The Necromancer Wars

The Necromancer Wars were as series of wars fought between the Grand Union and an undead army lead by the Necromancer from 882 to 905. The Necromancer Wars was the bloodiest conflict in recorded history, in part due to the fact that soldiers who fell in battle were added to the opposing forces. The Necromancer Wars irrevocably changed the face of Caledon and its effects are still felt today.

Background
Almost nothing is known of the reasoning behind the beginning of the war, as the Necromancer never demanded anything, parleyed or made any attempt at communication. The only known warnings of war were an unusually high number of tomb robbings in the south in the three years prior to the start of the war.

The war is thought to have lasted so long for two reasons. Firstly, the enemy numbers swelled after every battle unless the Grand Union forces occupied the site afterwards, which was not possible if a retreat was ordered. Secondly, conventional siege tactics are next to useless against a fighting force that doesn't require water, food, or sleep and is immune to disease. [more?]

The Massacre at Ionia
On [date] of 882, a horde of approximately five thousand animated skeletons and zombies marched to the fortress-town of Ionia. The garrison was completely unprepared and were slaughtered quickly, leaving the rest of the inhabitants of the town at the mercy of the invading forces. Only people who managed to flee the town were spared and all of the fallen were raised as zombies, nearly doubling the original invading force. Ionia was occupied by the Necromancer and became a stronghold for the forces, resisting fifteen sieges before it fell at the Reclamation of Ionia, seven years before the end of the war.

The Reclamation of Ionia
The Reclamation of Ionia is considered a turning point in the war, where a small force of paladins and war clerics managed to enter the city undetected via the sewer system and eliminate the leaders of the undead garrison, disrupting the organisation of the horde and allowing a coup de main to retake the town.

The Battle of the Blood Sun
[see main article?]

Impact
In the years after the Wars ended, Aeron Celyf, then Grand Magister of the Order of the Twilight Eye, began ordering the destruction of all materials relating to necromancy or death magic despite opposition from some members of the magisterial council, who claimed that necromancy was merely a tool that the Necromancer had used for evil and was not evil in and of itself. Celyf's supporters won the debate and Celyf's Purge followed, where all texts and material relating to the teaching of necromancy, as well as all depictions of the Necromancer and accounts of their identity, life or history, were systematically destroyed. In addition, the deity that the Necromancer and their living followers had worshipped was erased from all records and all temples and altars destroyed in an effort to weaken or kill the deity, so as to prevent a resurgence of necromancy from divine sources.

A sweeping change to burial practices were also a result of the Necromancer Wars, though these had come into use during the Wars. All human nations save for the Nornish Jarldoms now cremate the remains of the deceased. The Norns now place a vial of Revenant's Bane between the teeth of an embalmed body, which would shatter should the corpse be raised.

By far the greatest change to the world as a result of the Wars was the formation of the Grand Union, which exists to this day and has facilitated movement of goods and knowledge between the nations of Caledon.