First Siege of Absalom

The First Siege of Absalom was the first attempted invasion of the City at the Center of the World by monstrous forces under the command of the minotaur warlord Voradni Voon in 23 AR. Originally from Casmaron, Voon's desire for ascension and the Starstone drove him to lay siege to the city using an army of centaurs, harpies, and minotaurs he had brought from Iblydos via a teleportation gate known as the Brazen Arch. The plateau east of the city reverberated with the beatings of the hooves of 10,000 centaurs, who surrounded the city, creating earthquakes. Voon and his forces were repelled by the volunteer guards of Absalom (the progenitors of the First Guard) who were led by the god Aroden himself. Aroden pushed back the besieging army to the eastern plateau, where he convulsed it with a series of earthquakes that also destroyed the Brazen Arch and scattered Voon's forces. The area still bears the scars of this destruction and is known today as the Scrape.

Legacy

Reenactors portray Aroden and Voradni Voon during the Passion of the First Siege of Absalom.

Most of the surviving centaurs fled into the Riven Hills, eventually founding the settlement of Hazrak, while the harpies retreated to the Kortos Mounts at the center of the island. The descendants of both these populations continue to be a thorn in the side of the people of the Isle of Kortos to this day.

Voon's defeat is still celebrated in Absalom in the annual event known as the Passion of the First Siege of Absalom.