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==Summary==
===The Fifth Before the War===
FNORD
===Grounds of the Conflict===
Historians agree that there were many factors that contributed to the collapse of the Fifth History, a series of compacts, conflicting oaths of fealty between Long, and internal divisions within occult organizations that all came to a head in quick succession, resulting in a massive breakdown of good faith that resulted in open hostilities far quicker than anyone at the time could have predicted. Following the Ignition, many servants of the Anvil and the Maker were left bereft if both home and master. Their gods were gone, annihilated so thoroughly that there weren't even pieces left to go Nowhere. Aimless, lost, and in the case of the Maker's Long rapidly losing ground to the relentless advance of [[Old Tarnished]]. Both were in desperate need of places to go, and many Hours were eager to oblige them. [[The Architeuthian]] was ever envious of the Maker and its ability to effortlessly reshape itself and its followers, and was eager to take its followers into its ranks. The FNORD also came, and took FNORD into its FNORD. Some Long remained undecided during this time, and would either eke out a uncertain existence or would fall victim to the Honest's Long-Poachers. The process of "adopting" Long did not sit well with some Hours, who remembered all too well how [[The Peacock]] had not long ago risen to prominence by enthralling and then swelling its ranks with the Long of other Hours. Questions arose of to whom these Long and Names would now owe their true loyalty to. In addition, schisms had already slowly begun to form in the ranks of several prominent organizations. The cabal of the Liar was always a loosely-knit group, torn between those who genuinely wanted to see [[The Great Serpent]] return and those that merely sought power. Many had already defected to the ranks of [[The Bright-Delver]] and [[The Anaconda]], but some few still remained within its ranks. The Hours did not realize that possessing within their ranks Hours that owed fealty to long-gone deities would have far-reaching consequences. ===The Initial Conflict===
The conflict that came to engulf the Fifth History started small by the standards of the Hours. Following the Ignition and the subsequent death of the Maker and Anvil, a great schism occurred between the mortal worshipers of both. Some occultists wholly welcomed the worship of [[The Engine of Cycles]], seeing it as the next stage of their gods' principle of change and improvement. Other worshipers viewed it as an abomination, a murderer that lacked the soul needed to bring about proper change. This resulted in the formation of [[The Guild Reforged]], an offshoot of the original church of the Anvil that eagerly fed themselves to the Engine.
Eventually, this infighting in its name drew the attention of the Engine itself, which emerged into the History in the form of advanced weaponry to devour the loyalists of the Old Gods.In their desperation to be saved, the worshipers of the Anvil and the Maker began summoning the last Names of the Anvil and the last vestiges of the Maker's once-vast forces of Long to defend them. Those Long that had not yet joined the forces of a different Hour that answered the call quickly found themselves overwhelmed. Not only were the forces of the Engine more numerous, but there were far more advanced. While its detractors might have argued it lacked a soul or "spark" of ingenuity, its industriousness and ability to improve were unparalleled. Where once the forces of the Old Gods were unbreakable, they now joined their mortal cults in fighting a losing battle of slow extermination. ===The Attention of the Serpents=== FNORD
