The halflings of Raethos, which they named the land after their leader, soon began to fertilize the lands outside Greith, and before long they no longer felt threatened from Aelthiur. Over two hundred years later, on the 219th year of The Quiet, a city in Sairenoth, one of the independent kingdoms in the lands of Aelthiur, had an uprising of slaves. The slaves of this city revolted, killing many Sairenothian lords and ladies, and eventually fled south.
The armies of Sairenoth were in no way pleased by this revolt, and marched in double time to cut off and slaughter the fleeing slaves. The slaves had collected a huge amount of other slaves on the way and now numbered 16,000, including women, children, and the elderly. The slaves stopped at the first city they found, Greith.
The proclaimed leader of the slaves, Corax III, begged the peoples of Greith to help them. The halflings had no choice, for they would not watch a massacre outside their own walls. The huge number of slaves entered Greith, and with word spreading through Raethos that war was coming, the farmers of Raethos also retreated into the walled city of Greith.
The legions of Sairenoth arrived at Greith and found the city defended by an immense amount of halflings and humans. In fact, there were so many people prepared for war within the small city that for every person defending the walls, there was an extra person not. Despite being trained for war and better equipped, the legions of Sairenoth had not been prepared for a siege on a well defended city, and were soon forced to retreat.
The citizens of Raethos and the slaves of Sairenoth wasted no time in preparing for the return of the legions. Over a single month, a huge amount of weapons were forged, trenches built, and men and women trained in the arts of war. Corax III was named general of the Raethos Army, and did all he could in order to ensure that they were prepared for the coming onslaught.
The legions of Sairenoth arrived just over a month after their departure, wasting no time in becoming better prepared for laying siege on the city. However, the peoples of Raethos were ready for battle, and gave the legions a great challenge. The casualties on both sides were immense, easily numbering in the thousands. However, Raethos had used one thing to their advantage.
The Aelthiurian nation of Uth�Vangiir had been a great rival of Sairenoth since the collapse. When Raethos sent them word that the legions of Sairenoth were laying siege of Greith, Uth�Vangiir wasted little time in sending out their own armies to take Sairenoth by surprise. The grant cavalry of Uth�Vangiir quickly reached Greith, and the legions of Sairenoth were quickly decimated.
When the halflings offered the human slaves a home in Raethos, the humans were both surprised and relieved. With nowhere else to go, the humans accepted the offer and were soon well at home on the lands of Raethos. For four years, the humans and halflings led a peaceful existence together, but Sairenoth was not done.
King Zharhann of Sairenoth was a great cleric of Malice, a god of strife. Bent of revenge, the king summoned a great plague to rid the world of Raethos, and Malice was happy to oblige. The plague hit Raethos hard, killing huge amounts of the inhabitants quickly and painfully. King Oradin, a halfling who had been elected monarch, felt weak and powerless to stop the spreading disease. Malice appeared before the halfling king, and made a deal with him.
In exchange for the service and dedication of Raethos, Malice would remove the plague and let them thrive. King Oradin, seeing no other alternatives, half-heartedly agreed to the pact. The lands of Raethos became dark, but the people were freed of the plague. With this, the people became blessed with an innate power in the arcane, and life for the peoples of Raethos became good; except that they were under the rule of Malice. Raethos
It was many generations before the peoples of Raethos began to truly despise their godly dictator, and during the 398th year of The Quiet, the people rebelled. They tore down the beautiful temples of Malice, killed the truly dedicated, and made his name scorned. Malice, enraged by this betrayal, cursed the peoples of Raethos. Their skin became gray, ashen, their hair no longer full of color. Even worse though, if they left their lands, they wasted away into nothingness. However, the peoples of Raethos felt empowered to find their greatest gift, the magic Malice had blessed them with, was still intact.
The peoples of Raethos were no longer humans and halflings, but named themselves shadariths. They were not divided by human and halfling, much to the surprise of outside nations. The shadariths are a single race, some small, some large.