The Silver War
Overview
Status: Concluded
The Silver War was the first major conflict to involve both the Isles and the Twin Crescents. It began as a territorial dispute between Aldemere and Arcadia over the Bay of Beruna and ended with Arcadia victorious.
The war's legacy reinforced the status quo of the Isles' political landscape, and established the Vestian Empire as a power player beyond the Twin Crescents.
Causes
For generations, the Bay of Beruna had been tribal territory. Beruna's people considered it ancestral ground. Arcadia, which shares deep cultural roots with Beruna, had long acted as its informal protector.
Queen Giselle of Aldemere, operating in concert with Regent Aldous, installed an Orosian duke in the Bay. The move was made because the Bay held substantial oil reserves and rumors of frost giant treasures buried beneath its ice. Aldemere and the then-orcish-occupied country of Oros stood to profit enormously from controlling it.
King Lucio Rex of Arcadia viewed the installation as a direct provocation. He sent his armies across the ice bridge into Beruna to defend it.
The War
Aldemere and Oros fought together under an arrangement brokered by Regent Aldous, who pressed Queen Giselle to offer citizenship to all orcs who were raiding and settling in Oros if they fought in the Silver War. The Orcish Warlords agreed and sent their warriors north to Beruna to claim it for the corrupt Queen and Regent.
Oros and Aldemere's combined forces outnumbered Arcadia's considerably, and for a time the war ground slowly in their favor. The tide turned when the Twin Crescents made contact with the Isles for the first time. An adventurer from Vestia named Eragon Amberleaf shipwrecked on Arcadia's shores. Through him, Arcadia made contact with the Vestian Empire. Imperator Ahellion Dawnwalker, recognizing the strategic value of an alliance with Arcadia, pledged the full support of the Vestian Navy.
With the Vestian Navy's help, Arcadia was at last capable of ferrying its troops directly to the Bay of Beruna and sieging the Duke's encampment. Arcadia's most decisive blow came from an unexpected source. Kartha Raj, a rakashan operating in Arcadia, deployed a powerful relic called the Silver Hand against Strom's forces. Orcs and human soldiers died in droves. With their military strength shattered, Oros and Aldemere's ability to sustain the war collapsed.
Aftermath
Arcadia won. The Bay of Beruna's dukedom was dissolved and it returned to tribal hands. Aldemere and Oros' forces were badly depleted and their political credibility damaged. Orcs were granted citizenship for their services, and continued to ravage Oros. A short time after the Silver War resolved, the last settlement that remained under true Orosian control was Holmgarde. Holmgarde was sacked by orcs, and its leader, a man named Vidar Stromvald, was wounded and taken north by his soldiers.
The Vestian Empire's intervention announced its presence in the Isles decisively. The alliance it formed with Arcadia during the war quickly expanded into a broader relationship with the Azure Empire. Veladriel's missionaries followed the navy's ships and began spreading Verunism to new shores.
The Silver Hand's use by Kartha Raj drew the attention of the spirit Hushano, Tiger of the World Spine, who grew increasingly concerned about powerful relics falling into dangerous hands. Kartha Raj's operations were ultimately disturbed in Okuna by a small group of champions.
Meanwhile, the war's losses in Oros allowed orcs to entrench themselves in the kingdom. Vidar Stromvald would be their eventual salvation. His journey took him all the way to Anash'col, where he recruited ten thousand men from the Shrine of Hejong who were long-lost ancestors of Oros. Vidar returned with his army and waged war against the orcs until he'd driven them all but out of the country. Oros was renamed Strom in his honor, and he broke ties with Aldemere.
In Aldemere, this crushing defeat hardened anti-Vestian sentiment at court. The Dawnwalker name remains unpopular in Ardveld to this day.
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