Post by Bluestorm on Jan 14, 2018 17:00:28 GMT
The Unification of Eldyr
The tenth king of the centaurs, Takari Kadaris, was a genius warrior and strategist. In the twelfth year of his reign, he had his best smiths forge him a spear; Kazan Vinara, they called it, the spear of war. To this day, when the Centaurs go to war, their leader carries Kazan Vinara.
He divided his force in two, leading one half to the south, and with his best general leading his force to the Pinewoods in the north.
Lightning fast, they struck. The Elves of the Pinewoods were ill-equipped and unready to resist their assault, and fell quickly. Some few of them fled to the far North, where the Centaurs would not follow, for winter was approaching.
The Elves of the Haran Rainforest fought ferociously, but they too were unprepared for Takari Kadaris’ assault, and there was too much blood between the clans to be forgotten, so they fell one by one.
Then the centaurs surged to the east, to attack the gnomes, and unite all the races under Takari Kadaris. But they had not anticipated the swamps, where the sucking mud and stagnant pools held back their assault. The Gnomes waged a guerrilla war against them, using their small size and fast movement in the marsh to their advantage.
Takari Kadaris saw that his element of surprise was lost, and regrouped his forces. They tried building rafts, as the Gnomes used, but their craftsmen did not know how, and their boats sank beneath the Centaurs’ greater weight.
So Takari pushed his troops into a slow march through the swamps, taking heavy losses from the Gnome raiders along the way, but pushing ever forwards.
Then, form the heart of the swamp, a swamp dragon emerged. The Gnomes fled to Gnumton, leaving Takari and his Centaurs easy prey. As his army fled the swamp, Takari faced the dragon alone. For three days and three nights he fought the dragon, and on the fourth dawn, as his lifeblood seeped from him, poison smeared in his wounds, he struck the final blow, piercing its heart with Kazan Vinara.
So Takari Kadaris’ empire crumbled before it truly was formed. His generals bore away his body, and his spear, into legend.