Year 322 of the Second Age

The Year of the Lamp


(4th Year of the 5th Unknown King of Duinnor)

§
A mighty force of Dragonkind sweeps north, overrunning The Mirse. By some estimates, they number in excess of a quarter of a million soldiers and support. They cross the River Iridelin south of Forest Islindia, then split. While one portion marches eastward across the Plains of Bletharn, the bulk of the army descends upon Altoria and Masurthia. They will continue to divide, leaving adequate forces to conquer Altoria and Masurthia while permitting the rest of their army to drive eastward into Tracia. So sudden is this onslaught, and so swift are their movements, that Vanara cannot assemble an army large enough to effectively face them. The best that Vanara can do at such short notice is to harry the fast-moving Dragonkind as they enter Masurthia. While this is done, the bulk of Vanara's remaining army is engaged along the Blue Mountains by another Dragonkind army that feints invasion through the Khanhar Pass and elsewhere. Learning that the Dragonkind intend a broad pincer movement against the eastern realms, Vanara and Duinnor quickly form an alliance and agree to send additional forces eastward in pursuit across the Plains of Bletharn. Queen Serith Ellyn calls for every able-bodied fighter and hastily assembles an army of over seventy-thousand to go east. Her armies and those from Duinnor are to converge at the city of Fisenwold, near the River Missenflo and Tulith Morgair. The Vanarans arrive first and find the city sacked and the surrounding countryside strewn with the dead of Fisenwold's small army. They wait for over three weeks, but the Duinnor army does not arrive, so Serith Ellyn leads her forces on into the Thunder Mountains. Had it not been for this delay, it is likely the Vanarans would have reached Tulith Attis in time to prevent the massacre that will take place there.

Unbeknownst to the Vanarans, the Duinnor army, in its haste to reach their rendezvous, attempts to cross through Nasakeeria, but none ever emerge. A sole messenger, sent back to Duinnor before the army entered Nasakeeria, is the only survivor of those forces. When no more messengers arrive, Duinnor immediately dispatches a second smaller army, entirely on horseback, to travel swiftly around Nasakeeria and to the east. They meet and join with the Vanarans two days before arriving at Tulith Attis, where they are joined by a large army from Glareth.

Meanwhile, the Dragonkind who have pushed through the Thunder Mountains are joined at Tulith Attis by a large force that came up through Tracia. Together they lay siege to Tulith Attis while another force sacks Colleton on the coast. Tulith Attis falls when its gates are breached, and no one within the fortress is spared.

The combined armies of Vanara, Glareth, and Duinnor arrive too late to prevent the destruction of Tulith Attis and the slaughter of all who have taken refuge there, and the gruesome scene they come upon at Tulith Attis and the surrounding fields fills the arriving soldiers with horror and with the desire for vengeance. It is apparent, too, that the gates were not forced, for they stood open and undamaged, and was clearly the way the fortress was taken, immediately leading to suspicions of treachery.

Although many families of Men are victims, some blame them for conspiring with the Dragonkind, added to the already existing tensions stemming from the late arrival of the Duinnor forces (made up of mostly Men). Later, the blame for the destruction and slaughter at Tulith Attis shifts to the Elifaen. Nonetheless, the armies from the west and north pursue the Dragonkind, encircling and defeating them at the Battle of Saerdulin. But the seeds of discord are sown between Men and Elifaen.

§
During the invasion of the Eastlands, Inrick, King of Colleton and overlord of the Eastlands, escapes along with his army before the Dragonkind reaches his domain, abandoning his people to their fate. When the Dragonkind leave his burning city, he returns and finds nearly all of the inhabitants dead or carried away.

§
All of the southern and eastern realms but Glareth (that is, Tracia, Eastlands, Masurthia, and Altoria) suffer greatly from the invasion. As well, Vanara suffers great loss of life and resources and is humiliated by the failure to prevent the Dragonkind from breaking out of the desert in such force. Although Vanara itself was spared the brunt of the invasion, many areas were depopulated to supply the needed armies, leaving farms and fields untended for over a year, and workshops and trading floors idle. Glareth and Duinnor, however, are relatively unscathed, and they continue to grow in power, with Duinnor soon consolidating its rule over the other Realms of the world.



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