Second Turamzzyrian-Nalfein War

The Second Turamzzyrian-Nalfein War, known as the Second Elven War to humans and the Second Nalfein-Turamzzyrian War in the Elven Nations, was fought from 4769 to 4772 between the human Turamzzyrian Empire under Emperor Rallick I and the elven House of Nalfein. The war ended in a victory for the House of Nalfein.

See also: Elven Wars, an essay from an elven perspective.

Events

The war was called by Fzendoor of Immuron, a Prelate of the Church of Koar. The Church had gained substantial influence in the preceding years, and Fzendoor had the ear of the Emperor. Some later historians believed that the Nalfein elves subtly encouraged the conflict, hoping to turn the Emperor's attention against the House of Faendryl once he had raised his army. Those efforts were unsuccessful in the end, and Rallick marched against Ta'Nalfein.

The Turamzzyrian campaign met with initial success, and other elven monarchs including Irinara Illistim expressed concerns and offered the Nalfein assistance despite having declared neutrality. Rallick died during the campaign, however, and Prelate Fzendoor would lead the Turamzzyrian army into disaster at the Battle of the Susserlin River. The greater part of the army was destroyed, Fzendoor himself was missing and presumed dead, and the broken remnants of the army retreated back to Barrett's Gorge for the winter. Three months later, Rallick's successor Theron signed the treaty to formally end the war.

Timeline

Excerpted from History of the Turamzzyrian Empire:

Year	Events
4737	Declaration of Koar as the patron deity of the Empire. Over the next several decades the Church greatly increases in power.
4769	Reveling in his church's recent ascension, Prelate Fzendoor of Immuron calls upon the Empire to drive into the eastern lands, against the Elven Nations. Emperor Rallick the Valiant, a devout follower of Koar himself, mobilizes the imperial army and marches to Barrett's Gorge. Rallick breaks with previous tradition in leading the imperial army personally.
4770	The Elven House of Nalfein sends an ambassador to Rallick in an attempt to persuade the emperor to instead turn his army towards Ta'Faendryl, thus seeking to kill two birds with one stone. However, while Rallick contemplates his response, army scouts bring news of burned farms and massacred human families with evidence that it was Nalfein marauders. The brutal attack forces Rallick to move against the Nalfein nation. With his army fired by the burning passion of vengeance, Rallick rolls through the first Nalfein army that greets him on his conquest into the Nalfein nation.
4771	Rallick's army pushes on into the Nalfein nation, finding only minimal resistance at first. Finally, near the great Susserlin River, a second army engages Rallick. Emperor Rallick is again victorious but takes a mortal wound from an arrow. As he lies dying, Rallick calls Prelate Fzendoor to his deathbed and charges him with continuing the conquest. For two reasons the imperial army meets disaster after Rallick's death. First, the army that they have just defeated was the smaller of two Nalfein armies advancing to meet them. And second, Prelate Fzendoor, who declares himself the new general of the imperial army, is a charismatic, not a tactician. Three weeks after Rallick's death, the imperial army is again engaged in a great battle, and this time the Nalfein army nearly destroys them. Less than one man in four survives the battle and the Turamzzyrians are forced to retreat. The Nalfein army harries the retreating Turamzzyrians, pushing them all of the way back to Barrett's Gorge.
4772	Emperor Theron signs a treaty with the Nalfein nation, ending the Second Elven War.

Rumors

While the war was led by the Church of Koar, there were rumors that the Turamzzyrians also employed Onarian cultists:

... little is known of the Hand of Bones save for their worship of Onar the Assassin. This unlawful sect of assassins have been rumored to have a hand in numerous mysterious deaths, especially of nobility, throughout the history of the Empire, but there exists little evidence beyond speculation. Most notable of these rumors are old accounts of Nalfein soldiers near Barrett's Gorge claiming they had been harried, and some of their commanders murdered, by shadowy figures wearing white skull-shaped rings. It's said one such figure released the poison inside his ring into the glasses of Nalfein commanders, and the next morning they were found dead, mere moments before imperial warhorns had sounded and the Nalfein outpost was overrun during the Second Elven War.

The rumors, of course, are dismissed by imperials as just more elven lies used to justify their conflict with the humans.

— Orders of the Turamzzyrian Empire, The Hand of Bones