As we wait for the last chapter of the Grudge War, here is how it all started:
Timeline.
Date (IC)
-150.
Looking to create a stronger, smarter slave force, experiments performed by the Chaos Dwarfs result in the creation of the Black Orcs.
-100.
Black Orcs prove to be too smart and ruthless. Rallying all the greenskins slaves, they rebel against their masters and turn Zharr Naggrund into a battlefield. War ravages the empire, the Chaos Dwarfs stand on the brink of being wiped out but are saved by the treason of the hobgoblins.
Circa - 100 - 90.
The Days of Exodus. During the greenskin rebellion, slaves from other races find themselves caught in the crossfire. Thousands are killed by both sides and thousands more flee the war in any way possible. Among those refugees, humans and dwarfs from the Tower of Gorgoth rally around the mysterious Kanishka. Following the visions of Gilgadresh, he leads thousands in an exodus across the Howling Wastes that will end years later in the Land of the Thousand Gods. Their arrival will change the story of northern Ind forever.
Circa 1700.
The spice road gains increasing importance for the eastern and western lands of men, as more and more merchant lords lead larger and larger caravans across the Darklands. The expanding empire of the Chaos Dwarfs deems those caravans both trespassers and sources of slaves and knowledge. For the first time in centuries Zharr Naggrund notices the lands of the east.
A Chaos Dwarf fleet encounters indyan pirates for the first time. Soon the waters surrounding the Dragon Isles become a battleground as both powers covet their many riches. Searching for information on this new foe, the rulers of Gorgoth rediscover the tale of the slave exodus and declare a grudge against their descendants. Zharr Naggrund deems Ind to be a minor affair and allows Gorgoth to plunder it at leisure.
Circa 1900.
Skaven agents steal a bloodsteel statue from an indyan temple. Years later, it falls into the hands of a Chaos Dwarf clan. The strange alloy native to the southern jungles immediately picks the daemonsmiths’ interest. Expeditions multiply in following years, along with increased hardship for the indyans. In the following years and decades, the rulers of northern Ind build dozens of fortresses and empty the treasury bribing entire ogre tribes from the Mountains of Mourn to settle permanently on the frontier. Gandhara begins its ascension as the military powerhouse of the north, the first kingdom to ever challenge Maharajastan’s ancestral preeminence.
Tensions between Gandhara and Maharajastan finally explode when both sides claim the title of Maharajah and the symbolic rule over all Ind. Every kingdom picks a side and for more than thirty years war devastates the land. Borders are almost abandoned by uncaring rulers and the enemies of Ind smell blood. Chaos Dwarf expeditions grow bolder and sack to their heart’s content. The mines of Gorgoth fill up with indyans and a thousand idols melt in the fires of Hashut.
Taking advantage of the civil war, Dark Elf corsairs sack and raze the first temple of Gilgadresh. They kill the priests and steal the wealth accumulated by generations of worshippers. This desecration of one of the holiest places of all Ind sends shockwaves throughout the kingdoms and leads to a serious loss of prestige for Gandhara. In the following years a catastrophic peace is signed, ending the onslaught in a draw and leaving scars for decades to come.
Long marginalized by wealthier families, the ancient lineage of Kanishka takes back power in alliance with frontier rajahs who feel abandoned by the spice mongers of Taxila. Gandhara begins a new period of ascension under a new lineage of maharajahs who prioritize regaining control of their borders, putting them on a collision course with Gorgoth.
Battle at the Stupa of Kanishka. After decades of towns sacked and border skirmishes, Maharajah Dara Kanishka turns the tables on the despoilers. He faces an expedition from Gorgoth at the site where his ancestor gazed upon Ind for the first time and annihilates the entire chaos dwarf army. Sorcerer-prophet Harakh is killed and the few survivors crushed beneath elephants’ feet. All over Ind Kanishka is hailed as the bane of daemons and the protector of the land of the gods. Once again supremacy splits between Gandhara and Maharajastan. Unknown at the time, the defeat reverberates all the way to Zharr Naggrund, where ancient eyes turn south with patient and all-consuming anger.
On the night of Hexenstag, Astragoth Ironhand declares a Grudge War against Ind in vengeance for Harakh’s death. The largest army ever assembled against the Land of the Thousand Gods marches south with the intention of burning the kingdom of Gandhara to the ground and extinguish the lineage of Kanishka.