The Lore: The Ascension War (Overview)
At the time of the campaign, the continent is still reeling from the effects of the Ascension War only a few years beforehand. Nearly all of the characters in this setting lived through the war, though some were more affected by it than others. The Curse itself began during the war, and almost certainly has its roots in the dark magic wrought during that period.
This is a basic overview of the parts of the war that most affect the central setting; more posts to come will elaborate on specific campaigns, battles, and participants.
An elven noble by the name of Raspult, a powerful sorcerer, came to prominence in the competitive, scheming court of the nation of Keva. The court had always been divided among various branches of the enormous royal family jockeying for power, and Raspult took advantage of the ongoing tumult. However, he wanted more than just a mortal throne.
Raspult’s intent was to place himself on the Empty Throne, installing himself in place of the dead king of the gods, Oberok. His initial support came from both his dark cult, and from nobles who were attempting to ride his coattails into power in the Kevan court. As his scheming grew into outright war, he relied more heavily on his dark powers, fiendish creatures, and on a mad cult of supporters who embroiled themselves in evil and violent magics.
As one might expect, Keva saw the worst of the fighting. However, the tyrant’s megalomaniacal ambitions meant that battlegrounds stretched from the far east of Keva, through Valdia, and all the way to Demionde in the west.
Valdia
Originally, other nations were not inclined to involve themselves in what seemed like a Kevan civil war, but as Raspult’s influence grew and his true plans began to reveal themselves, armies began to mobilize. The nation of Valdia looked to their Duke for official orders to arm up, to organize, and to move out.
And they waited.
No word came from the Duke’s palace, even as the urgency of a military response became impossible to ignore. Many of the more powerful nobles had also fallen silent, leaving the country without its commanders-in-chief. As a result, Valdian efforts to join the fight were late, unofficial, scattered, disorganized, and poorly supplied.
The people of the Greatwood soon realized that the capital, Valdsheart, and the surrounding area had become corrupted and impassable - the beginnings of the Curse, almost certainly centered on the Duke’s palace. No one knows what transpired there that could have wiped out the country’s leaders and made the capital the epicenter of the terrible corruption. The Curse has only grown more vicious over time, even after the war ended, and no expedition has ever reached the capital and successfully returned to tell the tale of what they found there.
The Orcs
Many of the classically evil and feared creatures of the world naturally flocked to Raspult’s service. However, the aspiring god made the fatal mistake of assuming the orcs would be among that number. Among the humanoid races, orcs were feared and assumed to be naturally evil and brutish. Raspult, an arrogant high elf, took this racist caricature as fact. He imperiously commanded all of Orc civilization to serve him, never even entertaining the thought that they might object. The Orcs, meanwhile, were busy minding their own business and having a complex and rich culture focused on devotion to their clans, their ancestors, and their homeland. They met Raspult’s demands with disbelief and absolute refusal.
Turns out dark sorcerers don’t like that.
In revenge for denying him, Raspult brought down terrible curses upon the Orc homeland, poisoning the central mountain of their territory and the five sacred rivers that flowed from it. With the ecologically vital rivers so corrupted, the Orc homeland was unable to sustain its people’s lives. The Orc clans became refugees, with both their physical sustenance and their deep spiritual connection to their land fatally disrupted.
The Orcs became a vital and dedicated ally in the fight against Raspult, utterly bent on defeating the one who had committed such a genocidal act against them. Despite the unease with which most humanoids still view orcs, most veterans of the Ascension War fought alongside orcs at least once, and are aware of their valor in battle and their deep losses. Most scholars agree that without the Orcs’ contributions, the war would have been lost.
The Deal
After the brutal war drew to a close, the ruling powers of the continent were faced with two issues: what to do with an entire country’s worth of orcish refugees, and what to do with a nation-sized forest that was becoming more cursed by the day. Unwilling to leave their valiant orcish allies in the dust, but equally unwilling to offer them sanctuary in their own nations, the various rulers of the continent decided to solve one problem with the other. The now-vacant title of Duke of Valdia was offered to the brave and charismatic orc leader named Shieldeater, and the Orcs were given free reign to settle in Valdia.
It wasn’t a great deal for the Orcs - the deal was clearly motivated in part by the other nation’s preference to send orcs instead of their own troops into the meat-grinder of the Cursewood - but it was something, and the newly-titled Duke Shieldeater led his warriors and the civilian orcs they protected into the Valdian territories.
Native Valdians have HIGHLY mixed feelings about this; fear and distrust of orcs has always been prevalent, and many locals see the orcs as foreign invaders taking over the country. Meanwhile, Duke Shieldeater sent expeditions of warriors into the heart of the wood to try to defeat the Curse, and when those ventures failed, he began a project to clear-cut areas of forest in the hope of preventing the spread of the curse and creating safe areas to live.