Category: lore

“The Gifts of War” – A Poem by Cesario de Torium

Andrew Michael Miller1 Comment

Cesario de Torium, one of the great clerics at the turn of the first millennium in the Age of Kings, wrote this poem in response to what he considered a "tragic glorification of the terrors of war," after sentiment began to grow in his lifetime for a supposed "reconquista," or a reclamation of land within Caelon once belonging to the Torian Empire, from the Warathi conquerors who now inhabit it. Being old enough to have lived through the Northern Campaign that ended at the Battle of Gelgadongo, as well as being an ardent scholar of history, he sought to stymie sentiment for a new war as he feared it would only bring further destruction, death and decay throughout the land.

The Gifted Wars – 32 Years of Bitter Feuds (Part VIII)

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All across Caelon, regional governors who headed settlements in all of the reclaimed ancient cities began seceding against Torian rule. The Torian council, in desperation, in the year 68 A4, ordered the return of General Tonsior, perhaps the most well-known and highest feared master of the Gifts. Until that time, General Tonsior and the Great Torian Army had been assigned to quell the threats in the South, in the land now commonly known as the Southern Tribelands. The return of the general and his army would not only usher in the bloodiest major conflict of man-on-man warfare in the Age of Kings, it would also unexpectedly result in the eventual conquering of the White Walled City by the Warathi forces, and the ultimate defeat of the Torian Empire.

The Gifted Wars – 32 Years of Bitter Feuds (Part VII)

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The atmosphere in Caelon in the late 50s and the entire decade of the 60s A4 became more and more tense as the idea of there being an inherent right to ascend to royalty by possessing the Holy Blood of the First Son. After King Moro won his rite to secede through combat and Queen Casli claimed her queendom through diplomacy, the land was abuzz with the spark that would enflame the land in revolt against the strict rule of the White Walled City. While some governors would try to win their titles through combat, and be denied the opportunity, the majority of the regional leaders at this time wanted to talk their way into royal status the same as Queen Casli. All would fail to do so, leading to the bloodiest chapter of the Gifted Wars - called The Refusals.

The Gifted Wars – 32 Years of Bitter Feuds (Part VI)

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The peninsula of Caelon lit up with civil war as more and more of the early settlements fought for their independence from the rule of the Torian command. These lordships were largely successful following the unprecedented success of the newly formed Kingdom of Ismar and Caslin, under King Eldrio Moro. Through military might and super-human battle prowess, these descendants of the First Son began pressing claims of autonomy and largely finding success in the endeavor. While the main military force was tied up in the area now known as the Southern Tribelands combatting a threat to the peninsula, many holds faced minimal resistance from the Torians. While most of these newly proclaimed kingdoms were met by soldiers of the White Walled City at their doorstep, there was one hold that won their independence through wits alone. And the result was not a kingdom at all, but a queendom.

The Gifted Wars – 32 Years of Bitter Feuds (Part V)

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The unprecedented success of newly crowned King Eldrio Moro of Ismar in the year 54 A4 changed the political landscape of Caelon immediately. Word spread fast throughout the land that he had succeeded where Joske, lord of Iobina had failed, and had won sovereignty over the Torian rule. Although sentiment for independence had already grown among many of the lords of the land, the victory of King Moro served as a catalyst for the notion that by having blood of the First Son in their veins, that gave them the right to rule as kings. Wars on many fronts would soon be waged, an uncoordinated yet decisively effective turn of events that would prove impossible to stop. And so began the inevitable fall of the unified Torian Empire.