Black Tide War

The Black Tide War was a very long war waged across Hells Womb, the Lands of Purity, and the Peal Sea. It lasted 39 years and was largely a war of life or death between the undead hordes of the Black Tide and the those living in the theaters of conflict. The main antagonist of this war were the forces of good under the Farinteen Alliance, and the forces of evil under the Black Tide of Thasmudyan. As a result of the large war area, other nations were drawn into the conflict or picked a side to help.

During this war, the lands of Hells Womb, Lands of Purity, and Grashakh were subjected to attacks by numerous undead, fiends, bandits, and evil forces. Two big areas that was were used to build Black Tide's undead armies was Ugidreth and Cerebrum. In the beginning, the Black Tide of Thasmudyan restrained those under their locale control from destabilizing the nearby empires of the Council of Bile, Paradomea, and the Orchish Empire. As their armies grew in power, the First Dead Council let their forces run amok.

The Black Tide relied heavily on recruiting mercenaries, bandits, and barbarians to bolster their ranks. On entering the Lands of Purity, the Black Tide recruited thousands of soldiers from Garormuk and later Theegans from the Northern Hordelands. The greatest strength of the Black Tide was in reviving the corpses of the battlefield as undead. Pinth Blackstrike said it best - "our troops fight twice".

While the Black Tide mobilizing their forces for an invasion of the Lands of Purity, Jairall went south to Ma'Ohari. There he established himself as chieftain over several large tribes of maleraunts. The undead king then sent his evil hordes against his birthplace, Ivory Ward. This colonial capital of the Ivory Asylum was captured on 6 Bloom 1465. The capture of this city became a thorn in the side of Ivory Asylum; causing a 50% drop in trade with Hells Womb that would last for most of the war.

While the other leaders of the Black Tide fought and ravaged the lands of Hells Womb and the Lands of Purity, the seas were contested with allies of those fighting on the land. The forces of the Kingdom of Bloodtusk and Ba'lith menaced the Pearl Sea and Sea of Mourning. These two evil empires helped make the Pearl Sea and the Sea of Mourning dangerous to travel for decades. The general lawlessness without Paradomea and Farinteen policing came about from their navies being pulled back on the defensive. This would prove to be a mistake, because the pirates of Buccaneer Archipelago were left near unchallenged for months at a time, and then it would be years at a time as the war progressed and into the Reign of the Black Tide that followed th war. Pirating groups, like the League of Gyalech, got their start from the chaotic times brought on by this war. The Black Tide was opposed on the seas by the powerful navies of Ivory Asylum, Farinteen and the then small navy of the Council of Bile. Paradomea, a major coastal power of Hells Womb, remained neutral, perhaps even benefiting the most by increasing their treasury many times over from war production.

The first city to fall to the Black Tide was Bathor (Year 1466). This attack on Bathor nearly led to a war with Paradomea. To prevent the outbreak of war, Black Tide's leaders secretly paid Paradomea 2,000,000 in gold and was required to give free passage to any Bathoreans that sought escape from the city and surrounding territory. Many Bathoreans perished in the siege, so less than 18,000 made their way south to Paradomea. The rest became a new crop of undead soldiers for the armies of the Black Tide.

In 1467, the Black Tide captured Scartaris. This strategic city enabled the Black Tide to procure the near endless supply of iron ore coming out of Mynzuth hills. This victory also resulted in a massive influx of mercenaries from the uncivilized lands east of Dargirth. In less than a year, more than 20,000 Graagvrii, hobgoblins, goblins, and other evil creatures were added to the ranks of the Black Tide.

In 1472, the Black Tide sent an army under Dax Jagg to capture Guthnimor. The purpose of this mission was to secure a more linear passage into the Lands of Purity. If successful, they could avoid fighting the Celebriäns. To reach Guthnimor, the Black Tide went by sea because the Council of Bile refused to offer passage through their territory. The mission is a failure when the dwarves of Guthnimor repelled the attacks of the Tharn-Mol.

The Orchish Empire allied with the Black Tide of Thasmudyan during the early period of this war. The threat posed by the combined might of these empires under the Eye-Skull Pact resulted in a number of double-dealings and other intrigues (c.f. Dras'ee's War). From 1475 to 1477, the two waged war on the Gimhak. The Orchish Empire attacked from the north, down the Sorrow Pass, while the Black Tide struck from the south. In 1477, Gimhak had lost all of her southern holdings. Two years of wars had swelled the Black Tide's undead soldiers to nearly 15,000, fives times what they had before becoming a party to the Gimhak War (1475 - 1503).

In 1479, forward units under General Garn capture Ebonstar. Garn took over the ruins and rebuilt the place, where it served as his headquarters until his demise.

In the Year 1481, two massive armies of evil and good fought down Khilag-Tarkin and across the Marrow Fields. The battle became known as the Battle of Breached Pass. It lasted six months. After the rout of the Farinteen armies, the Black Tide secured the only crossing point over the un-fordable Ithen.

In 1482, the Ghul Armada under Admiral Bloodtusk capture Raci-Tuc. The sailors and pirates of the city are pressed into naval service, and tens of thousands of others are sent north to the battlefields of Hells Womb and the Lands of Purity.

In 1483, the Black Tide paid the Har'kish nearly 1.5 million gold pieces to bombard Vraga Moltus and Voruner.

In 1484, Katrana hired ships out of Muzratân. Willing to work for anyone, but not participate in any fighting, Muzratân's ships transported her armies of undead south across the Galathien Sea. This part of the Lands of Purity is known as the Sylvan Kingdoms, long home to the Forstneblin, dwarves, and the wood elves. Katrana's invasion of this area opened another front in the Black Tide War, Dax's command pushing west, and Jairall patrolled the region's distant coasts. The first place to fall to Katrana's army was Elamir. Shortly thereafter, she used the awesome might of the Elder Orb of Embers to devastate the surrounding forests with volcanic activity. In ten years, the vast forests become lakes of magma, haunted with undead, and hunting grounds for giants and other marauding goblin-kind. In the same year, Farinteen loses Elgatâz to the Black Tide.

From 1485 to 1487, most of the Black Tide was engaged in the battles for Holy Sanctum. Much of the conflict occurred in the surrounding hills and plains. The most protracted battle of this period of the war was the Siege of Holy Sanctum. In the Sylvan Kingdoms, Katrana's army captured Voruner in the Year 1485.

In the Year 1486, the oldest and largest knightly order, the Lances of Merioss splinters into five factions. Various pious factions within the holy order accuse the defeats and setbacks of the Black Tide War on each other. The Black Tide takes advantage of this fragmentation and increases their offensive on the Farinteen Empire.

During the period 1499 to 1502, Katrana waged war against the dwarves of Maharâg. In 1502, after subduing the dwarves, Katrana changed them into duergar . She did this by using the Elder Orb of Embers to corrupt the Crown of Phlehorn. This now cursed crown was placed on every dwarf, transforming them from dwarves into duergar. These duergar pledged allegiance to Katrana. After the subjugation of Maharâg, Katrana established her base of military operations at Gûn.

Many more battles and sieges were fought in the Black Tide War. The war ended in the Year 1504 with the Siege of Vraga Moltus. In this battle, the crown city of the Farinteen Empire was attacked from the sea, air, land, and from underneath by the Uzurundabud. Nearly all the nobles, including King Farinteen and his entire bloodline were killed in the siege. The Farinteen Empire was vanquished. What followed was a brutal 42 year occupation of the Lands of Purity by the minions of the Black Tide of Thasmudyan.