Editing Manywar

|participants=[[Pahn Unity]], [[Hanald]], [[Five Scholars]]

|effects=Destruction of [[Huth]] and [[Kuth]]<br />Foundation of [[Hallandren]] and [[Idris]]

}}{{exemplary|2013-04-07}}

The process of [[Awakening]] [[Lifeless]] had already been developed before the Manywar. However, the [[Awakening#Awakening Commands|Command]]s that had been known previously required fifty [[Breath]]s to create a single Lifeless. This stymied nations' ability to create a large Lifeless army, as it was simply too costly.{{book ref|wb|32}}

However, one of the [[Five Scholars]], [[Shashara]], invented a Command that allowed for the creation of a Lifeless with a single Breath.{{book ref|wb|32}} Alongside [[Yesteel|Yesteel's]] development of [[ichor-alcohol]], these discoveries allowed rulers to effectively double the size of their armies;{{book ref|wb|33}} along with the fact that the new troops did not eat, take pay, or feel pain and fear.{{book ref|wb|32}} Larger standing armies could be created. This made the Manywar the first conflict on Nalthis to utilize Lifeless in great numbers.{{book ref|wb|26}} Powerful Awakeners fought, and ropes were used as siege engines, Awakened to throw boulders.{{book ref|wb|51}}{{wob ref|7375}} The power disparity between those with the new Lifeless Command and those without was another cause of the Manywar.{{book ref|wb|46}}

New Commands were also being discovered rapidly, and a golden age of Awakening took place, due in large part to the Five Scholars.{{book ref|wb|32}} These new discoveries helped further learning and knowledge, but they also provided dangerous weapons. The House of Idris, ruling family of Hanald, was particularly interested in Awakening, and gained powerful Awakeners and Lifeless.

At that point, one of the [[Returned]] had a vision of war.{{book ref|wb|32}} This ended up being the catalyst for the war, as it prompted [[Vasher]], then called Strifelover, to strike preemptively against the other nations before they attacked.

As the Manywar began, the Five Scholars each seemed to go their own way.{{book ref|wb|32}} It appears likely that [[Vasher]] and [[Shashara]], as husband and wife, remained on the same side. It is also likely that the brothers, [[Arsteel]] and Yesteel, stayed together. [[Denth]] began the war attempting to make peace, but eventually joined Vasher's side.{{wob ref|5841}} The split of the Five Scholars gave the various nations in the Manywar access to different Awakening knowledge and techniques that the other nations did not have access to.{{book ref|wb|32}}

{{for|Nightblood}}

Working together, Vasher and Shashara successfully managed to develop Nightblood, a [[BioChroma#Type IV|Type IV BioChromatic Entity]].{{book ref|wb|51}} Patterned after [[Shardblade]]s that Vasher had seen on a visit to the planet [[Roshar]], Nightblood was designed to be a similarly destructive weapon.{{wob ref|3586}}{{wob ref|5107}} Through a complex and experimental process they created a sentient sword with a Command to destroy evil. Unfortunately, as a sword, Nightblood had no concept of the difference between good and evil, and so could be used to wreak great destruction.

The Battle of Twilight Falls was the final engagement of the Manywar.{{book ref|wb|26}} It was the only battle of the Manywar where Nightblood was used in the battle.{{wob ref|6954}} The sheer number of casualties caused by Shashara wielding Nightblood was devastating. Over the course of the battle, the leader of the Pahn Unity, the coalition of nations against Hanald, was killed.{{book ref|wb|26}}

Vasher was horrified by the destruction caused by the use of Nightblood.{{wob ref|6954}} Shashara planned on revealing the secrets of how to create Type IV BioChromatic Entities to the rest of Nalthis. Vasher disagreed, believing that he couldn't allow such powerful weapons to become widely available. He and Shashara argued about it, and he ended up murdering her with Nightblood to stop her.{{book ref|wb|53}} Furious at the death of his sister, Denth defected from Vasher's side and never forgave him for it.{{wob ref|5841}}

At some point during the war, Vasher grew sick of battle and war, possibly due to what he saw Nightblood do in battle. He decided to end the Manywar by returning his Phantoms from battle to Hallandren. He took control of his own nation in an effort to end the fighting, which ended up being successful.{{book ref|wb|epilogue}} The threat of his armies was enough to frighten all of the nations into ending the war.{{book ref|wb|58}} He was then called Peacegiver by the Hallandren who could not understand why he had ended the war.{{book ref|wb|epilogue}} Vasher then Commanded the Lifeless to stay put like statues, a gift for the city,{{book ref|wb|58}} leaving them Invested with enough Breath to hold their shape, but not to move.{{wob ref|4500}} While the end of the war came soon enough to save most of the nations involved, Kuth and Huth, main enemies of Hanald in the Manywar,{{book ref|wb|epilogue}} were not so lucky and collapsed.{{book ref|wb|32}}

{{for|Peacegiver's Treasure}}

For reasons unknown to the modern world, the House of Idris fled T'Telir.{{book ref|wb|32}} They traveled to the northern highlands of Hanald, bringing the religion of [[Austrism]] with them, and established the kingdom of Idris.{{book ref|wb|1}} Though they had previously experimented with Awakening, they turned their backs on it as a result of their recent experiences, and used the tenets of Austrism to make Awakening sound immoral and evil.{{book ref|wb|46}} This fear of Awakening had a deep impact on Idrian culture, and many superstitions grew up around Awakening.{{wob ref|6951}} For example, Idrians always wear drab colors, such as black, greys, or tans, so Awakeners can not use that color.{{wob ref|6025}} However, this is based on misconception, as an Awakener could use those colors anyway. As a result of this isolation and distrust, Idrians are, for the most part, totally ignorant about how Awakening works.

In the wake of the Idrian Royal family's departure, and Vasher's step down from military dictatorship, the Cult of the Returned took control of the new nation, naming it Hallandren.{{book ref|wb|32}} Their religion eventually evolved into the [[Iridescent Tones]] and became the norm within Hallandren's territory. The only notable exception was Pahn Kahl, which was absorbed into the new nation of Hallandren as a province,{{book ref|wb|54}} where the people retained their own religion and culture.{{wob ref|4498}} The conclusion of the Manywar was also the foundation for Hallandren's power in the region of the [[Bright Sea]] in the modern post-war era.{{book ref|wb|52}}

Over time, the specifics of Kalad's Phantoms were forgotten and they became known as the D'Denir,{{book ref|wb|58}} statues that had been a gift from Peacegiver as a memorial to the thousands killed{{book ref|wb|5}} in the Manywar,{{book ref|wb|28}} as well as a reminder to avoid going to war.{{book ref|wb|epilogue}} The memory of the monstrous Lifeless remained, though, as both a curse{{book ref|wb|50}} and a myth.{{book ref|wb|32}} Sometimes youths would search the jungles trying to find the Phantoms, to no avail.{{book ref|wb|43}}