Comprehensive EotA history/lore?

[Setokaiva]

It just occurred to me that there doesn't seem to be that much in the way of a comprehensive storyline or lore in the 'EotA Lore' section of the forums, which is a shame because this game really deserves it, and I'm a huge sucker for lore, anyway. What I know so far is mostly little pieces I found lying around.

• * I know that EotA: Exodus comes after Twilight, but what about Maze? How's that fit in?
  * Were the United Creeps and Elven Battalion the only ones fighting at Stormwail Peak, or were the Grim Brigade there, as well? I heard something mentioned about undead attacks on the way to the Exodus castle, so I can assume they were harried all the way there.
  * Did the UC follow after them and attack them, too, or were they still recovering and just lagging behind the Elves?
  * Did the Fel Horde only come into play at the Battle of the Exodus at the castle, or were they intermittently attacking everyone throughout all this?
  * What is the 'Exodus castle', anyway? Is it one of the Elves' cities/fortresses? I noticed a bunch of houses in the western district, so I was wondering about that.
  * How many races and significant groups are there, really, from least to most powerful? I know the Elven Battalion, United Creeps, Grim Brigade and Fel Horde are the major players, here, but Humans and Dwarves are also confirmed, as well as uncorrupted Orcs, it seems (though I could be wrong, here).

And so on. It'd be nice if we had a beginning-to-'end' timeline somewhere on here so anyone interested in the lore can read about it, and perhaps use it as fuel for side stories they may want to write (hint, hint).

[DarnYak]

I know that EotA: Exodus comes after Twilight, but what about Maze? How's that fit in?

Maze came before Twilight - it part of the search for where the artifact might be located

Were the United Creeps and Elven Battalion the only ones fighting at Stormwail Peak, or were the Grim Brigade there, as well? I heard something mentioned about undead attacks on the way to the Exodus castle, so I can assume they were harried all the way there.
* Did the UC follow after them and attack them, too, or were they still recovering and just lagging behind the Elves?
* Did the Fel Horde only come into play at the Battle of the Exodus at the castle, or were they intermittently attacking everyone throughout all this?

At Stormwail it was just those two. After they got it they retreated to their ships and headed back to the main continent, where they had to take it inland. The naga were aligned with the UC but switched sides to the elves and joined up with them during the ocean trip. Around the time of Stormwail was a fight between the Grim Brigade and the Fel Horde in Gloomreap. The undead heard of the elves finding it, knew where it was headed, and thus attempted interception but failed. The UD army was kind of broken at that point, but the elves and naga more so. The Fel Horde only caught up once the siege of Exodus castle began.

What is the 'Exodus castle', anyway? Is it one of the Elves' cities/fortresses? I noticed a bunch of houses in the western district, so I was wondering about that.

It's one of the human capitals that I really need to name someday. It was largely picked from being the center point for alliance forces.

How many races and significant groups are there, really, from least to most powerful? I know the Elven Battalion, United Creeps, Grim Brigade and Fel Horde are the major players, here, but Humans and Dwarves are also confirmed, as well as uncorrupted Orcs, it seems (though I could be wrong, here).

Hmm, its a little hard to rank them but roughly (and I'll probably forget some factions) this:
- Fel Horde is the strongest, but they're generally off on their own continent with internal struggles
- The alliance as a whole would be second strongest (humans, elves, naga, uncorrupted orcs), but I'll list factions separately
- Humans are the most dominant on the main continent, but they're not a singular nation
- Grim Brigade is relatively small at the start of the war, but with everything going to hell they swelled and ended up in large swaths everywhere. Not meaning to copy WC3, but a similar result happened, they basically would travel from A to B and ended up blighting everything in between. I'd say their #2 for singular force by the end, although very spread out and not entirely under control
- Elves are a fairly small but elite force that sticks to their forests but have been at a constant stalemate/slow loss to the undead for the last centaury or so
- Naga are numerous but weak since their domain is mostly uncontested (only the undead posed any threat to them)
- Uncorrupted orcs are basically refugees from the other continent, they invaded the plains where there were only some nomadic human tribes and took the area over, but they're fairly small in numbers and only barely get along with their neighbors
- Dwarves don't really have enough cohesion to be a nation - the majority of them are slaves and the free ones are basically just off where its not worth bothering them. They pretty much don't trust or hate everyone.
- Numerous individual races/tribes that make up the united creeps (furblogs trolls treants giants satyrs etc.)

DarnYak

[Setokaiva]

- When you say the Fel Horde are having 'internal struggles', do you mean that there are various leaders and chieftains jockeying for power and favor with their new paymasters (the Demons), thus causing a lot of internal strife? And if so, that'd probably mean that the Fel Horde in this war is either composed of a riot of different 'clans', or a single overpowering one that got the most favor from Deinnov and wound up sublimating the others into their ranks (or killing them all). Of course, this would likely fall apart rather quickly once whoever is in charge of all those Orcs fails to stop the Elves from escaping.
- Were there any of the uncorrupted Orcs at the battle of Stormwail fighting alongside the 'Alliance', or was that just the Humans and Elves, and the Orcs joined up later?
- Did the UC and Elves just happen to show up at Stormwail Peak at roughly the same time, or was one of them already established beforehand?
- Were the United Creeps in any serious conflict with the Elves before the whole Stormwail incident, or did it only become a big deal after Therivox found out what they were trying to do, or was it a 'what-the-f***-are-you-doing-here' thing with both of them looking for the same thing and winding up fighting each other?
- What the hell is up with the 'Eye of the Twilight' thing that's sitting by Therivox in the EotA: Exodus map? It looks a lot like the Artifact in EotA: Twilight, but I know it's not the same thing because the Elves have that one. Is it of any significance, or is it just a random magical item?
- Is there some kind of actual, visual map so we can see the deposition of the various countries/nations/factions? Even if it's just some macaroni art in Paint? I've looked in the map thread but all I saw was a guess written in ASCII art.
- Where does Verdant Falls (the new map) fit in with all of this? Is it part of the land the Elves went through to reach the castle, and the UC caught up with them there?

[DarnYak]

When you say the Fel Horde are having 'internal struggles', do you mean that there are various leaders and chieftains jockeying for power and favor with their new paymasters (the Demons), thus causing a lot of internal strife? And if so, that'd probably mean that the Fel Horde in this war is either composed of a riot of different 'clans', or a single overpowering one that got the most favor from Deinnov and wound up sublimating the others into their ranks (or killing them all). Of course, this would likely fall apart rather quickly once whoever is in charge of all those Orcs fails to stop the Elves from escaping.

Some internal tribe strife trying for powers, but just as often demons using them to fight each other. Demons have fairly direct control over the orcs and Deinnov has pretty solid control over the demons so when it came time to get things done that got set aside for the time being.

- Were there any of the uncorrupted Orcs at the battle of Stormwail fighting alongside the 'Alliance', or was that just the Humans and Elves, and the Orcs joined up later?

None, it was mostly the elves and a few humans that happened to be able to join up with the fleet.

Did the UC and Elves just happen to show up at Stormwail Peak at roughly the same time, or was one of them already established beforehand?

There's not much civilization on that continent, just the creep tribes, so they were in the neighborhood when they realized where the elves were going, but they got to the mountain itself around the same time.

Were the United Creeps in any serious conflict with the Elves before the whole Stormwail incident, or did it only become a big deal after Therivox found out what they were trying to do, or was it a 'what-the-f***-are-you-doing-here' thing with both of them looking for the same thing and winding up fighting each other?

Well, the creeps weren't united before this war, and even if they were they really weren't in the area the elves are (the elves have pretty solid control over their forest and its surroundings, minus the undead incursions).

What the hell is up with the 'Eye of the Twilight' thing that's sitting by Therivox in the EotA: Exodus map? It looks a lot like the Artifact in EotA: Twilight, but I know it's not the same thing because the Elves have that one. Is it of any significance, or is it just a random magical item?

Random magical item. There's quite a few in the EotA world.

Is there some kind of actual, visual map so we can see the deposition of the various countries/nations/factions? Even if it's just some macaroni art in Paint? I've looked in the map thread but all I saw was a guess written in ASCII art.

I started one once but never got anywhere near finishing it, so no.

Where does Verdant Falls (the new map) fit in with all of this? Is it part of the land the Elves went through to reach the castle, and the UC caught up with them there?

VF is along the border between the elves and the undead, on the elves' side for now. That border became pretty irrelevant in the present war (elf vs undead was primarily a war of aggression by the elves, ud had little to gain by killing the elves), and some other elf shrines were lost (giving UD Putrid Eidolon). Instead the UD went through the mountains (and through Candleburg) to get where they needed to go (which the elves helped defend).

DarnYak