Second Rift War¶
"Halath itself fell within a month of the slaughter at the college." — History of Terrun (S386)
The Second Rift War began when a rift to the Abyss opened by itself at the wizard college in southern Halath and ended with the death of the arch-demon who led the demon host. The demons took the Underdark before they took the surface, laid waste to the northwestern corner of Numenia, and were cleared from most of the continent but never from Halath, Amarin or the deep places. The newest history dates it 2270 to 2311 MA, in the Age of Magic; the Compendium dates it 2670 to 2711 MA.
Also called: the second great rift war (S499, S548). The First Rift War, opened by the orc summoner Thu'karam, was fought centuries earlier.
The rift at Halath¶
"A spontaneous rift formed near the wizard college in southern Halath" (S386). Demons1 spilled from the college, and in trying to fight them the wizards made the rift larger. The college was overwhelmed; Halath, "once one of the great Danari kingdoms of the North" (S499), fell within a month. Instead of crossing the seas and mountains the demons invaded the Underdark. Orc, Dark Elven and Dwarven settlements were overrun, and for many years the battles stayed below ground. Once their hold on the Underdark was secure the demons attacked the surface, using the tunnels "to move around any obstacle."
The counterattack¶
An expedition of the united races landed on the shores of Halath to close the rift, and once it was closed "the battles with the demons started to be more successful." But an arch-demon had been gathering demons into an army. In the newest history this is Asmodean; in the Compendium it is Belphegor. The host "swept across the sea and laid waste to the northwestern corner of the continent (home of the Amarin Empire), and established a hold there" (S386). The demons on the rest of Numenia were cleared over a dozen years, though not from Halath or much of the Underdark.
An expeditionary force then crossed the Amarin Straits to confront the arch-demon and the new rift he was trying to open. He "was slain by King Turic of Dunmir, with assistance from the last two arch wizards, one of which died in the fight" (S386). The remaining demons were cleared from northwestern Numenia over half a dozen years, "though not from Halath, Amarin nor from much of the Underdark."
Aftermath¶
Halath remains "a dangerous land. It is haunted by the ghosts of the armies and peoples slain there, it is also home to unnaturally large and fierce beasts not found on the rest of the continent," and only hill folk, centaur clans and a few barbarian clans live there (S499, S548). The Compendium's gazetteer says Amarin "was destroyed during the Third Demon War," and that the Westmarches, once home to Amarin's capital, were "ravaged in the Demon Wars and is now almost entirely covered in Earthblight" (S372); whether its Third Demon War is this war under another count, the source does not say. The death of one of the two surviving arch wizards left Lothos as "the last known arch wizard" of the Compendium's present.
Gap
No source names the wizard college, the commanders of the expedition to Halath, or the second arch wizard who fell beside King Turic. Nothing explains why the rift opened "spontaneously," and nothing says what became of the hold the demons made in Amarin after their leader's death.
Earlier accounts¶
The Compendium (S372, S384) tells the same war of 2670-2711 MA, with Belphegor as the arch-demon slain by King Turic and the expedition to Halath made by "humans, elves and dwarves." The newest history (S386) is followed for the arch-demon's name and for the dates; both date ranges are kept on the Timeline. The archdemons' own page records that Mephistus, Asmodean and Belphegor all escaped the Abyss "during the early Demon wars" (S372), which is why either could be meant.