Blue Lady's War
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The Blue Lady's War is a fictional war set on the continent of Ansalon on the world of Krynn, as told in the Dragonlance novels, specifically the Dragonlance Legends. The war itself featured only one true battle; The Battle of Palanthas. It most notable for being the first time that the peaceful city was besieged, as well as being the last battle with the remaining Dragonarmies fighting in a cohesive unit.
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[edit] Background
Following the defeat of Takhisis and the end of the War of the Lance, Kitiara Uth Matar, a Dragon Highlord and the half-sister of the twins, Caramon Majere and Raistlin Majere, retreated to Sanction, a city in eastern Ansalon, to gather her forces and plan her next move, along with her undead right-hand man, Lord Soth. Kitiara met with Dalamar Argent, who was, at the time, Raistlin's apprentice. Dalamar was intending to stop Raistlin in his attempt to re-enter the world from the Abyss. Kitiara told him that she would throw her support behind him, and, Kitiara unexpectedly felt passion for Dalamar, and the two spent the night together. However, later, Kitiara would come to believe that Raistlin was going to win, and, trying to be on the winning side, Kitiara changed sides and made plans to take over Palanthas and be preprared to greet Raistlin at the Portal and then aid him in his fight against Takhisis, believing that once he was a god he would make her ruler of Ansalon.
[edit] Forces of the War
[edit] Kitiara's Army
Kitiara had massed together the remnants of the dragonarmies into her own army, containing draconians, goblins, humans, as well as black and blue dragons. Lord Soth also commanded his undead legions, and this force was the cornerstone of Kitiara's army.
[edit] Soth's Undead Legion
Lord Soth, a fallen Knight of Solamnia and a now undead warrior commands a legion of undead warriors who are, even in death, bound by laws to serve him. Soth, while he in fact fought for evil, truly didn't care about the outcome of the battle; truly, he was hoping for Kitiara's death, but it had to be staged as such that she would be damned to the same fate he was, so that he may have her as his undead mistress.
[edit] Knights of Solamnia
The Knights of Solamnia were called into the conflict by Tanis Half-Elven who was in Palanthas at invite from Elistan and Dalamar. The Knights flocked to the High Clerist's Tower. This would prove to be a horrible mistake.
[edit] Palanthian Militia
Palanthas had a rather weak, but large, militia. It had never been used, as the city had always been at peace. This militia was comprised of the able men of Palanthas, and was joined by a small amount of knights in Palanthas. This force was also joined by bronze and silver dragons.
[edit] The Siege of Palanthas
The Siege of Palanthas was in fact the only battle fought in the war.
[edit] The High Clerist's Tower
The Knights, as well as Tanis Half-Elven, believed that Kitiara would follow the same plan of action she did in the last war: assault the High Clerist's Tower, and then go through the road to Palanthas. In the last war, Kitiara was defeated at the Tower, and so she learned from her mistakes. Taking a flying citadel, she put her entire forces into it and flew straight over the tower.[1] Normally, this would have been folly, as the forces of Palanthas could hold them off by sheer number, and the the Knight would ride to Palanthas and trap her. However, with Lord Soth at her side, Kitiara could defeat the entire army of Palanthas and take the city in little time. The dragons at the tower as well as Tanis Half-Elven flew to Palanthas to man the city.
[edit] The Battle for Palanthas
Kitiara followed the standard plan of action for assault with a flying citadel; have the forces drop off as close as possible to the city. At the same time, Soth delivered his proclamation to the city for them to surrender. The city refused. Soth then cast an ice spell on the gates to Old City, and shattered it. In the unaltered timeline, Tanis met Soth here, and, using a magical bracelet given to him by Dalamar, survived a death spell which killed Khirsah, the dragon Tanis was riding. Tanis could not win, however, and was killed at Soth's hands. Tasslehoff Burrfoot interfered and saved Tanis's and Khirsah's life (a fact he would mention several times). He drew Tanis away and they traveled to the Shoikan Grove in front of the Tower of High Sorcery of Palanthas, where Caramon was hoping to enter the Tower and stop Raistlin. The undead there overwhelmed him, however, and he surely would have died had not Tanis and Tas intervened and saved him. Then, they decided to travel to the floating citadel by using the magical time-travelling device, however it only worked on two people, and so Tas was left behind while Caramon and Tanis travelled to the citadel. Their plan was to travel to the Tower of High Sorcery by flying over the Grove in the citadel. Tas then prayed to Fizban (Paladine) to send him a dragon. That moment, Khirsah slammed into the ground bloody and injured. Tas then talked off a black dragon who would have killed Khirsah, and Tas asked Khirsah to take him to the citadel. Khirsah agreed, and Tas, after a bit of searching, found his friends. He found a gully dwarf, Rounce, who aided him in saving Tanis and Caramon from a troop of draconians and later in piloting the citadel. After a battle and several attempts, Tas and Rounce managed to position the citadel over the Tower and Tanis and Caramon jumped off. Tas then flew off and shook the draconians out of the citadel, then flew away.
[edit] The Abyss
Tanis and Caramon went into the Tower and encountered Dalamar, badly injured in several places, as well as Kitiara, mortally wounded. Here, Lord Soth came to claim the body and Tanis finally released Kitiara from his heart. After Soth left with the body, Dalamar was clearly unable to stop Raistlin, and so Caramon carried out his plan. He went into the Abyss and encountered Crysania, who was slowly dying and was blind. Caramon planned to quickly exit and re-enter, however he met Raistlin at the last second. Raistlin was surprised at Caramon being in the Abyss and even more surprised that Caramon was trying to stop him. Caramon told him that if he let him pass, Raistlin would ultimately win against the Gods but the war would destroy all life on Krynn. Raistlin refused to believe this and looked into Caramon's mind only to see that he was speaking the truth. Realising his folly, Raistlin sacrificed himself by staying in the Abyss and thus saved the world from himself. Caramon exited and saved Crysania's life. He then closed the Portal with Raistlin's help using the Staff of Magius.
[edit] The Aftermath
The battle was, it could be said, won by the Palanthians, but at a great price. The entire city had been obliterated by fire with the exception of The Tower of High Sorcery and the Great Library, which had stood thanks to the Aesthetics, led by Bertrem. After the battle, Caramon and Tas delivered Volume 2000 to Astinus, which detailed what had happened in the alternate future and was a volume that Astinus would never write. Elistan was buried in the storage areas beneath the ruined Temple, and Crysania was healed, though she had lost her sight permanently. Dalamar was also well again, and he sealed the laboratory in the Tower. Tas gave the citadel to Rounce, and landed it in a "nice city" (as it was described by Tas), and Rounce was reportedly making plans to bring a clan of gully dwarves into it.
Tas and Caramon then went with Tanis back to Solanthus were Tanis's castle stood, and from there to Solace, where Caramon met up with Tika in the big house at the top of the vallenwood, and Tas went to the house on the ground and studied his pouches. Unconsiously, he found a place on a map he had never been too, gathered his pouches and his possessions, and whisked himself away using the magical device that had "fallen" into his pouches.
[edit] References
- ^ Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman [August 1986]. “Chapter 11”, Test of the Twins, 3rd edition, Wizards of the Coast, 11. ISBN 0-7869-3388-7. Retrieved on 2006-08-08.
[edit] Books
- Margaret Weis; Tracy Hickman (2000). Time of the Twins: Legends vol. I. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1804-7.
- Margaret Weis; Tracy Hickman (2000). Test of the Twins: Legends vol. III. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-1806-3.
