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- "No war has come close to the brutality and horror of this one. More than 2 million people were slaughtered by the Dark Lord Azugon and his corrupted dark forces. The world to this day is still affected by the dangers of the past war."
- ―About the war
The Great Purge or also known as The War That Changed the World was a massive war that took place between TA 473 - TA 483. It is the most brutal war in history as more than two million innocent people were slaughtered, as well as over 200,000 soldiers from all races. The war consisted of several battles fought across the lands of Amsnorth, and included many lords, nobles and high born beings that all fought to keep, or claim titles.
The War was started by the Dark Lord Azugon when he set out a quest to destroy the dragons, but it soon expanded as Azugon wanted more power. He took the war to King Nark III Heartan and lust to take over the throne. Houses: House Heartan,House Boulderrock, House Merryband and House Wolfsbane were all the main participants within the war, while the Wood-Elf Monarchy also entered weeks later, and theDwavern Domain shortly after.
The war has been told many times through history, with legions of books and poems been written to tell the events. The victory went to Azugon and hisArmy of Darkness, who nearly destroyed House Heartan, and enslaved theRaces of Amsnorth. Azugon took the throne, and declaired himself King of Amsnorth.
History[]
Background[]
Azugon, the Grand Wizard of the Order of Magical Beings, saw the dragons of Amsnorth a threat. He knew that he could not rise up against them by himself, so he informed his Council of his intentions. The council shunned him, calling his thoughts foolish. This angered Azugon greatly, and he began to plot against his own people. While dwelling within Dark Magic, something he had been learning for years, Azugon targeted each members of the Council, and murdered them. Using his magic, he absorbed their powers into his own, further increasing his power.
This act was at first oblivious to most, but it was not up until Azugon approached his friend and student, Moreusico, did his intentions finally be noticed. After a bloody battle, Azugon attacked his own people, killing all in his path. Moreusico managed to escape, with the help of Morganna, who destroyed the Academy of Magical Beings in the proccess. The Academy which was invented by the legendary Jafier Heartan was laid to rubble, with over 3,000 youngMagical Beings dying in the process.
Moreusico managed to flee to Gran Sarathal with few magical beings with him, where he informed King Nark III Heartan that a war was coming. The king raised his banners and summond all of his people to the capital where they decided on Azugon's fate. They eventually agreed that he must be stopped, and unleashed a bounty on his head.
Horror in one of the villages
However after many more dragons began to disappear, they all feared that his power was growing. More and more problems arised as attacks erupted around the villages, and many castles and forts were being burnt down by unknown forces.
The king was forced to send word to his friends, Melenki and the dwarves of the Dwavern Kingdom. Attacks had also been arising in these lands, with hundreds of innocent people being slaughtered. All the friends of the crown responded, and took up arms against the foes that have been striking their lands.
The War[]
The Hidden Force[]
The war begun around this time, as hundreds of goblins emerged from the shadows, led by a cloaked figure calling himself the Necromancer. Many battles took place most of which were small, taking place in small roads and villages.
Azugon sent forth legions of goblins, werewolves, ogres, trolls and numerous dark creatures forth. The roads were considered unsafe, and a curfew was ellected by the King. No one was allowed out of their houses by dusk, and most of the cities, villages and other structures were shut down and locked.
King Nark III ordered for many catapults, carts, and war towers to be built. The lands around the West, North and East were laced in oil and much of the wilds were turned into swamps. Towers and forts were set up around these oiled areas, were arches with fire-arrows would prepare to set the ground ablaze at a sudden appearance of the Army of Darkness.
The Battle of the Dragons[]
The Battle of the Dragons was the first major battle to take place. It first begun in the West, where thousands of ships landed close to the Shardlake. Hundreds of goblins and spawn left the ships, led by the Necromancer, Ezgoth. They set horror on the villages and towns around the area, completely bunring down Ungathar.
As the army marched forwards, many saw it heading towards the capital, and informed the King. Nark III sent out over 5,000 men to try and defeat the army. The human army was then approched by a large dragon, which presented itself for aid.
The army led by Ezgoth arrived hours later, and it was reaching well over 25,000 strong. The battle was brutal, and the humans spent most of their time trying to flank Ezgoth's forces. Arches were placed around the battlefield, foot soldiers hid behind forts and barracks, waiting.
The dragon flew over the battle unleashing fire upon them, while this happened the arches shot the ones who attempted to flee in freight. The army that came close to the barracks were killed by the soldiers. However the dragon was then killed when Ezgoth fired a spell that took it down.
The humans fell quickly after as they had no defense. All 5,000 were killed, making it one of the deadliest battles in the war. The West quickly fell after then, with villages: Redtown, Rivertown and eventually several weeks later, the cith Phylon.
The World in Chaos[]
After the West was beginning to fall, events started to arise within the East, causing people to leave their homes for safety. Hundreds of Hauket were scattered across the Northern Territories, with many rushing into nearby taverns and taking control of them. This caused Nark III Heartan to sent out his agents to try and form an alliance with the hauket.
The alliance was never made as the agents were killed on the road. Nark III attempted many times to form a friendship with the hauket, but such things were rare as they were hunted for sport. Orcs also became more violent towards the other races as they too were forced to move.
Rabid Orcs[]
The events of the war caused the orcs, very reknowed warriors to move their clans from the East across into the North and eventually across the seas. This was believed to save their people as Azugon was rumoured to want their aid in the war.
Orcs causing havoc
Because the orcs were never welcome within any civilization, they had to take their saftey by force. They attacked and invaded hundreds of places, murdering people to get it. This event led up to the Beheading of Theethus Yagarden. The beheading sparked outrage among the people of Amsnorth who demanded the orcs be brought to justice for the savage murder.
King Nark III was too preoccupied to dive into such matters, and ignored the orcs and the attack. Because Theethus was such a respected Holey One, many religious beings led a group of 'Anti Orcs' events that included burning, hanging and castrating orcs.
The orc responded to this by killing another noble, and Martha Heartan, the daughter to Nark III. The death of Martha caused Nark to attack the orcs, sending over 1,000 soldiers to route them out of the North. During this attempt, Gran Sarathal's defences were weakened. The attack was successful, with over 20 orcs dying, and the overrun of their people. It was believed that this would have caused the orcs to side with Azugon, but no such things happened.
Battle of the Dwarves[]
Around 9,141 BPD Azugon appeared back into public sight when he attacked Golden Halls within the Dwavern Kingdom. This seige which lasted four days never reached Gran Sarathal or the rest of the Kingdom as all ravens were killed, all farms, forts and castles around the area were attacked quietly.
The defences quickly fell when Azugon melted away the Golden Gates, and the Army of Darkness plunged into the city. Over 30,000 people were slaughtered during this attack, and the soldies stuggled to hold off the forces that never stopped.
Lord Raglin Boulderrock called his forces to back down as over 100,000 goblins appeared in the city.
Raglin Boulderrock lies dead
Azugon accepted the surrender of the Lord, and with that he forced the city into slavery and fear. He then demostrateds his superme power when he brought the 30,000 dead, along with the soldiers back to life as the souless Spawn.
Raglin shortly commited suicide by poisoning himself, as well as his wife and children, writting a note of rage towardsNark III Heartan for not being by their side. Even though their main stronghold was taken, the dwarves were not yet defeated, as thousands of them from villages and other places migrated onto smuggler ships and sailed for the main lands, joining the King.
Battle of Dragon Harbour[]
When Azugon learned of the escaping dwarves he sent his ships led by Victor XIII Valash, a vampire war lord, and Azugon's loyal general. The dwarves known for having thousands of ships, both battle and trade were waiting on the attack.
Over 8,000 ships carrying 200 people per ship were being escourted across the Black Sea, while a further 5,000 remained behind to battle Victor as he launched a sea battle against them. The battle was bloody, with a huge thunderstorm arrived, causing ships to crash into rocks, drowing many people. Fevers and colds caught onto people, and some died without even being touched by a sword, both evil and good. Many people believed that it was the gods that caused such thunderstorms, while others named Azugon the reason. Such proof has never been said.
The battle lasted one day, with the dwarves coming out victorious, even though they lost over 300 ships. The dwarves never planned the battle to be apart of the war, but rather a diversion to allow the prisoners to escape the Kingdom and into the main lands.
Other battles[]
Many more battles were fought continuously across Amsnorth with elves, dwarves, humans, trolls. werewolves, dark spirtis, screechers, goblins, spawn, few magical beings, little dragons, leavons and vampires all fighting for control and advantage.
The battles fought have all been major and minor, with some being in favour of Azugon and others in King Nark III Heartan. One of the battles named, Battle of Wind saw about the end of the dragons, as they have never been seen since that day, and they were eventually named extinct shortly after.
Nark III and Moreusico began to plan ahead as cities fell, the wizard believed that Azugon was intending to leave the capital until last, as he knew it would be the hardest to take over. The king prepared his defences, completely ignoring the rest of the issues outside the city.
This caused riots as many familes informed the king that they had relatives outside. The king told his people of his intentions, but this did not sway them. Starvation happened within days, as little food was getting inside the city, and soldiers began to leave as they were not getting paid enough gold to risk their lives.
Battle of Gran Sarathal[]
The major event of the war took place on TA 475 a seige that lasted three weeks. The attack first began with a lone human man been sent into the city. The man appeared sick and bloated, and he begged for help. Suddenly the man exploded into dark energy, killing nearly eight people, and causing several small houses to go up into flames.
This attack caused the city to move into action, and hours later an army of over 100,000 arrived. Nark III led the defence himself, calling archers and catapults into action. They fired for hours, smashing the front lines of the Army of Darkness. Ezgoth led the first assult, sending goblins armoured head to toe in strong steel armour, preventing arrows from piercing the steel.
They bashed against the gates, while another force attacked from the north, using ropes to climb the walls. Screechers were sent in to attract the attention of the archers, and
Second day of attack
other soldiers who would spot the surprising attack. However Moreusico sensed this, and informed the city guard. They managed to hold the attack off on both ends, until the Army of Darkness began to retreat.
The second day was worse, as Nark III was starting to believe his soldiers were giving up hope. Ezgoth attacked with such power that the entire western wall begun to collapse. The necromancer, summoned a wave of dark smoke above the city, causing people within the walls to scream in rage, and turning them against each other. Nark who knew Moreusico would be able to repel the magical horror, sent people to find him. However before Moreusico could arrive, most of Nark's own people were turning against him. Nark was stabbed through the stomach, and wounded greatly.
Moreusico managed to destory the dark magic conjured by his former student, and ordered his magical beings to take Nark into the palace to be healed. Moreusico then after making them see their senses, led the defence himself. He managed to hold them off better than Nark, and sent out over 40,000 men using the underground tunnels beneath the city.
The forces engaged Ezgoth, and a huge battle took place outside the city. Moreusico used magic to conjure a magical shield around the palace, preventing every screecher from entering through the windows. This gave the wizard enough time to conjure large magical wards that battled with the screechers.
Days later, with the Army fading back, Azugon finally arrived. The dark lord entered the battle, showing off his newly powerful magic. Also at his back was a further 50,000. The assult on the capital was horrifing, with Nark III dying of his wounds within the palace, and the magical beings unable to heal him.
Shortly later, Azugon transformed into a huge dragon and flew into the air, lighting the battlefield in flames,
Azugon in his dragon form attacking the city
killing both his foe and allies. He then hovered above the city, destroying the gates, houses and streets, burning innocents and soldiers alike. The shield that Moreusico conjured over the palace prevented the dark lord from destroyed it, and Azugon targeted the wizard.
A battle emerged between the two legendary beings. However Moreusico was unable to defeat him in combat, and was forced to flee the city. This act caused the invasion to end quickly, with the shield gone, the Army of Darkness flooted into the city, killing all in their way. Nark III Heartan, despite being weak and wounded, fought many while his family escaped, giving the sword Dragonheart to them. He was overrun and killed shortly later.
The city then fell, with everyone surrendering to the might of Azugon. The dark lord then sat on the Golden Throne and declaired himself the new King of Amsnorth.
Taking over Amsnorth[]
The attack on the capital was not the end of the war, as Azugon turned his gaze to the other races. He first tried to attack the orcs, but his armies could not catch nor beat them in close combat, so he left them for the time being and attacked the elves and dwarves.
Melenki fearing for his people, took them away from Greatwood Forest as it was very close to Gran Sarathal. The elf king fought his way across the West and into the North where his whereabouts eventually became unknown, but it has been hinted that he met up with the Heartans that fled the city.
It was not long before the war ended, with many more battles being fought. All the races fell, and the cities were taken over under new leadership. Chaos erupted, slavery was invented, and more and more deaths arrived. Azugon sat on the throne without a single care or remorse.
Aftermath[]
There were many riots and outbreaks, but these did not last long as the leaders were killed quickly. The Dark Lord entrusted most of his efforts to his personal slave and most obedient friend, Ezgoth. Whom was elected the main general of his armies.
The races suffered greatly, with the hauket being forced into almost constend torment. No dragon was ever seen, with the execption of Azugon. All the beauty left the world, and soon forests were set on fire, causing ash to fill the skies in clouds. The world has been described as being in an almost constent darkness, with the sun being hidden behind shadows.
Legacy[]
The war is named the most brutal and bloody event in history, with the highest death count of any war. It took place across all the lands, making it the second war to do so, behind the War of Kings. It saw about the destruction of the dragons, which were not seen for over 9 thousands years.
The Great Purge has been told many times, with Azugon being mentioned many times, however over time his power became mythical.