Pavan Independence Wars

No period of time has seen so much war between two nations as the Pavan Independence Wars. From a mere slave rebellion, Archon managed to forge the beginnings of an empire. He was a tactical genius without doubt but he was also the right man at the right time.

— High Sage Syronikir

One of the most defining periods in history for both Farlis and Pavanor was the series of wars for independence running from 337 BF to 223 BF. The Pavan Indendence Wars were led by the prophet Archon and would result in freedom for many Human and Half-Elf slaves in Avaronian controlled Pavanor.
The Avaronians, already declining to a degree, could not mount a decent response and started losing territories. Many attempts to reconquer lands were made by the Avaronians of which some succeeded, but these did not last long. Eventually they were forced to grant independence to most of their colonies.

Prelude

In the centuries before the start of the wars there already had been several rebellions but none of them were a great succes. Many claim that it was solely due to the leadership and the tactical genius of the prophet Archon that the final revolution was different. But historians that are not tied to the Archonism religion know that this was only part of the key to succes.
The truth is that the Avaronian Empire was already in decline for many years. The final push towards this was the outbreak of the Dragon Scourge. Even though this did not affect the people of the Avaronian Empire it still caused issues to their Dragon and Dragonborn allies. With many of them even going feral as a result of the disease the Avaronians were forced to spend an enormous amount of resources and troops on trying to kill Dragons before they could completely destroy their core provinces.
This left the Pavan colonies severely underfunded and undermanned. Due to the issues in the core provinces the inflation in the colonies was getting quite high, causing even more dissident feeling that usual. The succes of the revolution that Archon started was therefore also a bit thanks to the right man being there at the right time.

The beginning

Archon's revelation

Archon himself was not one of the slaves in the Pavan colonies unlike many other Humans. His father was a Half-Elf merchant and his mother a freed Human. Regardless of his decent life he was still unable to reach some positions that were available only to High-Elves. At some point he was, however, able to get a leader position for the mining operations in Istaria, along the eastern border. It was here that Archon would receive a vision of his god Indovir. But what would eventually really make the difference was the gigantic amount of Divine Falls that were found.
Magic in general was forbidden to Humans and Half-Elves in the Avaronian Empire. This discovery, however, allowed Archon to train several Humans and Half-Elves in Divine Magic in secret. When a border conflict between the Avaronians and the Human Clans to the east was about to break out, Archon saw his chance. Led by Archon the magic using rebels were able to conquer Istaria and kill all High Elf mage rulers. This event would become the start of a long conflict for independence.

Gaining Momentum

After his initial succes Archon did not wait long to advance. Even before his conquest of Istaria he had carefully planned a location to face the Avaronian troops stationed in the east. He was able to achieve an alliance with some of the Human clans across the border and together they devised a plan. A large number of troops of the clans gathered along the Afaliem river causing the Avaronian to send a larger regiment to the area.

Afaliem River Battle

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As the Avaronian army was not yet aware of the revolt in Istaria they also did not forsee the army of Archon approaching from the west. Using the cover of the nearby forest Archon was able to send a large number of his troops behind the Avaronian position while a smaller regiment was set to attack the nearby fortress. Once the Avaronians noticed the attack on the fortress they decided to split their forces while still leaving enough forces behind to defend against the Clan army.
The Avaronian units that detached from the main group were, however, easy pickings for the Archon troops. The southern detachment halted their assault on the fort and faced the Avaronians coming from the north. Meanwhile the main force of Archon moved against the Avaronians from the other side causing widespread chaos among its ranks.
The remaining Avaronians tried to mount a defence against the new threat but were not given the opportunity to do so as both they soon were attack from both the north and the south.

Aftermath

It was a great victory for Archon and it would become one of many yet to come. With the defences of the eastern border breached the Human clans finally had an easy way to advance into the Avaronian Empire. With an astounding speed the united forces were able to conquer many settlements in the eastern regions, freeing slaves everywhere they went. Eventually the Avaronians got word of the revolution but by the time they fully mobilised they had already lost quite a large amount of territory.

A long conflict

After the initial successes Archon managed to claim the majority of the northern territories of the Pavan provinces. But once the Avaronians were fully mobilised the progress halted somewhat and although he managed to win battles he participated in, Archon still had troubles maintaining the frontline.
Every time a breakthrough was achieved on one side, the Avaronians managed to break advance on the other side of the region. Eventually the Avaronians decided to agree to a ceasefire. This was mostly because the success of Archon had sparked several smaller rebellions to the south. Archon, however, knew that the peace was only temporary and he used this time to consolidate the conquered area.

The Independence Wars

What would follow was a long series of wars with only temporary periods of peace inbetween. During this period Archon was able to spread the use of Divine magic thanks to his large supply of Falls. This ensure that the freed lands ended up being better armed than the magic minded Avaronians.
With the resources gathered from the captured cities, Archon was able to secure several regiment of ORC mercenaries as well. After losing many territories to the Humans and Half-Elves the Avaronians decided to free all territories in Pavanor besides their oldest ones. Only the region of the Elervir Isles and current Evileya remained under their control.

Aftermath

The freedom of the Pavan territories had an influence on the Avaronian Empire for centuries to come. Eventually they lost the Elervir Isles and current Evileya in the First Human-Avaronian war. But even before that they started to have problems in their core provinces.
The lack of new slaves caused the Avaronians to look for new sources. This was first at the expense of the Dwarven population which in turn incentivised the Dwarven nations to the North to unify against the Empire. When they started to enslave the Wood Elf population this led to a large exodus of the Wood Elves to the western region of Farlis.
With the independence wars the end of the Avaronian Empire was set in motion. And the followers of Archon would be the ones to finally end it.

Location

Niorath

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This map shows the world of Niorath and its various biomes and nations. The north and south pole areas are still rather unexplored because they are frequently covered in ice. Various species live there but they have not played any major role in the history of the planet. The other continents are much more populated and have seen their fair share of changing occupants.

Some areas of the world are quite different from the normal natural biomes. These are chaos areas, region affected by the dangerous Chaos Tempests who can corrupt the land beyond recognition. Many of these are the result of forbidden magic going very wrong and have often meant the end of the empires that performed the related rituals.

The wars started in Istaria , a rather large settlement at the eastern border of the Avaronian provinces in Pavanor. The real conflict, however, really took off when Archon and the Human clans of the east won their first victory along the banks of the Afaliem river.
In the years to come Archon would conquer more and more of the areas in Pavanor that the Avaronian Empire controlled stopping only at the edge of the current Evileya.

Avaronian Empire

by Total War Warhammer II

The Avaronian Empire was a gigantic nation led mostly by High Elf magi. Although life within it was quite good for Elves and for some Half-Elves it was miserable for the other races who were frequently used as slaves.
Still they remain the longest living nation known to history as they ruled from 1993 BF until their eventual end in 0 AF. The most commonly known date notation is derived from the year they were defeated. Every year after the year when the battle of Bagor took place is referred to as AE (After Empire). Everything before that is BF (Before Fall).

Archon

Archon was the prophet who led the rebellion against the Avaronian Empire. According to the myth he received a vision from Indovir which would eventually enable him to defeat the High Elves and free the Human and Half-Elf slaves. He would go on to live until 180, which to this day is still the longest a Human has ever lived.
His legacy is still present today. Not only in the religion he founded (Archonism, but also in placing the seeds of a nation that would eventually become the Pavan Empire. Today the imperial family of the Pavan Empire is still believed to be descendants of Archon.