(1137-1170/3) The Forty-Years War arose in the late Third Age, when the Cynaran Kingdom of Urland and the recent Iskari immigrants from Iskandar clashed over control of Westvale Island. Ironically; the war lasted little over 34 years, but the name stuck.
Centuries prior to the war, tribes of Cynarans from the Isle of Cynara, under the ruler-ship of the House of Redmond, had forged the Kingdom of Urland; with Karstad as its capital. This kingdom controlled the Isle of Cynara, much of what is today Derianor, and the northern-most third of Westvale Island.
The Cynarans were first led by King Narmacil Redmond; a fierce warrior, who easily defeated all his enemies. For nearly three centuries, the Cynarans dominated this region.
But in the fateful year 1137/3, Ilnavel Cyrenäe landed at Wyn Falas with his 40,000 Iskari survivors of the Doom of Iskandar. For the next 33 years, the Cynarans and the Iskari repeatedly clashed over territory, with neither side able to achieve a significant advantage.
That all changed in 1170/3, when the Saar Council deemed that King Ilnavel should be granted one of the seven Elanthir swords. With this powerful magical weapon, Ilnavel soon gained the upper hand in the war.
Ilnavel soon sailed an army of 4,000 men to the Isle of Cynara and besieged the enemy fortress of Erôn-Khorlöth, at the climactic Battle of Swanford. The Iskari were victorious and king Narmacil was slain. After that defeat, King Narmacil's surviving followers bent the knee, and became forever known as the "Kings Without a Crown."
Ilnavel made the Redmonds his vassals, renamed their capital of Karstad after himself; calling it Cyrenica. For several centuries afterward, the Cynarans remained peaceful, but they would once again rise up against the Iskari monarchy in the Iskari Civil War.
