Second Guild War

The Second Guild War is a continent-wide war involving the vast majority of established guilds in the kingdom of Shadowsong, including all great powers, culminating as a large-scale war between the Vanguards and the Arbiters. The battles of the war eventually coincided with the timeline of The Searing, a great war between humanity and the Architects of the First Age which forms the ultimate power struggle of the Shadowsong storyline.

The Second Guild War is considered to have begun in 476 following the assassinations of Met Sovolder III and Darrion Lockhart, which resulted in an internal war among the great powers of the Vanguard faction. The Arbiters formally joined the war with the Slaughter at Nebenbridge, in Bluehaven.

Background
The Great Guild War, later known as the First Guild War, was a power struggle between the Arbiters and Vanguards, which resulted in many of the great powers in Eldrin being defamed and falling to economic ruin as a result of the subsequent peace treaties. Investors in the Vanguard-led areas also fell to economic hardship with the collapse of power in Eldrin, leading to civil unrest among many Vanguard guilds. Although political power was formally divided more or less equally among Eldrin and the Vanguard-led kingdoms, the majority of influence remained in the hands of the Vanguards, who were the victors of the Great Guild War. Darrion Lockhart was proclaimed the leader of the Vanguards, and introduced many policies which were beneficial to economic improvement within Vanguard-aligned guilds. The great powers of the Arbiters generally felt overlooked, which in many ways was correct, as Eldrin holds the majority of wealth and resources in Shadowsong.

In somewhat mysterious circumstances, Corren the Reverant, the guild master of Consorts of Silence, died without leaving any assets of the guild to anyone. Resultantly, Ala'Renoire became the greatest power of the Arbiters, with their guild master Ven adopting the new title of Arbitrator of Shadowsong. Ven's political and military policies focussed heavily on authoritarian dictatorship, far-right wing economic growth policies and extreme investment in military resources.

Pre-war events
As Eduin Sovolder grew up to become a remarkable fighter and diplomat, Darrion Lockhart appointed him as the Vindex Adjucent of the Vanguards, in other words, the person to assume the role of leader of the Vanguards following Darrion's death or abdication. This was in many ways a testament to Darrion's close friendship with Met Sovolder, but was a controversial decision as this would force a change in power of the Vanguards from Darrion's guild to Bite of Winter. Furthermore, Eduin was the leader of the Paragon's Order, and it was deemed inappropriate by some for all the major Vanguardian powers to be held by one person.

Eduin abdicated from his titles at the start of the main storyline in order to pursue a mysterious mission with a band of his closest knights. Darrion hence passed the title onto his son, Orion Lockhart, on the day of his twentieth birthday. Orion appointed _ as his hand. Unbeknownst to him, _ was an agent of Ven who was tasked with the assassination of Darrion Lockhart. _ fabricated unequivocal circumstances to imply that Orion had ordered the murder of his own father, before carrying out the act. Simultaneously, assassins of Coventina Mystique infiltrated the Watchers' Keep and assassinated Met Sovolder III, bearing insignias of the Vanguards. Consequently, the following power rearrangements were forced. (1) Orion Lockhart was appointed leader of the Vanguards; (2) Orion's guild was deemed liable for the murder of the leader of the Vanguards, making his guild an enemy of Shadowsong. This completely cuts any financial aid to the guild and by extension, the entirety of the Vanguards; (3) the Vanguard faction was dissolved as the great power had become an enemy of itself, and as such, strictly speaking, every member of any guild affiliated with the Vanguard faction was an enemy of every civilian in the whole of Shadowsong. Formally speaking, the Second Guild War had now begun.

Dragonshore versus Bluehaven
Railyn Taberham and his advisors in Bluehaven realised that if Railyn was to defeat Orion Lockhart in single combat, it would reinstate all powers and privileges to the Vanguards and absolve the hostile status of the Vanguards. Naturally, this idea permeated through Shadowsong and made many people want Orion to be captured and brought to Bluehaven and forced to fight. However, it was also true that if Orion was to defeat Railyn, that too would restore order to the Vanguards in the same way. Planning ahead, Railyn, who was now the guild master of both Bite of Winter and the Paragon's Order, decided to send a champion to defeat Orion. This champion would assume the role of leader of the Vanguards if successful, and if unsuccessful, would establish a stable power balance among the great powers of the Vanguards. Uhan Sovolder was appointed as Railyn's champion, who successfully killed Orion Lockhart in combat.