The Elf War is said to have lasted a hundred years. There is some truth to that, as ninety eight years passed between the official declaration of war and the official declaration of victory. From the viewpoint of most involved though, the war lasted only nine years. Nine brutal years. The first years were just posturing and politics on both sides, bloodless coups and minor skirmishes, with the occasional assassination.
It wasn't until the Drow attacked the Elvish city of Ramashaln that the war truly began. Ramshaln was located on the mainland, (area now known as Worden) which was then Elvish controlled lands. The Humans of the surrounding areas were the Horsemen, tribal and semi-nomadic. When the Drow took Ramashaln, the surviving Elves fled into the wild and were taken in by the Horsemen. Thus began the alliance of Men and Elves.
Many lands sent men to battle, especially once the Drow began making pacts with demons and dragons. Other beings took sides. The Drow found natural allies in goblins, kobolds, duegar, sahugin, dark creatures from frost to jungle. Of all beings of the world, only the gnomes managed to maintain neutrality, refusing to aid either side. Still, towards the end, the drow pressed even they.
The war was brutal. All the mainland Elvish cities were taken. Few though, were hit harder than the Horsemen. It seemed ever other of their men died in the fighting, and the herds of their magnificent horses became nothing more than food for dragons. Their women and children fled to Righnach and Sclavini, and were taken in even as more warriors from those lands came to the battle, to die on drow blades.
It was believed the war was lost, and many of the Elves began to retreat to their islands, to make a last stand there, trying to preserve what they had left. Then a halfling came to the camp of the Dragon Knights. He'd run his boots to nothing, and his feet to bloody shreds. Exhausted and wounded, he managed to give his message before he died. The location of the Drow Magi, the summoners of demons. No one ever learned the name of the halfling, but he turned the tide of the war.
While the Dragon Knights went for the Magi, the remaining armies prepared for a charge. They knew if the Dragon Knights failed at their near impossible task, the charge would fail and they would be slaughtered. The Horsemen, led by a group called the Silver Lances, led the charge. Even though their lands and people were decimated, the Horsemen were there until the end.
The Dragon Knights succeeded, and slew the Magi, and the summoned demons turned on their masters before being forced back to their home planes. The charge broke the Drow army, and sent them fleeing. The drow went underground.
The Elves returned to their islands. The once beautiful mainland cities were abandoned. After all the blood shed in their walls, the Elves did not have the heart to reclaim them. Some of the Horsemen settled in other lands, including Righnach and Sclavini (mostly the Bohdan region). Others chose to stay in the land they had fought for, and were joined by soldiers with no homes to return too. Sclavini and Righnach sent grain and livestock, seeds and farming implements. The Elves turned over the cities to the Horsemen.
The Elf War