Chronicles of the Dark Empire
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In Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy setting, the High Elf online community of Asur.org created a series of online campaigns that led to the creation of a popular fan made alternate universe for the Warhammer World. The first campaign, conducted in 2004, was a recreation of the Sundering of the Elves. Left completely to the results of the players, in this campaign Malekith won the war and the High Elves were forced to leave their island home of Ulthuan and retreat to their colonies in the Old World. This set in motion the alternate universe, featuring a campaign in 2005/2006 with an alternate War of the Beard, and now a campaign in 2007 featuring completely new events around the time that Sigmar appeared in the correct Warhammer timeline.
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[edit] The Sundering
Malekith, the son of Aenarion, revealed himself a traitor and a follower of Chaos, just as he had in the correct Warhammer timeline. The civil war, known as the Sundering of the elven race, pitted brother against brother as Malekith and the newly crowned Phoenix King Caledor rallied their forces. Eventually, Malekith appeared to have victory at hand. Caledor launched a last ditch assault on Malekith's fortress capital of Anelc in Nagarythe, but it was to no avail. Loremaster Calarion writes of the conclusion of the Sundering:
In the weeks that followed, the forces of Malekith spread swiftly. Save for a few remnants of loyalists to the fallen Phoenix King, the entire island swiftly belonged to him. But the war was not over, for still the leaders of Caledor’s armies survived – Rythion Pendragon continued to hold the fortress-cities of Caledor, while Alith Anar’s band of guerilla warriors and Shandiar Aminaith escaped Nagarythe, bearing the body of Caledor ‘the Conqueror’ with them. The Phoenix King had not perished in the final battle, and his strength gradually returned. The battle was lost, and the last strongholds fell one by one into the hands of darkness – but the war was not over yet.
The Sundering ended with most of Ulthuan in the control of Malekith.
[edit] The War of the Beard
The War of the Beard began with Caledor leaving Ulthuan with most of his supporters save one notable exception: Alith Anar, the last noble of Nagarythe who did not turn to Malekith. Caledor arrived in the Old World where there were mighty elven cities already built. He requested permission from the dwarfs that they be allowed to stay and build their kingdom there. Close behind him was Malekith and his legions, who went to visit the dwarfs at Karaz-a-Karak. There in private conference, Malekith killed the king for harboring the Asur. A three way war broke out, and in the end of the dwarfs managed to strengthen their continent spanning empire. Malekith and his druchii were forced to return to Ulthuan, while the Asur established the kingdom of Sarthailor and a splinter kingdom of Athel Loren. At the beginning of the conflict, as enemies approached, Caledor fled to the east, and was not heard from since.
As summarized by the Count of Wissenland:
Malekith's attempt to secure the Olde World and wipe out the fledging elf state of Sarthailor backfired when he assassinated the High King of the Dwarfs. The ensuing war pushed Malekith from the continent and cemented the position of Sarthailor while leading to a personal defeat for the Witch King at the hands of the White Dwarf, Grombrindal.
[edit] The Hour of the Wolf
The current and final installment, the Hour of the Wolf, takes place over two thousand years after the War of the Beard. The change in events set up a world where Nagash did not need to kill his brother to claim lordship over the desert kingdom of Nehekhara. Instead, Nagash stopped the invasion of a Druchii slaving army, and became a hero to his people. Slowly, he morphed his kingdom into one that reveres necromancy as a religious right and despises all non humans. Nehekhara has waged centuries long crusades against the dwarfs and elves to the north by the time the Hour of the Wolf had begun.
To the north, the elf Alith Anar returns. Driven to get his revenge against Malekith, he makes a dark pact with the four powers of Chaos, and eventually becomes the Everchosen. As his army marches south, he moves ahead of them and ambushes Malektih on a visit to a slaving city in what would be Kislev. Malekith appears to be dead, and the Druchii are in a state of panic. However, those druchii in the Old World march south with Alith Anar's forces to exterminate the dwarfs, humans of the Reik, and finally wipe out the remaining Asur in the kingdom of Sarthailor.
The elf and human kingdom of Sarthailor have allied with the Dwarfs, the reclusive wood elves of Athel Loren, and the various tribes of the Reik (actual Empire) to stop the growing threats to the north and south. All the while, the mysterious race of Skaven have tossed their numbers in with Nagash and the Everchosen, and have begun to terrorize the dwarf holds and southern holdings of the elves.
The campaign is not finished, and the conclusion remains to be seen.
[edit] External links
Asur.org Chronicles of the Dark Empire Library
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