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#Post#: 1216--------------------------------------------------
War of Ankhar the Half-Giant 425-429 AC
DIR By: Dungeon Master
Date: August 11, 2025, 10:25 pm
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[center]History of Solamnia
The Ankhar Wars, The War of the Half-Giant 425-429 AC[/center]
The Ankhar Wars were a series of conflicts fought between the
Horde of Ankhar and the nation of Solamnia. Ankhar (? AC - 429
AC) was a half-giant, half-ogre who led a combined force of
hobgoblins, goblins, and other species against Solamnia during
the Ankhar Wars.
425 AC 42 SC
Ankhar begins a war with the Knights of Solamnia.
The city of Garnet was attacked and destroyed in a matter of
minutes by Ankhar and his hobgoblin and goblin army.
The Battle of Mason's Ford took place and was a victory for the
Solamnic Knights.
Thelgaard also fell to Ankhar's hordes.
427 AC 44 SC
Jaymes Markham becomes the Lord Marshal of the Solamnic forces
and crushes Ankhar's Horde.
429 AC 46 SC
The Battle of Vingaard Keep took place between the forces of
Emperor Jaymes Markham and Lord Kerrigan. Vingaard Keep was
destroyed.
Final battle with Ankhar at the High Clerist Tower
#Post#: 1217--------------------------------------------------
Solamnic Order of Battle during the War of the Half-Giant Ankhar
the Truth 427 AC
DIR By: Dungeon Master
Date: August 11, 2025, 10:28 pm
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[center]Solamnic Order of Battle during the War of the
Half-Giant Ankhar the Truth, 427 AC[/center]
[center]Unfinished [/center]
Lord Marshall Jaymes Markam, Lord of No Sign
Bearer of Giantsmiter
The Generals of the Army of Solamnia
General Markus Haum, General of the Rose Caerogoth
General Rankin Knights of the Sword of Solanthus
General Dayr, Commander of the Crown Army of Thelgaard
General Weaver of the Palanthas Legion Garrison
The Army of Palanthas consists of Knights of the Rose, 1,000
Rose Knights, 2,000 Pikes, 2,000 Longbows, 3,000 Milita
swordsmen in companies of three hundred men a piece
The Knights of Solamnia
Knights of the Rose Steelshields Rose Knights of Caerogoth
Knights of the Sword of Solanthus
Knights of Crown: The White Riders. On Pure White Steeds from
Thelgaard. Captain Franz Dayr of the White Riders.
Captain Blair of the Thelgaard Lancers.
Rose Knights of the Army Garrison of Palanthas
Captain Roman
Knight Clerists of the Sword Templars Knight/Priests
Clerics Hospitallers
The Solamnic Regular Army
Vingaard Pikemen
Woodsmen from the Mountains
Southshore Longbow Archers
Thelgaard Lancers
Dwarven Heavy Infantry Kaolyn Axers
#Post#: 1218--------------------------------------------------
The Lord Marshall, Lord of No Sign, Jaymes Markham
DIR By: Dungeon Master
Date: August 11, 2025, 10:29 pm
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[center]The Lord Marshall Jaymes Markham
Article written by Doug Niles[/center]
Jaymes Markham (b. 387 AC) is descended of common blood and
unknown ancestors, yet he has advanced himself through the ranks
of the Solamnic Knighthood to unprecedented heights. Beginning
as an apprentice, he became a Knight of the Sword, a sergeant,
then captain of guards for a famed Rose Lord. Jaymes Markham’s
life is already the stuff of legend. He rose from obscurity to
become a respected Sword Knight, serving as the captain of the
guard of Lord Lankford Lorimar, a high-ranking Knight of the
Rose. This life was destroyed in one night as assassins attacked
Lord Lorimar’s home, killing Lorimar and his entire family and
burning their estate. Jaymes escaped with Lord Lorimar’s
legendary sword, Giantsmiter, but he was accused of the
assassination. Refusing to admit to a crime he did not commit,
Jaymes fled into the wilderness and became an outlaw.
He reappeared to lead as a general and, in 425 AC, attained the
newly created post of high command, the Lord Marshal of Solamnic
Armies. He is a man of great ambition, and at the present time
it seems likely that he may rise to even loftier levels before
his star flames out.
Early Years
While Jaymes is noncommittal about his genealogy, his accent
suggests roots in the western plains, near the roots of the
Vingaard Mountains. He is known to favor the food and drink of
Coastlund, which may be a clue as to his home. Tall and sturdy,
somewhat swarthy of coloring, he bears the physical features of
these doughty herders and hunters. It may be assumed that there
is little or no trace of nobility represented in his family
tree.
He first appears on the rosters of the knighthood as an
apprentice in 404 AC. Of course, the records from this chaotic
era, when the Dragon Overlords ruled supreme, are scattered and
incomplete, but it is clear that Markham served under Sir Cedric
of Caergoth for several years. Jaymes attained Knight of the
Sword status in 410 AC.
Cedric was one of many Solamnics who remembered the Oath and the
Measure even in those terrible days, and worked hard to protect
the pacifist weak from the martial strong. Cedric perished
during the days when Beryllinthranox was driving the dwarves of
Thorbardin into their mountain fortress. At this point, Jaymes
was 25 years old. While he obviously escaped Cedric's fate, he
vanishes from the records for the next seven years.
War of Souls and Aftermath
We know that Jaymes Markham was a sergeant in the First Caergoth
Regiment, commanded by the Lord Lankford Lorimar of the Rose, at
the time of the Great Storm. Lorimar was the bearer of the
legendary sword, Giantsmiter, and led his regiment from the
front lines. Markham served with distinction, earning several
awards for valor during the Siege of Sanction and the eventual
liberation of that city and victory in the war. Lord Tasgall
himself commended the knight and promoted him to captain. Now
Lord Lorimar's most trusted aide, he departed for Solamnia with
his leader the very night that the gods returned to Krynn. They
went to Lorimar's ancestral estates, near the great Kingsbridge
crossing of the Garnet River.
On the plains, matters were tumultuous, as the resurgent
Solamnics fought to reclaim their homelands from the Knights of
Neraka. Ruthless lords established fiefdoms in Caergoth,
Thelgaard, and Solanthus, while Lorimar remained a steadfast
advocate for the common people. His most capable captain, Sir
Jaymes Markham, was commander of Lorimar's household guards and
chief protector of his noble liege. At the same time, Jaymes was
the object of affection of Lorimar's young daughter, Dara
Lorimar. All of seventeen, she adored the handsome, yet
mysterious, knight. Jaymes response to this youthful crush was
as an impeccable gentleman, and Lord Lorimar made it clear that
he favored an eventual match.
Matters were overtaken by events when Lorimar was assassinated.
His daughter was also slain, and his great manor was partially
burned. Captain of the Guard Jaymes Markham was elsewhere at the
time; his whereabouts have never been incontrovertibly
ascertained. Lorimar's great weapon, Giantsmiter, disappeared
the night of the attack. (Later, it would become even more
famous as the blade of Jaymes Markham.)
The Rise of Solamnia
Following the assassination of Lord Lorimar, Jaymes Markham
vanished into the wilds of Solamnia. Sometime during these
months, he made the acquaintance of his boon companion, Dram
Feldspar, in the foothills of the Garnet Range. For at least a
year, the pair lived as outlaws/bounty hunters in that massif of
snowy mountains. A number of petty lords, from Garnet to
Solanthus, were willing to pay for goblin ears during this
period, and the dwarf and knight sharpened their skills at this
grisly task. Reports have claimed that they collected bounty
from the ears of no less than four hundred goblins during a
little more than a year.
Also, during this period, Jaymes made the acquaintance of the
powerful, and young, and beautiful wizard Coryn the White. They
kept their alliance secret, but aided each other in attaining
their goals. There is a strong suspicion that the two were also
romantically involved.
During these years, he did not take out his frustrations on the
people of Solamnia. Instead, with his companion Dram Feldspar,
he hunted goblins, collecting the bounty on goblin ears offered
by many minor lords. He used these bounties to fund his quest to
find Lord Lorimar’s true assassins. He also never lost sight of
a united Solamnia, something that had not existed since just
before the Chaos War, and he spent much time thinking about how
to make that dream come true.
Despite his outlawry, it is clear now that Markham never
abandoned the thought of a greater Solamnia. Known far and wide
as the Assassin of Lorimar, he avoided knightly forces even as
he traveled the plains and mountains of that ancient realm. In
addition to his goblin hunting, he actively sought the secret of
a powerful explosive compound that he had come to believe in.
This secret was the invention of a Gnome (of course!). The
original inventor was killed by an accident, but Jaymes located
the inventor's three children, each of whom retained a part of
the secret formula. Putting the gnomes to work together, Jaymes
was able to channel their creativity and ultimately establish
production of the explosive powder at a secret factory compound
in the Vingaard Mountains.
At this time, the Solamnic plains were subjected to a barbarian
invasion as a horde of attackers, including goblins, ogres, and
many former Dark Knights, poured out of the Garnet Range to
sweep the fractious armies of the knighthood off the plains. Led
by a half-giant calling himself Ankhar the Truth, these invaders
overwhelmed the cities of Garnet and Thelgaard, laid siege to
Solanthus, and destroyed every Solamnic force that tried to
stand in their path.
Jaymes was merely an observer during the early months of this
campaign as, at this time, he was engaged in hunting down and
confronting several Solamnic lords, each of whom was a suspect
in Lord Lorimar's death. Jaymes faced the notable swordsman,
Lord Nathias Rathskell of Solanthus, and killed him while
Rathskell was trying to smuggle his vast hoard of jewels out of
his city. Jaymes took the treasure for himself and continued to
use it to fund his activities.
Finally, only the Rose Army of the Duke of Caergoth stood in
Ankhar's path. Jaymes and Coryn watched that great army go down
in defeat and flee from the field. Finally, Jaymes Markham
rejoined the knightly ranks. Together with a captain of
Caergoth, he halted the route and conducted a skillful
withdrawal over the Kingsbridge. The explosive compound allowed
him to destroy the bridge and save the army.
Within Caergoth, Jaymes confronted the duke, whom he believed
was responsible for Lorimar's assassination. In that ultimate
confrontation, he learned the true identity of the assassin and
gained control of all the knightly forces currently under arms.
Raising a banner that mixed all sigils of the Solamnic Orders,
he became known as the Lord of No Sign and rallied the troops to
his leadership. Jaymes created for himself the title "Lord
Marshal of the Solamnic Armies" and finally led his great force
into the field to challenge Ankhar—and to overthrow many
hallowed traditions of the Solamnic Knights.
For the past two years, Jaymes has been leading the armies of
Solamnia against Ankhar and his horde, and he has named himself
Lord Marshal of Solamnia. Only Jaymes knows what his final plans
are, but many suspect that both reinstatement and the Grand
Mastery of the Knights of Solamnia or the governance of Solamnia
as a whole are his ultimate goals.
The Rise of Solamnia trilogy by Douglas Niles begins in summer
425 AC and ends in 430 AC.
• Lord of the Rose occurs from summer to autumn of 425 AC. 23
• The Crown and the Sword begins in spring 427 AC and ends in
summer or autumn of 427 AC. 24
• The Measure and the Truth occurs from summer to autumn of 429
AC; however, the Epilogue ends in spring 430 AC. 25
Treatise of the Creation of the Solamnic Empire
HTML https://dragonlancenexus.com/treatise-of-the-creation-of-the-solamnic-empire/
By Chuck Martinell
#Post#: 1219--------------------------------------------------
Ankhar's Truth: The Order of Battle during the War of the
Half-Giant 427 AC
DIR By: Dungeon Master
Date: August 11, 2025, 10:31 pm
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[center]Ankhar's Truth: The Order of Battle during the War of
the Half-Giant 427 AC[/center]
Ankhar the Truth, Half-Giant of the ragged Khalkist Mountains
Laka Hobgoblin, Dark Seer of Hiddukel, said to be very beautiful
by Hobgoblin standards
Hoarst Gray Knight of the Thorn, Master of the Thorn, Renegade
Wizard
Captain Blackgaard Knight of the Lilly 12th Level Warrior of the
Lilly
and his Knights of the Lilly Nerakan mercenary forces
The Horde
Everyone listens to the Half-Giant and his commands
Ogres from the Khalkist Mountains, the Southern Dargaard
Mountians.
Draconian Mercenaries
Hobgoblins from Thortl Gap
Goblins from Lemish and Estwide
Assessment: Ankhar Horde is a scavenging, highly mobile Land
Army that can strike from anywhere, seemingly anytime. They
struck Garnet in Lightning time, stole so many gems, and they
have been able to hire mercenary engineers, warriors, and
Knights of Neraka. They have struck Thelgaard, Solanthus, and
Vingaard in the night.
They have gained control of a magical construct that we have
learned is named The Elemental King, which is at least 30' tall
and made up of a great conglomeration of different rocks. trees,
fire, and spins tornadoes in its wake. It is believed he has
been eliminated forevermore, but it terrorized Solanthus.
Known alliances: The Nightmaster Himself of Hiddukel tried to
loop Ankhar into Hiddukel's machinations for control of
Solamnia.
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