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The History of the Northern Deno’qai

Overview

How the Deno’qai came to live in the northern forests, north of the Blackwater Fens and inland from the coast, is not recorded. But the Deno’qai lived here for time immemorial, largely in peace (it is said), before Cha’mutte established himself in Pandar in the 1400s.

Cha’mutte and the Great War

DR 1400 - DR 1545

Overview

After Cha’mutte established himself in Pandar, the K’eye river became the de facto border of Deno’qai territory, and for several hundred years minor skirmishes were frequently fought across the river border, and the larger Deno’qai settlements retreated towards the hills and mountains.

In DR 1536, Cha’mutte launched his assault. Keeping dragons in reserve, an army of hobgoblins quickly established control over the approximately 200 miles of forest between the K’eye and Pandar, clearing the forests and using the timber for massive war machines.

Six years later, in DR 1541, the first campaign of the Great War was launched across the K’eye. The Deno’qai fought a hopeless rearguard action, trying to keep the enemies at bay for as long as possible, with some minor successes until Cha’mutte begins calling in extraplanar forces, hobgoblin mages who can control the magic of the Shadowfolds, and great demons from the Abyss and from Pandemonium.

By the bitter winter of 1541-1542, the Deno’qai were nearly wiped out, despite the heroics of warriors like Balati. Those who survive – largely members of the Shu’anra and Ko’zula tribes – flee into the mountains, abandoning the Forest of Dreams below to the chaos Cha’mutte brings.

As Cha’mutte’s army proceeds south, into elven lands and the southern Deno’qai, the surviving Shu’anra and Ko’zula people are cut off, isolated without help or hope. Many die of exposure and starvation in the difficult years that follow, and many who survive are saved only by the aid of the Stoneborn and the Dwarves.

  • 1536 DR: Cha’mutte launches a surprise attack against the Deno’qai of the northern forests, quickly capturing the territory between the K’eye and Pandar
  • 1541 DR: Cha’mutte’s armies cross the K’eye in the first campaign of the Great War
  • 1542 DR: (winter) Many Deno’qai die of exposure and starvation in the north, cut off by Cha’mutte’s armies
  • 1542 DR: (summer) The surviving Shu’anra and Ko’zula Deno’qai tribes flee into the mountains, abandoning the lowland forests to Cha’mutte’s armies

Years of Isolation

DR 1545 - DR 1640

Recontact

DR 1640 - DR 1700

Overview

It is not until the 1640s that the isolated northern Deno’qai tribes begin to slowly, cautiously leave their mountain redoubts. The forests north of the Blackwater Fens are deeply changed, cursed and corrupted by Cha’mutte’s armies, the demons of his horde, and none can live there. The elves are now gone, or hidden, and the Deno’qai cannot find them again. Loose trade connections to the Deno’qai living to the southeast of the Blackwater Fens are established, but these are tenuous, at best. Whatever people survive along the coast are far away, isolated by the fens themselves and the corruption of the forests south of Pandar.

Still, slowly connections grow, and over time more rumors come to the Shu’anra and Ko’zula tribes, of safer places to the south, warmer and easier to live, further from the haunted reminders of Cha’mutte’s wars. Some flee, but many stay.

  • 1644 DR: The northern Deno’qai begin to cautiously leave their mountain redoubts and reestablish contact with southern tribes

Recent Events

After DR 1700

Overview

In the past four generations, the tribes have grown in relative safety. The Shu’anra have drifted south, living mostly to the east of the Blackwater Fens, in the low passes of the mountains, trading with dwarves, kenku, and stoneborn. The Ko’zula have kept the the peaks and icy pine forests on the high slopes. Both tribes have prospered to a certain extent, and no major wars or catastrophes have struck.