Winterheart
Winterheart was the capital city for the Dark Elves before it was partially destroyed during the Winterheart Massacre. The only path to the city was the Path of Stars, a mountain pass lit at night by a clever series of enchanted mirrors that collected and reflected moon and starlight. The Path of Stars was eight miles long and nearly as wide, with Winterheart as its crown.
Winterheart was once the most influential and cosmopolitan of all dark elf cities. Ruled by five noble clans, it crouched at the center of a web of alliances and rivalries, hidden plots, and ancient traditions. Winterheart's influence reached through an untold number of tunnels and caverns beneath the world, and on its craggy surface. Winterheart’s inhabitants were nocturnal.
The City's Status Today
After the Winterheart Massacre and the religious schism that split Dark Elves and Star Elves apart, Dark Elves fled underground. A small population of Star Elves stayed within the remains of Winterheart. As stewards of the city, these Star Elves now preserve Winterheart as a national heritage site and keep a watchful eye on entrances to the the Dark Below. The Star Elf capital city has moved to Buvalti.
The Winterheart Massacre
The Winterheart Massacre occurred in AL Year 700. The Dark Elves underwent a religious schism when two mortal heroes, Kallix Erendwain and Jard Stonebrook, brought evidence to the Dark Elves that Seluna and Vandun were not allies. As a result, the clan-based leadership of Winterheart splintered. Clan Uri'pe and Clan Toroth rallied against Clans Erendwain, Svalbren, and Vosk. Kallix and Jard, Chosen champions of Seluna, led efforts to try and re-unify the clans, but were ineffective. The Confederacy got involved and purged the city of Vandun's worshippers.
Timeline: A summary of the Winterheart Massacre Campaign Arc
A Prophecy From the Gods: Jard Stonebrook and Kallix Erendwain are Chosen by Seluna to represent her wishes to the Dark Elves. At this time, Star Elves did not exist, and were considered a part of the Dark Elf civilization.
Kallix arrives in Winterheart with Jard, and the clan Knezi (chieftains) Zekhan Erendwain, Ravka Vosk, and Tristela Svalbren meet with them. Prince Asgarion of the Sun Elves has arrived offering a pact of nonaggression, and is kept jailed on Erendwain property. Meanwhile, Markus Thrain (an ambassador of humankind) is being held by Ravka Vosk. Markus is offering a potential alliance and seat on the Confederacy for Dark Elves in order to gain their military support to face Hellan’s imminent threat: the Orcish Warlords, who are rallying to attack the southern border of Hellan.
The Convergence of Clans: A meeting of Winterheart's leading clans is called. Kallix presents her prophecy stone to the Knezi. It shows Vandun’s vision for a world of darkness, where the other gods are his slaves. Dark Elves have believed for hundreds of years that Seluna and Vandun would marry and douse the world in quiet darkness, elevating the Dark Elves to be its caretakers, so the vision is very disturbing to them. Kallix’s claims that Seluna appeared to her personally and struck out at Vandun further enflame tensions in Winterheart.
Knez Amarinth Uri’pe calls Kallix a fake and a liar, and claims that the horrible vision will come to pass because Winterheart is full of people who do not worship Vandun fully. She asserts that, were all of the non-believers killed, Vandun would show his favor to the dark elves, and their goddess would be saved. Clan Toroth and Clan Uri’pe swear a pact to purge Winterheart of anyone who opposes them. Clan Erendwain and Svalbren swear a pact to follow Kallix and save their people. Clan Vosk abstains from swearing any pacts.
Clan Uri’pe’s warriors suddenly attack and chaos ensues. Knez Zekhan, Knez Ravka, and Knez Tristela all make it out alive with Kallix, and Clan Erendwain begins evacuating refugees alongside Prince Asgarion. Clan Uri’pe moves through the city and destroys Clan Svalbren’s quarter first, allowing Erendwain to evacuate most of their people. Clan Vosk’s people are mostly left alone.
The Sun Elves and Like-Minded Dark Elves Form an Alliance: Knez Zekhan signs an agreement with Prince Asgarion to allow Sun Elf forces unobstructed passage through Dark Elf lands, to nonaggression between their people, and for Vestia to offer aid to Dark Elf refugees. Knez Ravka and Knez Tristela meet with Knez Zekhan and Markus Thrain, and decide on a plan to move forward:
Dark Elves Join the Confederacy: Ravka Vosk greedily accepts the offer, Zekhan Erendwain begrudgingly decides it’s for the best, and Tristela Svalbren agrees given that divine influence seems to be pushing them towards it.
The Confederacy Will Help Retake Winterheart: The Knezi agree they have no choice but to accept the Confederacy's help. Clans Uri'pe and Toroth cannot be allowed to flourish.
The Dark Elf Refugees Will Colonize the Crescent Island: Tristela thinks that, even if Winterheart is retaken, they shouldn’t return there because it’s been defiled. Ravka offers to appoint her son as Winterheart’s caretaker if it gets cleared out. Zekhan suggests they let heads-of-household decide if they want to volunteer to live in their new allies’ lands, as they’re being offered aid by the Confederacy at this point. He decides to take the bulk of his people to the islands off the coast. Ravka and Tristela decide to follow suit. The islands are large enough to sustain the dark elf population, cold enough that their winter-animals can still live, and isolated enough to be satisfactory.
Clan Erendwain, Clan Svalbren, and Clan Vosk begin to call themselves Star Elves. The Knezi enact the first of their plans and officially join the Confederacy with Markus Thrain as the catalyst. Markus sends word to Thrain. Asgarion departs for Vestia with Kallix, Jard, and ~300 star elf refugees. As the days pass, Thrain responds. Its army begins marching to Winterheart, while a messenger named Ravielle arrives in Vestia and rallies their troops.
Zekhan, Ravka, Tristela start moving the star elves to the Crescent Islands; wood elf emissaries meet the star elves and invite them to come to the Redleaf Woods. Thousands of star elf refugees depart. Queen Tristia Renbran and dwarven reinforcements head south towards the border for the incoming orcish warlords. Before they leave, by order of the dwarven Queen, all tunnels beneath Snowpeak are collapsed.
Thrain’s army arrives outside Winterheart and begin making battle preparations. The Vestian army arrives shortly after, and all of their forces combine with dwarven regiments left in the area as well as Thrain's military. The armies strike Winterheart together. Outnumbered despite their heavily defensible city, the Dark Elves lose and any remaining worshippers of Vandun flee underground. Winterheart is fully conquered and occupied on the first day of Spring.
Outcomes
In the end, Vestia and Thrain’s armies retake Winterheart successfully. Toroth, Uri’pe, and dark dwarf military forces are cut by 95%. The final 20k escape through dark dwarf tunnels deep into the earth and reach the Dark Below, collapsing the tunnels behind them.
About half the civilians of clan Toroth and clan Uri’pe remain in Winterheart and fight to the death. The other half surrender to the armies now occupying the city. Ravka instates her son as Winterheart’s new overseer. Some of her people want to stay in Winterheart and some want to leave. Zekhan sends military support and civilians to live in Winterheart and help support Vosk’s rule.
Casualties Total Casualties — 550k Confederacy (all military), 131k Star Elves (mostly military + some civilian), 620k Dark Elves (about half civilian, half military)
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