Terra's War (The Elemental Wars)
by Håvard
The Elemental Wars
Reading up on the Immortal Terra's entry from the Wrath of the Immortals Book. She became an immortal at a time when the Plane of Earth was under attack by invaders from several other elemental planes. In the past I have referred to this as the Elemental Wars. When did all this take place. What happened? What were the reasons for this conflict and what role exactly did the then mortal Terra play in this conflict that would lead to her becoming an Immortal?
In a related discussion from a few years ago, I placed these wars around 30.000 BC. One added bonus of roughly this timing is that it corresponds to the last Ice Age on Mystara which ended roughly BC 10.000 at least in various fan works. The Ice Age itself could perhaps have been caused by the shifting balance between the Elemental Planes?
The way I see it, the time before the Elemental Wars was a time of peace between the Elemental Planes. Back then, there was even trade and other peaceful contact between these planes. At the end of the Wars, we saw the beginning of the current system where all contact between the Elemental Planes is strictly forbidden as discussed in the Plane of Fire thread. It is not clear to me, exactly who the invades were, but invaders from the Plane of Fire seems a given. Perhaps an alliance between force from the Plane of Fire and the Plane of Air? In the Sollux thread (top link), I also suggested that the end of the war had some significant consequences for the Plane of Fire, including the rise of Zugzul, in good time for the role he is to play in the Blackmoor Era centuries later.
The Shield of Ouranos
Terra's most important battle involves defeating a powerful being. This battle releases massive energies that effectively turn Terra into an Immortal. the Codex Immortalis speculates that Ouranos was Terra's mysterious sponsor. My idea is that her opponent was a powerful renegade Fire Elemental Ruler, wielding an artifact sword. The only way to destroy this sword was to use an artifact called the Shield of Ouranos. Terra quested to find the shield and used it to block the Elemental Ruler's attacks, thus shattering his weapon.