Guhvil Wars¶
Contested
Named in the open question Dates of the Fifth Age periods (SM and AL): the Fifth Age Timeline (S016) draws the Guhvil Wars across the early Rift Period after 906, the Proturas timeline (S107) dates the Great Guhvil War to about 668-680 AL.
"It was during the early stages of this conflict that the first Riftborn were created by Proturan warlocks." — Proturas Timeline (S107)
The Guhvil Wars were the long struggle between Proturas and the Guhvils, the demon-bred goblins who call themselves Silek, for the trade routes of the Rift. The Fifth Age Timeline stretches the Guhvil Wars across the early centuries of the Rift Period; the Proturas timeline records a Great Guhvil War of about 668 to 680 AL that ended in stalemate at the Fold and cost the northern kingdoms Alghert. Guhvil raids have never ceased; in the years of the Proturan campaign they again cut the Rift trade routes.
The Guhvils¶
The Silek "are a result of experimentation and breeding during the Hollowing Period by the archdemon Bhaal." Other races "became known by most other races as Goblin-Devils which evolved into Guhvils," a name they do not use for themselves (S025). Clever, short-lived and asexual, born by strain from hidden bloodmothers, they live in the Underdark and in the ruins of past civilizations, "the inheritors of many dwarven halls and relics," and their ruling caste is "made up almost entirely of Mithis Casters (Warlocks, Witches, Daemus)." They worship Bhaal as Belos. Strains such as the Vuuric-Strand, "tall, dark grey skinned goblins with large flat faces and flat triangular noses" known across the Rift as mercenaries and craftsmen, and the Kritch, are named in the campaign outlines (S010).
The Great Guhvil War¶
The war "is credited with ending the Lorsythian conflict before further damage was done to Proturas. It also led to a truce between the northern kingdoms, Proturas and the Boreal Elves in the east" (S107). "Several critical battles were fought in the rift along trade routes controlled by Proturas. The war was relatively long and led to militarization of the many parts of the rift." In its early stages "the first Riftborn were created by Proturan warlocks," the demon-human sub-species that can cross the Rift unaided.
"The war ended in a stalemate when Guhvil attack routes through the ?? Fold were cut off by Proturas. The ?? Fold has been established Proturan territory ever since, with several permanent outposts" (S107). The Proturas timeline leaves the Fold's name as a placeholder; the Rift gazetteer knows a Fold as the hub "for trade with Proturas from across the fold" (S066). With the Lorsythian War, this war "was also a trigger for the establishment of the Proturan Federated Army."
The fall of Alghert¶
"Alghert, a reclusive, but very prosperous neighboring kingdom fell to the Guhvils and many refugees spilled south into the other northern kingdoms or east into Proturas. Alghert itself was left a sunken swamp after a series of massive floods" (S107). The Alghert Refugees reached Proturas about 670 AL. Alghert had been "The Jewel of Dalmar," a kingdom into which "no army has penetrated ... in the last 100 years" (S319); its ruins now lie among the islands of the Rift's Sunaram Cluster (S066).
Later wars¶
The Guhvils did not go away. A mercenary company of Proturas, the Green Iron Company, "was decimated in the battle of XXXX, a Guhvil incursion" within living memory of the campaign (S074). The campaign plans describe Rift trade routes "recently cut off by resurgent Guhvil attacks" and Guhvils among the enemies conspiring to destroy the city (S076). The outline of the Into the Rift campaign reveals a hand behind one invasion: elemental cultists of the Primal Union of Ter'Gaia, "made up of Guhvils, Humans, and even some Uk'zarai and Kobolds," who "control the fold and are manipulating the Guhvil invasion. One of the Guhvil generals and several Guhvil council members are cult members" (S010); see Into the Rift. In the Rift itself, Proturan patrols keep the Skaelness Chain clear "to ensure pirates, guhvils and others don't form settlements" (S066).
Gap
No source names a Guhvil nation, general or battle of the Great Guhvil War, or says where the Guhvils came from into the Rift. The Fold's name is a placeholder in the only source that gives the war's course.
Earlier accounts¶
The Fifth Age Timeline (S016) draws "Guhvil Wars" as a span across the early Rift Period, after the Ascendance of the Divine in 906 and before the fall of Lorsythe in 1210, with no dates of its own; the Proturas timeline (S107) gives the Great Guhvil War its place and dates. Both are kept on the Timeline.