Vengeance Pact
The Vengeance Pact was a pact between the ten Highprinces and King Elhokar Kholin. It's main goal was to take vengeance on the Parshendi who had ordered the assassination of King Galivar.
Background
After having met Parshendi in the region where the Shattered Plains are located, Gavilar started to establish diplomatic relations with the Parshendi. This lead to an invitation of Parshendi to Kholinar in Alethkar to celebrate the signing of a treaty between Alethi and Parshendi. On that night, the Assassin in White killed King Gavilar. The Parshendi took credit for that assassination and fled from Kholinar.
The Highprinces and King Elhokar then made the Vengeance Pact.
War against the Parshendi
After the assassination of King Galivar, the Parshendi retreated to a plateau in the middle of the Shattered Plains, where they established their camp. The ten Alethi warcamps, as well as the king's camp are situated on the west of the Shattered Plains. Despite their larger numbers, a full-scale attack against the Parshendi camp by the Alethi forces was not possible because of the Highstorms that made it impossible to survive exposed on the Shattered Plains. Another problem was that the Highprinces fought for themselves instead of joining together. This lasted over six years, until the events following the battle at the Tower. Dalinar was named Highprince of War by King Elhokar and planned to change the warfare.
The impact of gemhearts
When arriving at the Shattered Plains, the Alethi armies came upon huge beasts, called chasmfiends that lived in the chasms between the plateaus that form the Shattered Plains. The chasmfiends had gemhearts that were actual gems and which could be infused with Stormlight. The gemhearts were among the largest gems known on Roshar and were therefore of immense value. The only way to safely get at the gemheart was to harvest it when the chasmfiend was pupating. The chasmfiends climbed on a plateau in order to do this. The Alethi and the Parshendi both tried to gain as much gemhearts as possible. That's why a race started everytime a pupating chasmfiend was spooted between the Parshendi on one side and the Highprinces on the other side to get to the plateau first. Whoever arrived first was usually attacked by the other.
Gemhearts could be used by Soulcasters to Soulcast barracks, wood or - most importantly - food. However, only ardents possessed Soulcasters and these were owned by King Elhokar.
The rivalry between the ten Highprinces was flared by the race for gemhearts. This changed the original purpose of the Vengeance Pact. The armies battled not for vengeance but for gemhearts. It was not until Dalinar joined forces with Sadeas that two Highprinces worked together to get a gemheart. After being named Highprince of War, Dalinar planned to change tactics and fulfill the Vengeance Pact again instead of only harvesting gemhearts.
Notes
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