The First Antinium War (also known as the First Incursion War) was a war in Izril between the invading Antinium and the defending Drakes and Humans.
Chronology[edit | edit source]
Departure from Rhir[edit | edit source]
Stalemated against their eternal foe, the Sleeping God of Rhir, the Antinium of Rhir decided to establish a base overseas to increase their strength.[1] To that end, thousands Antinium overran the armies of both the Blighted Kingdom and the Demon Kingdom to reach Rhir's shore, where they launched two hundred stolen ships.
The original goal was to sail to Terandria; however, they severely underestimated the difficulties that come with long-distance seafaring. Facing storms conjured by the [Mages] of Wistram, and Old Hungry, the largest Kraken in the seas,[2] the Antinium lost the majority of their number before making landfall on Izril. Ultimately, only four out of the original two hundred vessels reached the new continent.
Initial Assault[edit | edit source]
Much of the Antinium's resources and knowledges was lost during the journey. With only junior Queens and a few of the Centenium remaining, they were forced to adapt. For two years, they built up their forces, creating the Worker and Soldier forms from scratch (with the former being a copy of Galuc the Builder. During this time, there were some early sightings of Antinium, but eventually some Workers were seen and killed by adventurers. They fully revealed themselves in an all-out attack that destroyed fifteen villages and a town in a single night. Over thirty villages were attacked two nights later which signified the beginning of the war.[3]
The Antinium were able to take advantage of the fractious nature of Drakes and continue their assault across a massive scale on Izril. They rarely paused and were able to take over a large part of Izril in a month. They used strategies involving tunneling and overwhelming high-level combatants with thousands of Soldiers and Workers. Their assaults were quick and efficient which let them take over many cities and villages in rapid succession.
First Delays[edit | edit source]
The Antinium did run into two initial roadblocks. One came from the Walled Cities. The Antinium could not climb the walls of Zeres like they had with smaller cities and were forced to take on a more passive siege. They also had trouble dealing with the Gnolls of Izril whose Tribes were more inclined to band together. They fought in multiple costly battles against hundreds of unified Gnoll tribes which ultimately stopped the Antinium from making any true headway into the Gnollish Plains. Another unexpected loss for the Antinium came from [General] Sserys who decimated a large Antinium army sent against him at Shivering Falls Pass. This victory was a unifying moment for many Drakes and brought more armies under Sserys' banner, leading to the creation of the First Coalition Army of Liscor.
First Coalition Army of Liscor[edit | edit source]
The coalition army centered around the Liscorian Army and General Sserys was not quick to get moving. It took months to bring together every army from the Drake cities not being besieged and form a non-aggression pact with the collective Gnoll tribes. When they did form, they still had to fight defensively in order to protect the many Drake cities still being attacked. One such city was the city-state of Geir that managed to hold out in an impressive defensive feat using an ancient dungeon under the city as protection. They were able to survive due to the tenacity of a [Lieutenant] Zel Shivertail, as well as the courage from a young [Courier], Mihaela Godfrey, who managed to run a letter out of the city to inform General Sserys of the situation. Once the defenders counter-leveled enough to retake the fort above their city, General Sserys personally pincered the Antinium to stop their assault. The defenders of Geir had come out with over 40 people at level 30+ and Zel Shivertail himself had gone from a level 15 [Lieutenant] to a level 39 [General].
Assault on Liscor[edit | edit source]
Deciding to re-focus their assault, the Antinium forces made a drastic change and moved every available army towards the city of Liscor. They sent enough forces to occupy major players like General Shivertail and the Walled Cities, while Sserys was also held back by suicidal charges of Antinium who pinned his army against a mountain away from Liscor. Faced with overwhelming numbers, Liscor could not hold out long until unexpected reinforcements arrived in the form of an army ofHumans led by Magnolia Reinhart.[4] She was aided by the other forces of the Five Families, led by Fulviolo and Maviola El, Petria and Ulva Terland, and Linter and Dallien Veltras. Only House Wellfar refused to send aid to House Reinhart[5]
Aware of the incoming army of Humans, an Antinium force led by Devrkr and Xrn made their way through the High Passes to attack the north and strike the Human army from behind. However, they were stopped by Teriarch, who was inspired by Magnolia's charge.[6]
The War Continues[edit | edit source]
As the war went on, Magnolia Reinhart remained a key figure. But even with herself and the Drake [Generals], they were not able to win the war. Her quick action did allow the Drakes to break sieges on some of the Walled Cities, but eventually the battle lines stagnated once more and started favoring the Antinium, due to their rapid birth rate and willingness to sacrifice their own armies. General Sserys recommended the same strategy of sacrificing an army to take out an Antinium Queen for his own side, but the proposal was rejected. A new factor was the reveal of the Antinium's Prognugators, who acted as [Generals] on the field. While they resembled common Workers, the Prognugators possessed the prowess of Silver-ranked adventurers and could be resurrected after a certain number of times.
However, the tides would turned against the Antinium, as their crippling weakness to water was discovered. This information led to decimation of multiple antinium armies just by drowning them all. The landscape of the war changed, and the Drake and Human armies were able to carry this advantage all the way into a direct assault on the Antinium Hives in a matter of weeks.
Assault on the Hives[edit | edit source]
One of the Hive was completely flooded by the besieging Drake armies, drowning hundreds of thousands of Antinium and leaving only three Hives left. However, the sheer number of water spells permanently interfered with the weather, changing the land into a desolate wasteland for years to come
General Sserys personally led a new coalition army made up of the Walled Cities and Human forces. Dubbed the First Unified Army, they marched to attack the main Hive of the Grand Queen. On their way, they met Workers and Soldiers bearing white flags, sent by Grand Queen-a previously unknown position- who attempted to sue for peace, but was denied.
The First Unified Army surrounded the Hives and made camp in preparation for the attack. However, that night, the entire army was attacked and overwhelmed by new variations of Antinium, such as Flying and Twisted Antinium. The entire army was decimated, leaving no trace, except for Sserys' corpse, who was personally slained by Wrymvr and Xrn (though those details of his death were not known to the Drakes, who only found his corpse with a single stab wound to his chest, along with his journal which revealed the details of the attack). Zel Shivertail led a Second Unified Army to retrieve Sserys' corpse and this time when the Grand Queen sued for peace, the Drake and Human leaders agreed thus ending the First Antinium War.[4]
Aftermath[edit | edit source]
Both sides suffered heavily from the war. The biggest casualty from the Drakes was the loss of General Sserys, [The Spear of the Drakes]. The Antinium also incurred heavy losses, though. One hive was completely destroyed, and they lost multiple Centenium during the war. Even among the Centenium that survived, many had lost their original bodies on the way to Izril and thus lost much of their original power.
Timeline[edit | edit source]
- 5 B.F. - Antinium overwhelm Rhir and leave en masse
- 3 B.F. - Antinium are first spotted on the shores of Izril
- Spring, 3. B.F., 2 months later - Antinium assault the cities of Ys, Beresslars, and Washaven (War begins)
- One month later - Antinium continue their assault and have captured nearly 30% of Izril, they begin a siege of Zeres
- One month later - Over 20,000 elite Gnolls rout an army of 80,000 Antinium in a day
- General Sserys won in a battle at Shivering Falls Pass against 100,000+ Antinium
- One day later - The First Coalition Army of Liscor is first formed to launch an a counterattack against the besieging army at Zeres
- Months later - The First Coalition Army of Liscor is fully formed
- Zel Shivertail comes to prominence after beating the Antinium during their siege of Geir
- Antinium besiege Liscor and Magnolia Reinhart joins the war to put an end to it
- Nine months after the start of the war - Antinium's weakness to water is discovered
- Weeks later - General Sserys assaults the Antinium Hives
- 2-3 months later - General Sserys attacks the main Antinium Hive and perishes
- 24 days later - General Sserys' journal and corpse are found
- Shortly after - The Grand Queen sues for peace (War ends)