Ashen War

The Ashen War refers to the fabled war between the Stars and the Old Walkers, the ancestors of Camora. All that's left now is folklore, but the Ashen War defined a huge portion of Camoran culture so the folklore is still repeated today.

Timeline of the War
There is much debate over what, exactly, happened during the Ashen War, but there is a more-or-less agreed upon timeline.

Genesis of the War
People say the war started when the Stars grew hungry for the pleasures of the world - for the bounty of plant and animal life, for the crystaline waters and severe beauty of the cliffs that the Old Walkers inhabited. They had watched for time immemorial, and were ready to take what they considered to be their due.

Time of BattlesSpeedpaint_Battlefield_by_bergundy_black.jpg
For years and years and years the battles raged, but the Stars had the advantages of flight, war-magic, and eternal wakefulness. Their casulties were few, and the Old Walkers lost more and more each day as their land was reduced to ash around them. Finally, driven to the end of their resources and hope, they turned to the Four Winds for help. The gods offered them help for a price of four lives willingly given - but the help was well worth it.

The day after their supplication, every blood relative of each sacrafice was struck blind for a day. When their sight returned, their eyes were of mixed colours. That night, the gods came for them and bore them to another world to bind powerful spirits there. Thus, the first Called came into being, and began the slow process of victory.

Hope
Once the first Called bound the first neuma, the war began to turn. Some Called had bound spirits that would enhance their fighting capabilities, others chose neuma for their magical capabilities, and still more for their ideas. The warriors and magi held the Stars at bay while the thinkers sought a long-term solution, and in time, they came up with the idea of the Aegis.

Beginning of Camora
The founding of the city was hellish. There were attacks almost every day while the foundations were built, and it soon became a war of attrition. It was a near thing, in the end. The Stars knew the Old Walkers had a plan and sought to destroy them before it was completed. Every warrior and mage the Old Walkers had held the line in a final stand that gave them just enough time to get the Aegis up. With that, most of the opposing force was trapped on the other side of the inky barrier. The remaining fighters routed those that were left, and ended the war that very night.