The Flames of War
There was a demon – if it was a demon – standing above him. He already knew it was not going to be a good day.
- Untitled Chapter by Robsta
The Flames of War is a plot arc detailing the war between Ermaria, the Fire Plane, and the Water Plane. It was started on 10/22/2008 and concluded on 02/07/2009.
Intro
During this arc the Fire Plane is at war with the Water Plane and Ermaria is also being overtaken by fire. Vergil and his BlueBlood comrades are trying to undermine fire's plans hoping for an end ot the war and as little bloodshed as possible. Meanwhile, Nioca is drawn to Ermaria with w-dueck, Nalyd, and Robsta to fight some mysterious assassins only to find themselves fighting against a completely different foe in the middle of a battle that should never have taken place, and Jewels is thrown into a leadership position as Fire Lord though she seems ill equipped for the job. Forced to make decisions that will affect the future of both her living fire and dryad peoples, Jewels struggles with what she is and what she is capable of.
Sides
The two forces in this conflict are the Ignius Alliance, and the Fortius Confederacy.
Ignius Alliance
This side composes of the Water Elementals, the Ice Elementals, the humans, and a small group called the Bluebloods. These are on the defense of Ermaria and were losing the war before the ceasefire, due to small numbers.
Fortius Confederacy
This side composes of the Fire, Air, and Earth Elementals, they were winning the war before the ceasefire. The Air Elementals were feeling uneasy about the war.
The Reasons
"Yes, we are at war, but there are always two sides to a war and neither side is ever completely innocent." -- Jewels
In The Reason for a War Jewels is told, from the fire General and leading Captains perspective, why they are at war. Basically, the fire plane is dying, getting a few degrees colder each year to the point that an eventual ice age is feared. The living fire face extinction. Their scientists have found a unique oil that would help bring the temperature back up to normal but it's only found on the water plane and water is supposedly refusing to trade. Jewels also learned that they were attempting to take over Ermaria to use as a back up. Somewhere their people could survive if it got too cold on the fire plane.
However, Jewels learns from the King Sheldon of the water plane that it was the previous Fire Lord, her father Cinead, who refused to accept the terms of the trade. The oil fire need is an important part of water's ecosystem. It is very valuable and difficult to harvest and refine. In return for this oil, the King requests a joint heir between their peoples that can one day rule both their planes. To Cinead, it meant letting Vergil mate with the King's daughter. For Jewels, this means being impregnated by the King's son until she bears him a grandson.
The Events
In roughly chronological order, this is a summary of the events important to the Flames of War.
Before Battle
While the war has been ongoing, most of the members know nothing of it except Vergil and Jewels who only knows that there is a war. Events are set in motion when Yirri, an old friend of Nioca's, arrives at the citadel with dire news about his homeland of Ermaria. That coupled with some compelling visions and an assassination attempt convinces Nioca that he must go to his homeland. He convinces w-dueck, Nalyd, and Robsta to go with him.
Meanwhile Vergil and Jewels are in the fire plane. Jewels, still unaware of Cinead's position, is talking to her father. Vergil, after receiving orders from the BlueBloods to kill their father, is preparing to make the assassination attempt. With Jewels in his company at the time, she manages to thwart Vergil's first attempt. Vergil flees and Cinead convinces Jewels that he must disown Vergil because of it.
Vergil is still intent on doing his duty and succeeds at his second attempt while Jewels is away looking for him at the Refuge. By the time she finds him at a bar on the fire plane Cinead is already dead and two official living flames walk in to read the Declaration of a New Fire Lord in front of them. Vergil stands to accept his appointment only to be told that Cinead had no son and to watch as they announced Jewels as the new Fire Lord. Both are rather surprised with this unexpected turn of events.
During Battle
In Ermaria, while on his way to find out that w-dueck has been captured, Nioca is attacked by a 'demon' (living fire). The same kind of creature that caused him to become what he is today by killing the rest of his family. He is driven to discover the real power he has in Ermaria as a designer. God like powers. He is able to rescue w-dueck but they soon finds themselves, along with Nalyd and Robsta, in the middle of an attempted surprise attack by more of these demons. They collectively succeed in driving the demons out for the time being.
As the new Fire Lord, Jewels is swept away to briefings for the public as well as private military ones, she begins to understand why there might be a reason to fight. A messenger interrupts their meeting to say that they have not succeeded in capturing the Ermarian city of Koronos. As soon as she learns that they are attempting to claim the entire plane as a backup homeworld, she calls an immediate ceasefire remembering the other half of her lineage. General Growan ignored her, though, and instead sent three platoons to go finish capturing the city as well as made plans to kill Jewels and blame it on Vergil.
With the help of Captain Kaylas, Vergil is able to get Jewels safely away from the palace, but since Jewels doesn't trust Vergil, Kaylas, or anyone else, she runs away from him only to be captured by agents from the water plane. She sits in a dungeon while her troops march on Koronos.
While w-dueck has gone back to his captors to retrieve his staff, Nioca, Nalyd, and Robsta prepare for the coming battle with the Ermarian soldiers that are there. They mount a highly strategic defense against the oncoming hordes but all looks hopeless until Vergil arrives with a contingent of his BlueBlood brothers. By the time w-dueck returns, he is on the wrong side of the demon army and attempts to use his own designer powers to teleport himself into the city. His try fails but he is able to see the entire army like little chess pieces and locate their leader, General Growan. With one last try of his designer powers, he leads one of their own ballista bolts right through his head.
During the battle, Jewels has been ushered in to talk to King Sheldon and easily agrees to end the hostilities between their peoples. Not so easily, though, she also agrees to his terms for the trade of oil. An heir for the survival of the fire plane. She promises to return in one day for her part of the deal.
After General Growan was taken out, the rest of the demon army started to retreat. Vergil lost control over his shape-shifting momentarily and crumpled into a ball. Nioca was not content with just this battle being won. Using his designer powers, he protected and blessed and hastened himself with as many spells as he could and made a beeline through the portal to the fire plane intent on killing the person who was really responsible. Their leader, the Fire Lord. When he arrived, though, he burst into an empty throne room and was soon overpowered as his enchantments wore off. They took him prisoner and placed him in the dungeons.
After Battle
Jewels returned from her negotiations in time to keep the remaining captains from killing the mortal prisoner. She was surprised and distraught to see the look of loathing in Nioca's eye for her though she knew he didn't recognize her. She gave him back his sword and stood before him unarmed hoping that the gesture would show him that his perceptions of her people as 'demons' were incorrect. Nioca wasn't buying it though and still landed her a fatal blow right before Aryll came in to throw a lightning bolt at him and send him to the afterlife.
At Jewels' request, Kaylas took her back to Calamity Refuge to die. In her last moments, she was absorbed into the giant oak in the courtyard. Kaylas was enraged at her death and took it out on the Refuge blasting every single building and finally burning down the tree that Jewels had gone into. He left thinking Jewels was lost, though the tree had saved her. Jewels woke up disoriented and the other members returned to find her wandering in the ruins looking quite a mess. Jewels bluffed her way through their questions until she realized that she was late in keeping her appointment with King Sheldon. She drug w-dueck off to help her get ready while the rest of the members tried to get Vergil out of his rounded state to fix the Refuge.
w-dueck took Jewels on a spa day where she opened up to him, confiding everything in him and finding acceptance. He escorted her to the water plane where Jewels mated with Prince Darius. They then went to the fire plane so Jewels could tell Kaylas she's not dead, but he's not as accepting as w-dueck was so Jewels leaves the fire plane for her 'real' home, intent on never returning.
Vergil had fixed a lot of the refuge, but when w-dueck got back he was able to do a system restore in a minutes time and return the whole refuge to it's original form. Nioca gave Jewels back her admin keys that he had taken before the whole thing had started and apologized for not being a very good friend since he had realized that the refuge members were his new family. Jewels was left wondering if he'd still feel that way if he knew she was one of the demons he hated.
Kaylas eventually learned the truth of Jewels' circumstances from Prince Darius and Jewels accepted the role of Fire Lord once again though she stayed at the refuge for the time being.
