In late 1621, Whitewall fell to the Lunar Army after a siege that lasted more than two years. Huge amounts of magic, life, and treasure was spent by the Lunar Empire to achieve this. This event was tied into rituals throughout the Lunar Empire, with coordinated actions in the Hero Plane with the intent of defeating the Red Goddess’ enemy Orlanth once and for all.
In Dragon Pass and the Holy Country, this appeared to work. Orlanth initiates could not cast most of Orlanth’s Rune magic and a network of paths and magical byways became inaccessible to most people. Orlanth’s Ring did not appear in the Sky Dome. Powers once bound by the Orlanth cult were unfettered.
The Lunars claimed that Orlanth was dead and repeated this often. The Red Emperor proclaimed 1622 a Full Moon Year and cancelled all taxes within the Lunar Heartlands for that year.
But in truth, this triumph lasted only a little over three seasons before it became clear that Orlanth was not dead. Initiates found they could call upon Orlanth’s magic again. Quickly the Lunar “final victory” revealed itself to be only a temporary and ephemeral thing that quickly unraveled. In Earth Season of 1622, a Lunar army was routed at the Battle of Auroch Hills by Orlanthi rebels and a coup détat in Nochet overthrew the pro-Lunar queen.
Huge amounts of treasure, magic, and lives had been spent on this, with little to show for it. And within three years, the Lunar conquests in Dragon Pass, Holy Country, and Prax collapses until all that was left was the Lunar stronghold at Furthest.
The costs of the invasion of the Holy Country, siege of Whitewall, the massive religious ceremonies, and then the Full Moon Year were staggering. In think we can really point to 1621-1622 as the point where everything started going wrong for the empire, even though it looked like it was the highest point of success. Sort of like how 1812 was for the French Empire.
On retrospect Whitewall was a massive bust. So much so that many later chronicles drop it or ignore it.