The War of the Beard (The War of Vengeance)

They're both still seething about it to this day.

"It was not the fault of the Dwarves that the friendship waned."
"I have not heard that it was the fault of the Elves."
"I have heard both."

– Gimli, Legolas and Gandalf respectively on dwarf/elf relations in Middle-Earth

The War of the Beard (Or the War of Vengeance as known by the Dwarfs) was the bloodiest conflict in Warhammer Fantasy Battle's history. Because really, only Elves and Dwarves can hate each other that much to spill more blood than anything else in a Grimdark universe. Famous for being one of the few major wars that didn't feature orcs, skaven, undead, dark elves (directly, since to some they instigated the war) or chaos as the bad guys (except the novel, spoiler alert!).

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Before the infamous War of the Beard, the Dwarves and the Elves were at peace. They were re-continuing trade, which made both empires rich-out-of-their-minds. The Dwarfs were at their highest point, the Silver Age. It is in this period that the Dwarfs pretty much kicked Orc ass for SPORT and not for the sake of survival. They also had most of their ancient relics, and Karak-Eight-Peaks, the second greatest Dwarf Fortress of all, still under their uncontested ownership. The Elves were somewhat dismayed at Malekith's dissension, but hey, they were rich as hell and powerful to boot with Malekith and his followers presumed fleeing or dead.

God Damnit, Caledor II

Then the Dark Elves, posing as High Elves, started to mercilessly rape Dwarven caravans. The Dwarf High-King at the time, Gotrek Starbreaker (a manly-ass Dwarf who could probably beat Khorne at arm-wrestling and make him look like a pansy in comparison, but wasn't known for his smarts) promptly got pissed and sent over diplomats to yell at the Phoenix King at the time, Caledor II (son of Phoenix King Caledor the Conqueror and one of the most skilled elf warriors at the time, but was otherwise a reckless man-child). The first time Caledor told Gotrek to piss off for being rude and if he wanted anything, had to plead. Gotrek sent the diplomats back saying he wanted double recompense for the implied insult. Caledor II got upset with the boisterous diplomats, and when one drew their axe and swore by their beard they would not leave it was the last straw. Taking him at his word, Caledor II had them shaved of their beards and hair (Hence why the Elves call it, "The War of the Beard") and send them back to Gotrek. Though the elves thought they were being merciful not to kill them, to Dwarf-kind forcibly shaving their beard is the greatest crime one can commit. Gotrek Starbreaker, upon getting Caledor II's response, spent a year or so mustering the full, raw, uncut power of the Dwarven kingdom (and to let the grudge stew for a time, very important) before launching a brutal attack on the Elven colonies in the Old World.

The Actual War of the Beard

The first siege of Tor Alessi began, in which the Dwarves were forced back (but not without wrecking half the city). Caledor II, pissed, marched on down to the Old World and slew Gotrek Starbreaker's son, Snorri Halfhand, in a duel.

After Snorri died, Gortrek finally fully committed to the war, sworn a powerful oath that would end in either him being shaved or the Elgi's payment with their death. With their high king's backing, the Dwarves got their act into gear, and began fucking up the Elven colonies. At the battle of Oregor, the Elves were struck a serious blow by the Dwarves in a battle largely consisting of Manoeuvring. Yeah.

In said battle, Gotrek Starbreaker's nephew and new heir Morgrim marched his bum right through a giant army of elite Elven troops, took Imaldrik, the Prince of Ulthuan, and proceeded to use him as a dishtowel (though some source say Imaldrik surrendered, letting the Dwarfs kill him in exchange for sparing his troops). Dismayed, the rest of the depleted Elven forces ran for their lives. He then got the name "Elgidum" from said battle - which means Elfdoom. Awesome.

After that, the Elves got butthurt and decided to try and attack Karak Azul, where the Dwarf's best smiths resided. They almost won too, due to superior numbers, until a Dwarf Thane called Brok Stonefist, nicknamed "The Nightmare of the Deeps" or Arhain-tosaith by the Elves (the shadow one of the earth), rallied the forces of the Hold and kicked the Elves halfway across the Old World with his broken op rune gear and his own tactical genius on tunnel warfare.

The High Elves realized that this badass was a pretty big threat, so they sent Salendor to combat him. Salendor being a wizard was known for his uncanny premonition that he could foreseen any ambushes from the Dwarfs.

Brok and Salendor fought many engagements against one another, and eventually they both met their doom at the siege of Athel Maraya (soon to be Talabheim). Salendor and Brok were fought each other at the heart of the city as it burned around them, forcing both forces to retreat, excluding the two leaders of the armies. Locked in close combat, they killed each other in the middle of the burning city. Some say that in the ruins of the colony, their ghosts still fight, locked in eternal combat. But that's bullshit, since manly Dwarfs who die in combat pretty much always go to Dwarf Heaven, and dead elves either get taken by Elf Waystones, Slaanesh or the elf underworld.

By then, there had been a great number of sieges on Tor Alessi. Finally, the wall was pretty much completely obliterated, so the Dwarves piled in, slaughtering the Elves cowering within the city. Gotrek, carried upon his throne, found Caledor II trapped in a corner, unable to flee. They fought mano-e-mano for days upon days before Gotrek Starbreaker struck the Phoenix King Caledor II with a single blow from his hammer and after the Phoenix King pleaded for mercy, he killed him. He then stole his crown, telling the enemy "Nanana boo-boo, I'm better than you, stick your head in doo-doo" and burnt the city down, retreating to Karaz-A-Karak to flaunt his victory. The Elves, utterly demoralized, gathered all of their forces for one final suicidal push on Karaz-A-Karak before word came that the Dark Elves had attacked Ulthuan.

Aftermath

Since then, each faction has had burning hatred for each other. But each faction was made considerably weaker by the war, precipitating their respective declines.

With the power of both the elves and dwarfs spent, it left a power vacuum that was rapidly filled up by the rising power of men (and less nice races like the beastmen and skaven). Bretonnia, the Empire and Kislev all in time rose up from the regions the elves had previously conquered.

The High Elves retreat completely from the old world and didn't return until much later, to find that all those weird smelly barbarians called humans had suddenly sprung up all over the place and making their own cities and nations to boot. To say the elves were surprised is an understatement.

The Dwarves nearly right after the war suffered a nasty series of earthquakes that wrecked their defenses. The causes of this disastrous event has two speculation, where it is either caused by the failure of the Skaven when they tried to expand Skavenblight using some sort of giant machinry, or the idiotic Slann mages and Mazdamundi from Lustria who was trying to shape the world according to the old ones. This disastrous event left many of their holds and mines open to invasion from the skaven and night goblin tribes. The fall of the dwarf empire broke them into smaller kingdoms, now with each hold under near constant siege.

With the high elves retreating to their homeland, the few left behind becoming Wood Elves who rose to be a quiet power in Athel Loren. Alas they had no peace, being constantly attacked by any old goblin and beastmen walking into their forest.

Literally the only positive thing to come out of this mess is Caledor II being universally nicknamed Caledor the Idiot which still entices a laugh to historians (Though that's just the tip of the iceberg for the Dwarfs).

So in the end, Malekith got what he wanted. He ensured that the High Elves and Dwarfs would never unite against him, all while spitting at the grave of his best friend, Snorri Whitebeard (Who had sworn on the latter's deathbed that the Elves and Dwarfs would remain friends!). What a dick...

And thus, this was probably Grombrindal's origin story.

The Novels

The event was written into novel series of triology by three different authors each part: Nick Kyme (part 1), Chris Wraight (part 2), C.L. Werner (part 3).

The novels retcon the a lot of events of the war. Tensions were already high due to the attacks of the Dwarfs' caravans, but what really pissed the Dwarfs off was the assassination of an ancient runelord from Barak Varr named Agrin Fireheart. The Dwarf kings demanded Gotrek Starbreaker to wage war against the Elves for the murder of the runelord, but again refused to declared war. Prince Imladrik (younger brother of Caledor II, a popular guest among the Dwarf and the last remained Caledorian dragon master) investigated the runelord's death and discovered the essence of Dark Magic in the murder site, confirming the presence of the Dark Elves. Realizing that Malekith sought to instigate war between the High Elves and Dwarfs, he sent a message to High King Gotrek explaining the existence of their nefarious kin and their plans. Unfortunately, Imladrik's words fell on deaf ears and the gathered dwarf kings thought the Elves were only excusing themselves and that these "Druchii" didn't exist. Still, Gotrek gave the elves the benefit of the doubt.

Snorri Halfhand (named Halfhand due to an encounter with the Skaven which resulted in Snorri getting his fingers bitten off on one hand), the son of High King raised an army to strike against the elves in retribution without his Father's consent. Snorri was a pretty hot head Dwarf who believed his father has gone old and soft, wanting to continue a pointless peace treaty with the knife ears, who are now burning their lands. Snorri was persuaded to not attack the elves initially, but eventually lost his patience after being told a priestess of Valaya were killed on the road by Elven arrows. Realizing the Elven forces began rally at Kor Vanaeth (also the nearest city from their position), Snorri took the initiative where he defeated their army in less than 3 hours, then razed the city afterwards.

It was during this time that Gotrek Starbreaker sent his diplomats Forek Grimbok to Ulthuan in a last ditch effort to prevent war. However, when the dwarfs arrived in Caledor II's court to demand an apology and recompense, words had already reached the phoenix court of the Kor Vanaeth attack (which Grimbok has no knowledge of). Pissed off over being demanded to apologize and to recompense when they just destroyed one of his cities, he ordered the diplomats shaved despite the protest of his brother Imladrik. Shaving might be an understatement, for it was later revealed there are cuts and gashes around Grimbok's face where his beard should be grown. Caledor II is a piece of shit.

After a heated parental conversation with his son, Gotrek realized there's no going back and decided to help his son to siege Tor Alessi. Although still mad at his son for started the war, Gotrek admit he could not lose his only son, and hopefully he could end the war as quick as possible before both side suffers heavy casualties. The siege of Tor Alessi began normally but Caledor II's duel with Snorri was dishonorable. Not only he mocked Gotrek in front of Snorri, saying a Dwarf would be much faster with digging than walking, calling them pigs in mud (which is the same insult he had shot at the Dwarf diplomat back on Ulthuan, as well as many other Dwarfs he talked to later on), he also killed Snorri by piercing his face with his spear without letting Snorri finish his insults.

Snorri at that time were also perusing some kind of prophecy from their runelord: "slay the drakk, become king", which is what made Snorri challenge Caledor II in the first place. His death has proven he was not the chosen one, but the real one exists and shall reveal himself later on.

After Snorri died, Gotrek finally fully committed to the war, sworn a powerful oath that would end in either him being shaved or the Elgi's payment in equal measures, partly has to do with his son's death, but mostly because Caledor II being a piece of shit. With their high king's backing, the Dwarfs finally got their acts into gear and began fucking up the Elven colonies.

Caledor II being a wicked bastard respond by sending his brother Imaldrik to get rid of the Dwarfs, thought his brother and his ability to command the dragons could break the Dwarfs in a mere battle. Imladrik love the Dwarfs, had no reasons for wars and had planned to spending time with his wife, but he still could not defy the orders from his brother, the Pheonix King, and thus he was forced to go back to the old world (or Elthin Arvan as the Elves called) once more.

Instead of doing what his brother had told him to do, he decided to do his best to stop the war (plus he hates Druchii and would do anything to stop them). To do so, he would need to bring the Druchii operators before the Dwarfs. Not just any Dwarf however, but his trusted Dwarf friend Morgrim Bargrum. He acquired an aid of a diplomat named Caradryel (aka the soon to be phoenix king) and had him convinced his Dwarf friend to meet him and witness the Druchii. To acquire the Druchii, he sent his mage assistant Liandra (a bitter and vengeful mage who has hatred for both the Dwarfs for razing her city Kor Vanaeth and Druchii for burned down her childhood home at Clothique, is able to command a dragon and has hots for her master even though he was already married) to detained them. Initially, Caradryel managed to calm Morgrim down and bought him to meet Imladrik, where the prince showing his good grace by presented him a memorial that was carried by Snorri at all time: the fingers that were bitten of by the Skaven. As cool headed as Morgrim could get, his army, his Thanes and Runesmith were not that he had to calm their asses down once so often. Unfortunately, Liandra's dragon ended up dying after forcing her Druchii prey to be lost into the sea. Worst comes when Morgrim had received a false report that one of his army were attacked by a female sorcerer with a dragon, which she "came on" to them. In truth, Liandra and her dragon was fighting against a Druchii sorcerer with a black dragon, but the reports claimed Liandra had deserted and fuel the war. Having waited for two days with no result, the Dwarfs, even Morgrim lost their patience and respect for Imladrik that they launched a surprise attack on Tor Alessi. Imladrik, realized he had tried his best to prevent the war but failed, he was like FUCK IT and finally join the war with his dragon Draukhain.

Despite finally decided to fight the Dwarf, Imladrik wasn't in the mood, initially anyway until Draukhain sensed Imladrik's blood relative on the wall; his own son Thoriol, who was previously a scholar at Caledor where he should've been safe, had been recruited (was actually tricked into become one when the sod was wine drunk) as an archer to fight the Dwarfs. With the sudden realization that the Druchii had successfully schemed and dragged the High Elves away from their safety, risking their families into this pointless war, Imladrik finally gave in to his rage and vent them all on the Dwarfs. Imladrik's dragons were a great help to the Elven forces, roasting an entire sea of armored beardling and allowed the commander at the time: Salendor (one of the greatest tactical genius at the times and a wizard) to cast his magic. Without any real way to deal with the dragons and the battalion of mages on the wall, Morgrim's force were forced to retreat, where they decided to turn their attention towards Oeragor, an Elven outpost in the Badland founded by Imladrik himself.

Liandra had lived and made to Oeragor with her Druchii captive Drutheira, which made it all the unfortunate for her since they are about to swarm by a tide of angry armored-beardling. Imladrik had tried to save his city and Liandra but Draukhain was shot down by a Dwarfen artillery (causing it to crash and be buried in rubble). Surrounded by hundreds of angry dwarfs, Morgrim challenged the Caledorian Prince to Mortal Kombat.

Imladrik was in grieve. He blamed Morgrim for not being patient enough and insulted Snorri for being a fool. Morgrim too blamed Imaldrik's brother for being retarded and called his dragons verminous monsters. Imladrik had the upper hand in duel, initially anyways since he was faster and managed to knock Morgrim on the ground. It wasn't until Draukhain made his presence from the rubble that Morgirm's rune axe suddenly powered up from detecting the dragon's presence. As these two best friend weapon clash, Morgrim shattered the princes' blade and buried his axe deep into his chest. Morgrim felt remorseful for killing Imladrik, as the two were once good friends (especially because Imladrik was one of the few known elves who actually treated the dwarfs with respect and didn't see them as a lesser race). To honor his former friend, he allowed Liandra and the wounded Draukhain to bring his body back to Tor Alessi. Oh and Drutheira escaped with her goon Malchoir now that they completed their mission and crippled both Dwarfs and High Elves. Fucking fantastic.

Siege of Tor Alessi (236th year of Caledor II)

A few years later, Morgrim's army returned to Tor Alessi with a fleet of airships, literary blitzkrieg the city. These airship were invented by a Dwarf named Helgan Copperfist. The airship was not only good for bombing the poor Elgi bastard below, it is also fitted with bolt throwers armed with bolts capable of dealing with Elgi's annoying dragon riders. The said bolts had barb head with explosive compound installed inside their steel tip called Tharzharr aka 'thunder-fire', an incendiary chemical bought from Karak Zorn (or so according to the "Dwarf" Thane that bought it from Karak Zorn) capable of melting through solid steel and splash its target with a burst of green fire. The Elf retaliate by sending their dragon riders to torch the Vault, a Dwarf settlement below the Loren Forest. The dragon riders then made their way to Kazad Thar and Kazad Mingol to roast more Dwarfs. The Dwarfs air ship were powerful, but were no match to the dragon's speed. Still, an air fight were had between the airships and the dragon, which results in the death of a dragon and an airship, where the said dragon were burned by the Tharrzharr's pot thrown by a Dwarven Engineer on board when it tried to claw its way from below the airship of King Snorri. The dragon riders retreats when one of their other Dragon riders were killed by a Dwarf named Rundin when it was crippled by the bolt.

Siege of Karak Azul (243rd year of Caledor II)

During the siege, two familiar Dwarfs from before, Grimbok (now a steelbeard, dwarfs whom were abused by Caledor II and had dressed themselves with a steelmask and a rune axe made for elf killing) and Rundin (now a famed hero known for dragonslaying) were in Brok Stonefist's party and they had cause much casualty to the Elf. Caledor II looked down on the Dwarfs, but he still had some self restrained to not pull his best generals whom were in the north fighting the Druchii. What Caledor II did was pulling inexperience or disgraced commanders like Lord Myrion of Cothique to fight the Dwarfs, thought it was enough to punish those mud animals, and at the same time allowed those weak commanders to gain some glory and recognition. As expected, Lord Myrion became one of many victims to the Dwarf axes, specifically to Rundin's whom he had dueled against.

Siege of Athel Maraya (250th year of Caledor II)

The siege of Athel Maraya (soon to be Talabheim) is significantly different. For three months under Morgrim's command, the Dwarf sieges. The Elven wizards atop the wall had prevent the Dwarf invaders from damaging their walls with their artillery or so much as getting closing with their ladders using their magics. It wasn't until the walls suddenly "sink" below the ground and allow the Dwarfs horde into the city. The good ol'Brok had done it once again. His plan was to have his warriors, specifically miners to be captured by the Elves, which they will be used as captive by them to reinforce Maraya's wall. Signs and marks were made on areas where the walls were by the captive Dwarfs, which only miners of the miner guild could read. To bypass Elgi mages' premonition ability, Brok had a Runesmith besides him in order to hinder their premonitions. When the time is right, Brok had his sappers to bring down the wall. For Salendor's part, he was blind to his own premonitions, where it shows him only Brok could bring down Athel Maraya, and only with Brok's death could halt the Dwarfs' advance, arrogantly thought he could kill the Dwarf by himself. Brok too was selfish, caring only about his own personal glory more than fighting for the Dwarf as a whole that he kept the plan to himself and dug straight to the heart of city without Morgrim's knowledge. Just like how the White Dwarf had described, Salendor and Brok dueled inside the burning city to countless stalemate even when both side had left and the city burns. Their fate remains a mystery for their remains were never found, but were probably buried below the grounds of prsent day Talabheim for all who cares.

Gotrek later regarded Brok's action as selfish and reckless, for his action not only led to his doom, at the same time it nearly ruins the entire campaign. Although Brok would be famous after this and earned himself a place in the Dwarf history, Gotrek wasn't sure if he deserves it.

Seige of Barak Var (344th year of Caledor II)

Despite the loss of one of their talented tactician, the Elves turned their attention towards Barak Varr, the Dwarf's only and greatest port. Led by Lord Draikyll, he is known for attack the Dwarf navy with Merwyrms, whom were "tamed" by an exiled Caledorian named Ilendril, whose ancestors had tried to harnessed the Dhar magic of the Druchii to control monsters. Unfortunately for the Dwarf, they could no longer built anymore airships since Helgan died in a freak Tharzharr explosion "accident" in his lab alongside with many of his creations, meaning the Dwarf has no advantage in the air. Still, Tharzharr were still widely used and its power became the Dwarf's only weapon that could threaten any monsters the Elves had command, as it's green flame will never extinguished (not even with water), and will continue incinerate its target until it dies. Still, the Elves with their advantage in the sky with their dragons has prevented the Dwarf from traveling on land, and their fleet has prevent the Dwarf's from sailing on sea, not even the Dwarf's sturdy iron clad ship could endure the combine attack from Merwyrms and bolts fired by the Elven gallery, which were all enchanted with armor piercing capabilities. The only way for the Dwarf to traverse would be their usual tunnel, which making it the only concern the Elves could put their attention on. However, the Elves real plan was to posion the Dwarf's water reservoir with basilisk venom, and the entire operation were conducted by Lord Caerwal as a revenge for the Dwarf's attack on his city: Athel Numiel. This didn't work out however, for Morgrim and his forces had broke through the Elves formation underground. When Morgrim met Caerwal and realized what he has down, he wrestle down the shitty elf and drag him down to the water with him. As both sank further below, Morgrim only tightened the elf harder, so much that the elf's ribcage broke. The Elf had tried to broke free by stabbing Morgrim, but was no use for the Dwarf's endurance proven to be legendary. Although the Elves had failed taking down Barak Varr and Draikyll now summoned back to Ulthuan for his failure, Barak Varr won't be function for a decade, preventing the Dwarfs from harassing coastal Elven colonies nearby.

After this, due to the dragon's disdain for the Dwarf's Tharzharr and Draikyll's use for Merwyrms (the dragon felt uneasy toward the merwyrms, but at the same time when the merwyrms died, they felt withering disappointment towards whoever had sent them to battle as if the dragon could related with them as the Elf's tools of war) even the dragons had enough for this shitty war as they flew back to their mountains in Caledor.

Battle of Ilendril's hill (Massacre of Malok (Malice) ) (393rd year of Caledor II)

Without the dragons the elves in the old world were fearful of the Dwarves' vengeance return on Tor Alessi. To quickly regain the colonists' trust, the Elves had to seek a replacement, which led them to try and tamed the wyrms, the dragons of the old world. It was suggested by Ilendril, who once again used the same vile magic to tame the wyrms. With the help of the aforementioned Drucci sorcerers Drutheira (captured once again), Ilendril action will led to a slaughter which will be known as "Battle of Ilendril's hill" in the Asuar history. To the Dwarf's Dammaz Kron however, it will be called "Massacre of Malok (malice)" instead. It began at Kazad Kro of the grey mountain. It was a refugee hiding ground filled with mostly Skarrenawi (hill Dwarfs, or beta Dwarf due to their softer, whiter skin and shorter beard, has more love for gold and loves to trade with the Elves). The hold lacks any meaningful defense, let alone had any effective weapons to fight the dragons and were pretty much remained untouched until this point. The Wyrm's talon and fire breathe made short work for all the innocent Dwarfs that were put to torches. There weren't any that could threatens the monster other than a lone Runesmith that tried to fight it with its rune lightning, and were killed immediately. After pretty much everyone in the hold were killed, Ilendril and his wyrm turned their attention to the local pathetic ruler called Skarnag Grum, whom was suffered from Gold Lust and all he does is hiding in his hold to count the gold he had gained from the better days. The wyrm's breathe had melt both Grum and his gold together into a lump of gold block flesh. Ilendril's wyrm were later named Ilendrakk in his pride, or Malok as both the Dwarfs and the Elves would soon called.

Dirge for Athel Toralien (445th year of Caledor II)

In another retaliation, Morgrim once again led the Dwarf to torch another Elven city: Athel Toralien (soon to be Nordland). An Elven lord named Gelthar had tried to bribe the Dwarf from attacking, but were met with obvious response as it was Grimbok he spoke with, which the angry Dwarf proceed to split the Elf's head open without giving a shit. Inspired by Brok's brilliance, Morgrim topple the cliff nearby the city with miner charges and drown the city in dirt and stones. Due to being part of the Elven councils in the old world, Liandra remained active throughout the war and would go where the Dwarf fight despite the death of her dragon and Imaldrik's death. Having witness tragedy (she felt pitty towards grimbok's mistreatment after viewing his face) and violence from both side, her hatred toward the Dwarfs grew cold, but not Druchii, which her mage sensed had allowed her to find one in Athel Toralien, the same one called Drutheira. After some beatdown against the Druchii (with a little help from the Elf mobs nearby), Morgrim's force caught up. Having finally witness this Druchii and convinced by Liandra, Morgrim allowed her to leave with the Elven refugees. Drutheira were taken by the Dwarfs. Even though that alone will not stop the war, Liandra was glad the Druchii getting their justice deserve.

Drutheira was never mentioned again after this. In fact, the Druchii operators should've never appeared again since they were supposed be gone to Nehekhara at the end of book 2 in order to find a way back to Naggarond (The druchiis had the knowledge about that place since the Nehekharan's magical pact with their gods had Malekith's interest) and were responsible to the rise of Nagash's necromancy power. Book 3 contradicted the history and made a plot hole by making Drutheira appeared in the war again, because her son Ashelir wanted to make her mommy suffer by taking her captive and deliver her to Ilendril just so the bastard could learn how to control wyrms. In that version, her goon Asniel and Malchior were also killed by Ashelir, which had created a time paradox. It was also noted the time paradox appears in the 3rd part, which it was written by C.L. Werner. Better rewrite it then, silly Werner!

The scouring of Sith Rionnasc (536th year of Caledor II)

Sith Rionnasc (soon to be Marienburg) is the next target for the Dwarfs. Since The Elves had destroyed Barak Var, the Dwarfs (especially King Brynnoth, the king of Barak Varr, whom has suffered the most lost during this period: ancient Runelord Agrin Fireheart, Helgan's airship workshop, the entirely of Barak Varr, its water reservoir poisoned) found it incredibly pissed off and reasonable for them to destroy their finest sea port in the old world as a payback. Caledor II responds by finally pulling one his best general from the northern Druchii frontier. Prince Yverian is his name, a hot headed and a cavalry commander that believes a good attack is a good defense. He had organized three of Ilendril's new three Wyrm into a strike force that would only attack a crowded part of a Dwarf's army. To other dragons, wyrms are more hateful, greedy and arrogant than the dragon, and were selfish to their own, making them more unreliable and less intelligent than the dragon. After countless times of fighting the dragon, the Dwarfs had develop a tactic against them. By dispersing their army when dragon were sighted, it force the beast to chase the scattered Dwarfs. Once the Wyrm is far away, hidden throng from the tunnels would emerge and attack the main Elven army. Fighting dragons has also led the Dwarfs to create a specialized warmachine against them: a wheeled bolt thrower that shoots great barbed bolts. The Dwarfs around the bolt thrower would first blocking dragon's flame with their expensive rune shield, then unleashed their bolt thrower.

Since the Elves can no longer commands dragons but Wyrms, they are harder to control. Upon being painfully staked by the bolt thrower, the attacked wyrm would ignore their rider's order and attacks any Dwarfs it seesi n a frenzy. Ignoring the bolt thrower allows free chances for the Dwarfs to score free shots and ended the Wyrm's pathetic life. The new bolt throwers also serves as a good siege tool, where it would shoot out chained grapnel that would caught on the wall first, then pulled down by the strength of dozens of Dwarfs pulling it. Seems like the Dwarf's technological prowress has proven themselves to winning in the long run, and the Elves weakened in the long run.

The siege isn't what's important however, for something ABSURD is about to happened. Turns out Drogor Zarrdum, an old friend and an advisor to both Morgrim and Snorri-halfhand is a fucking DAEMON! That's right, THERE IS A DAEMON HIDING AMONG THE DWARFS! What's more is the daemon was actually Htarken, an ancient Lord of Change daemon that was injured by both Malekith and Snorri Whitebeard but was never killed. In order exact its vengeance against the two race, Htarken disguised himself as Drogor Zarrdum (which the actual Dwarf probably existed but was killed and impersonated by Htarken), allowed him to gain instant trust with Morgrim and Snorri by saying the destruction of his hold bullshit because of Elgi attacks, allowed him to not only spark the hatred against the Elgi, but also earned their sympathy without the need to acting like a proper Dwarf (because the attack changed him into a vengeful Dwarf, much similar to a daemon's temperament). Having the ability to see future, he already knew a war is brewing and would further adding fuel on it by giving both Morgrim and Snorri-halfhand false advice to kickstart the war (once a Dwarf has made their decision, there's no going back). It was he who presented the formula of Tharzharr to the Dwarfs as a weapon against the Elves' dragon (just so he could watch the Elves suffer). Tharzharr was apparently made of foulstones, which it would attract the rats (you see where Htarken is going with this). It was also him that destroyed Helgan's airship workshop at Barak Varr with Tharzharr after Helgan found out about Tharzharr properties.

Morek Furrowbrow, a Runelord and an apprentice to an ancient Runelord named Ranuld Silverthumb had suspected Drogor in responsible for his master's death (who died by petrification, a side effect to Dwarfs who had too much magic entering their body). Strange is that Drogor would avoid Morek whenever possible since Morek had a rune staff that could detect the daemon's presence. To lure out the daemon, Morek meet Morgrim's gang in the midst of Sith Rionnasc invasion and showed Drogor an item: a feather belonged to Htarken's daemon form which Snorri Whitebeard had taken as a trophy and sealed below the deepest vault of Karaz-a-Karak. As Htarken revealed himself and attacks Morgrim and Morek, he mocked their kinds' pride and stubbornness, for they are the sole reasons that led them to a pointless war that would wasted two of his enemies into stagnation, which he pretty much enjoyed in watching them killed one another as he remained a spectator the entire time. Still, Rundin came charging at the daemon with his axe and Imaldrik's rune sword Ifulvin on his other hand, cutting off the daemon's head but killed himself in the process as well. This megabadass achievement has advance Rundin's fame from being a dragonslayer to a daemonslayer in death. After that, Morgrim came to a very deep regret about the war since he weren't listen when the Elgi had told them of the Druchii, and now there is this daemon. There is no going back. The attacks on the Elves remained still and they will have to keep moving forward as Tzeentch and Malekith laugh at both the Elves' and the Dwarfs' tragedy.

Oh and Sith Rionnasc was completely obliterate when the Dwarfs had catapulted a stone (carved with runes of destruction) at the dam, flooded the entire damn place. The Dwarfs and King Brynnoth who catapulted the damned thing died from the flood, but died proudly since it is a major grudge righted. The city was obliterate so much that the actual text form the novel had claimed: "The city had been erased from the world".

The Thirteenth siege of Tor Alessi (596th year of Caledor II)

Although the reports of a Daemon and Druchiis being the instigators of the war had reached Gotrek, he has little regret, for it was mostly Caledor II's dishonorable behavior that had truly started this war. It was Caledor II who refused to admitted defeat, who would rather hide on Ulthuan. Again and again, the Dwarfs hope to drawn Caledor II out from his toilet seat kingdom by spilling Elven blood just so he could come and die, ended the war. Yet, it was Caledor II's cowardlness and his arrogance that had prolonged this meaningless war. Now with only Tor Alessi left, Caledor II had to either defend his colony, or have the Dwarfs to not only removing every pointy ear wazzock from the old world, but also to attack Ulthuan themselves.

By now Tor Alessi had been sieges 13 times by the Dwarfs and yet its wall were well reinforced. The determined Dwarfs none the less pressed on with the siege and developed a fucked ton of ways to kill monsters like dragons or wyrm which made it all the more advantageous for the Dwarfs. One tactic has the Dwarf to lure the Wyrm into a webbed device from underground, immobilized the beast and had the Slayers to surround and hacking the beast until it dies.

The said Slayers came from Karak Kadrin, which Forek Grimbok has started a cult of (which is a fucking major retcon seeing as how in the White Dwarf recounting the cult was well established by this point). Inspired by Rundin's heroic deeds, Grimbok came to Karak Kadrin and become a trollslayer upon killing a troll named Yvnir near Karak Drak. Abandoned his steel mask, Grimbok finally revealed to everyone his beard scars, hoping he could kill enough Elgi and died honorably to wash away his shame.

Despite the Slayers were proven to be fierce fighters, Morgrim had refused to use them in battle many times before, for they are maniacs who cares only about killing, making them not only unreliable for general strategies like holding or occupying positions, and are also undisciplined (Slayers would often mooning at the Elven archers on the wall to fire another shots). Still, it was with Morgrim's great pity that allowed them to be on the field, for they have suffered so much at the hands of Elves that it would be cruel to reject them.

Thoriol, now a well known prince had made himself acquainted with his father's old dragon Draukhain (who is now bitter at the Dwarfs for killing his old master that he would often hunt random Dwarfs out of spite and made a nest out of their corpses). Although he had believe himself to be a failure at life, unable to become a dragon rider like his father, unable to fit in with the archer crowd due to his noble background, and was only famous among the court because the influence of his father and uncle Caledor II. Speaking of Caledor II, he had adorned Thoriol ever since his brother's death, even wanted to made him his heir (probably the only redeemable quality about this piece of shit, just slightly above the Druchii and Nagash I suppose). After the dragons had all fucked off from the old world and the Elven public began to criticize their Elf king's idiocy and incompetence, Caledor II was in sorrow. To help his uncle, Thoriol made a suggestion to go to Tor Alessi on his behalf to boost the morale of the local Elves. Although he believed himself to be a bitter failure, he wanted just a little satisfaction to prove himself by avenge his father, facing against the Dwarf that killed him. Unlike his uncle however, he did not underestimate the Dwarfs and had hold them in a very high regard. Thoriol will eventually meet Grimbok in combat, where the crazy Dwarf would kept charging at him no matter how injured he is. Grimbok eventually died under Thoriol's attack, but would also sent Thoriol bleeding and unconscious with his attack. Just before blacked out however, Thoriol witness his father's sword on Morgrim's belt and told the Dwarf that he had killed his father. After Morgrim realized the Elf brat was Imaldrik's kin, he would immediately face Draukhain in battle as the dragon had defend Throiol with his fire breathe, which Morgrim would be shield from it by Morek's rune magic.

A vicious fight later, Morgrim emerged victorious as a Dragonslayer (also fulfilled the aforementioned prophecy of a Dwarf becomes the high king after killing a dragon, which came true as Morgrim will eventually become the next heir after Gotrek: Morgrim Steelbeard.), but would find no enjoyment due the dragon belonged to his old friend, and the truth he had witness from the Druchii and the Daemon that had goaded both sides to war. Once again to honor his dead Elf friend, Morgrim had Thoriol healed and sent back to the city.

The Battle of Three Towers (fourteenth siege of Tor Alessi) (597th year of Caledor II)

At roughly 14th siege attempt, Caledor II finally arrived and took on the Dwarfs with fresh Elven armies pulled from the northern frontier. Gotrek and Morgrim were there where they demanded Caledor II to pay for the devastation they have wrought on their holds in gold. Caledor II is of course too arrogant and vengeful to accept the term from a bunch of mole or mud-dwellers that he and his army remained in deafen silence when Gotrek were loudly annoucing his terms. Gotrek thought we was being forgiving and civilized, hoping the Elgi were smart enough to accept his term in order to prevent both sides from suffering further bloodshed. Gotrek even go as far as showing himself in front of the gate, to prove he is not as cowardly as the Elgi king. With the Elves remained silent, Gotrek had no choice but to take Caledor II's head and his crown as compensation.

Caledor II too had his strategy...that is to head straight fighting the Dwarfs and had Ilrendril to "evacuate" (not abandoned, for the arrogant Elf king still believes he can still break the Dwarfs leadership even though the war had lasted for 400 years) Tor Alessi's refugee. Both tragically and hilariously, Ilendril's Wyrm hated his master for the centuries of enslavement under him and had developed a plan to freed himself. While his master were distracted by the thoughts of having a nobody like Thoriol to inherited the throne (Caledor II criticized him for being an exile from Caledor and a coward for leaving Thoriol to danger in the previous siege. Plus the elf knig has no love for Ilendril's "dragon" ), the wyrm would purposely expose himself to the Dwarf's bolt throwers, which the pain it causes would effect his master psyche (due to the link between the mount and the master) and allowed the wyrm to briefly freed himself and broke the talisman on his neck by doing a barrel roll (literary). Having caught his master with one talon bleeding inside him, the Wyrm, now known as Malok celebrate his freedom by forcing Ilendril to watch him roasted all the refugees alive. Ilendril could do nothing but screaming and suffering as his chest was painfuly piercing by Malok's talon while forcing to watch the elven refugee being burnt alive, a karmic justice for what he had done. Just as Malok is about to roast the 4th one, Ilendril had already stopped screaming. Dissapointed for the Elf to die so quickly, Malok thrown the elf's corpse to the sea, leaving the remaining Elven refugee behind and head to the Southland where no Dwarfs or Elves would be found.

Fun fact: According to Thanquol and Boneripper: Thanquol's Doom written by the same C.L. Werner, it was Skalfri Brandbeard of Karak Angkul that had shot Malok with his bolt-thrower. Two of Malok's scale that were felled from the attack will be dispalyed at the halls of Karak Angkul as a trophy beside many others.

In order to break the gates of Tor Alessi and ended the war, Morek made a dreadful decision to sacrifice an anvil of doom to break the gate, a relic so precious that it could never be replicate. Due to the previous confrontation with Htarken, Morek's body suffered constant changes where some part of his body would change size and shapes due to daemon's foul magic, which would gets worse and painful years after years. Morek had decided to end his life after sacrifice himself to achieve something greater, but was still regretful to what he is about to do, which made him request the high king to erase him from history, for letting other runesmiths knew would made him an oathbreaker in their eye, yet it was such a heroic sacrifice that could've made him a hero in the history. After the gate was broken, the forces of Dwarfs and Elves engaged their final battle inside the city. Caledor II the idiot, the goat worrier (Snorri's favourite insult to him btw, since Caledor II had the hunter's eye) was there too waiting, mounted on a horse in the center of the city square, surrounded by his knights and fountains of his Elven gods. Caledor II began dueling Morgrim, which he wasn't being fair since he was mounted and wield a sword known as Dawnbreaker, a weapon meant to kill powerful shits like daemons but would work the same against Dwarven armor. Morgrim's armor were shredded like paper but he endures and struck a powerful blow against Caledor II's shield, so hard it broke the elf king's arm. While Caledor's shield still stucks on Morgrim's axe, the elf king used his shield as a distraction and was prepared to ride Morgrim down, until realized he was surrounded by angry dwarf warriors.

Then Gotrek came and demand a duel to not only end this stupid war, but also to send off the souls of his son and all the fallen Dawi. Caledor II was forced to dismount to prepared the final duel of fate. The elf king managed to cut two of Gotrek's finger after mentioned his son and made a joke about the situation's similarity with his son, which was but a pointless verb abuse that would further enraged Gotrek enough to struck where Caledor II's ribcage is. Caledor II's armor greatly protected him from Grimnir's Axe from split him in half, but broke his rib cage regardless. In his final moment, Caledor II pathetically accept to pay the Dwarfs, but was too late. Gotrek straight up decapitate the fucker's head and told him: "Ask the god for mercy. You'll find none in me". Ironically, Caledor II died inside Khaine's fountain and his blood were now in the pool, along with the red dyed water that was suppose to presents Khaine's color, which Caledor II' elf blood now flew from Khaine's statue. If this tells us anything when combined with what Gotrek has said, it means Khaine has a great sense of humor.

Epilogue

With Caledor II's death, Gotrek loudly told every Elves nearby to GTFO of the old world while holding the phoenix crown it his hand (which he will take as compensation). With Caledor II's death, a new phoenix king must be crowned in order to deal with the suddenly multiplied numbers of Druchiis expanded across Naggaroth. Although Caledor II has already named Thoriol his heir, Thoriol rejects the idea of nepotism, for he believes the public will just compare the son to their father, forcing its blood inheritor to live in their parent's shadow, just like how Caledor II is a shadow to his father Caledor the Conqueror (which Thoriol can related to, for he will never be like his father Imladrik) and gave the throne to Caradryel instead, whom Thoriol believed could united the Asur. Although Caradryel protested he is no king, he would eventually become so successful, not only he had bought peace and united the entirely of Ulthuan, he managed to survived countless of Druchii assassinations and even managed died peacefully after living for 700 years, a rare achievement to anyone in the warhammer world. The new crown will be made to replaced the old one. Its loss should be symbolized as a cautionary tale to the Elves about their pride. Although Thoriol was never heard of after this, he probably became Caradryal's advisor, continue the noble bloodline of House Caledoran and became Imrik's ancestors.

The war has changed the Dwarfs. Its new generation are now more hateful and vengeful than their previous, obsessed in atone their shames and mistakes by taking Slayers Oath then die instead of actually fixing them, results in further stagnation of Dwarf populations (not to mentioned the shitshow with the earthquakes, the rise of Greenskins, Skavens, Undeads that comes later on). Morgrim is unsure how he will rule over this new generation once he inherited the throne.

Liandra's story did not end after she offered the Druchii. She kater met an Elven prophetess named Aismarr (whom claimed to came from Loren Lacoi) where she was told by her to overcome a trial, which was later revealed to defend a treeman from the Dwarfs assault. She managed to save the treeman, but at the cost of leaving her in a weak state after overcasted her spell, and died to a Dwarf axe. Despite that, she was somehow nurtured back to health by the forest, reborn and become one of the Asrai aloneside with a few Elven colonist surviver, even Druchiis (including Sevekai, who used to be part of the Druchii operators but was killed and reborn).