Fifth Void Invasion: Difference between revisions

For millennia, the Void Cycle played its role as the cleanser of the world. The [[Seraph]]'s remarkable civilization was annihilated in the [[First Void Invasion]], which was caused by their experimentation with [[Magic]] and other arts. The Void would continue to do this each time Aloria reached a certain threshold of Magic use and knowledge. The [[Elves]], successors to the slumbering [[Meraic]] (or Fourth Civilization), originally believed in the Cycle fervently; as such, the use of Magic was kept to the priesthood, which communed with nature and the [[Estelley]] gods. But as time went on, they deeply invested themselves in the use of Magic and some Elves ultimately plunged into communion with the Void. The power originally sought to use them as tools but ended up simply furthering their mortal agendas as a source of power when these Elves freed themselves from the Void’s control. However, these Elves came to see the Cycle as a necessary event, only this time they and their allies would survive because of their pacts and abilities with the Void to create a new and glorious [[Dread Empire]]. As a result, in the lead up to the Invasion, they aided in decentralizing the Allorn Empire and destroying heralds of Estel, who could sense what was to come. The worst case of this was the [[Night of the Weeping Stars]] when hundreds of leaders of the Estelley faith died, the vast majority of [[Va'sil Tree]]s were destroyed or killed as they tried to flee, and their followers were slaughtered by what were now formally the [[Kathar]]. The Empress could do nothing about the event, kept under the gilded lock and key of the Void Elves and their allies in the great capital city. Thus, the Empire was simply not prepared for what was to come and would soon fall because of this.

When the Void Invasion first began, it was contained. The [[Drovv]], who were devoted to fighting the [[Void]], managed to hold the tide off long enough to send messages of warning to [[Ithania]]. But, by the time the news reached the Empress, the Void was already rapidly establishing a foothold in the far north of Aloria. In response, the Empress broke from her confement, and called on her nobility to raise their armies and join her in a march north to defend the Empire. The Great March, as the Teledden call it, was massive; 300,000 troops of multiple servant [[Races]], alongside ceremonial orders of Imperial Lancers and more, all marching against the Void. The Great March, however, quickly devolved into sixteen separate marches; the forces were close together for their vast size but ununited due to political infighting within the Allorn nobility. When the forces got to central [[Westwynd]], two of the marching armies attacked each other, followed by a third attempting to keep the peace. The March then began again, but were forced a halt for several weeks when there was some sort of fight amidst the Imperial household. Two armies went on ahead, during which the surrounding countryside was largely destroyed by looting in an attempt to feed the March’s forces. Finally, near the end of the year, the March came to an end at a great and open plain in Ithania's north.

The full effect of the Fifth Void Invasion is virtually incalculable. The Allorn Empire, and the Altalar people as a whole, were no longer leaders of the world. The collapse of their Empire into squabbling states paved the way for the easy arrival of the [[Eronidas]] on [[Altaleï]]’s western shore, while also finally removing an oppressive foot from the backs of Ailor populations in the Regalian Archipelago and [[Ceardia]]. The collapse of the Empire also saw the freeing of millions of their slaves in the violent uprisings by Daendroque Ailor and Asha which created the dozen or so Daendroque states which now populate the far southeast of [[Westwynd]], along with the rebirth of the Asha identity and their own nations nearby. The event also birthed Races like the [[Sihndar]], who went to Drowda to continue the fight against the Void and were mutated by their experiences there. As for geography, the Wildering had transformed up to 90% of Altaleï, in some recent estimates, into dense forests, jungle, and underbrush which required exploration all over again. Across Aloria, seas would be tumultuous for the next decade, and even once they calmed, currents were often different and required recharting. There was also a great loss of life from the many massive environmental disasters, sections of continents falling into the sea, villages swallowed by the earth or buried in volcanic ash, while other areas sometimes rose to replace them or form new islands.