Woe to you! Who has made us travel to these lands of wild seas where the water crashes with force against the black rocks!
The Greatest of men
According to mythology those who fought at Dorstulon where the bravest, toughest of the humanoids (humans, elves and dwarves). Many were already famous and respected figures in their respective kingdoms and had almost super human powers.
All of them lived during the middle Bronze Age of Yeia, a couple of centuries after
the Tournament of the Goddesses and some of them were famous for their wisdom, cunning, bravery, piety etc... all qualities extremely appreciated during that time. These distinguished figures were summoned by King Euron to recover his capital and his kingdom. Their exploits in that war are known to many peoples throughout Yeia.
Most of what we know about them comes from epic tales such as the Siege of Dorstulon and also a collection of epic poems which talk about their return to their respective homes, as well as some adventures they live after returning. These mythical stories also tell us that the victorious heroes of the War of Dorstulon were rewarded by the gods with very long lifespans (of thousands of years!) making them almost deities at the eyes of their subjects.
All of them, leaving aside whether they are historical or not, became moral examples for generations to come about how to be pious towards the gods, how to be a caring father or son, of how to be an example of hospitality and the correct rituals and traditions regarding it; or how to be a great warrior or a wise ruler.
The "ancestors of the modern world"
Many of these heroes became the ancestors (either mythologically or really) of modern peoples of Yeia. Elves and specially Davidovian Peoples cannot understand the world and the peoples that live around them without going back to these "supermen" from such distant times, to recount the supposed origin of their neighbours.
For example, Davidovian peoples and Sephenian-Wesdalandian peoples are thought to be distant relatives, because of their mythological connection (although there is also a possible real historical connection dating back to the Bronze Age prior 5000 BP). Davidovians believe these group descend from Davidion's cousin, the young Alphias who appeared briefly on a short epic poem describing the Return of this hero from
Dorstulon.
And upon his throne sat the most pious Davidion, son of the most noble Kelsia, ruler of all the flowers that exist on earth, and he placed beside him the axe that had once belonged to King Lerimeus.
There was also his cousin, the young Alphias of fair hair and pale complexion and of restless mind, who, when he had reached manhood, became a great lord of villages, and feared for his fierce war cry.— The Return of Davidion (written around 900 BP)
Eureus, son of king Tecilder of the Western Elves became the ancestor of the Elves of Southern Seria, and by marriage, even the
Seris Emperors claim some form of descent from him.
Narathet,king of the Sun Elves, is belief to be a King of the First Dynasty, and every noble family of
Unhelion claim descent from him.
Davidion also became the ancestor of the Davidovian peoples, from whom they took their name (Ikarians, Oronai, Seris, Kallians and Crorai) through his sons: Ikarus, Lodaimos, Kuchi and Arsi. They even explained the distant memory of the migrations of the Davidovian peoples using these heroic figures. For instance, Kuchi crossed the Suris Strait with part of the subject of his father, while Lodaimos, after winning a tournament, obtained the blessing of King Neseus to marry his only daughter, Eleope, thus becoming the ancestor of one of these Davidovian people, the Kallians.
The question of their "historicity"
For many, these heroes were real people, perhaps with some exaggerated attributes or powers, but real historical people nonetheless. There are some indications that there might be a
"truth behind the myth".
For example, as it has been said, Narathet, the Sun Elf King who fought at the side of king Euron and the other heroes during the war, appears of a List of Kings from the Second Dynasty, dated around 2800 BP, almost 3000 years after the supposedly date of the Siege of Dorstulon (that ammount of time is equivalent to 6 elven generations, so "not that far away in time" in elvish terms). There is also the myth of Kuchi, Davidion's son, travelling to Unhellion and help him fighting the dwarves around 2000 years after the events described in the epic tale.
The Davidovian peoples still have the memory that, thousands of years ago, they were the same people and that Davidion was the last ruler of the unified Davidovian peoples. And that because of his piety towards the gods, they shared him their "true form" and explained him the "true version of the religion" as they had done with the Elves. Thus explaining why Davidovian and Elven Pantheons are so similar.
A Snow Elf inscription dated around 2300 BP mentions king Girzius as the one responsible for having defeated a large army of orcs near the city of Nyrlion, and in this city they still remember, when, after a terrible drought in summer that made it impossible to collect grain for the first months of winter, this king paid for the purchase of 500 sacks of grain, it is said, with the gold that he brought as loot from the city of Flakecross. Because of this, since then, they made sacrifices in honour of the long-deceased King as a form of gratitude.
Great choice for this prompt. I really love the discussion on whether they were real or not, and I like the fact that in-world they are most definitely considered real by most. Mythological connections between the past and present are always fun.