The Long March
With the fall of their greatest city, so began the long retreat of the Iabeiorith, back into the shadows, back to their many strongholds. But the Korith Zadakal and their allies did not relent. Always to the fore went the Balt Kaalith, ever eager to tell their companions that sorcery was a disease and must be cut out, root and branch. Into the far north they went, and to every city they came, every tower, every fastness, they laid siege.
But it was hard, for the Iabeiorith would not submit and they could summon armies from the Mahorelah, armies of demons to enact their will. Only by the power of the Dar Kaadarith could the demons be forced back or destroyed. It was a long and brutal struggle, since neither side would consider any kind of quarter. This was a struggle to the death.
Deep into the north went the war, and there were many hard campaigns. Chief amongst these was the long siege of Piadaf, a wide land ringed by mountains except for the north. Well named for the jaws that enclosed it, those that held this land withstood the forces of the west for five hundred years. Nonetheless, the end, when it came, was swift, and with its defences shattered its many towers and fortresses became little islands of resistance, soon to fall.
As with Piadaf, so it was with the rest of the north, and it became a fractured place full of knots of darkness where sorcery still held sway, threaded with light where the forces of the west made their straggling way.
Many hard years were endured by the armies of the west, the south and the east, all in the name of a victory that never seemed to come. The wars saw three more of the Velukorith mount the throne of light in Emethgis Vaniad, namely Ernoleh, Angaloh and Risafel, but with each new Velukor it became ever more clear that the war would, in all likelihood, rage for an eternity, for no matter how many fortresses were laid low, more would rise up in places already cleared, raised by the powers of sorcery, resurrected by the sons and the daughters of those already slain.