In the year of the Cataclysm 896, night trolls (a West Highland term for goblins, hobgoblins—what East Highlanders know as orcs—ogres, and trolls) and other creatures swarmed northward led by a mysterious hooded wizard who became known as the “goblin mage”. Christian west Highland had been expanding south of the Leather Road as early as 558 when the Astronomers set up their castle there, but more recently farmers and hunters around Black Stag had begun crossing over. Someone triggered something, or perhaps it was mere chance, but first Brightwood Crossing and then Hightown, Biblyon, and finally Black Stag and other towns up the river were overrun. Refugees fled northward ahead of the night trolls.
The Knightly Orders along the High Divide mostly fell to bickering among themselves over who would lead whom. Only the Order of Illustration provided a strong defense against the hordes, and when their castle fell they joined the general resistance.
Emissaries were sent east and north pleading for assistance. Even the enmities with the Celts were momentarily forgotten—on both sides. Christian militia and Celtic warrior fought side by side. The Elves of the Long Lakes responded, as did the Dwarves of Mentarn and Hitarn. Even the tiny folk of Erventon arrayed themselves with pitchfork and sword alongside painted Celts and Christians against a tide of orc, ogre, and stranger creatures marching toward their burrows and huts.
The battles lasted for five years. The battlefields of the goblin wars dot the old roads and the abandoned towns and villages of Fawn River. Ghosts of north and south whisper upon them in the dark recesses of the night. In the end, the creatures simply faded into the forest, fled south again, or disappeared downriver.
There was neither treaty nor demand, but ever since the night trolls fell back there have been no settlements south of the Leather Road, and the Deep Forest has grown in mystery and myth.
The villages and towns of west Highland suffered considerably. Many towns along Fawn River were abandoned. Warriors or relatives returned to bury the dead, and then moved to a more fortunate town up or down the river. These ghost towns, with hastily-built cemeteries just outside, are a common site from the barges and trading boats that travel Fawn River.
