Sunday 20 February 2011

High Elves at war on all fronts

The High Elves of Mellvellon found themselves beset by foes during the late third century. Their war with the Skaven in the south had cost them dearly- Prince Saravael Dragonsinger, fourth high lord of Mellvellon, was himself slain along with his eldest son and heir, Ruvien, and his army utterly shattered at the Battle of Mount Kallon. The Lords of Mellvellon passed over Saravael's youngest son Tinuvain and instead the Dragon Court elected the sorceress Lady Wenotah as their new leader.

The Lady Wenotah had shown herself to be a formidable military leader and had successfully pursued the campaigns in Mellthu that had led to the flourishing of Sein-Craban. However as the fifth high "lord" of Mellvellon she inherited a nation gripped by conflict. As she tried to muster a counter-offensive against the Typhonian hordes in the south of Curufinn the elven armies were ambushed by the mysterious daemons as Basslaer. Reports of the daemonic presence so close to their home territories was met with shock and fear at court as many of the Dragon Lords were anxious that the diabolical Typhus may have sealed a pact of alliance with the Daemons to further his war efforts.

That same year the High Elves found themselves manning the defences to the north as the cousins in Arnar pursued a policy of aggressive expansion. Having found their forest realm continually under assault the Wood Elf lords had elected to widen their sphere of influence in the hope that, by expanding their borders and creating new swathes of forest, their central settlements at the heart of their kingdom might be better concealed and protected from outsiders. So it was that in 272PC the High Elves were forced to defend themselves against the predations of the roaming Wood Elf warbands, fighting them to a stand-still at the Battle of Crocket's Peak. The Wood Elves withdrew back to the cloak of the forests of Arnar at the end of the summer, leaving the High Elf settlements untouched.

The Mellvellon colonies of northern Canabrin were not so fortunate. The following year the roving Ogre forces of Graag trespassed upon Elven soil during another of their campaigns against the Kaalroen Empire. The indignant elves sallied their armies once more, but the hunger was upon the Ogres and they were merciless in their assault. A number of farmsteads and estates were trampled beneath the iron boot of the Ogre warmachine as they brushed aside the elven defence forces. Sated, the Ogres moved on, once again turning their attentions north to the Chaos empire. So fell another army and Mellvellon found itself forced to further increase the citizen levy to bolster its military strength.

The Lady Wenotah faces war on all fronts. It is with some trepidation that she now turns to the fiery Lord Ilius to prosecute the war against the Skaven. He plans a great assault against the rat-men on their own soil, but will Mellvellon be able to raise the armies necessary to support this new campaign while the nation finds itself at the heart of the fight for dominance of Palurin?

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