The Renewal

The renewal is the name for the changing of the The Everseason in Terragard. It is the last great purge of the forests, where winter overtakes the land for a hundred years, the entire region is covered in snow and every tree goes into hibernation.

The other races of Terragard call this an apocalypse, it traps villages and towns with snowed-in roads and the inability to grow crops for long periods of time. The first Renewal saw around 80% of the non-elven population wiped out due to freezing and starvation. The Elves seemed to be prepared, having stored up enough food to survive if rationed properly, coupled with responsibly hunted food sources (like fish and wildlife) that can still be harvested during the season. The humans during this period poached on eleven hunting grounds and in some regions almost wiped out the wildlife trying to feed themselves, leading to strained relations with the Winter Court of Elves.

During the second Renewal, the human settlers were more established, and had more resources and infrastructure to expand their hunting efforts, but still were ill-prepared and had to hunt voraciously in order to stay alive. They were surviving with minimal deaths, until the winter court made a decision to police the drastic decrease in animal population in the forests and leading to many conflicts between the human settlers and elven wardens. The elves far outmatched any efforts the humans could muster, and thought the human settlers starved, the Winter Court was unmoved, leading to far too many deaths on the settlers side, almost wiping them out completely.

This significantly raised tensions between the winter elves and humans, a wound that has not healed even now, ages later.