Origins
War chariots seem to have been invented in the continent of Teria before the 5000s BP although chroniclers and historians don't know which culture invented it.
Many heroes of the famous epic "The War of Durstolon" fight on top of war chariots.
One of the oldest inventory from a kingdom, the clay tablets dated in the 120th year of the reign of king Arafel II of the Elven confederation, (dated around 4560 BP) the kingdoms armies seemed to have around 160 war charriots distributed between the armies of the 3 constituent tribes).
The early Ikarian and Oronai aristocracy is, said to fight from war chariots implying that their Yavana ancestors also had this tradition.
Introduction in Karia
War chariots were introduced into the Eastern Continent of Karia with a devastating effect around 3000 BP when the davidovian tribes that would become the seris landing in western Karia and began conquering the region.
![war chariot](https://wa-cdn.nyc3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/user-data/production/1d1a84cb-b115-42bf-a1c8-7a0000f9d0d5/uploads/images/ec412d972f6d72b1d8ee30b6a22acfd2.jpeg)
A proto-davidovian war charriot by Peter Connolly
It is unknown how or why this technology was spread to most of the continent in a matter of centuries. War charriots and representations of War charriots in other cultures, for example in the realm of the Sun Elves began to appear frequently around the beginning of the Second Dynasty ( 3200-2190 BP).
Unhellion began his expansioning policy against the dwarves around this era using the war chariots as spearheads of their armies. At the battle of Aez El Amnar in 2464 BP king Olborg of thd dwarven kingdom of Kulduz was defeated by Sun Elf King Alaryn III at it is said that the dwarven king was killed by him with an arrow shot from his war charriot, said to be entirely covered in gold.
The seris began their expansion to the center of modern Seria defeating the indigenous peoples also thanks to their war chariots and their bronze weapons.
During the 3rd and 2nd millenia BP the war charriot was present in almost every army and battlefield until it slowly began dissapearing in both continents replaced by cavalry.
The Ikarians are said to have been the last great power that used war charriots before abandoning them in the 2nd century BP.
A tactical weapon and a weapon of fear
War charriots were excellent movile platforms from where to throw arrows or javelins to the enemy and also excellent weapons for inspiring fear into the enemy and make them run.
Seris and Elf War treaties that have survived from the Bronze Age recommend having an strong contingent of war charriots (Seris treaties talk about forces of 500-700 charriots, astonishing numbers!) with not only warriors of noble birth mounted on them, but also expert shooters, either with javelin or with the bow.
Elven manuals also advised about the use of poleaxes or spears to kill routing enemies or to disrupt enemy formations.
The truth is that those cultures that did not introduce the war chariot into their armies were at a clear disadvantage compared to those peoples who did adopt this new form of waging war. And many of them ended up being conquered or subjugated (for example the indigenous people of Seria related to the First Men) or the Dwarves of the North.
War chariots are such an interesting vehicle, especially for their use in combat. I like that you have gone into different cultures and their use of the chariots.