Atheus the Conqueror
Atheus the Conqueror was the long-lived commander of the Great Slaver Ship Fleet and the foundational figure of the Atheusian state. His campaigns reshaped Arteonia, Horteon, and the High Elven colonial world across more than a thousand years of history.
Arrival in the West¶
Approximate dates: c. 1,100 BLC–197 LC. His birth is not recorded; this estimate reflects his leadership of the fleet’s settlement around 1,050 BLC and his unusually long life. He died at the siege of Saousvad’E in 197 LC.
Around 1,150 BLC, the Great Slaver Ship Fleet set out to find a new homeland. By 1,050 BLC the fleet was raiding the coasts of Luxterra and Polaria. After being pushed back, Atheus led the survivors into Ousred'Eson, where they invaded and settled.
This settlement created the base of later Atheusian power. The fleet's failure to continue westward also mattered: a second fleet shipwrecked on the Central Omniluxian Isles around 900 BLC and was never heard from again, leaving Atheus's western colony as the successful line of expansion.
Horteonian Wars¶
Atheus's long life made him the central commander of the Atheusian-Horteonian Wars. The First Atheusian-Horteonian Wars began around 500 BLC and died down by 300 BLC, after which Atheusians focused on settling former human territory.
The Second War began in 175 BLC. Horteonians won early victories, but Atheus's experience allowed him to outskill them. By 50 BLC the war had faded, and Atheusian attention again turned inward. In 7 BLC a Horteonian coalition began the Third War, but the High Elven reliance on human slave labor and elite male soldiers turned the early Horteonian gains into major losses. The war ended in 47 LC with the taking of Ivoilabri, Seterescy, and Ussonbrifhaerme, intensifying High Elven fear of slave revolt and encouraging deeper settlement of Horteon.
Arteonian Campaigns¶
Atheusian weakness in the east later drew Atheus into Arteonia. In 175 LC he began a punitive campaign that became the First Great War of Arteonia, fighting northern Arteonian tribes and Horteonian refugees alongside the few remaining Usrevian colonists.
Atheus died in 197 LC at the siege of Saousvad'E. Even after his death, the High Elves remained victorious and established fortified settlements, though skirmishes between natives and colonists continued as the colonies grew.
Legacy¶
Atheus became the military ancestor of later Atheusian power. His name remained attached to realms and heirs long after his death, including later figures such as Atheus the Younger and Cymeva Atheus. His conquests also fed the social tensions that later erupted in colonial wars, slave fears, and conflicts with Arteonian peoples.
See also: High Elf, Timeline, Artheous, Viktreic, and High Elven Civil War.