The Water Wars
After the Elemental
War, the Shadowlands found itself facing an ever-growing race of powerful
mystics, the descendants of Furlich, the water children. The Wiley One’s
children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, et al had the potential to conquer
the world of Keshar and the Shadowlands. For, although the powers of their
bloodline diluted over the generations, the chaotic nature of the heritage meant
that the power never fully diminished, for a descendant 20 generations removed
from the Great Sire might be born with the same level of power as one of
Furlich’s Firstborn, thus the water children’s bloodline is perpetually
revitalizing. Despite their lineage’s well source of power, they were not
conquerors by nature, for their greatest adversaries were destined to be
themselves. Ever since the end of the Elemental War, the water children have
fought the self-genocidal Water War.
The Water War is a name given in hindsight, much like the Earth War. If one were
to simply live through one of its gory conflicts than they might see that fray
as a singular event, but if one views all of the generations of feuding water
children as a whole, all of them together past, present, and future they would
see the true scope of what is dubbed the Water War. Over the ages, it has
permutated, escalated and de-escalated. Its campaigns were bloody and numerous:
the Sanguine Strife, the Clan Crusades, the Downfall of the Five Houses, the
Sprite-Gate Invasion to name some of the most note-worthy. Yet the results of
each of the campaigns of the Water War remained unchanged: the water children
never threatened the political power structures for their blood-feud left whole
generations maimed or dead; after each water the victors grew in power as they
siphoned off the elemental force of their vanquished foes; and this strife was
destined to erupt again and again. The Water War’s nigh endless strife saw but a
few generation-long respites like the Era of Pax Saarden in the Age of Empires
and after Wizard War and the Fall of the Great School.