| Category | Wars | |||
| Period | 1406 - 1409 | |||
| Theater | Grashakh | |||
| Belligerents |
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When substantial iron deposits were discovered in the Hungrur basin, the leaders of the Orchish Empire, the High Command, designated the region as strategically vital. This meant the area would be encircled with fortified bastions and garrisoned by a full regiment. For the soldiers and laborers stationed there, this proved an unpleasant posting. The climate was perpetually sweltering, sleep was disrupted by rumblings from Mount Torowkrorn, and the native inhabitants assailed them with a barrage of boulders and magma projectiles. Many of these hostile forces were Fire Giants, distant descendants of the once-mighty Titan Empire of Hofthorm.
The High Command's claim to the mining rights in the eastern half of Hungrur was contested by Krarthjar. This small city-state had a population far outnumbered by their opponent. Krarthjar, governed for generations by Tolfreid kings, sought to bring prestige to the fire giant people, reviving the militant traditions of their Hofthorm forebears.
Two years after the commencement of excavation, a conflict erupted between the antagonists. The endeavor did not fare favorably for Krarthjar. The procurement of provisions and reinforcements was proving excessively protracted. With a base situated approximately four hundred miles distant, they could only dispatch troops and supplies via the Skera Hrolmir, an impregnable subterranean lava river for the Orchish Empire.
The High Command soon learned from their spies that the volcanoes Birkrarg and Torowkrorn, situated hundreds of miles apart, were connected by the same underground lava river. This molten river, the Skera Hrolmir, permitted the Krarthjar, by their laws, to maintain control over two distant areas from beneath the surface, without governing the connecting land above. This arrangement lacked any legal precedent in Orchish Law, as the prevailing interpretation at the time was that land ownership was determined by surface rights, requiring contiguous territorial control.
The war between the two factions came to an end when Torowkrorn was forced to "go hot." Krarthjar's soldiers, brandishing banners harkening back to the days of Hofthorm, faced little resistance amidst the gas and fire, unlike their adversaries. Although the Orchish Empire's numbers vastly outnumbered the opposition by a ratio of 1,000 to 1, High Command under Emperor Blac'drugulois saw two compelling reasons to cede the area. Within a few years, the volcano's eruptions would flood and render most of the mining shafts unusable due to the pervasive heat and noxious gases. Moreover, the opposing side had transformed this conflict into a nationalist cause for all the fire giants residing in Krarthjar, Hungrur, and the surrounding Giant Steps highlands. Rather than be responsible for the rise of another Titan Empire, the Orchish Empire opted for peace. The Ageless Emperor would await a shift in Krarthjar's leadership or until internal strife tore the region apart.