men north in 15,853, following the path of destruction in search of them. As they did, they entered into the great grasslands of Morlond's Field. Due to the loose organization of authority and the generally agrarian nature of the land, the Giants had passed through unchallenged, but not unnoticed. The local farmers and townspeople, no longer being mad, realized their sudden need for national defense and a military and, realizing they had neither, hired mercenaries from Gerge'a (formerly K'th'ith'h) to provide training. This resulted in an army of 200,000 pikesmen and assorted cavalry which waited in defense of the realm from the dreaded Giant army and an alliance between the mercantile Morlond's Fielders and the noble warlords of Gerge'a. So, when King Pentral marched his army into their land, he was faced with an army of half a million soldiers. After a brief, year-long misunderstanding known as The Pointless Battle, the three armies joined and marched as one in search of the Giant army.

 

Brothic, aware from his Troll scouts of the armies which sought him, marched his army of Trolls and Giants, half a million strong, into Blee to begin a new nation. Blee was inhabited at the time mostly by itinerant bands of Telesorcellors. Brothic and his army caught their attention, and their apparent disorganization was in fact a ploy, for they were in fact the Great Nation of Nar, living in hiding inside the rolling hills of Blee and practicing their arts in peace. Using their powers, they instantly convened in one army in front of Brothic, and so began the First Battle of Blee. It was a battle of magic, as the telesorc'ley of Nar combated the raw power and elemental force of Brothic's host, led by the Elders wielding the Weapons of the Elements. Brothic proved unstoppable, and just as he raised the Living Spear to take the life of the Great Sorcellor Naron, the surviving Narians sent him and his entire host hurtling through space to the Mardath Highlands.

 

The Giants and Trolls found themselves placed in the middle of a dwarvish festival, and their arrival created massive panic. Mistaking the panic for an attack, Brothic ordered his legions against the Dwarves in the Mardath Massacre, which was the beginning of the great hatred between the dwarves and the Giants and Trolls. After this battle, Brothic marched his army south east until he reached the forests of Shadia in 15,855. Though the trees of Shadia were no obstacle for the Giants, the Trolls were unnerved by the looming trees and wouldn't continue. So began a campaign of deforestation, as the Axe of Everlasting Flame cut a swath through the forests that would later become the only road through the region. This, however, enraged the Witch-Elves and Elf-Witches, and they joined with the Shadian men in a guerilla war known as The War of the Shades, which entrenched Brothic for 10 years in the forest.

 

Giving up on revenge against the Witch-Elves and Elf-Witches, Brothic marched his army out of Shadia, much lessened in number, and moved again through the Kingdom of Parsonya on their way to Blee. Trailing behind them were the Shadian army and an army of dwarves, intent on revenge. King Pentral had long before disbanded his army, and was dismayed at the return of the Giants, joined by their Troll allies. Instead of making battle in his country, he raised what men he could and gave the rest orders to muster in Morlond's Field. He then sent his swiftest messengers to the leaders of Morlond's Field and the warlords of Gerge'a with warning of Brothic's return. Brothic and his swiftmoving army passed by them however, and returning to Blee in 15,866 destroyed the remnants of the nation of Nar in the Second Battle of Blee and in honor of their victory erected a mammoth statue of Brothic known as the Colossus of Blee, often mistaken for The Giant of Blee. They then set about building a nation.

 

What followed were 10 years of uneasy peace between Brothic and his many enemies. While Brothic formed his new nation of Bron on the ruins of ancient Blee, the combined armies of Parsonya, Morlond's Field and Gerge'a with the dwarves and the Witch-Elves and elvish-witches of Shadia planned his downfall under the guidance of S'yrf'yl, whom they had called to their aid and made their general. In 15,876, they invaded in a force one million strong. Brothic had not been idle, however. He had built great castles and fortified cities to defend his nation, and his ranks had swollen with fresh recruits to their former numbers, even numbering among his host the formidable immortal Armano and his Cult. Thus began the great conflict which ravaged Blee, destroyed the kingdom of Bron, and decimated the giants and trolls. The first battle was the Siege of Anhelm, wherein the Great Stronghold of Anhelm was destroyed through dwarvish ingenuity and the sorcery of the Witch-Elves. Learning from this battle, Brothic enchanted his remaining strongholds against such attacks, and it seemed as though the remainder of the war would be fought conventionally. Then came the Conflagration of Conult in 15,880.

 

The Conflagration is one of the more odd occurrences in the history of Battal. It occurred when the Weapons of the Elements were used in open battle against the combined armies on the grasslands of central Blee. Ancient enchantments put there by the Nar caused the great power of the weapons to be transferred from them into the armies they fought. The Witch-Elves became ice elementals, freezing all they touched, elvish-witches became fire elementals, beings of pure flame, dwarves became earth elementals, hardy warriors made of stone, the warlords of Gerge'a became wind elementals, riding whirlwinds into battle, the hardy folk of Morlond's Field became life elementals, in control of the living things around them, and the armies of Parsonya were ignored, much to their resentment. The elvish-witches joined into a column of fire and consumed the Giant Council in an enormous pyre, and the remaining armies bore down upon Brothic and his host. In this conflict, the mighty Colossus of Blee was destroyed, and is now only remembered in folk tale. It is interesting to note at this point, as an addendum of this great history, that the notorious Durdekedohedron the Wicked was in the process of stabbing the Dagger of Many Pokings into a witch-elf when the Conflagration occurred, and was subsequently frozen to death. So began a retreat across Blee as S'yrf'yl and the combined armies pounded the Giants and Trolls with their Eldritch powers. Brothic made a last stand at the western edge of Blee in Brothic's Gambit in 15,881, but it was of no avail. Brothic and his forces were scattered into the Wang Mountains, and once the land of Blee was again safe the armies returned to normal, much to their chagrin. Legend says that Brothic was spirited away to a lost cave, where he prays for his people, awaiting the day when he will return to lead his people to victory, but his exact fate will remain a mystery.

 

Timeline

Comments (4)

Anonymous said

at 8:56 pm on May 22, 2006

I've just added all of this information on GWMT from the Matthews books, I'm surprised that it wasn't already up on here, those were so good. I guess they aren't popular with some due to the concentration on Trolls and Giants, but Brothic is such a fascinating character...these were always my favorites. I'll make sure to add all the info on the books once I have a moment, just filling in various character links atm.

Anonymous said

at 8:59 pm on May 22, 2006

A lot of this was in ElemenstorLance "Rivers of the Sword", right?

Anonymous said

at 9:01 pm on May 22, 2006

Yeah, I'll add that, the whole bit with S'yrf'yl the Immortal leading the armies comes from there. It was awesome seeing the same story, but from his eyes.

Anonymous said

at 9:03 pm on May 22, 2006

its definately a cool era, I was first introduced to the war after reading "'Til Time is No More"... good job pulling together all the sources and creating such a comprehensive write-up

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