Trees Of The Even Forests example essay topic

THE RIFT WARS Long before humans came to this part of the world, and elves made their homes in Caspia. Neither group bothered the other because they did not desire the lands of the other. After a time, however, their racial incompatibility began to wear on them. Since their basic attitudes and outlooks were so different, their infrequent encounters became less and less civil.

Eventually, their leaders forbade their subjects to have anything to do with the other race. Feelings of mistrust and dislike grew as the years passed, eventually blossoming into hatred. Often, the younger, more hotheaded and elves disobeyed the orders of their elders. Members of each race began to stage guerilla raids on the other. Finally, the elves and declared an all-out war. The elves, armed with powerful magic, reduced the fortresses of the to rubble.

Their skilled archers also decimated the offense in the forest. Defeat for the army seemed certain, but the were not to be easily beaten. Exploiting the blustery winds of the Rift, the lit and burned large tracts of woods. Either to avenge the burning forest or to escape the mounting flames, the elves poured out of the woods in droves. As they emerged from the flaming trees, half blinded by hot ash and choking smoke, the mowed them down. The blood of these two peoples ran thick in the Caspian River.

Meanwhile, the truly evil god Morgion with his orcs and goblins capitalized on a chance to wreak havoc on two of their most hated enemies. They began to covertly destroy the villages of both elves and, knowing that the feuding creatures would blame each other for these atrocities. The young, the old, the crippled, and the infirm of both races began to feel the bite of both lawful and chaotic blades. For a time, this ruse worked perfectly. The slaughter of the innocents served to inflame the passions of the combatants, and they fought all the more fiercely because of it. The elves and might well have exterminated one another, had not an even child escaped the carnage in one of the orc raids and told his rescuers of the monsters who were actually responsible.

Then the elves and met under a flag of truce, where they agreed to set aside their differences and deal with the common enemy. Their combined forces were mighty enough to crush the hordes of the evil Morgion. The goblins that remained alive fled into the Burning Hills, hid in the deepest holes they could find, and the orcs left Caspia altogether. Now the and elves, their populations equally ravaged, withdrew from the war-torn plains and went deep into the mountains and forests to heal their wounds. In time, the made a new home in the Far olas Hills while the elves moved to the southern portion of the Gaunt lin Forest. They actively avoided contact with all other races, except the half lings.

Through the years, kingdoms rose, and fell outside of Caspia, and refugees from the wars of succession came to the valley. Dispossessed knights, master thieves, powerful clerics, and assorted mages came to Caspia and found it to their liking. Several of them led followers here, and they built villages prospered under wise rule by their leaders while others failed miserably. A few made their livelihood by raiding the goods produced by the other villages. There were even those who negotiated with goblins and orcs. Then, a strange plague struck the valley.

It swept through the craggy fortresses of the, into the burrows of the half lings, and under the trees of the even forests. Despite the best efforts of healers from all of the races, much of the population of Caspia died and rotted away. Even more strangely, evil creatures were not affected by the epidemic; indeed, the disease seemed to make some of them stronger for a time. This led some to assume that Morgion, God of disease and decay, assisted the vile monsters in their cause, for they surely had the upper hand now. Once again, the and elves saved the good races of Caspia from total extinction. The greatest and even clerics gathered their spells and prayers, and they cast their wills into the preservation of all their allies.

Many of them, spent by this effort, slipped exhausted into death, but their magical and spiritual efforts finally triumphed, and the allies were able to hold off the onslaught of the monstrous god they called Morgion. The orcs and goblins were subsequently driven deep into the hiding places of Caspia, and relative peace finally descended upon the canyon. The and elves began to rebuild their shattered communities while the half lings invited settlers into the valley to repopulate their depleted numbers.