Dragon War

The Dragon War
Time frame: -1780 to -1776 CR
Sides involved: Lom Shi'Un against Southern Dragon and Elves
Location: Giantdowns and over the Great Barrier Mountain range.

History

In -1787 in Lom Shi'Un the dragon emperor Velmissar was slain by Ye’linit Te, an assassin dedicated to Ba'al, who then seized the throne and the crown for himself. He was aided in his ascension by support from the military and by the use of dark magic. The purge of the Aedra's followers continued.

In -1780 Dragons allied with the Aedra and the sun elves amassed on the borders of Lom with the intention of rescuing the Aedra's surviving followers. They attempted to infiltrate the empire in secret, but the effects of the Curtain revealed their presence and the Lomish dragons moved to counter the incursion. A bloody battle ensued in the skies over the mountains and forests of Lom, with great bodies falling lifeless after clashing with mighty blows between heavens and earth. Seven southern dragons were vanquished, with the loss of only one Lomish dragon.

That battle was the opening to an almost entirely draconic war, which spilled back and forth over the Great Barrier Range, decimating the dragons population throughout the northern half of the continent. Dark magic was employed by the dominant mage classes of Lom, balancing the smaller numbers of Lomish dragons with devastating flying automata and horrible spells.

The war of attrition favored the more numerous southern dragons, however, who were also aided by their Elvish allies flying astride giant eagles and gryphons. Eventually the war began to turn, forcing the Lomish scientists of sorcery to develop more modern techniques as the irreplaceable automata and dragons were lost to the fighting.

In -1776 Sorcerers of Lilith, working with captured dragon eggs and fell magic, created a massive force of shock troops: the half-humanoid, half-draconic draconians. Intelligent, brutal, sadistic, and capable of flight and magic, the draconians were the key needed to tip the scales against the southern dragons and their magic-using allies.

This was not, however, the use to which they were put. During the ceremony of their unveiling, which the emperor, his generals, supporters, and command staff were invited to attend, the draconians were unleashed upon them. Every last member of the command staff was shredded before any could so much as cast a single defensive spell.

The moon elf Nenith Aein, High Priestess of Lilith, became empress. The Lomish dragons were recalled from battle, with a single emissary bearing the flag of parley sent to confer with the commanders of the southern forces. The mute messenger, borne upon an injured dragon, delivered only a single, simple message:

“Lom has been liberated. Her war with you is now over.”

Nothing more was stated or offered, and no counter-proposals were accepted or read. All southern emissaries dispatched to the Lomish capital were sent home unrequited, their missives unopened.

The purge of the Aedra's followers was suspended on the grounds that there were too few to continue wasting resources hunting and persecuting. Dragons flying north to rescue oppressed Aedran followers were allowed to do so, though with much verbal harassment.

Upon learning of the existence of the draconians, a third of the Lomish dragons revolted. They managed to slaughter half of the newly-created warriors and destroy much of the hatchery before they were driven from Lom and into exile.

The war Itself: Exact information is hard to come by. What has come down is many stories and legends. But the general character of the war seems to have been mostly aerial. Massive and spectacular air battles scattered all over the skies stand out strongly in most tales. But also more than a few Lutin tribes were dragged into the fight on either side.

Effects

The after effects of this war were long ranging. The death of so many dragons decimated their population and it took a centuries to recover and it never did go back to the prewar levels. The automaton loses were even great and the magic never fully recovered.

The Winner: Lillith. She gained complete control of the country. With the death or exile of all who might oppose her rule that left only her priests in power.

The Losers: The dragons. The northern dragons in particular took heavy losses. In a species where it took centuries to raise a child to adulthood these were losses that were never replaced. Worse was they lost control of a kingdom they had ruled for over a century. The survivors were forced to flee into hiding.

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