Editing Timeline (Polesia) (section)

==The Fall of the Avaladh==


'''-8,710 to -8,705 CA:'''Panic spreads through the civilized world when one of the ancient serpent folk priests, Vesshelkhal, awoke from a deep hibernation and rallied his race’s degenerate offspring to take back Polesia from these upstart races that had taken advantage of the previous ice age. Wielding forgotten magic from the time that elves and men hid in forests and caves, Vesshelkhal led a triumphant campaign through several elven nations and founded a new kingdom from which he meant to spread. The elves pleaded with the Avaladh for assistance and the island empire was drawn into the war. By this time, however, the Serpent Folk had entrenched themselves and it was a long time before any real effort was made to counter their conquests.


'''-8,700 to -8,657 CA:'''  After their initial push, the newly invigorated serpent-folk paused and consolidate power along the coastline and the islands within a certain vicinity. This position nearly separated the elves from their human allies in Ghōl but also forced the serpent folk to wage a war on two fronts. Neither side advanced for decades, with a chain of elven insurrections, Avaladh blockades, and serpent-folk crusades doing little more than cost lives. The human and elven leaders sent overtures of peace to the serpent-folk and their descendants, but Vesshelkhal refused them. When the casualties became greater than they can bear the Avaladh started turning to more destructive magic, hoping to bring down their foes before it would be too late for their civilization to recover. To this end they started treating with the aboleths of nearby Ngh-Gwmash and under their tutelage they abandoned the elven druidic traditions and adopted new gods, venerating the Old Ones in a twisted mockery of the Old Faith. These new practices accompanied a dark turn in the history of the Avaladh people. Once again the balance of power shifted and the new priests turned against the Mîr Ashari and set themselves up as priest kings (Ernu Ashari).


'''-8,590 to -8,584 CA:''' Ghōl, along with its aboleth allies, secured its borders against the serpent-folk incursions. The humans learned from their inhuman mentors deeper and darker secrets of magic that slowly changed their very way of life. All but a few outlying colonies largely abandoned the elves, the priest kings of Ghōl only sending token forces of disposable criminal elements within the Avaladh military. One such group was composed of anti-aboleth dissenters who were outraged by the corrupting influence of their alliance. While exiled to the front lines, the mythic hero Kammen Thal-Ortho (a descendant of Belteshazzar) led his band of underlings on glorious adventures and finally confronted and slew Vesshelkhal, ending serpent-folk tyranny once again. 


'''-8,583 to -8,582 CA:''' Within a decade Kammen Thal-Ortho returned home at the head of what was now called the Dissident Army, along with many elven allies and laid siege to Ghōl, intent on wresting control from the priests and their aboleth masters. The aboleths were not willing to engage the combined might of the Dissidents and the elves and retreated to the deeper oceans to consider how best to deal with this new turn of events. The king of Ghōl and their elites were not willing to cede their empire however, and when it became apparent that they could not win the war they decided it was better for all of Ghōl to die than fall into the hands of the Dissidents. To that end they called on the aboleths to help them one last time, and considering the nature of their requests the aboleths consented. As the Dissident Army marched triumphantly across the royal roadways of Ghōl the priests and the aboleths sparked a massive ritual that swallowed Ghōl and many of the neighboring islands into the sea, drowning most of them and the Dissidents with them. The aboleths took advantage of the drowning Avaladh’s desperation and in return for their eternal servitude turned them into various aquatic races, the bulk of which still serve the aboleths to this day alongside the deep ones.