The A’Taran-Orc War, Part 2

(continued from “The A’Taran-Orc War, Part 1“)

The Orc Nation had no fixed defenses—had never needed them. Their remaining military forces were overwhelmed on the verdant plains of their heartland as the A’Taran horde swept east from the gate. The Orc capital city had no walls. The A’Tarans sacked it with great slaughter. The new Orc King died there, but more than that. The entire ruling class was wiped out. The remaining Orc people, shattered and leaderless, fled for their lives into the mountains beyond the capital.

Perhaps shocked by their own savagery, the A’Tarans did not pursue the Orcs further. They abandoned the Orc capital and returned to the gate.

The gate still existed, though. To protect the Empire, they would have to fortify the Rhydin side. And so they did, keeping a portion of the former Orc Nation. The horror of the war also reshaped the A’Taran psyche, but that is not my tale to tell.

For the Orcs, those thirty years brought even greater change….

(continues in “A New Orc Culture Rises From the Ashes of the Old“)