One of the disadvantages of the great Al'Kabor's reconnection to Norrath's satellite has been the rediscovery of the Vah Shir and some of their subsequent interactions with Odus. Although these ancient foes have mostly forgotten the past, there are extremist elements that continue to hold grudges against the Children of Erud.
Over the winter of 3168/9 a band of ruffians from Luclin ported down onto Odus, and moving swiftly surprised the guards and were able to gain access into the City of Erudin, where they proceeded to indulge in destruction and pillaging on an intense if minor scale. A considerable amount of damage was done to the southern sections of the city, including the Library and the temple of the Deepwater Knights.
Although the High Council of Erudin advised caution and a measured response to this imposition, many Erudites were of the opinion that the action constituted a renewal of hostilities and made plans to counter-attack the Vah Shir. This feeling was fuelled by rumours that deliberate attempts had been made to seize secret research material from the Library, possibly for use against Erudin in the future. Accordingly, a reprisal raid was carried out, and this started a bloody and vicious cycle of raid and counter raid that was to last the next three years, defying the efforts of both governing bodies to suppress. The period has become known as the �lukewarm� war, in that it was greater than a confrontation but fell short of outright war.
Sometime around the turn of the new decade, when the lukewarm war was at its height, a poem was written that endeavoured to explain the feelings of those who felt decisive action of a military nature was undesirable, but necessary. The author is popularly supposed to have been a young Erudite by the name of Allioth, an apprentice librarian of modest means, although outright proof is lacking. The poem became extremely popular, especially amongst the young, and was eventually set to music as a ballad. As a work of art �Erudite foray� conveys emotion extremely well, although precise form is somewhat lacking.
We present here the version considered by most scholars to be the original work.
Notes.
1. Foray = raid or expedition conducted in force into hostile territory. It is unlikely that the poem is referring to a specific event. Such forays were very common in this period.
2. The extensive use of contractions in this piece has been heavily criticised, but it is quite clear from both the context, and the writings of Allioth himself, that this is a deliberate ploy. The stumbling over words by, of all people, a librarian, engenders the atmosphere of adrenaline fuelled nervousness felt by the narrator into the mind of the listener.
3. The Vah Shir tended to conduct raids at night, no doubt because of their supposed advantage in vision in low light intensities. Erudite forays and counter-raids were usually timed to hit their targets at dawn, when it was believed the Vah Shir were least alert, and thus tended to start off at night. Hence the expression �Luclins up�, i.e. it is now night and time to set off on the foray.
4. "�there is gain". The raid was conducted during a time of great want in Erud and indeed all of Norrath, to wit, the famine caused by the ongoing depredations of the forces of evil in the farmlands of the Karanas. This is a crisis that still has not yet been fully resolved. During these hard times this �gain� may very well have meant the difference between survival and starvation. It is emphatically not gain for mere greed.
5. ��have a bloody end�. Indeed they do. The initial Vah Shir raid that started the lukewarm war led to extensive devastation in both lands and the death of several hundreds. The true cost will probably never be known. It was only after diplomatic initiatives from the High Council in 3171, combined with heavy patrolling, that the fighting slowly petered out.
6. Allioth was a young apprentice librarian, and also very much in love with his wife, who he married but three seasons earlier. A studious, quiet, gentle and rather shy man, much devoted to Quellious, it would be hard to find someone less suited to the rigours and horrors of war.
7. Shar Vahl, the main city of the Vah Shir on Luclin. For some reason, Allioth uses Shah Vir; exactly why is not known.
8. Score = twenty.
9. There is actually no concrete evidence that the Vah Shir raid was deliberately aimed at stealing valuable research texts, although several important manuscripts were destroyed and others were temporarily lost in the resulting chaos.
10. Some Erudite property was recovered, but the overwhelming majority of loot from these raids was originally of Vah Shir and, curiously, Human origin.
11. A region of moors and wasteland adjacent to Shah Vir, and an ideal place to assemble a raiding group.
Twelve months after the initial raid that sparked the lukewarm war a Vah Shir raiding group was ambushed by a party of Erudin city militia. The resulting running fight across Toxxulia forest claimed the life of Allioth the librarian. The body was never found.