The War of the Towers, sometimes referred to as the Wolfsbrunn Wizard's War, was an arcane fueled war that was fought in Talvald. The war was fought by the Kingdom of Wolfsbrunn aided by the independent city state of Naldorec and the people of Entari against the Kordaasiz Tribe of the Singular Spirit.
Raising Defenses
During the first year of the war, both sides built simple encampments in the valley. Scattered small scale battles to claim or reclaim territory caused the battlefield and borders to change almost daily. During this time, the
Warmages of Wolfsbrunn from the
Himmelfort magically erected towers behind the front as a line of magical defense. From here, they could prepare and cast their spells to influence the war, but despite the efforts of the warmages, the tribe proved to be too powerful and were able to continue their conquest in the subsequent years of the war.
Conquest of the Towers
The first tower that was overtaken by the Tribe of the Singular Spirit was close to the
Thelian Mountains. Using the power of this structure to their own advantage, Kordaasiz sorcerers, warlocks and shamans found their abilities could now compete with those of the warmages of Wolfsbrunn. Thus began the true War of the Towers.
What followed was a slow war where both sides traded blows for years and years. More towers were built in the Talvald and over the decades many towers were lost, overtaken, traded and sometimes destroyed and rebuilt. This effort did not only cause loss of life, cost the kingdom of Wolfsbrunn a lot of resources and wealth as well. Slowly, the Kordaasi forces conquered the lands until they reached the place where the Kordaasiz people were slaughtered during the
Battle for the Talvald Valley. Over the course of a few days, a ceremony was held by the elders and shamans to send the spirits of those who perished there off to the afterlife.
At Peace
After this ceremony, the shamans of the Tribe of the Singular Spirit conferred with their ancestors in the afterlife. It is thought that these spirits taught the shamans of the tribe an incantation to end the war. A spell that caused the earth itself to destroy and swallow up the towers. On the first day of spring, the earth rumbled and groaned and one by one, each of the towers sank into the earth. Few warmages and soldiers were able to escape this destruction, as most were locked inside and sucked down into the earth with the stones and timber of the tower along with all the books, scrolls and magical artifacts within them. The chaos and disarray of the towers collapsing allowed the Tribe of the Singular Spirit to leave Wolfsbrunn and as they returned to Kordaasi, the individual tribes and clans disbanded and went back to their individual nomadic lives in the harsh lands of Kordaasi.
Fall-out
The warmages of Wolfsbrunn who managed to stay alive mostly disbanded or deserted from the kingdom. This would eventually lead to a severe lack of arcane knowledge and talent within the country, which in turn caused Wolfsbrunn to look for other ways to defend itself. The divinely gifted clerics and paladins of
The Three would eventually take the place of the warmages within the army of Wolfsbrunn. The Himmelfort became a millitary outpost over time as the few mages who still called it their home left to seek knowledge elsewhere or died of old age.
Valley of Ravage and Ruin
The lands were scarred by the arcane forces of the war, and to this day nature has not fully recovered from this traumatic event. The ruins of the towers and the lands where they stood are generally avoided by people not well versed in the ways of the arcane. Curses and wild magic still linger within the ruins and pose a danger to people who are not careful enough. There are some who still attempt to find artifacts and remnants of the war to use it for their own ends, but many return empty handed, maimed or not at all. It was in one of these ruins, where
Xantia Temper hid the
Stone of Restraint, which was later taken by
The Blood.
A nice little magic war, well written. Here's some of the feedback you wanted! :) To start with, I'll go over some broad strokes stuff that you could consider. Formatting So I do really like the quote at the beginning, but I would consider maybe putting it inside a quote box. It'll help it stand out and create some differences in texture/look in the article. Similarly, I would consider doing some small things with the formatting throughout the article to both help break it up from being just text, and creating more of a visual tempo. Maybe some quotes from personalities in the war commenting on something, or columns with art/text alternating. Having the aftermath at the bottom with its own header might also help. Something to consider :) Last of all, the side panel is pretty barren and it makes the article look uneven. You could either add the text after the side panel's height into the full width footer, or add stuff to it. There's plenty you could do there - context blocklink, interesting details on spells or tactics, etc Context At the start of the article, we're kind of thrown right into the action, with no real clue as to why the war is being fought, who the sides are, or what the goals are. This could be a really fun thing to expand on, and it will help readers get much more invested in what's going on. In the context, I might suggest talking about what happened in the Battle for Talvald Valley, so we as readers understand why it's important when it happens in the war, and gives it some more impact. Forces The article talks mainly about spellcasters, but I imagine other forces were used as well. What were those and how did they interact with all the crazy magic going around? Was it unusual to have this concentration of spell-power vs. regular troops, or is it more like RuneQuest where that's part of the pckage? Without more information, someone reading this might assume that all war fought in this setting mainly involves magic-users. Clarifications There are a few things that are a little unclear to me. From the sounds of it, the Kordaasiz were winning pretty handily - it's never really explained or elaborated how it went from a relative route into a grinding war of attrition. It could be an awesome fun place to add some spice to. :) Likewise, there's no indication that the tribe's spellcasters were inferior to the Warmages until they took the tower. That might also be a fun thing to focus on and detail. It's also not exactly clear to me what the towers are. Were they raised by magic or mundane means? Why are or how are mages able to be more powerful within them? This is a nitpick but is it really a cold war if they are constantly murdering each other to some degree? :D The war-ending spell seems pretty powerful but we're not given much information about it, not even a name. Is it rare to see magic of that potency? Was the enemy shocked and surprised to see that level of devastation and how did it affect them? Details Some questions that could serve as spring-points for some more writing here. :) I'd love to know more about some of the personalities in the conflict. The generals, the advisors, the politicians, the peacemakers who failed and the warmongers who beat the drum. I think it could inject a lot of life and personality, and help readers get more invested. What happened to the losers? What was the effect to them? There's a lot of meat on that bone, from deserters turned brigandes, to traitors who passed to the other side, to reforms and scars in the society from the power of magic being unleashed. A lot of fun things to think of there - especially given how it ended. Hope that helps :) Good work!
Creator of Araea, Megacorpolis, and many others.