With it came the Djinn, rebelling against a millennium of control at the hands of the Solomonic Code. The battle one-sided, in the Djinn's favor, until the emergence of new allies: the Ahl-i-Batin. Though few in number, they returned with a champion: Sultan Suleiman the Wise. The legendary creator of the Solomonic Code stood alongside the Taftani and the Ahl-i-Batin to restore order to their home.

Magic of both sides scarred the landscape, and melted the desert sands into smooth glass. It is unclear if the cause was the fire of the djinn, the magic of the willworkers, or the paradox which followed. In the final battle, Sultan Suleiman bound the Djinn Emperor Kayeel into a gem. His imprisonment would last for seven hundred and seventy seven years.

Lazarus agreed to relinquish his claim on Constantinople. In exchange, he demanded Dischordia's non-interference in his dealings with Xibalba. The agreement allowed the tense peace to continue. Constantinople joined under Deus’ banner, claiming St Louis as its North American stronghold. Close ties between Al-Ashrad and Damien Vryce led to Constantinople joining Deus. While Dischordia gained new territory, Lazarus forged an alliance with Xibalba.

Representatives of Appalachia, Bermuda, and Constantinople traveled there to seal the rift. Doc of the Devil's Triangle kept the malfunctioning device which had held the gate opened. Syler Veselov of Appalachia claimed the gate itself, to watch over the Trods it connected. CJ of Constantinople claimed the rest of the city and its people. Those found there swore under CJ, and the city of St. Louis became New Constantinople.

Sylar Veselov, the Ravager of Roads, declared the arch too dangerous. He severed the Trods connected to the arch, closing the portal for good. Without the portal, Deus could not send reinforcements to Constantinople's aid. Refugees from Constantinople still remained trapped in St. Louis. Each feared the fate of their home.

Expecting no reinforcements, the armies of Constantinople fought a desperate battle. Yet, before Nul's forces could overtake them, the desert glass focused a pure white light. It dispelled many of the Aether's shadowy forces in an instant, and drove the rest into a retreat. An army appeared on the horizon, led by Sultan Suleiman and his viziers.

The Vizier of Law led a charge of soldiers armed with blades of clear crystal. The Vizier of Truth and his followers fought the Aether with alchemist's fire. The Vizier of Mercy led medics to aid the survivors. When the din of battle had quieted, the Vizier of Fate demanded that Al-Ashrad forsake his oaths and kneel to his savior, the Sultan. Al-Ashrad complied without hesitation.

The Ordo sent troops to fight at the Praetor's command, but they led no battles and claimed no territory. They received considerable scorn from their rivals for their lack of action, but they offered no explanation. They claimed only that their plans would become clear in time.

As the war waged, officers on battlefields across Europe reported witnessing magical duels. In each case, an unknown man appeared to challenge a Lazarean Tremere officer to a Certamen duel. In each case, the man defeated his adversary, before vanishing once again.

Before long, the man's identity became known: the infamous Primus Damien Vryce. Vryce had remained in seclusion for more than two decades, since the opening volleys of the War of Aether. Ordo nobles revealed nothing of his re-emergence, or what his plans might be. Yet, month after month, Vryce continued his campaign of Certamen. It soon became clear that each challenge was more powerful than the last.

Vryce's plan came to fruition in the final months of the war, on a contentious battlefield in the city of Kiev. Vryce appeared, and challenged Grimgroth for his control of the Ceoris council. They drew the Certamen circle, and set upon one another in a flurry of magic and blades. In the end, Vryce emerged wounded, but victorious. Vryce retrieved a talisman from Grimgroth's ashes before vanishing once again.

Even as Vryce dueled Grimgroth, the armies of Ordo laid siege to the Tremere city of Vienna. Hundreds of magi chipped away at the Tremere's wards. The Methuselahs of Deus hammered at the physical structures with unmatched force. Once the wards had fallen, the outer walls offered little resistance. When Vryce re-appeared, he brandished the talisman of the fallen Grimgroth. The Tremere of Vienna surrendered, and Vryce the now-vacant seat on the Ceoris council.

Yet the victory was not without its cost. Adam, Lord of New Constantinople, fell during the battle. The death of their lord severed New Constantinople’s Oaths to the Ordo Trismegistus. Chaos engulfed the city, and all contact with them was lost.

As Europe reeled from Dischordia's devastating attack, Aether seized their chance to cripple both. Cities which had fallen to darkness during the War of Aether bled shadows like an open wound. Abyssal armies swarmed from these tears in reality. Shadow-eaten vampires, spectres, and demons laid waste to surrounding territories. The Aether fought without regard for their own destruction, and inflicted considerable damage.

One such attack consumed the city of New Constantinople, as the Gateway Arch portal unleashed an army of demons and djinn. Citizens fled, only to find the city surrounded by spectral remnants of the Domain of the Dead. They fought a desperate battle but, without their lord's leadership, suffered devastating losses. They carved an opening through the enemy, affording survivors the means to escape

A column of refugees fled, without rest, for the safety of the Society of Deus and the Second City. Their spectral pursuers thinned their numbers with each passing mile. Only a fraction of the refugees survived to reach the safety of the other cities. Each refugee knew that Nothing remained in the city of New Constantinople.

Those refugees who reached the walls of the Society of Deus found it, too, under siege. Many of the outlying cities had already fallen to the endless waves of abyssal enemies. Nul’s forces appeared to take particular delight in slaughtering the city of Saint Cloud... the settlement which housed refugees from the former Domain of the Dead. Yet some of the outer cities were saved, by a great shadowy dragon. Though none can say why, the creature appeared and aided in halting the Aether's advance.

The Twin Cities themselves were well-defended behind their magical, eldritch-green walls. As the Sage Council took up defensive posts, the abyssal threat battered the walls. Deus nobles, known for their arcane studies, unleashed waves of magic to turn back the attacks.

After hours of determined persistence, the first cracks formed in the walls. Black tendrils seeped into the cracks and picked away at the brick. Arcane sigils and wards burned them apart, but the tendrils were without end. The wards finally failed, and a section of the wall crumbled away. Dark fog poured through the streets, reducing anyone it enveloped to mere shadow. As it neared the center of the city, a lone figure floated above the tower.

Through the driving rain, the citizens of the city saw Damien Vryce for the first time in decades. Though the body was not his own, his magic was a telltale sign. At his command, lightning and fire tore into the shadowed army, shredding their forms. When the last of the Aether’s minions had vanished, he vanished once again into an arcane gate.