Military: War
In the ancient land of Alfheim, the realm of the Light Elves was shattered by the treachery of the Dark Elves. These renegades rejected the Holy Order and their faith in the Light, corrupting it with their rebellion. In response, the wrath of the Archangel Hasadiah was swift and unrelenting. Her spouse, King Solomon, commanded the Heavenly Host to lay siege to Alfheim and all Elven Realms that they encountered. Hasadiah's Angels descended upon Alfheim with holy fire and divine light, while her Holy Knights reduced every city and fortress they encountered to ruin. The fleets of the Holy Order left no avenue of escape. The skies burned with the shades of war, and the ground was drenched in blood and ash. No prisoners were spared. The whole of creation would witness the cost of treason to the Holy Order, and the Elf folk paid it in full. The siege was so brutal and unforgiving that it was recorded as "The Rape of Álfheim". In the end, the Dark King Beluar was forced to surrender on behalf of his people. The Holy Order humiliated the proud King and kept a portion of what remained of the Dark Elf population in Astajan, the Highest of Heavens, as hostages against any future rebellion from Beluar's Line. The last of the Dark Elves were pardoned for their sins and returned to Alfheim, a battered and defeated people. The Holy Order would occupy the Realm for the next 100 years until the Light Elves were strong enough to regain control. Her Grace made an example of Alfheim, and that example served its purpose well. Rebellion within the Kingdom of God was rare and hardly ever supported after the brutal conquest of Alfheim.
Álfheim is the Source of the Light, a queer substance that Bifröst Crystals can naturally harness. The Light emerges and re-emerges in Álfheim but runs throughout the entirety of Yggdrasil. As it is fundamental for Realm Travel, the natives of Álfheim have become incredibly wealthy via their resource monopoly. They were known as the Elven people and enjoyed a lavish style of life. The Elfs had incredible power within Yggdrasil under the Order brought about by Níðhöggr, the First Name of God but this changed with Hasadiah, the Second Name of God who put more restrictions on the Realm and the Elves to centralize and boost her own power. This was seen as incredibly deceptive considering that when Queen Hasadiah and King Solomon came to Alfheim seeking support to usurp the Dragon King, the Elves stood with them. They went as far as to secure this alliance with marriage between Princess Yrathea Vacyne and Prince Rehoboam David, Hasadiah's 1st born son. However, despite their treatment by House Yedidyah, the Elves did not rebel and converted to the faith of the Holy Order. For their loyalty, they were named a Major Realm by Hasadiah and enjoyed all of the perks of such a title. For the most part, they maintained a monopoly on powerful Bifröst Crystals infused with raw Light, were well protected by the Heavenly Host, and vastly expanded their empire. This way of life ceased to be with the rise of a religious zealot Mihangyl Umelynn. Mihangyl spoke out against the Holy Order, and normally he would have been ignored as the ramblings of a naked homeless Elf in the city square; which he most definitely was. But Mihangyl met his words with drastic actions and refused to partake in the Light. For the last nine thousand cycles, the Elves survived with incredibly long lives and amazing powers because of the Light. Refusing it was akin to starving yourself. Mihangyl believed the Light was a sign of the Elf's greed and material want, he claimed the golden whore, implied to be Her Grace Hasadiah, lured them into slavery, and has now bound them to their power. His words resonated with a great many Elven people and soon he had amassed a great following who all refused to partake in the Light. This is the birth of the Svartálf (Dark Elf). After a series of civil wars started by the Svartálf Movement, the Light and Dark Elves came to a certain middle ground at the Svartálfaheim Realm Gate Incident. Svartálfaheim was a realm the Dark Elves thought of as their home realm and marks the end of the Elven Civil War where the leaders of both parties agreed to peace. The Dark Elves came to the table believing they had finally been recognized as people and made the Light Elves see the truth. In reality, King Rehoboam had strongly advised the Light Elves to stamp out this Dark Elf nonsense, if it continued to interfere with their ability to maintain the Light, her Grace may install new Lightbearers. It did not look good to other Realms if an entire portion of Elves could undo their faith in the Holy Order without consequences as a Major Realm. This false peace would not remain long. The Light Elves plotted to run Svartálfaheim into nothing but ash and cinder and the Dark Elves grew more provocative in their rebellion against the Holy Order. A second warning was issued by Apostle Njord, escorted by a rather impressive Angelic and Celestial envoy. King Onvyr Vacyne was to see this heresy put to bed, without hesitation, or the Holy Order would take action. Both sides continued to scheme until a climax was met; the Dark Elf renegade by the name of Sorisana Enro led a splinter faith on a false flag mission to Alfheim. Sorisana and her minions believed the Light Elves would only see reason through strong and bold action, and that they would never willingly release the light. So, she resolved to help her Light brothers and sisters out. Sorisana and her group were slaughtered but the damage was done; they had corrupted the Light via practices related to the worship of Khaos, an Original Sin. With the Light corrupted, Realm travel was violated and the influence of Khaos was spread. Hasadiah would stay her hand no longer. Hallowed Lord Solomon organized The Heavenly Host and his sons Godfrey the Golden, Godwyn the All-Knowing, and Godrick the Blighted and thus the siege of Alfheim to retake the Light began. The Host could not go straight to Alfheim and had to work their way into the Elven Empire via their Outer Realms. But they began at Svartálfaheim, they rained down with their Dreadnaughts, Archangels, and Knights. They put it to the sword and began to move forward. Later on, the warrior sage Bialaer Vajeon would re-take Svartálfaheim and the remainder of the war saw the Holy Order tearing across the Elven Empire while also battling with Dark Elf guerrilla forces. But the Holy Order did not make a bee-line for Alfheim, they went out of their way to sack and plunder and raid every Realm they could reach with their corrupted Bifröst Crystals. The slaughter also was not specific, for every Dark Elf city that was pillaged, two Light Elv cities suffered similar fates. King Solomon judged the Dark Elves traitors and the Light Elves incompetent Lightbearers, he sought to remove their stain from Alfheim and give the Realm to more capable hands. The Light Elves soon found themselves fighting two enemies, the same as the Dark Elves and the Holy Order. Perhaps if the Elven people had combined might, they could have overcome Solomon, however unlikely. But the Light Elves were not used to fighting and living without the Light, many of their greatest warriors were reduced to cannon fodder in seconds. And the Dark Elves were too unorganized and would rather die than side with the Light Elves. This spelled their doom, as the Dark Elves were hit the hardest by the war. A small ray of hope appeared in the form of Dark King Beluar, the son of Bialaer Vajeon. He could reason with Light Elves, bested Solomon at serval key battles, and rallied the Dark Elves under his flag, organizing them. He was a powerful Dark Elf and the best chance at saving the Elf people, even in half of them gated him by his very birth. However, in the end, he was not enough. At the Second Siege of Svartálfaheim, Dark King Beluar crossed blades with Godrick the Blighted for six days. On the night before the 7th, Godwyn the All-Knowing came to Beluar in disguise and persuaded him to surrender on behalf of the Dark Elf people to spare them genocide. Beluar was brought before Hasadiah and her court humiliated him in front of his people, forever marking him as the King who Knelt. Of the Dark Elves who traveled with him in peace, Hasadiah had half of them out to the sword. She then had half of the remaining Dark Elves remain in her Realm as hostages, and allowed Beluar to return with what remained back to his kingdom in Svartálfaheim. The War was ended at a heavy price. Solomon, still untrusting of the Light Elves would declare his forces should keep the Light for no less than 100 Cycles at which point the Hoy Order would re-evaluate whether or not the Light Elves would be allowed to maintain the Light on behalf of House Yedidyah.
