Smurfs (AoC Universe)

The Smurfs are race of blue-skinned humanoids native to the western continent of Vigrith. Descendants of the undertrolls, a species of troll, they have a long and fascinating history, particularly with regards to magic.

Tragic beginnings
After the end of the Sin War, the trolls emerged as the foremost race on Middle-Earth, and the distinct species within the race spread out across Old Vigrith to form two empires and a conglomerate of kingdoms. The Sulebi tribe of jungle trolls migrated south and formed the Sulebian Empire, the Arverni tribe of forest trolls moved east and founded the Arverni Empire, and the other troll races - ice, dark and sand - split up in different directions to create smaller kingdoms ruled by individual tribes (the ice troll tribes of Frostmane, Icefang and Winteraxe settled in the northmost part of the continent, closest to Niflheim).

The undertrolls were unable to take part in these ventures because they were born short, sickly and weak, thus lacking the military capacity for combat. The expansionism of the other species of troll did not help, and the hapless undertrolls found themselves pushed out of every settlement they moved into. Desperate and exhausted, they finally settled on the dangerous area near the Hellfire Plateau, re-naming it the 'Cerulean Plateau'. It was the site where the demon prince of pride, Lucithel, had been slain by the Aesir and their Designates during the final battle of the Sin War. Some of the demon prince's magic had drained into a reservoir at the top of the plateau, forming the Well of Wonders - a font of magic connected to the core of the planet itself. Its magic transformed the pitiful undertrolls into smurfs - intelligent beings with a natural potency in the arcane.

The Smurf Empire
Main article: Smurf Empire

Instantly colonising the well, the smurfs built a great city on top of the Cerulean Plateau, grateful that they finally had a place to call their own. Ready to extract perfect vegeance on their troll brethren, the smurfs unleashed their magic across the world and broke troll influence across Vigrith, culminating in a cruel destruction of the Three Tusks' Dam built by the desert trolls to control their already-low water supplies. However heartless the act, one thing was clear: the smurfs were in charge from now on.

The smurfs built their magocratic empire on the ruins of troll civilisation, supervised by a council of magi who covened every year to make major decisions regarding the governance of the smurf people. However, while the empire itself flourished, the council did not: it soon became entangled in internal politics, and disputed between magocrats often resulted in terrible bickering. Eventually the inefficiencies of democracy were exposed when Archmage Seshmedi announced that he and his supporters were seceeding from the rest of the empire, angering his brethren in the process. This led to a brief conflict known as the First Smurf Civil War (though in reality, many of those living on Seshmedi's territory defected to the council loyalists).

The war ended with the Square Deal Agreement (named so because it was thought to be the fairest resolution to the conflict). Seshmedi and his secessionists were invited back to the mainland, and the Smurf Empire was restructured into a caste system where the people were ruled by a single sovereign - a "King Smurf" - and those with the highest magical aptitude formed the 'High Caste' of smurf society.

Rise of the arcane
The smurfs were already experimenting with arcane magic by the time King Dan'Ariz ascended to the throne, but under his rule, things became a lot more radical. Inspired and interested by the many ways in which magic worked, Dan'Ariz ordered a radical expansion of the Empire to reach new heights and cover new ground, in search for mystical leylines. His Grand Vizier, Hamwan, had told him all about the leylines during an executive meeting involving himself, the King, and the Council of Magi (Seshmedi was not invited due to his prior treasonous behaviour).

As the empire expanded in search of the leylines, various official organisations were set up to demarcate different roles for different smurfs. Aside from the Magocouncil, the Corps - the official 'Smurf Army' - was also given royal perogative by Dan'Ariz, and its forces were committed into the hands of his political ally, Lord Shen'Gan, a prominent member of the High Caste. His job was to ensure no trolls - or other races - got in the way of the expansion of the Empire. The Institute of Scholars was also founded in the city of Zanthanar, enlisting the brightest minds from across the smurfosphere in the studying of this exciting new source of energy, helping the miners in their drilling. First among these scholars was professor Trazjin'Mak, who, surprisingly enough, criticised the ley line exploration project, claiming that the smurfs had all the magic they would ever need from the Well of Wonders, and drilling their way through the surface of Middle-Earth was dangerous and a waste of time/resources. Dan'Ariz soon had him removed, and replaced as lead professor by Tiberian, who he saw as easier to manipulate. While Tiberian had his concerns, he found himself unable to voice them due to the fate suffered by Mak. Covertly, therefore, he told the institute about his misgivings, and they agreed to keep an eye out for new developments.

Tiberian's brother, Manius, still had not found his calling within smurf society. He was not one for following Nature's Guild - a group of smurfs who worshipped Mother Nature - he branded them "cultists" (though this may be due to his inability to control his magic, as he'd accidentally destroyed what was believed to be a snork colony following an excursion). However, soon, he found himself an opening. Seshmedi was acting up again, this time after his secretary, Vanula (a prominent member of Nature's Guild), tipped him off about the ley lines. Furious that he had been left in the dark, he devised a terrible plot: seize control of the empire for himself. Hamwan knew the plot was active, but did little to stop it, hoping that he could manipulate events to put himself in place of Dan'Ariz. Seshmedi made contact with Manius, whom he knew to be a good sorceror, and implicated him in the plot. With Hamwan's influence and Manius' raw-power, Seshmedi thought he was poised to seize the crown - until at the last moment, Manius betrayed him and tipped off Hamwan, who informed Dan'Ariz - being careful not to mention his own involvement.

Angered by the threat to his life, King Smurf had Seshmedi tried for high treason, which the Magocouncil promptly found him guilty of, and jailed him under the ruins of the Three Tusks' Damn. Manius was elected his replacement on the council, so the deliberative body became whole again with 5 magi.

Corruption
The exploration of Vigrith had uncovered new holders of arcane power, and they were all diverted to quench the Well of Wonders located in the Smurf Empire's capital city, Ariza. The high caste, greedy for power, recklessly plumbed the ancient font and sapped its reserves very quickly. It became apparent to them that this could be averted by closing off the well to anyone who wasn't them. Hamwan approached Dan'Ariz with this idea, which the King quickly approved of. The exclusivisation of the well allowed for more arcanum to be extracted at once, which gave rise to a series of increasingly unrestrained experiments by the smurf high caste. The unfettered usage of this magic sent spirals of arcanum resonating out of the planet and through the planes of the universe, where they were sensed out by Tartarus.

Sargamon, the Fallen Angel and Demonlord of the Marching Horde, was drawn to the world where the signals were coming from. As soon as he realised what he was dealing with, the Betrayer of Life saw his opportunity. Contacting the high caste under the guise of a venerable god, Sargamon promised them power beyond anything they had ever seen. Hamwan was enraptured, and convinced the King that this was the correct course of action. The high caste thus began constructing a major portal powered by the Well of Wonders to invite their new god into the physical world. Instead, a plethora of demons made their way into the new world, starting with the demonic eldjotnar Surtyr the Destructor, along with the other corrupted giant chiefs: Drothar, Fegvir, Beowulf and Vulcan Ragefury. Eventually the smurfs found themselves absolutely overrun by the demons, and their ancient cities - Ariza, Onalume, Zanathar and Symemel - were soon under heavy siege.

War of the Ancients
Shocked that his king partake in such recklessness, Lord Shen'Gan defected from the high caste and set up the Smurf Resistance in order to combat the high caste and their demonic masters. A crucial member of the Resistance was Tiberian, whose concerns about the King's thirst for power were finally being heard. He also managed to convince his brother, Manius, to abandon the King, even though many members of the council stayed with him in Ariza Palace and walking out would make him look worse than Seshmedi. Vanula, having seen the full extent of the high caste's profligancy, sided with the Resistance forces (Tiberian and Manius shared a love for the smurfette, but there had never been any contest between them). Their initial fightback failed, however, as the demons simply tore through their ranks.

The earth-rattling conflict had awoken the nocturnal night elves of the Midnight Glade, who occupied themselves regularly with maintaining nature and the balance associated with it. When their leaders saw the damage the smurf King was doing to his own planet, they sided with the resistance. Archdruid Evenshade set out to meet the Wild Gods and Dragon Aspects to seek their aid in the fightback, whilst High Priestess Moonrage rallied the Sentinels (the Night Elf Army). General Faena Shadowsong complied with the request, and marched towards the rebel stronghold of Y'se Serin to support Lord Shen'Gan.

The combined Resistance: Lord Shen'Gan with his smurfs, General Shadowsong with her night elves - was strong enough to start pushing back the demons, bit by bit. From Y'se Serin, the rebel forces made their way from the southern tip of Vigrith northbound until the next city. However, disaster resumed when Balmiszen - the commander of the Marching Horde - appeared. Together with Surtyr, they lay epic siege to the Resistance supply lines, rendering any forward movement impossible.

The Dragon Aspects heeded Evenshade's call, and they instantly rose to the challenge of attacking the demons. The most powerful display of the war was by Tiamat, leader of the black dragons and Queen of dragonkind, who unleashed her nightmarish magic upon the demons...and the night elf defenders. Revealing that she had betrayed the dragons to the Dark Cosmics, Tiamat intended to tear Middle-Earth apart, just as her masters willed. She was eventually driven away by the combined power of the other dragons, but not until she had caused regrettable damage to the defence.

Tiberian realised that to end the invasion, the demons would have to be cut out of the world, and the only way to do this would be to destroy the Well of Wonders. It'd cripple the smurfs, but save Middle-Earth. Lord Shen'Gan was on the same trail of thought, and General Shadowsong agreed with him. Manius volunteered to run ahead of the group to inform the main resistance force - Tiberian's team - at Ariza that the order was given. However, he was secretly horrified at the idea, and determined not to let the magic he depended on be snatched from his hands. Re-entering Ariza City, Manius stole several pails of water from the Well of Wonders before it was destroyed, then alerted Dan'Ariz and the high caste of Tiberian's plan. In response, the King sent the leader of his personal guard - Jan'Uin - to destroy Lord Shen'Gan and thus exterminate the Resistance. The fallen noble passed on his helmet to Kuz'Gan, but his incompetence and racist attitudes drove enmity between him and General Shadowsong. Thus, upon his inevitable death, having erroneously ordered a movement further into enemy territory without the aid of the night elves, he was replaced by Xen'Ayo.

By the time the Resistance made it to Ariza, Dan'Ariz, the high caste, and a bunch of demons were waiting for them. Vanula, determined to purge them from her realm, engaged the opposition head on. Her individual act inspired the resistance to fight harder. Tiberian and the rebel smurfs attacked the high caste frontally while Vanula snuck round the back and attempted to knock out the Well from behind. She was shut down by Dan'Ariz, who knocked her unconscious with a single arcanopulse. A furious Tiberian, unable to watch his love bleed out to death, fired a broadside at the King. The clash between Dan'Ariz and Tiberian released so much energy that it ended up collapsing the Cerulean Plateau and destroying the Well alongside it, while sundering the entire continent and sending pieces of it in various directions.

New directions
Following the collapse of the Smurf Empire, the survivors rallied in the newly-formed western continent of Vigrith. Tiberian called upon the smurfs to forsake arcane magic permanently, seeing the damage it had done to their once-great society. From now on, only one smurf would be allowed to wield magic - their leader. Indeed, the smurfs founded a village in south-east Vigrith, with a working population of around 90 (including one smurfette - Vanula - and excluding Manius) in which Tiberian became First Patriarch - the very first Papa Smurf the smurfosphere had ever seen.