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[Early War:]

The war will be split into several key phases.  Today, I'm going to share the "early phase" of the war.  While Caeluin has been at war with Nisyrra for generations, and Balkurn and Tharwain already have opened hostilities, our story begins with the simultaneous invasion of Tharwain by Nisyrra, and encroachment of the Varnost hordes in the east.

Things look pretty grim for Tharwain at the end of this phase, but fortunes are bound to change in the near future...

Early War:

Our story begins at a time when Balkurn and Tharwain are already at war.  Their battles are restricted to a region known as the Grey Plain.  It has a significant dwarven population, and the local lords have been left to corruption.  Balkurn has taken "liberation" of the region as a matter of pride, and the disorganized Tharwain forces seem to be only capable of slowing them down.

However, amid this battle, Nisyrra has suddenly declared war against Tharwain, invading much of their outlying western settlements.  Most of these regions have been deprived of Tharwain protection for generations, and are loosely aligned behind Caeluin.  Unable to defend themselves against this impending invasion, most settlements either surrendered outright, or fled to safer havens.  The Nisyrrans will soon open an offensive to sweep into Tharwain and break the defenders on every possible front; from the mountainous highlands loosely defended by Balkurn to the coastal borderlands of Tharwain.

In the east, there is a whisper of strange things in the east.  Already there are scouts and war parties skirmishing in these desolate lands, attacking anyone who seeks to make them home.  Tharwain has little - if any - defenses in this desolate land, leaving the locals to fend for themselves.  Balkurn has taken residence in some of these abandoned areas, and may well be on the front line of the impending assault.


Nisyrran Front
The early battles against Nisyrra were catastrophic defeats for Tharwain aligned forces.  Most regions and their defenders were simply annihilated.  However, two areas have managed to withstand the Nisyrran offensive.  The great plains and lowlying marshes have proven difficult to invade.  These regions are sparsely populated, and there are no maps or permeanent roads.  The people know the lay of the land and are usually aware of Nisyrran forces long before they approach.  Before the war, the region was loosely aligned behind Caeluin, but as the battles progress the region's populace operates in a supporting function to the Caeluites, which are at a permeanent state of war with Nisyrra.

Faced with a difficult task with little to gain, the Nisyrran forces mostly withdrewrom these regions, which quickly became a hotbed of Caeluin inspired resistance.  Raiders would disappear into these expanses after attacking Nisyrran supply lines.  The skirmishes in the region are still ongoing as of the end of the "early" phase of the war.

These successes were not to be repeated in other locations.  Faced with the unrelenting onslaught of Nisyrran soldiers, the outlying Tharwain defences fell easily.  It seemed as though a relatively small offensive force designed to merely probe the enemy's capabilities was going to secure the way for the secondary wave.  However, fortunately for the unprepared Tharwain forces, intervention came.

The dwarven offensive quickly broke the Nisyrran forces in the mountains, and combined with the difficulties maintaining supply routes near the plains and marshes, the Nisyrran forces quickly ran short on supplies and were forced to withdraw, giving time for the local fiefdoms of Tharwain to prepare their defences.  The imperial legions were busy elsewhere, and with no sign of aid from the king, the local lords deemed they would need to stand alone.

The string of battles that followed were some of the least organized in the entire war.  No one seemed to have control over the region, and more-over, no one seemed to be aligned.  The Tharwain forces made little distinction between dwarves, elves, and Caeluites who had entered the realms of their brethren which had come the battlefields.  In turn, the dwarves gave little heed to which kind of human they encountered. 

This chaos culminated in the battle of Ramican.  It became clear that Nisyrra was preparing for its full offensive, and the sheer magnitude of this force dwarfed what they had been fighting before by an insurmountable margin.  Understanding that forcing a wedge between the three main hosts of the Nisyrran force was critical to defeating them, the Balkurn dwarves and alliance of lords which formed the Tharwain defensive force moved simultaneously to strike at the elven rallying point in Ramican.

The Tharwain militias were forced to withdraw early in the battle, but their efforts caused critical delays in Nisyrran reinforcements to their battle with the Balkurn forces.  The Balkurn forces surrounded and destroyed the entire third host of Nisyrra before the first or second could respond to the battle.  The Balkurn forces withdrew shortly after, faced with the prospect of a pincer between the two remaining Nisyrran hosts.

Ramican was at best a phyrric victory against Nisyrra.  They had taken substantial losses - at least a third of their total deployed fighting strength - and their plans were in complete disarray.  However, the Nisyrrans held the battlefield at the end of the day, and their forces would soon be replenished and every man lost replaced twice over.  Understanding their foes were not to be taken lightly, Nisyrran commanders would only become more vicious.

Moreover, they had no intention of throwing their warriors against the hills, valleys, and fortifications held by the Tharwain and Balkurn forces.  They intended to encircle them, and pass them by to strike at the heartland of Tharwain directly and cripple their enemy in one stroke.  With the dwarves and men in fortified positions, and the Caeluites restricted to light skirmishing operations, it seemed there was no opposition to the Nisyrran offensive.


Tharwain's Internal Turmoil
Following the news of the Nisyrran invasion, the King of Tharwain immediately sought to end conflict with the dwarves, even if it may be capitulation of the Grey Plains to Balkurn.  The king became alarmed at the sheer speed of the Nisyrran offensive waves, and believed that on its own the Imperial Forces would merely be decimated in a battle against Nisyrra.  Tharwain required a unified army; anything less would be insufficiant.

The King began to implement reforms to further his own powers and ensure that all the lords and guilds answered to a chained hierarchy that lead to his authority.  These proclaimations were ill received by men who had become accustomed to independance from the throne.  Brooking no insurbordination, the king ordered his loyalist army to arrest any lords which disobeyed his words.  He could not afford such disobedience with threats from all directions.

The Harast province became a flash point for revolt against the king's new authoritarian policies.  A fearsome battle opened between the royalist Tharwain forces and the feudal Tharwain forces of these provinces.  All the while, the western provinces were begging for aid of any sort against the Nisyrran invasion.  The Battles of Harast ended in the defeat of the imperial legions, and the king was left a shallow mockery as his proclaimations lost most - if not all - authority.

Divided and leaderless, Tharwain was pressed to its darkest hour.


Coming of Varnost
The scouting parties ahead of the Varnost hordes met meager opposition in the eastern wastes, and most outlying communities were razed.  Responding quickly were some of the dislocated soldiers returning from the Grey Plains, giving Tharwain some presence in the region.  Although they managed to beat back the initial Varnost forces, this proved futile, as upon the horizon were tens of thousands of people - and hundreds of thousands if not millions in following. 

The flood of Varnost's horde overwhelmed all defending Tharwain forces, which quickly withdrew to their strongholds.  Balkurn forces became seperated from their supply lines.  These stranded forces found themselves struggling for survival in a land devoured by seemingly limitless hostiles.

Despite several attempts to stem the Varnost tides, they pushed deeper and deeper into Tharwain territory by sheer attrician.  The battle of Ferasse was the doom of General Vauckan.  This brilliant leader had seen to the organization of the Tharwain defences, and numerous successes against the disorderly Varnost forces.  Vauckan's death was largely the end of the Tharwain resistance which quickly decintigrated without his keen tactical sense.  With Balkurn withdrawing from the region, there was nothing standing in the way of the Varnost invasion of Tharwain.

The Ballathun peninsula alone withstood the Varnost invasion.  This ragged peninsula was abandoned by Tharwain when naval patrols in the region became cost prohibitive.  It quickly aligned behind Caeluin for protection when given the opportunity, and found more help than it could ever hope from Tharwain against the Varnost forces.  The incursions by Varnost were dispatched, and after several bloody battles it seemed they had stopped altogether.  The peninsula could not have withstood such assaults forever, but the fact that it was a dead end with no lands beyond may have been what turned the hordes away.


Other Events
Caeluin had been at a state of war with Nisyrra for nearly a century before the main conflicts emerged.  The Nisyrrans had never been able to gain naval supremecy in order to make a proper invasion of Caeluin's island holdings.  Combined with Caeluin's devious geurilla warfare, no conclusions ever were reached in these battles.  Even as Nisyrra launches new offensives, they continue their battles along the coastline, cautiously attempting to establish a foothold on some of the main Caeluin islands.

In the north, the Grey Plains proved to be a victory for Balkurn; the demoralized Tharwain forces quickly withdrew to other fronts which needed them more.  It was believed that the dwarves would stop when confronted with a river boundary.  However, unable to pass up opportunity, the dwarves took advantage of the poorly defended front and crossed this river.  Despite their own forces being cut to fill the lines in the other fronts, they had little difficulty in this region.

read it, but have nothing to add

This will be one of several rough outlines upon which we will build our campaigns.

Several things (just storyline stuff)

Good:
-A sense of desperation is clear. Tharwain's disorganization and the lightning fast assault of Nisyrra both lead to a feeling of complete hopelessness.
-The Monarchy is weak, rather than noble, like that in LOTR. Instead of the King being an infinitely benevolent ruler, his is self serving at best.
-Elves, at least, do not seem like Tolkein elves. Once again, they break from the "good vs. evil" model by virtue of their seemingly ruthless logic and rapid invasion. Also, judging by the expanse of their assault, the Nisyrrians are more numerous than their high fantasy relatives.

Bad:
-Tharwain doesn't feel like a good name for a nation, much less an empire. You can't call People of Tharwain "Tharwanians" it just doesn't work out, at least to my American ears. Tharwite is passable, but it still seems a bit jarring. Either way, Tharwain does appear to be the only "good" faction out there, and that's hardly true. It's more like Tharwain is the faction to which I am most sympathetic. If you think of other "nations of men" such as Gondor, Lordaeron, they have lovely dipthongs to our ear's enjoyment. Tharwain, on the other hand, is harsh, but not even villainous. Maybe I'm being too harsh, but this is just my opinion. Either way, Tharwain, from your various descriptions, smells strongly of "generic human nation that is modeled off of an old European counterpart, such as Old Britain." It should sound that way, too.
-I suspect that it's you building suspense or something, but it seems a little odd that all of a sudden a bunch of elves would launch an invasion. Seemingly appearing from nowhere, one wonders whether the nation of Tharwain was previously aware of Nisyrra's exsistance prior to their most unwelcome attack.
-An Empire, as far as I know, is ruled by an Emperor, not a King. Also, an Empire comprises multiple nations that have been absorbed into a larger one, somewhat like a Dynasty. A kingdom (which is the most accurate description) is a nation led by (guess what!) a King.

Mind you, I'm not necessarily an expert on English, making believable worlds, or anything else relating to this (highly interesting) article, I just thought I'd give you my (probably worthless) thoughts.

Tharwain doesn't feel like a good name for a nation, much less an empire. You can't call People of Tharwain "Tharwanians" it just doesn't work out, at least to my American ears. Tharwite is passable, but it still seems a bit jarring. Either way, Tharwain does appear to be the only "good" faction out there, and that's hardly true. It's more like Tharwain is the faction to which I am most sympathetic. If you think of other "nations of men" such as Gondor, Lordaeron, they have lovely dipthongs to our ear's enjoyment. Tharwain, on the other hand, is harsh, but not even villainous. Maybe I'm being too harsh, but this is just my opinion. Either way, Tharwain, from your various descriptions, smells strongly of "generic human nation that is modeled off of an old European counterpart, such as Old Britain." It should sound that way, too.

The fact that there is no good term for "people of Tharwain" has occurred to me, and I've been working on it.  For the time being, I've been calling them "people of Tharwain".

There really isn't supposed to be a "good" or "evil" faction.  Each one has understandable goals and aspirations (mind you, Nisyrra is a bit dogmatic, which can make them hard to get behind).  When I write a fiction, I have to totally get into the mindset of all my different characters, and understand how they view each other.  As a result, I cannot display one as good or evil, since I am balancing the perspective of both sides, which clearly do not view themselves as evil. 

I suspect that it's you building suspense or something, but it seems a little odd that all of a sudden a bunch of elves would launch an invasion. Seemingly appearing from nowhere, one wonders whether the nation of Tharwain was previously aware of Nisyrra's exsistance prior to their most unwelcome attack.

Tharwain, of course, was aware of Nisyrra.  There was a considerable stretch of "neutral" territory between them, and the outlying provinces of Tharwain were more or less autonomous.  Although they might be considered a part of the empire, they are only loosely aligned behind it in this age.

There may well have been warning signs that Nisyrra was going to attack, but it may well have been like a volcanic eruption.  People living under one often get so accustomed to false warnings that they ignore them when it's the real deal.

An Empire, as far as I know, is ruled by an Emperor, not a King. Also, an Empire comprises multiple nations that have been absorbed into a larger one, somewhat like a Dynasty. A kingdom (which is the most accurate description) is a nation led by (guess what!) a King.

Yeah, I'll stick with Kingdom and King from now on; I really shouldn't be using them interchangeably.

Good to have everything cleared up (to tell you the truth, I was a bit confusticated).

It's certainly clear that this is not a game where there are good guys and bad guys. This is a nice way to look at things, methinks.

And it doesn't have orcs Or does it

I'll leave that one open ended, so if we want to get creative later we can do so and add orc-like creatures.  However, orcs will not play any considerable part in the story.

Keep Orcs and relatives far away. They add a shade of black to a gray story. After all, a simple creature that is bent to the will of a certain individual is firmly set in one moral direction.

My thoughts exactly.  I don't see a need to declare that orcs don't exist in this setting, but I wouldn't make them play a prominent part.

Well they could exists, but not as their own faction. I would make them like animals or wildmen, living in herds, only to be a nuisance to passing intelligent beings.

I'm having a hard enough time trying to resolve some of the plot holes in my head to even consider the addition of orcs right now.


Plot holes are the primary reason why I haven't released any further scraps of story.  Until I get this figured out (and not many opportunities to even sit down and think with my current workload) I'm going to be careful about adding any more to the story.