First War
DateUnknown, long before the Binding
LocationAll the world, though chiefly in Rhusagos and Drakhor
OutcomeTotal victory for the Kembar
Zhē Drūmor imprisoned
Ruin of Meldutha and Mārosh Malder
Laegos established as second chief of the Kembar
Major Battles Great Battle
CombatantsForces of Zhē Drūmor
Host of the Kembar
CommandersZhē Drūmor
Bēlkar (at first)
“The dark deeds of Gimīlhizar will not be recorded here, as they are better left forgotten. For them, he was dubbed Zhē Drūmor, the Mad One; and in his madness, he warred with all the Wide World.”
-Nākadmazul, “Concerning the Kembar”
The First War, being a part of the Days of Wrath, was the earliest and most devastating conflict in recorded history. It was fought between a fallen Gimīlhizar, later known as Zhē Drūmor, and the host of the Kembar who opposed him. Beginning with Gimīlhizar’s Fall, the conflict engulfed much of the Wide World before culminating in the Great Battle, when the Kembar invaded Rankaros, overthrew the First King, and imprisoned him forever within the Abyss.
Although the war ended in victory for the Kembar, many of the evils unleashed during it survived. The Far North remained cursed, entire peoples were changed, and the scars of Gimīlhizar’s dominion endured.
Background
In the earliest days of the world, Gimīlhizar was chief among the Kembar. Called Sūrīnāgor, First King, he ruled the winds, the upper airs, and the cold mountains nearest the firmament. From his northern kingdom at Rankaros, he governed much of the world and maintained an extensive network of spies, particularly among the owl-like Witen, his favored servants.
But then through envy and fear, he fell into shadow. In that time he sought to spoil the Great Work, and blasted many things to wrack and ruin. Storms became his weapons, cold his herald, and much that had once been good was twisted into instruments of war and death.
The atrocities committed during this period were so terrible that later chroniclers often refused to record them in detail. It was for these deeds that Gimīlhizar became known among the Children as Zhē Drūmor, the Mad One, Enemy of the Earth.
The Northern Realm and Its Hosts
The center of Zhē Drūmor’s power was Rankaros, a frozen island beyond the immense mountain barrier known as Mārosh Mālder (“the Fell Mountains”), which he had raised as a fence around his domain. Vast fortresses, dungeons, mines, furnaces, and armories filled the land, many of which were subterranean. Greatest among these strongholds was Meldutha-hoth-Mīth, the Fortress beneath the Void. Its gates were iron, its breath thunder and rime, and countless slaves languished in its bowels.
Under Zhē Drūmor’s influence, the Far North became bewitched with bitter, wasting cold. Many monstrous beings came to inhabit its forests, hills, and frozen wastes.
Out of love and loyalty, for Gimīlhizar had been their maker in ages past, the Witen came to his side also, obeying when he called.
“In his icy mansions at Rankaros, the Witen became perverted into beings of sorcery and death. Their skin gnarled and twisted. Their feathers fouled. They made secrets of their lore. And deep in their black hearts, the Witen loathed he who brought them into misery.”
-Nākadmazul, “Of the Fall”
However, not all of Gimīlhizar’s followers were monsters and Witen. During the Days of Wrath many Mannish peoples fought on his behalf. Among that number were the ancestors of the Hords, the peoples who would later inhabit Hoarland. Their resistance significantly hindered the earliest northern forays launched against Rankaros.
The Kembar
The chief architect of the resistance against Zhē Drūmor’s tyranny was Laegos, whose skill in speech allowed him to unite factions that otherwise might have remained divided. Indeed, most of the Kembar were uncertain or deceived by Zhē Drūmor’s claims, and were inclined to remain neutral; but Laegos exposed his falsehoods and rallied support against him. Under his leadership, the Kembar gathered their strength and prepared for a final campaign into the North.
Great Battle
The war culminated in the Great Battle, the final assault upon Rankaros.
Breaking the fence of Mārosh Mālder, the armies of the Kembar stormed Meldutha and overcame it, and the evil realm was brought to naught; and out of the deep prisons a multitude of slaves came forth beyond all hope into the light of day. Then Zhē Drūmor, unvaliant to the last, fled into his labyrinthine mines and sued for pardon, but he was hurled on his face and bound in chains, and the Kembar dragged him to the Abyss, and cast him forever into Dor Lazban his prison, that Hesphek made. Thus ended the First War.
Aftermath
The destruction of Rankaros ended the power of the Mad One and ushered in a period of peace during which the remaining Kembar ruled justly, with Laegos as their second chief. But the curse of Zhē Drūmor was not ended then, and in the years that followed many other evils were born, some from his darkness, some not, and Laegos could not prevent them.