| The Great War | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Vital statistics | |
| Participants | Harvestar Family, Lucius Down, Bone Cousins, Disciples of Venu, The Lord of the Locusts, The Hooded One, Pawans, Rat Creatures, |
| Date | Unknown |
| Location | The Valley |
Thorn remembering the Great War
The Great War was a half-century long war between the people of the Valley and The Lord of the Locusts. The Great War was an era of rapid change and instability which claimed the lives of thousands and brought upon the end of the Old Kingdom, as well as the beginning of the new.
Cause[]
The War was fought over control of the Valley between the Rat Creatures and Human. It is unknown as to what caused the Rat Creatures to attack the humans, though it is believed it was orchestrated by the Lord of the Locusts to try and escape his imprisonment.
Ambush[]
The first battle that occurred during the Great War was an ambush laid by the Rat Creatures that occurred when Lucius Down marched the Royal Army into a trap. The battle was incredibly bloody and caused much doubt to fall on Lucius and even some soldiers to suspect him as a traitor.
The Nights of Lightning were fast, vicious attacks launched by the Rat Creatures. These attacks were incredibly brutal and caused massive amounts of destruction and resulted in the deaths of the entire royal family except Thorn and Rose.
Sacking of Atheia[]
The Rat Creatures managed to breach Atheia's walls, taking the village as well as the main courtyard, burning large sections of the city and destroying the royal palace. The King, Queen, Princess and Briar were able to escape using an ancient tunnel that led them to the Dragons Stair.
Hiding the Princess and Betrayal[]
The Royal Party at the Dragons Stair
The members of the Royal family were able to rendezvous with Rose, who took Thorn to Deren Gard and hid her with the Great Red Dragon. However, the Royal Party was betrayed by Briar and ambushed by a band of Rat Creatures led by Kingdok. The King killed Briar upon sensing her betrayal, but both him and the Queen were eaten alive by Kingdok before Rose could save them.
The Treaty[]
After the death of the King and the Queen, with the assistance of the Dragons, the Rat Creatures were forced out of the valley and a treaty was signed. The Rat Creatures agreed to leave the Valley, and the Valley people agreed to not rebuild the Kingdom. After this, Rose returned to Deren Gard and took Thorn to Barrelhaven and built a small farm.
The Hooded One[]
After an unknown period of time, the Hooded One sought out the Rat Creatures and Kingdok, bringing with him dreams and the locusts. He convinced Kingdok and the other Rat Creatures that they should disregard the treaty and began to serve as Kingdok's advisor, while slowly taking control of the Rat Creatures and turning Kingdok into his puppet through which he hoped to free the Lord of Locusts.
Breaking the Treaty[]
At some point, the Hooded One saw a vision of a creature called "bone", who would become involved in her plan to free the Lord of the Locusts. When Phoney Bone's campaign balloon floated into the valley, the Hooded One, apprehensive and jealous of the potential that Thorn presented, took the balloon to be an omen of great power and convinced herself that she could use him to free the Lord of Locusts. She even began to obsess over Phoney Bone, dubbing him "the one who bears the star". She told Kingdok that a great leader who could unite the valley was coming and ordered him to send troops to capture him. Kingdok assigned two border patrol officers to apprehend him. They failed to find him and instead came across Fone Bone and the Great Red Dragon. When they reported to the Hooded One, she deployed 1000 troops to the north as a decoy for the Dragon while sending another 1000 to capture Fone Bone. however, this plan failed and officially broke the Treaty.
Battle at Deren Gard[]
An unknown period of time after the signing of the treaty, a young commander of the Queen's Guard name Tarsil led an expedition to Deren Gard, the ancient burial grounds of the Dragons to kill them. After a short battle, Tarsil and his men were forced to retreat. However, the battle caused Tarsil to lose an arm and become horribly disfigured. It also deepened his hate for Dragons, something that would deeply affect Atheia later in the war. Tarsil established the Vedu, a group of soldiers who were like the Venu but disregarded the teachings of the Dragons and primarily focused on Venu. Tarsil began banning all Dragon lore removing it from the Vedu's beliefs and having all Dragon shrines destroyed.
Pawan Embargo[]
The corruption that was rampant within the Vedu, along with Tarsil's disregard for Dragon lore, most likely led to the detereoration of Atheian and Pawan relations. The Pawans regarded the Atheians as high and arrogant, starting an embargo and stopping trade between the Ancient Cities before declaring for the Lord of the Locusts. The embargo hit Atheia hard, causing Merchants throughout the city to lose money as well as cause food to be rationed and the Royal Treasury to be hid.
Invading the Valley[]
Shortly after breaking the Treaty, Rat Creatures and Pawan men invaded the valley, destroying farms and killing men and women. The attacks by the Rat Creatures while vicious were short lived as rumors of Kingdok's death caused much confusion through the ranks and allowed for soldiers and valley people to regroup at Old Man's Cave.
Slaughter at the River[]
Rat Creature killing Villagers
A few weeks later, Rat Creatures had almost completely surrounded Old Man's Cave. To prevent a siege, a mission was led by Lucius Down. A unit consisting of Veni-Yan and Villagers moved towards the river, the villagers dug in at the bank and provided a last line of defense while the Veni-Yan led by Captain Knott moved his men to keep the river. Lucius, Jonathan Oakes and several Venu were posted as scouts. However, Lucius was distracted by the Hooded One which took the face of young Briar, allowing for the Rat Creatures to sneak past them killing several Venu and Villagers as well as fatally injuring Jonathan Oaks. Thankfully, reinforcements arrived and saved the surviving unit and brought them back to safety, although their objective has been a failure.
Blood Moon Ritual[]
The Hooded One arrived to the eastern mountains to see the mighty Master of the Easter Border, Roque Ja. The Hooded One requested Roque Ja to fetch the bone creature Phoney Bone in order to free the Lord of the Locusts. At first, Roque Ja was skeptical in accepting the rogue stick-eater's offer since last time, Kingdok had made a fool out of the former. The Hooded One eventually was able to persuade the mighty lion, promising him complete sovereignty over the eastern mountains north of the old temple, as well as offering him an eighth of the rat creature's spoils. The Hooded One also promises Roque a full quarter of spoils if he could retrieve Thorn as well.
Roque Ja found Phoney Bone and Thorn as he promised and took the two to the part of the mountains where the Lord of the Locusts was still entombed. Fone Bone and Smiley went to that same part of the mountains to save their friends from peril, with Rose right behind them. When they got their, the Hooded One had tied Phoney to a rock and seemingly killed Thorn. Rose arrived and confronted the Hooded One, now knowing that the latter was her sister. Rose told Briar that what she's killed was the only chance she had of freeing her master. Both Kingdok and The Lord of the Locusts suddenly realized that Briar had recklessly ruined everything. The Lord of the Locusts decided to kill Briar by ending her immortality and trying to bind with Thorn, but Fone Bone stopped him from possessing her by putting a dragon necklace on her neck, saving Thorn's life.
Assault on Old Man's Cave[]
Battle at Old Man's Cave
Following the Slaughter at the River, Old Man's Cave was completely surrounded and preparations were made for battle. Following the botched releasing of the Lord of the Locusts, legions of Rat Creatures and Pawans descended on the old stronghold and the attack began. After the explosion of the mountain, the High Commander ordered a retreat into the shelter, considering the battle lost with the Lord of the Locusts' apparent appearance.
Journey Through the Ghost Circles[]
After the mountain exploded, only parts of the Locust were able to escape, forcing him to resurrect Briar to help him fully secure his release. Following the Locust's partial release, Ghost Circles plagued the valley, creating illusions and invisible portals leading only to death. At first, it seemed that the only survivors of the explosion were Rose, Thorn and the Bone Cousins. Rose decided to take Thorn to Atheia in order to reunite the old kingdom and the Bones tag along. The Harvestars and Bones managed to escape Briar's clutches and navigate their way through the ghost circles, thanks to Thorn. The Bones and Harvestars later went through the holy and forbidden place Tanen Gard, before successfully making it past the ghost circles.
Siege of Atheia[]
The Bones and Harvestars eventually found their way to the ancient kingdom of Atheia. Unfortunately, they immediately found out upon arrival how corrupt the city has become due to Tarsil's influence. Tarsil eventually arrested all of the Bone Cousins and Thorn for the crime of dragon worship. At the same time, Briar began her attack on Atheia with the rat creatures and even slayed the tyrant Tarsil in front of Atheia at the city gates. For the next few days, the armies of the Locusts laid siege to all of Atheia, concentrating their attacks on the gates while ghost circles surrounded the city. Halfway through the siege, the Lord of the Locusts was finally released in the form of Mim, who began marching on the Valley to destroy it. At the same time, Phoney Bone determined that the crown of horns was located in Tanen Gard, leading Thorn to seek it out in order to restore balance to the Dreaming.
Upon arrival, she was confronted by Kingdok, who attempted to prevent Thorn from passing, only to end up getting killed by Thorn. Meanwhile, the Hooded One staged an ambush on Rose and Phoney Bone, before engaging in a final duel with her sister. Before Briar could kill her sister, however, reinforcements from Old Man's Cave led by Lucius arrived, striking back against the Hooded One and her armies.
Restoring Balance[]
In Tanen Gard, Fone Bone and Bartleby, having followed Thorn to the sacred place, managed to rescue Thorn but where unable to get her into contact with the Crown of Horns. Upon realizing this, Fone Bone grabbed Thorn's hand to serve as a conduit from her piece of the Locust, before touching the Crown of Horns with static electricity. Instantly, the Lord of the Locusts was killed, with Briar incinerating in an instant. Upon the Lord of the Locusts' death, his army scattered, though it didn't stay that way for long. While the Locust may be gone, Mim was still a threat, and by that time had reached Atheia with the intention of destroying it.
In the caverns, Thorn and Fone Bone were forced to flee for their lives when the dragons discovered that their sacred burial grounds had been disturbed. Fortunately, the Great Red Dragon chose to save Thorn and Fone Bone, eventually escaping to the surface. It was at that moment that Mim made landfall in Atheia, at which point the dragons switched their targets to Mim. Ultimately, the dragons dragged Mim back underground to resume her position in the Dreaming, thereby concluding the battle, and with it the Great War itself.