A History of the SheldomarA History of the Sheldomar
By Kirt Wackford (wackford@biology.utah.edu )
Edited by Scott Rennie (scott.rennie@virgin.net) for 'Black Hart' campaign consistency, and
subject to revision.
CY 498 - 510 [95a]
The Hateful Wars
For several hundred years humanoid refugees had fled the
genocidal Keoish campaigns against them and sought refuge in the
Lortmils. Even there, Keoish knights and heroes continually
sought them out. But from the Short War in CY 438 on [72], no
Keoish troops could be spared for such missions, and no
demi-humans would have guided them. Thus, by the CY 490's, the
humanoids in the Lortmils had gone over fifty years without
incursions from the outside world. Humanoid reproductive rates
being what they are, by the 490's the Lortmils teemed with
hundreds of orc and goblin tribes, thousands upon thousands of
individuals. Through the 480's and 490's, humanoid raids into
Celene, the Ulek States, the Kron Hills, and Veluna increased.
The newly independent demi-humans defended their individual
communities as best they could. They were not about to ask for
Keoish assistance, though Veluna occasionally sent aid in
particularly bad times. The result was that communities were
protected, and raids rebuffed, but no checks were made to the
growing humanoid population. By the late 490's the raiding
parties numbered in the hundreds and communities near the
mountains were actually forced to flee. Realising the gravity of
the situation, Veluna dispatched a large army company to be
stationed in the southern Lorridges, from there to pursue raiders
back to their caves and warrens. On its first mission, the
company chased a routed band of orcs deep into the mountains -
where it was set upon by an ambushing force of thousands and
destroyed to a man. Revelling in their victory, and their
captured armour and weapons, the orcs began raiding in earnest.
It was CY 498, and the Hateful Wars had begun [95a].
A shocked Veluna mustered human troops, who were joined by
dwarves and gnomes from the Lorridges and Kron Hills. Guided by
elves from Veluna and the Duchy of Ulek, several forces carefully
entered the mountains and engaged the humanoids valley by valley.
They left no warriors alive nor caves uncollapsed, and over the
next few years they drove the humanoids from the northern
Lortmils. They were amazed at the numbers of foes, but were
careful to fight them only a few at a time.
All the time this northern alliance advanced south, humanoids
fled before them. The tribes of the central and southern Lortmils
swelled with refugees. Great humanoid leaders commanding huge
conglomerate hordes of desperate troops emerged, and swept down
from the mountains. The advance of the alliance was halted and
the humanoids took the offensive in CY 504. Roving bands of
humanoids burned and pillaged their way across the countryside.
No longer returning to the crowded mountain strongholds, they
lived off their plunder as they moved through Ulek and down into
Keoland, Veluna, and Celene. Huge bands wandered even as far as
the heart of Furyondy over the next few years, spreading death
and destruction in their wake.
One such band of goblins threatened King Hugh III of Furyondy,
but he was rescued by the actions of Rollo, Margrave of Bissel.
In gratitude, the King relinquished claim to Bissel [100].
Similar bands of homeless humanoids ravaged Keoland, and in CY
506 several bands converged on Jurnre, each intent on sacking the
city. After several months of fighting, the siege was sundered
and the humanoids forced to retreat [101]. Celene, all the Ulek
States, and the gnomes of the Kron Hills had now entered the fray
[95b]. Keoland and Furyondy didn't participate in assaults on the
mountain strongholds, but they rapidly dispatched humanoids
entering their lands. The humanoids were pushed back or slain on
all sides. After four more years of assault from so many nations,
the humanoids were crushed and driven from the Lortmils
completely [95b,102-111].
Some fled north to the Yatils, others spiralled off into small
groups dispersing through the lands [95c,112]. A number fled down
into the Suss forest, and thence into the Drachensgrab Hills.
Once there, they fell upon the independent human towns, quickly
eliminating or enslaving the leaderless men and establishing a
new homeland for themselves [95c,98,99,102,105,111,113,114].
So ended CY 510. The son of Tavish IV sat on the Keoish throne
and for a time organised expeditions to root out and beat off the
scattered bands of homeless humanoids that trickled out of the
mountains. After that, there was peace in the Sheldomar again. To
be sure, humanoid flare-ups, or occasional giant troubles in
Sterich, persisted. But by and large, peace and prosperity
reigned over the Sheldomar Basin for the next seventy-five years.
Then began our modern troubles...