In the first official volumes compiled after the war by the Nilfgaardian Empire, it was recorded as follows:
[The Northern Relief War (1263–1265)] broke out entirely due to the actions of Temeria's special forces.
Documents intercepted by the Imperial intelligence agency clearly indicated that Temeria intended to seize Cintra. Today, we all know that His Imperial Majesty Emhyr var Emreis shared deep familial ties with Princess Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon of Cintra at the time. The man later known as the 'Lion King of the North', Lann Lannister, had also visited our vassal state of Toussaint in his youth and formed a close friendship.
Under such circumstances, the Emperor could not turn a blind eye to Temeria's atrocities, nor would the Empire tolerate such a destabilizing shift of power in the North.
Therefore, the Empire dispatched its forces to Cintra to establish order in the region. This allowed the Empire to reverse Temeria's destructive actions and preserve peace. Regrettably, as always, the rulers of the Northern Realms proved obstinate and shortsighted, choosing armed conflict over rational compromise.
During this conflict, the Northern armies committed unforgivable crimes, and retribution came swiftly—first during the First Battle of Marnadal and the incident at Cintra. Afterward, our great Emperor Emhyr var Emreis sent a letter of sympathy to the court of Cintra, hoping that such a nightmare would never repeat.
After taking Cintra, the Nilfgaardian forces believed the Northern situation had stabilized. However, the North persisted in resisting, which led to further clashes near Sodden. The Northerners shamelessly proclaimed this battle as the turning point of the war, yet it held no true political significance. Cintra henceforth became territory of the Nilfgaardian Empire.
Thus ended the first phase of the Northern Relief War (1263–1264).
The second phase began at the start of 1265. At that time, the kings of the North held secret meetings and, using the young Princess Cirilla as leverage, signed a series of deceitful agreements meant to mislead Lann Lannister, who was then still Count of Cintra. Their aim was to incite rebellion within Cintra.
Nilfgaard could no longer stand idly by. With blinding speed, the Imperial Army occupied Lyria and Rivia, encountering almost no resistance and being greeted instead by joyful crowds yearning for peace and civilization.
Next, we entered Aedirn. King Demavend attempted to halt the march of the Black Sun, but he ultimately failed.
Queen Meve began recruiting bandits and outlaws into her forces—after all, the North has never lacked such people.
King Henselt displayed the typical Northern penchant for intrigue, betraying his allies and invading Aedirn. This act was condemned by us in retrospect.
Yet the Northerners' blades were as fickle as spring snow on the battlefield. King Foltest and Vizimir II foolishly intervened in the war, resulting in a series of bloody battles along the Yaruga River, in Rivia, and in Lyria.
Witnessing this ruthless and uncontrollable violence, His Majesty Emhyr sought to halt these senseless wars and ordered then-Field Marshal Menno Coehoorn to lead the army eastward to mediate.
Alas, the greed of the Northern kings eventually culminated in the outbreak of the Battle of Lyria, where our heroic legions faced a joint assault from Temeria, Lyria, Rivia, and even the brutal sea raiders of Skellige. Even the dwarves of Mahakam, buried deep in the mountains, sent troops after being persuaded by the Northern kings.
To this day, the North still regards this engagement as the turning point of the entire war. Debating that classification endlessly serves no purpose—the essential truth is that this was a clash of two strategies: the Emperor's righteous strategy of integrity versus the North's cunning and evasive tactics.
His Imperial Majesty foresaw the outcome of this conflict. The Northern armies cared not at all how much suffering they inflicted upon civilized people. But Nilfgaard held itself above such conduct, refusing to partake in it, and thus withdrew its forces to the South.
However, this action was seen by the Northerners as a sign of surrender.
In the end, the now-maturing Lann Lannister stepped forward to assist the young Princess Cirilla, mediating between North and South during the war. Ultimately, both sides finally reached an agreement.
Thus, the Northern Relief War came to an end.
One final matter must be mentioned: Field Marshal Menno Coehoorn went missing following the war. Some believe he was ambushed by Northerners during the earlier conflict and perished alongside his soldiers—his unidentified body now resting in some unmarked grave. Others claim that, unable to return to the Empire in shame after his failure, the marshal abandoned his honor and became a hermit, living out the rest of his days in regretful seclusion.
Among the common folk, however, another tale circulates: it is said that the marshal returned to the final battlefield the night the fighting ended. Tormented by his inability to quell the Northern chaos, to save its people, to bring civilization to the region, and above all, by his failure to fulfill the Emperor's command—he took his own life by hanging himself from a mountain aspen on one of the hills. It is rumored that at night, the marshal's soul still wanders the battlefield, wailing in agony and crying out: "In the name of the Sun, for His Imperial Majesty!"
His Majesty Emhyr var Emreis was said to be stricken with grief over the loss of his most trusted general, declaring it the Empire's only—and greatest—loss in the entire Northern Relief War.
Such was Nilfgaard's official account of the war.]
…
Meanwhile, in articles compiled by Northern scholars in Oxenfurt, the records describe it as follows:
[The Southern Invasion War] first broke out in 1263.
The cause of the conflict was Nilfgaard's clear intent to violate Cintra's sovereignty. Imperial forces crossed the Amell Mountains, launching attacks on the southern border of Cintra, near the Marnadal Stairs. Unverified rumors claimed Emhyr var Emreis had a special connection to the region, though no details were ever confirmed. What is certain is that he had long since resolved to take control of Cintra.
The pivotal engagement was the Battle of Marnadal, where Nilfgaard surrounded and annihilated Cintra's army. Queen Calanthe was killed in the battle, and King Eist Tuirseach was rescued by reinforcements from Skellige. The Black Army then pushed into Cintra's capital, where the entire population was massacred—a tragedy forever remembered as the Massacre of Cintra.
Previously believed to have been assassinated by Nilfgaard in Toussaint, King Lann reappeared miraculously at this moment and intervened in the war. Some legends say he was summoned back from the lands of the dead by the power of Cintra's Three Lions banner, though this remains unverifiable.
What is known is that King Lann decisively prevented Nilfgaard from escalating the massacre in Cintra. With calm and wisdom, he gathered the surviving troops and refugees, preserving the flame of Cintra's legacy. He then escorted Princess Cirilla to Brokilon Forest, where plans for a counterattack began.
When Nilfgaard realized that King Lann could not be defeated by conventional means, they shamelessly shifted the battlefield to Upper Sodden, where the fighting turned brutal, savage, and merciless. In the face of such atrocities, the Northern armies were left with only two choices: win the war—or die with their families.
At that point, the Brotherhood of Sorcerers joined the battle. With a desperate resolve, they succeeded in defeating Nilfgaard's seemingly invincible army.
Thus ended the first phase of the Southern Invasion War (1263–1264).
That same year, the Northern kings convened at Fort Hagge, devising a united strategy against the South. At the time still holding the title of Count, King Lann led forces northward. With exceptional foresight and great personal prestige, he managed to unite the Northern Kingdoms for the first time, establishing a unified front against Nilfgaard.
Despite the South's overwhelming power, King Lann also shrewdly identified enemies hiding among the four major Northern realms. To ensure the war's success, after returning to Cintra and being named Duke by Princess Cirilla, he immediately resumed campaigning to strengthen the alliance. He not only helped King Eist reclaim the throne of Skellige but also succeeded in gaining the support of the long-isolated dwarves of Mahakam.
Taking advantage of King Lann's absence, Emperor Emhyr orchestrated a series of schemes that exposed vulnerabilities in the North. The Empire swiftly marched northward—thus beginning the second phase of the Southern Invasion War.
Without King Lann, the Imperial forces swiftly swept across the North. First, they occupied Rivia, and after a brief siege, Lyria fell as well. The coalition led by Queen Meve and King Demavend retreated repeatedly.
King Henselt of Kaedwen seized the opportunity to invade his neighbor, tearing up the agreement he had signed with King Lann.
The turning point came with King Lann's return. By then, he had consolidated nearly all of the North's power and, in a groundbreaking move, had integrated members of several non-human races into his army.
After marching east alone to help Queen Meve and King Demavend stabilize the eastern front, King Lann unleashed his long-restrained power for the first time on the battlefield. At the Battle of Rivia, he crushed Nilfgaard's Eastern Army, which had outnumbered the coalition several times over, in a single decisive blow. This was the first major victory in the second phase of the Southern Invasion War, and also its greatest triumph thus far.
Immediately after the Battle of Rivia, King Lann rushed back to Cintra. There, he astutely sensed instability within the Empire. An internal conflict—later referred to as the Noble Conspiracy—exposed a fatal weakness, shattering Nilfgaard's myth of invincibility.
Seizing the moment, King Lann launched the Battle of Ortagor, easily annihilating Nilfgaard's Western Army. This second great victory in the war's second phase had an even greater impact than the first. The Northern peoples' confidence in resisting Nilfgaard was greatly reinforced, and all prerequisites for reclaiming the North were now in place.
King Henselt of Kaedwen, terrified by King Lann's rising might, withdrew his troops from Aedirn. However, his betrayal became known throughout the North, ultimately leading to his bitter downfall.
King Foltest and the then-allied Vizimir II responded to King Lann's call to varying degrees. At this point, King Lann successfully brought together the forces of Cintra, Skellige, Mahakam, and the Free Companies of Kovir, and rightfully assumed command of the United Kingdom of Lyria and Rivia, Aedirn, and Temeria. He personally led the pivotal Battle of Lyria, fought outside the capital of Lyria.
Nilfgaard's Central Army collapsed entirely in this battle. The Battle of Lyria became the decisive engagement of the second phase of the Southern Invasion War, completely reversing the tide of war.
Afterward, the Skelligers under King Eist demonstrated extraordinary mobility. Sailing down the Yaruga River, they joined forces with the naval guerilla units established earlier by King Lann to ambush the retreating Nilfgaardian troops in the Marnadal Valley.
The Second Battle of the Marnadal Valley, answering the First Battle of Marnadal, marked the end of the second phase of the Southern Invasion War—and the war as a whole. King Lann and King Eist achieved their first act of vengeance for Nilfgaard's invasion of Cintra, completely crushing the Empire's ambitions to conquer the North and laying a firm foundation for King Lann's future unification of the Northern Realms.
...
"So this is the fragment you glimpsed from the future, Ida?"
"And Francesca as well," the speaker replied gently. "But this was merely a war between humans. If you want us to help the Aen Seidhe reclaim sovereignty over the Mountain Realms, that is beyond our power."
"You know as well as I do that we Aen Elle have also lost the ability to traverse between worlds. Even if the Red Riders occasionally reach your Mountain Realms, it changes nothing in the current situation."
"That's not my goal, Auberon," Francesca answered.
An illusory veil of light divided the two worlds, making it appear as if the conversation were taking place across separate realities.
And that was exactly the case.
Both parties had long, pointed ears—they belonged to the race humans on the Continent called elves.
Though divided across two worlds, among the elves exists a profession of immense power known as the Aen Saevherne. Beyond the spellcasting abilities shared with sorcerers in the broader sense, they also excel in medicine and the arts, and even possess the power to traverse between worlds, dimensions, and time itself.
Their existence enables communication between the two elven races of the divided worlds.
At that moment, three last Aen Saevherne stood on either side of the veil of bright light, deep in conversation.
In addition to the three Aen Saevherne, the Tir ná Lia side had a general clad in skeletal armor observing the conversation, while the Mountain Realms—also known as the Continent—had another present: a female elf.
This elven woman was Francesca Findabair, known as the most beautiful woman in the world, also called the Daisy of the Valley. She was one of the five members of the Northern sorcerers' ruling body, the Chapter of Gift and Art, and among the most powerful sorceresses.
Yet even her formidable strength seemed a tier below the three Aen Saevherne. However, with Ida, the only remaining Aen Saevherne on the Continent, uninterested in politics, the elves of this world had elected Francesca as their representative—and she was indeed politically astute.
It was Francesca who had proposed this cross-world meeting and had requested Aen Saevherne Ida to share fragments of foresight glimpsed from the future with their counterparts.
Facing the skepticism of the elves from the other world, Francesca lifted her chin slightly.
"These two so-called historical accounts of the future describe more than just a human war. Don't you see that there's someone in them who defies all logic?"
King Auberon tilted his head.
"You're referring to this 'King Lann' mentioned in the latter report? It sounds more like a human historian shamelessly exaggerating their leader's greatness. Is there something unusual about him?"
Francesca smiled with a trace of certainty.
"Indeed, this 'King Lann' is currently only a duke."
"But, he is a descendant of Lara Dorren—the Elder Blood you've all been searching for across ages!"
"The war described in this 'future chronicle' has already just ended. I can assure you, the historian wasn't exaggerating—they were being factual. And such achievements were possible only because Lann Lannister's Elder Blood has awakened!"
"He is the key to reclaiming our power over time and space!"
The two Aen Saevherne from Tir ná Lia fell into silence.
"The Elder Blood… awakened in a human male?"
"Yes."
Seeing their hesitation, Francesca pressed further.
"Besides Lann Lannister, there is a second descendant of the Elder Blood here—Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon. For you, she may prove even more valuable than Lann himself, given that he is male."
Behind the two Aen Saevherne stood the armored general, who stirred slightly.
His name was Eredin Bréacc Glas, commander of Tir ná Lia's most formidable cavalry unit. This force, known as the Red Riders, could harness the power of the White Frost to barely traverse realms—allowing them to plunder other worlds for resources to sustain their stranded kin.
But after only a handful of incursions onto the Continent, witnesses there gave them a far more fearsome name—
The Wild Hunt.
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