(420-422/5) The First Vilzari War was a conflict fought between the Ravinian Empire and the desert kingdom of Vilzar.
The war began when King K’Foth A’Nar, a brilliant strategist and cunning Vilzari warrior, invaded the Ravinian Empire from its southern borders. The early Vilzari campaigns were successful, and soon the Eldaran cities of Sathay, Rin Falar, and Kingsport had been captured. By 430/5, the Vilzari armies were defeated at the Battle of Herrenden Fields by the Ravinian Marshall Eladan Myrnäe III.
It took eight years to defeat A’Nar’s army because of his tactical abilities and because Sorimmar sent a large army of orcs through the Saugreth-Muir at the same time to force the Empire to fight on two fronts. After the Battle of Herrenden, A’Nar led his Vilzari army south in retreat into the great desert called the Sea of Sand. Eladan foolishly chose to follow them into the desert, and he and his entire army of 25,000 soldiers were annihilated.
To prevent a further repeat of the widespread death and destruction caused by this bloody conflict, Empress Ravinia ordered construction of an enormous barrier wall called the Kerak built across the southern border of the Empire from the Storm Coast on the west to the foothills of the Redpeaks Mountains in the east, to keep the hated Vilzari invaders out forever.
She also ordered construction of a great battlement across the largest pass in the Saugreth-Muir, and named it the "Salkröth". The purpose of this gate was to prevent further orc invasions from the East. This eight-year conflict is considered the bloodiest of all the Vilzari Wars and resulted in, by far, the largest loss of life and destruction of property.
