The War of the Eggs

The War of the Eggs is the near-comical name given to the forty years old bloody war between the Dwarves of Everpeak and Durdur and the Elves of Noldor. It is no doubt the bloodiest conflict to ever ravage the continent, taking place in the heart of the Noldorin Woods, and opposing two ancient allies.

Prelude and Causes
Before the time of Conn, the Elves of Noldor had taken to befriend the Dwarves of Everpeak. The alliance enriched both sides in immeasurable levels. The Dwarves enjoyed the Noldorin arts of magic, poetry and music whilst the latter learned to value Dwarven weaponry and alcohol.

However, in the year 670 of the Imperial Calendar, The Crown Prince Dwain Thaine, High King Throgar's firstborn son, gifted with the physical vigour, innate rulership and martial honour his warrior father hoped for, as did all of the Dunlain would be the object of humiliation that'll be the powder keg to the bloodiest conflict to shift the history of Hessos. Though a lover of the arts of music, poetry and nature, Dwain found himself roaming all of Hessos’ varying landscapes and a friend of the Noldorin Elves, whom he visited frequently to share their harmonious woods and the company of their mystique druids. The fair prince usually spent all of his springs in the woods of Noldor, only one day he returned, to the surprise of his kin, before his father and clan.

Outbreak
Ragged, bloodied, speechless and above all, beardless. Through the little words Dwain Thaine could mutter and signs he could mimic, the High King’s staunchest scholars and the Runescribe Order came up with one mutual and agreed-on conclusion. Dwain Thaine had been humiliated, his beard cut off and subject to vile demonic experiences and attempted inbreeding with wild beasts, one that saw him in the inside of an egg from which he barely escaped thanks to his natural constitution and ironfleshed-build.

The High King, valourously averting war and barely avoiding immediate violent retribution, called for the Elven Emissaries, from whom only one showed up. The latter, unarmed but seemingly overconfident and arrogant, denied all of this and simply claimed the Crown Prince had abused of the Noldorin woods’ mushrooms. Facing this another humiliation, the High King, in his wroth and fury, head-butted repeatedly the emissary against his own marble floor, so hard he wiped his inhumanely-beautiful face clean, so hard his brow bled for days that he refused to clean, making it a sign for all to see that the High King is bloody and ready to go to war to right the wrong dealt on all of his kin. Out of the Elven Emissary’s crushed head and emptied skull, he made an egg nest as his declaration of war. The Runescribe Order volunteered to deliver the message and out of the seven members who went for the Noldorin woods, none returned.

After mustering for no less than a year, the High King drew the Drakes of Durdur, his cousins the Emberbeards, the Ironhammers of Dakald and the Steelthorns of Dunhall to the greatest Dunlain Throng known to history to march on Noldor and right the wrong dealt to their kin. It is said Aiden Jernbeg, a distant Dwarven Royal and near-legendary blacksmith and warrior, single-handedly armed the Dwarven throng, earning him the nickname "the Black" as was his whole silhouette coming out of his workshop.

Due to the Elves' passivity and refusal to act, Bloodbrow sent scouts ahead to locate any Elven gathering outside of Noldor, only to find none. Only then the Dwarven Kings realised the fight should be led to the Noldorin Woods.

The High King soon mourned his firstborn Dwain Thaine, who succumbed to his many injuries. And on the foot of the Noldorin Woods, in what is know Blutiges Tor, Throgar Bloodbrow swore that he would exact his vengeance in the blood of the Elves and the fire to engulf their bewitching woods. With an infinitely strong zeal to avenge their injured pride and history, the Dwarves were not about to let their High King break his promise.

The Third Battle of Noldor
Elves and Dwarves fought bitterly in and outside of Noldor for dozens of years. The High King numerously attempted to infiltrate the woods but all in vain. Thousands littered the field in both sides and the massacre ensued until the High King, King Brok Drake, Aiden the Black and the Runescribe Order led by Grand Runescribe Snorri rallied their troops to face the High Elven Druids whom Throgar and Snorri slew in the dozens before being pushed back by what seemed to be hundreds of abominable monsters in the picture of men and beasts. It is then said in their retreat, the Dwarves and the High King himself were lost in the Noldorin maze for years to come, with frequent Elven assaults and skirmishes as well as traumatizing traps, beasts and magic to mark their souls for the rest of their lives. It is in that moment that Grand Runescribe Snorri as well as many prominent members of the ancient Dwarven battlemages and chroniclers Order went missing.

Being tired of slaughter and wishing to reduce his losses, High King Throgar ordered the Dwarves to retreat. For many months to come, the Elves pursued the Dunlain out of their sacred woods. However, seeking to avenge his distant cousin and best friend, Aiden Jernbeg, followed by warrior fanatics devoted to the God of War Grimnir, decided to stand and fight. When both sides, rivers of blood flowed and thousands each side perished until Avalloc, the Elven master swordsman commanding the main Elven forces was slain in single combat by Aiden. The Elves retreated to their woods, this time leaderless.

Aiden was crowned Champion of Grimnir and wearing Grimnir's Crest, continued razing his way through Noldor. The Dunlain refused to give up and the war became a stalemate, Noldor was unassailable but much of it was razed and destroyed as the conflict continued for a dozen years. In the year 710 AC of the Imperial Calendar, at the sixteenth and final assault on Noldor, for over three hundred days the Dunlain's engines of war razed and burned the Noldorin Woods. Eventually, the Noldorin were forced to confront the Dwarven lines, whom moved themselves through the burning forests, it's the Third Battle of Noldor. High King Throgar, Aiden as well as over a hundred of their finest warriors and a few Runescribes confronted the High Elven Druids, one of whom they call the "Keeper". The two met at the heart of the torched woods where they dueled for two nights, not disengaging for a second. When the Druids' magic began to dwindle and tire, Throgar broke the Keeper with the Bearded Hammer of Lain, his ancestor god, and cast him to his knees. As a final recompense and act of vengeance, it is said no High Elven druid survived the confrontation and the Ashen Crown, freshly forged on the brow of the Keeper, was taken by Throgar and the latter declared the war to be ended and forced the remaining Elven forces to surrender.

Aftermath
The war to follow left both races severely weakened; the High Elven Druids were slain by the High King, and the Ashen Crown, a prized Elven artefact freshly forged was taken from their sacred woods by the High King as recompense for the humiliation and devastation of his son and future High King, Dwain Thane. The Dwarves claim to this day that they won the war. However, the war cost both sides hundreds of thousands of lives along with powerful artefacts, mountains of treasure, and a powerful ally in each other. Neither side would ever reach such heights of greatness ever again. The Runescribes, the once ancient order reconciling both magic and steel in combat and hoarding the world’s knowledge, too saw their demise as hundreds of their finest members would fall or vanish during the War.

Though the Dwarves were originally victorious, the war left them dangerously weakened. With his son incapable and fallen to illness, High King Throgar Bloodbrow was left with no heir and even he, the proud ruler of the Dunlain, couldn’t recover from the war that saw thousands upon thousands of his kin fall in gory, bewitching and treacherous battlefields in and out of the Noldorin Woods. Once the throngs of the Dwarves returned to their mountain kingdoms in celebration of their victory, a great tragedy followed. The High King simply vanished one day, leaving his throne room as silent as a tomb, the Dwarves’ celebration was cut short and what was cheering became weeping for their absent High King. Where Throgar ruled all over the mountain realms as one single ruler, the cadet branch of his clan the Emberbeards would climb to the throne of Everpeak only by the agreement of all other Great Clans, whom themselves returned to their mountains to rule as semi-independent kings, mainly the Drakes of Durdur, the Ironhammers of Dakald and the now-deceased Steelthorns of Dunhall.