Country of Adaril
From Codex Vocrotha
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Country of Adaril established (1 - 523)
The establishment of the Country of Adaril, the Land of Plenty, begins the count of years in the Adaric Archipelagos. The Country of Adaril was a cooperative nation of Vasriel and Kâlindur, ruled by a Council which consisted of both races and formed in DR 1510, just prior to the Nightmare Imperium descending upon Dalkiar. The island of Adaril was beautiful, heavily forested and mineral-rich, especially near the dormant volcano, Uladír, and the prosperity of the place was shared amongst all the inhabitants, including small groups of Zephriel. The surrounding archipelagos was largely uninhabited, the exception being a few islands of tribal and largely primitive Humans and Gochin. Adaril followed a course of noninterference with those peoples, allowing them to grow naturally, and all prospered from the situation. Vasriel and Kâlindur alike pursued their passions, namely magic and minerals, and Adaril held enormous resources for both to explore.
Adaril established trade with other nations beyond the Archipelagos, it is said, nations which were not as knowledgeable in seamanship or magic but had resources in vast quantities. The names of these places have long been lost, however, and the sea beyond the Archipelagos extends landless beyond the horizon in all directions.
The Wraith-Queen appears (523)
Sadly, even among the elves, power does what it tends to, and Uldowyn, the High Wizard of the Vasriel, found lore that led her to the heart of Uladír and an ancient indestructible prison made entirely of adamantium. Using great magics to draw the prison from the lava, Uldowyn did not wait to bring the thing back to her Circle, instead believing her magics more than a match for whatever could be within.
Needless to say, she was mistaken, and her mistake is perhaps the greatest mistake of Adaric history. Imprisoned within the Adamant Prison was the being known as the Wraith-Queen, a potent master of Sorcery, and with all too much ease did she dominate and enslave Uldowyn. The Kâlindur, enraged by the audacity of the Vasriel wizard, refused at first to help with the "elven problem;" by the time it was clear that this problem was of a catastrophic magnitude, however, the Wraith-Queen had gained too much power to be resisted by normal means, and she had raised a great army of Gochin and Humans to do her bidding.
The Battles of Linderil and Kalek (524 - 525)
The threat of the Wraith-Queen, a threat which had momentarily been controllable, surged completely out of control. The Wraith-Queen's forces utterly overran Adaril, destroying the lands they passed over, and the cities of Linderil and Kalek, the Vasriel and Kâlindur strongholds, respectively, found themselves under siege. Not built to withstand a direct attack, Linderil fell almost immediately; simultaneously, the grand caverns of Kalek were felled by powerful magics, trapping or killing many of the Kâlindur population. The Wraith-Queen's victory on Adaril was lightning-fast and absolute; Adaril was no more, and Melikoth, The Ruined Land, stood in its place.
The Exodus (526)
Using the chaos and destruction as a kind of shield, some Vasriel and Kâlindur, along with a handful of Kâlindival and Zephriel, managed to secure a small fleet of barques and sail away from Melikoth without immediate reprisal from the Wraith-Queen. It is said that perhaps a thousand Kâlindur and Vasriel escaped the destruction of Melikoth, and only a hundred each of the Kâlindival and Zephriel sailed away with them.
Of the remainder, the vast majority were either slain outright or enslaved by the Wraith-Queen; many were tortured to death, and many were twisted into unholy servants of the Wraith-Queen. Some few served the Wraith-Queen willingly; Uldowyn, who had been wholly corrupted by the Wraith-Queen, stayed by her side, as did the Kâlindur warrior Korial and the Tenebriel assassin Calidir; one or the other could be seen leading the Wraith-Queen's armies over the course of the next several hundred years. Calidir and Uldowyn became the progenitors of the Tenebriel race, as the Wraith-Queen tampered with them to suit her needs. The Vasriel who managed to escaped renamed themselves the Solindriel, a testament to their escape to the lands of sun and life.
Kingdom of Thalim formed (623)
In order to fight the terror of the Wraith-Queen, the refugees from Adaril forwent their previous policy of non-intercession and began to interact with the Humans, educating, civilizing and organizing them, and encouraging them into the formation of nations and armies. Grudgingly, the Solindriel and Kâlindur agreed that all the human tribes must unite for the Wraith-Queen to be beaten, and the kingdom of Thalim, named for its first King, Thalimal, was established.
In order to compensate for the small numbers of the human population, slavery was established as a practice. Initially, slavery was implemented only with the Gochin, but it did not take too much time to expand to criminals, debtors, and descendants when the realization of the cheapness of slave labor became obvious. Not in a position to suggest otherwise, since many of their races were either enslaved or slain by the Wraith-Queen, the non-human advisers bit their tongues and accepted this practice in the name of necessity. In relatively short order, the human population flourished, and the adaptive humans took to magics and war making with unsettling quickness. The Kingdom of Thalim prepared for war, at the advice of their allies.
Battle of the Iron Teeth (650)
Using unknown magics and underwater allies, the Witch-Queen constructed a jagged wall of iron around the lands of Melikoth, just as the recently-finished navy of Thalim launched to the attack. Even though they were led by seasoned Solindriel captains, still more than eighty of the hundred-ship flotilla were sunk, either by the somewhat hidden edges of the Iron Teeth, or the siege engines and forces, led by Korial, stationed atop the Teeth. Only one ship managed to pass the Teeth; the rest, disheartened, retreated back to Thalim. History does not record what happened to that ship, christened Dauntless and captained by the Solind war leader, Velidil.
Battle of Thalim (667)
Emboldened by the easy defeat of the Thaliman navy, the Wraith-Queen sent forth a marauding navy of her own, consisting of over three hundred slave galleys, captained by Gochin and Tenebriel sailors. Island after island was lost to the slave fleet as the armies of the Wraith-Queen washed over the shores of Thaliman land, until the battle was brought to Thalim proper. The Kâlind- crafted city repulsed assault after assault, and a clever plan by Aldir, the Human war leader, allowed the decimation of the Wraith-Queen's forces by Kâlind know-how and Solind magics, and plain old Human perseverance. Skirmishes with remaining Gochin and Tenebriel forces continued over many years, but the forces were no longer coordinated and did little damage.
