The shadow elves banished

The millennia of war had left its mark on the world, the land was scared by the terrible magic’s the Ruvenig empire had used to secure it’s victories, the Oak of ages had grown sicker, the emergence of man and the ever increasing attacks by void creatures. The disquiet in the hearts of the elves had grown as the empire did. The Empire had grown so large that the administrative burdon alone was causing enough problems without the army at breaking point, it creaked and groaned under its own mass and started to foster some powerful enemies from within and without. Human slave revolts had started breaking out all over the empire; the void born had started spawning into ever more imaginative and terrifying variants. The Emperor was losing his grip on power and beginning to see enemies in every quarter.   Taking lessons from emperors of old, he sought to unite his lands through a common enemy, and so, his weary eyes turned to the shadow elves. Through terrible campaigns of propaganda he managed to pile the blame for all the empires ills upon the shoulders of the shadow elves. Long held prejudices which were kept buried just under the surface of normal elves came boiling through to the surface, until seemingly normal elves had turned to thoughts of violence and genocide. The shadow elves were hunted down within and without the empire and any elves who might have sympathised with the shadow elves were simply too afraid to speak out for fear of what might happen to them or their families should they do so. The emperor had gone mad, seizing the opportunity to seize absolute power for the crown.   Content that he had flushed out most of the virmin in his lands, he looked to the unforgiving icy wastes to the north   The lands of the shadow elves had long remained stubbornly out of reach across the river Rhuin, crossing this mighty river had never seemed worth the trouble but this was going to be would be his and the empires finest triumph. He was going to unleash the full might of his empire upon them and the world would know, his word is power.   The magic used in his conquest against the shadow elves became more desperate and unorthodox, the skies burned, mountains wailed and land turned to feted rot as the world screamed in anguish. Eventually the crops started to die, the citizens of the empire started to starve and the armies of the Ruveni were nowhere to be seen when the void born ravaged the land. The Empire no longer provided the security it had promised and the most loyal subject started to doubt its future. Eventually the economy completely collapsed and a deep rebellion took root amongst even the high born.