Steelhew War

Steelhew War

Impacted parties	Duiran, Spinesreach, Hashan, most of the continent
Began	14th Haernos, 412 MA
Ended	12th Slyphian, 414 MA
Main Help File	(HELP STEELHEW)

The fall of Hashan

Late in Haernos, the ruined city of Hashan found itself invaded by a small but vicious force of Troll irregulars in black armour. The disorganized and for the most part unarmed populace was swiftly driven into their homes or cut down in the streets, allowing the Vagrant Queen, Juxa Steelhew, to siege the throne room of the Regent of Hashan herself. Before an audience of terrified trolls, curious onlookers and armoured soldiers, Steelhew directly challenged first Prince Koggab and then his mother, Ogba, slaying each of them in turn despite their most vigorous efforts to the contrary. Although the Queen was a mighty warrior by any means, it soon became clear that the legendary and newly recovered Sword of the Troll King in Steelhew's grip was the source of both her power and her fury; her berserk assaults were entirely without control, and soon the victorious new Queen of Hashan set about herself, killing her allies and the crowd of onlookers alike. Even the Divine fled before her wrath, stating that the legendary Blade was a God-killer and leaving Hashan to the mercy of its new leader, who promised a rapid end to the Ankyrean legacy of the north, and a rapid return to glory for the Trollish people.

The purge of Hashan and the march north

With organised opposition from within utterly crushed and the rebellious populace dead in the street, Steelhew turned her armies north, claiming the long-abandoned village of Tasur'ke as a defensible bulwark against Spinesreach. Construction of barricades soon began, and sorties by lone adventurers and the occasional organized assault began to crash against the cliff-face of Juxa's men. Although initially suffering many defeats, the Steelhew armies rapidly adapted, forming into distinct division of channelers, archers and infantry to deal with each threat to come against them. With the appointment of her Grumgesh, Grufin Stonehand, to oversee Tasur'ke, Steelhew visited the Spellshapers of Ayhesa and the Trolls of Three Rock in turn, securing an alliance against the north. Overtures to Stormcaller Crag and the Isle of Mostyn were returned bristling with arrows, and the Unbound and the Sovereign spat their defiance of the creature who sought to steal their people.

The death of Dorin Silverbeard

Meanwhile, many individuals mounted investigations into the mysterious return of the Demon Blade and the circumstances surrounding it. Phoenecia and Xavin of Duiran met with significant success, isolating the recently assassinated Dorin Silverbeard, original reforger of the broken Demon Blade, in the mines of Moghedu, where he had been living a life of penance for the sin of allowing the Blade to be remade. His death posed a significant setback, but perusal of his notes yielded plans for an alloy of black ylem that may prove effective at damaging or containing the fell energy of the Blade. Study of the materials involved led the searchers to the distant Stormcaller Crag, where their metalworkers were said to have an understanding of working with impure venantium. Oxha, a Troll woman of some repute, argued incessantly with the pair, eventually agreeing to forge crossbow ammunition with the lethal substance that would be suitable to kill the Demon Blade's wielder.

Unfortunately, this process was extremely time consuming; no result was obtained before the end of the war and the fall of the Steelhew Regime.

The Armies of Sapience march

As the cities of Sapience gathered their forces from the settlements throughout their territory, Steelhew barricaded herself within the ruined palace at Hashan, leaving Grumgesh Stonehand and Grumgesh Flamehair to defend her outposts at Tasur'ke and the Dry Hills. During this retreat, the Demon Blade was used to call forth great columns of obsidian from beneath the city, sheathing the palace in black glass and defending chokepoints with spears of cold, translucent rock. The maddened Steelhew, her control clearly deteriorating, spoke of waking a thousand-faced sleeper beneath Hashan, drawing on His power to bolster that of the Blade.

Concerned by the threat posted by a God-eating sword, the Second Imperium allowed Spinesreach to employ their cavalry units, while Bloodloch drew on experimental weapons from the Lich Gardens and Duiran and Enorian drew on their vassal territories. The fighting was bloody, sowing the soil of the Northern and Western Ithmias with blood and meat and lining the streets of Tasur'ke with corpses. After crushing the occupying foes in the Dry Hills and Tasur'ke, Spinesreach was left with barely enough troops to hold their gates, leaving the final liberation of the village to Bloodloch. With the north secured, Duiran and Enorian began to mount strikes on the city of Hashan itself.

The fall of Steelhew and the rise of Ruin

In a final, vicious, coordinated push, Duiran and Enorian invaded Hashan from the south and west, cutting Steelhew soldiers down by the score and crushing their fortifications. With most of their men dead, the armies took the land surrounding the palace, but it was many months before the walls of glass finally broke and allowed a Spirean scout within, followed by many curious travelers. Steelhew was found dead, pinned to her throne by the Demon Blade, surrounded by the massacred remains of her personal guard. The slaughter, having fed into the Blade for the entire duration of the war, finally proved powerful enough to free the possessing spirit within the sword; a Demon identifying itself as Ruin. Upon gorging on one poor unfortunate before delivering Their benediction upon those watching and bequeathing the Blade itself to mortal hands, the Demon departed the warped chamber of glass, leaving laughter in its wake.

The fighting was immediately vicious and bloody, with the Chairwoman of Spinesreach, Moirean, seizing the Blade and becoming tainted by its maddening whispers. In the end, even Damariel was grievously injured, and only the quick work of a Cabal agent allowed the Demon Blade to be secured and sealed deep beneath the Spirean catacombs.

The fate of the Demon Blade

Due to the chaos surrounding possession of the Blade, the Artificer Himself cast the sword into a volcano, chaining it within the magma beyond the reach of any mortal. This chaining appeared to have no impact on Ruin Itself, casting doubt on whether or not the Blade retains its mystic and deadly properties with its tenant so unceremoniously evicted.

Additional impacts

The conquering of Hashan and subsequent release of Ruin directly influenced the tomb of the Abyssal, stirring Him to wakefulness and allowing him to escape imprisonment.