User:Ijkay/Sandbox

The Crown Wars were a series of elven wars spanning a period of 3,000 years. The great elven civilizations participated in five primary conflicts, leading to the decline of elven power in Faerûn. As some of the elvish realms lay great distances from each other, some of the Crown Wars overlapped each other in time.

=Timeline=

First Crown War
-12000 DR
 * Following centuries of diplomacy without result, the impatient and greedy rulers of Aryvandaar launch an attack on Miyeritar. They also apply political pressure on Shantel Othreier, demanding they join them or be attacked as well. This begins the first of the Crown Wars.

-11800 DR
 * Miyeritar is militarily occupied and annexed by Aryvandaar, though a number of clans and strongholds resist and continue to fight. Many elves of Illefarn, despite its officially-neutral stance, provide secret safe-havens for Miyeritaran refugees.

-11300 DR
 * Aryvandaar conquers Miyeritar, ending the first Crown War.

Second Crown War
-11700 DR
 * Responding to Aryvandaar's aggression, conflict grew heated once more as Ilythiir assaults any that support the northern gold elves. Orishaar, a near neighbor and major trading partner with Aryvandaar, suffers a harsh surprise attack and quickly falls.

-11600 DR
 * The Ilythiiri isolate Syòrpiir from its allies and destroy it with fire.

-11500 DR
 * Eiellûr and Thearnytaar ally against Ilythiir, for the Ilythiiri's practice of destruction by fire, which aggravates them more than the northern elves' bids for power. Eiellûr and Thearnytaar launch holding actions to stop the Ilythiiri from moving north.
 * The balor lord Wendonai is sent by Lloth to seduce a high Ilythiiri clan into her service, and the church of Lolth begins to rise in importance.

-11450 DR
 * The Sable Wars: Aided by a few allies from Keltormir and Shantel Othreier, Eiellûr and Thearnytaar invade Ilythiir, aiming to reform or conquer the dark elves before they destroy any more realms. Over half their forces are wiped out by the dark elves' corrupt magic.

-11400 DR
 * The Ilythiiri isolate Eiellûr from assistance and destroy it with fire. They are aided by treacherous green elves, who hope to restore peace by appeasing the Ilythiiri.
 * The betrayers of Eiellûr are rewarded by the Ilythiiri with a tract of jungle overlooking the River Talar, which will become known as the Misty Vale.

-11200 DR
 * The dark elves of Ilythiir turn savage and use enslaved monsters and undead to occupy the woods of Thearnytaar. Thearnytaar falls to their forces ending the Second Crown War. Ilythiir openly skirmishes with Keltormir along its southern and eastern borders.

Third Crown War
-10900 DR
 * Accords finally fail between Shantel Othreier and Aryvandaar, now known as the Vyshaantar Empire. The Vyshaan immediately go to war and invade.

-10700 DR
 * The Battle of the God's Theater is fought, one of the greatest and bloodiest battles of the Crown Wars. Over 70,000 elves die as an orc horde falls upon the battling armies of Aryvandaar and Shantel Othreier. Aryvandaar is victorious and occupies the northern half of Shantel Othreier.

-10600 DR
 * Shantel Othreier conquered by the Vyshaantar Empire of Aryvandaar after the mysterious death of Coronal Ynloeth. Guerrilla fighting and rebel mages arise in parts of Miyeritar and the newly conquered territories. Only Ardeep, a vassal realm of Shantel Othreier, does not fall to the Vyshaan.

-10500 DR
 * The Dark Disaster. Miyeritar is engulfed in killing storms, which reduce this entire forest and realm into barren wastelands in three months. While no proof could ever be found, many believe the High Mages of Aryvandaar inflicted the Dark Disaster on Miyeritar.
 * The elven realm of Ardeep is finally conquered by Aryvandaar. In the hundred years it takes the Vyshaan to bring this land under their hegemony, they slay two of its rulers, Ilitharath and his grandson Tarosspur.
 * Shock over the Dark Disaster established an uneasy four decades of peace, as nearly every elf of Faerûn shrank back in awe and horror from what havoc the Crown Wars wrought.

Fourth Crown War
c. -10450 DR
 * Start Of The Fourth Crown War. Ilythiir’s seething counter-attack to avenge Miyeritar sees their open use of the corrupt powers of Lolth, Ghaunadaur and other dark, evil gods for the first time.

-10300 DR
 * The elves of Keltormir, opposed on both sides by the Vyshaan of Aryvandaar and the dark elven clan Hune of Ilythiir, strategically withdraw from eastern Keltormir, holding their lines at Highlands’ Edge.

-10270 DR
 * The Stone And Claw Campaigns. The withdrawal of Keltormir’s forces to close and defend its own borders pitted forces of Aryvandaar and Ilythiir against each other. They soon closed ranks and fought incessantly for two centuries. Battles raged across the giant-infested mountains and wemic-claimed plains north of Keltormir.

-10110 DR
 * In opposition to the corrupt dark elves of Ilythiir and their continued destruction of the forested elven homelands by fire (an elven enemy of long-standing), over 1,000 priests and High Mages of Illefarn and other free areas spend decades in fervent prayer for salvation by Corellon Larethian and the Seldarine.

-10100 DR
 * Through enslaved dragons and other powers, the dark elves of Ilythiir engulf all of Shantel Othreier in flames, destroying over 70% of its trees over the course of 50 years.

-10000 DR
 * Descent Of The Drow. Corellon's magic, as directed through his priests and High Mages, transforms the dark elves, now only found in the form of the corrupt Ilythiiri, into the drow. Whether by magic or by weakness that banish them from the sunlit lands, all drow retreat within two months’ passing into the Underdark.
 * Elves are summoned by the Seldarine to the site that becomes Elven Court one month after the Descent of the Drow, to settle differences and restore the peace among the elves.

-9900 DR
 * Aryvandaar's covert persecution of High Mages and priests begins, as they attempt to destroy or control any who might somehow force their descent as they did the drow.
 * While not destroyed utterly, Illefarn & its colony in the Llewyrrwood is annexed by Aryvandaar as its nobility of priests and High Mages died under the persecution of the increasingly-crazed Coronal Giilvas Vyshaan. Many elves of both lands flee to the remnants of Shantel Othreier.

-9800 DR c. -9600 DR
 * The Vyshantaar Empire’s forces occupy all elven realms (save Keltormir) from the High Forest of Aryvandaar to the sweltering southern forests of Ilythiir. They begin the colonisation and settlement of Evermeet.
 * The rise of the first drow civilizations in the Underdark beneath southern Faerûn and their constant harassment of the Vyshantaar forces over the next five centuries help prevent Aryvandaar annexing Keltormir or any other lands.

Fifth Crown War

 * -9200 DR : The Fifth Crown War Begins.
 * The First Proclamation of Elven Court leads to the revolt of the nobles of Aryvandaar and the last Crown War begins. The Elven Court, the Seldarine priesthoods, and the long-hidden High Mages restore pockets of resistance and freedom across the entire Vyshantaar Empire, fragmenting the armies and nobles to limit their coordination.
 * The solar Malkizid abandons House Vyshaan and retreats to the lower planes.


 * -9000 DR : The Fifth Crown War Ends.
 * The Vyshaan are utterly defeated and Aryvandaar is dissolved. Much of the High Forest is abandoned for an age, leaving the forest open so the gods might restore its peace. The madness of the Vyshaan clan compelled even their most fervent followers to abandon them before all the elves lay dead at their hands. While the final fate of the Vyshaan elves is not recorded, most Tel'Quessir believe them dead and executed at the hands of Elven Court. Still, some rebellious elves across the centuries whisper tales of the four sons of Vyshaan who escaped to the west and to the stars to quietly marshal their strength and await such a time as they could return in glory to Faerûn.

Aftermath

 * Illefarn emerges intact from the Crown Wars and joins with the vassal realm of Ardeep now that Shantel Othreier is no more.
 * The Wandering Years of Elven Colonization Begin. Many elves begin migrating back to Elven Court in its eastern forest. Keltormir emerges intact from the Crown War.
 * The end of the Crown Wars brings the last of the great elven migrations into Serôs.
 * The drow overwhelm the dwarves of Bhaerynden and take the rift-city for their own, founding the kingdom of Telantiwar.