Eldritch Succession Wars¶
"The Succession War was not just about killing Eldritch physically, but destroying or imprisoning their souls as well." — Origin and Nature of Demons (S520)
The Eldritch Succession Wars were the extermination of the Eldritch, the chosen servants of the Elder Gods, by the Younger Gods and their allies, and their replacement with the Elves. The 2018 essay on demons names the war and gives its purpose in one line: the wars "where the Younger Gods and their allies were exterminating the Eldritch and replacing them with Elves" (S520). The treatise on magic places the Eldritch's fall in the Age of Demons, after Kalar's faction had won the Throne of Law (S208). It is in these wars that, by one account, demons were first met.
Why the Eldritch fell¶
The Eldritch had been "the chosen of the High God Tamariel" and the most prolific practitioners of Ethereal Magic (S208). After the Rebellion of Kalar they were on the wrong side of the new order, "still aligned with the Elder Gods and too powerful for the Younger God's liking", and the younger gods "now wished to replace the Eldritch … with the more easily managed Elves" (S529). The treatise frames it as a choice about magic: "The Gods stamped out the widespread use of this magic on the material plane when they allowed their foremost servants, the Eldritch, to be replaced by the Elves, with their affinity to the more limited, and more controllable Divine and Arcane Magics" (S208).
The Eldritch were divided. "A civil war among the Eldritch (between Old God loyalists and Younger God sympathizers) was a costly one", and "in time, the Old God loyalists were victorious" (S529). Phaendar Nar'Vizerai, one of the Three Grand Sages of the Eldritch ArchConclave "just before its dissolution in ancient times", had been "a staunch protector of the minor races", but when "the Rebellion of Kalar tested his faith" he refused ascendancy from Arcantus and Orandos and "ultimately sided with Izhtari" (S164).
The war¶
The Younger Gods "struggled to contain and imprison the Eldritch" (S520). Their mortal instrument was the dwarves: "the early dwarves (the First Ones) assisted the Younger Gods and were armed and trained with Dwarrow technology. They used the Dwarrow technology with great efficiency to wipe out the now isolated Eldritch" (S529). The Kilmarn scrolls preserve the Eldritch side of one campaign, the battle for the Radiant Throne. Allannia Vaj'Zaelin, a battle magus of frost, "was the High Commander of the Eldritch forces that invaded and occupied the Radiant Throne. She fell while holding the throne against the combined might of the Younger Gods and their Ascendants." Luiranar Xal'Vanala, "The Berserker", a skinchanger "driven mad by the death of his lowborn family at the hands of the Ascendants of Khardas", "fell in the battle for the Radiant Throne, but not before slaying 2 ascendants of Khardas (Oirgav & Wravikon)". Phaendar himself was "hunted and defeated by a coalition including half a dozen Kalari ascendants including Helis Sunblighter", after destroying or banishing Orthyss Brightcaller, an ascendant of Orandos (S164). The three were not killed but imprisoned, their souls sealed; the scrolls that bind them lie in the Vault of the Ancients beneath Kilmarn (S164).
"The first verified Demons were encountered during the Eldritch Succession Wars." Some believe the Eldritch summoned or made them; "others believe the Eldritch transformed themselves into Demons so as to avoid soul death and to be an eternal scourge upon their enemies". A further theory holds that the Einar "may have constructed demons to permanently dispose of Eldritch souls", pointing to "a historical disparity between the known population of Eldritch and the number of Eldritch souls still in existence" (S520).
Aftermath¶
"Many such unique forms of Eldritch Spellcraft were lost when the Gods struck down the Eldritch. However, Druidism survived and was spread to the younger races", though "spellcasting Druids are exceptionally rare" (S208). "By the end of this age, practitioners of Ethereal Magic outside of those under the direct influence of the Gods (Divine Magic) and Dragons were scarce" (S208). The dwarves inherited the Dwarrow legacy and were "accepted into the order of the younger gods, while the Dwarrow were still regarded as elemental-spawn outcasts" (S529). The Eldritch were not quite gone: imprisoned Eldritch and their soulcruxes surface again in the Fifth Age, and Eldritch kingdoms ruled by Witch-Kings rise after the Sancturi fall, "still search[ing] in vain for their Soulcruxes" (S112).
Gap
No source dates the wars, names a final battle, or says where the Radiant Throne stood. The number of Eldritch who survived in prison rather than death is nowhere given.