The Gatekeeper's War

We live now in a world where the barrier between the mortal and fae realms is thin, but there was a time when that barrier didn't exist at all. Or, more accurately, it could be more easily bypassed and may as well not have existed. The empty archways that stand moldering today, covered in masses of tangling roots and vines, overgrown now as the years have taken them, once served a purpose--they could be used to cross between our realm and the fae. These portals were created all over by a circle of druids dedicated to the preservation of nature, even at the cost of humanity's own well being. They sought order in what they saw as a mad world, a world that had deviated too far from the will of the nature god. The fae were not our enemies, not at first. Most of the fae were content with living alongside mankind, using them to further their own devices within the fae court or simply to entertain themselves through trickery. There was one faction in particular, a branch of the winter court, which revolved mostly around conquest for the sake of conquest. They began to hunt mankind simply for the thrill of the hunt, and in its fear mankind declared a war on the fae realm as a whole, attacking those who had no interest in joining the hunt. This is the event that sparked war with the fae, as many of those who were attacked were members of one of the major faerie courts, and thus harming them brought the wrath of their queens. This conflict led many of the cities of Venathel to band together for the first time in history, forming a single force that today makes up the majority of the one kingdom. They managed to survive the hunt, but only barely, driving the members of the hunt back through the portals into the fae and sealing them away. Next, the druids were hunted, imprisoned or executed, and the history of the war erased so that none might seek to reactivate the gates.