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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 27 May 2015 :  10:11:32  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Something about Netherese ruins in Perilous Gateways - The Serpent Hills (although i suspect this is expanded upon much more in Serpent Kingdoms).

quote:
The yuan-ti of the Serpent Hills rule a loose kingdom of reptilian creatures, in a tenuous alliance with a number of spirit nagas and dark nagas. The bulk of this kingdom's population are ophidians, a lesser race of serpent people. Shortly after the fall of ancient Netheril, this Kingdom of the Snakes became a mighty force in the Heartlands, with its capital temple-city in the western end of the Forest of Wyrms. Founded on ancient Netherese ruins, the rulers of this temple-city (called the Shrine of Cowled Serpents) used Netherese artifacts to help them dominate the region for over a century, until a coalition of human wizards from nearby kingdoms banded together to put down the threat they represented. Their capital was destroyed and the yuan-ti forced to flee the Forest of Wyrms, most of them taking up residence in the Serpent Hills.



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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 27 May 2015 :  10:18:36  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
A mention of Hlaungadath in Perilous Gateways - The Lost Portal of Hlaungadath.

quote:
When Karsus stole the Weave from Mystryl and brought about the doom of the Netherese Empire, the sudden loss of magic caused the floating cities to crash to the ground. The city of Hlaungadath landed the most northward of any of them, and it sits now near the High Ice. The ruins of this place have been covered to some extent with the sands of Anauroch, but structures still poke through the sand and littered stone, marking the passing of this once-great place.



Oddly enough, from the various sources i have read, i did not really consider Hlaungadath to be a Netherese enclave (it was stated as being one in the Anauroch sourcebook, but later sources cite it as an independant human city. The fact that its spires and domes are still largely intact says to me that it is unlikely to have fallen from the sky.

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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 27 May 2015 :  10:20:44  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
A few tidbits concerning the Survivor States perhaps in the Perilous Gateways - At'ar's Portal Collection.

quote:
On the eastern side of Anauroch is a desolate and stony plain called At'ar's Looking Glass. Rumors are many and varied about who At'ar was, if he or she even existed, and why the plain is named after this enigmatic figure. Some believe that At'ar was a selfish wizard from Netheril who craved as much power as possible. According to one version of this story, At'ar tried to take on the phaerimm himself and wrest the secret of their life-draining magic from them. The result was the devastation called At'ar's Looking Glass. According to another story, At'ar was a diviner who could use the plain to scry faraway places, and that the plain was actually once a huge lake. . . .

The sages who spread tales of At'ar's Portal Collection say that At'ar had a fortress in the mountainous Azirrhat. It was here that he would put all the portals that he stole from others, and the two he made himself. To guard them, so it is said, he planted a race of lizardlike humanoids called asabi (see Monsters of Faerūn) in the deep caverns underneath his portals, and the creatures would keep out all beings but himself. Some believe that the asabi were At'ar's downfall and that they slew him and took the whole complex for themselves.



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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 27 May 2015 :  10:29:35  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Information on Anauria in the Caverns of Death article.

quote:
After the fall of Netheril in the Year of the Sundered Webs, three smaller realms survived the wreckage of the great empire: Anauria, Asram, and Hlondath. Anauria was the wealthiest of these three. It stood in the broad lands north of the Stormhorns, in that part of Anauroch that is now known as the Sword. In the days of Anauria, the Stonelands were green and forested, a well-watered upland of swift streams rushing down from the mountains to the south. A number of Anaurian noble families built hunting lodges, villas, and summer palaces in the hills, retreating to the cooler elevations during the hottest months of the year. One of these families was House Nemrin, a family of wealthy nobles who wielded great influence in the affairs of Anauria.

During the last years of the kingdom, the Nemrins fell into disfavor. Accused of trafficking with demons and plotting rebellion by a rival noble family -- House Maluradek -- Lord Ashkelor Nemrin found himself banished from the court on the basis of evidence presented to the king by his rivals. Ashkelor removed himself to the relative seclusion of his family's summer palace in the hills, Nemsergaar. There Ashkelon plotted revenge against his accusers and awaited his vindication before the king.


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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 27 May 2015 :  10:32:12  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Mention of a spell and a name in Wyrms of the North - Klauth, possibly linked to Netheril (although given the sorcerous mention perhaps Thaeravel).

quote:
Even Elminster is a trifle hazy over just how Klauth discovered how to use red dragon eggs to make himself more mighty, but he knows what spell the much-scarred red wyrm employs to do so: a Netherese spell named Thellar's argauneau, after the mage who devised it (an archsorcerer who delighted in "bettering" dragons with his experiments, over a long career that produced two-headed dragons and several more stable subspecies).



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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 27 May 2015 :  10:34:01  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Mention of the Crown of the Mountain in Wyrms of the North - Valamadarace.

quote:
The Crown of the Mountain: This ancient artifact appears as a crown or spike-studded circlet of rough, unadorned stone that can't be shattered by any known means. It alters to fit the brow (or wrist, or tail) of its wearer and seems immune to most spell effects (and all divinations and destructive magics thus far applied to it).

The true origin of the crown is in dispute. Some say it was a gift of the dwarven gods to their people, others that it was yet another powerful tool devised by a Netherese sorcerer-king, and there are even some who hold to the view that it was brought to Toril from some other world, suffering the loss of its primary purpose and some of its greatest powers in the process.

History

The first reliable record of the crown (as opposed to the disputed, fanciful tales of it being bestowed upon mortals by various gods, or worn by a Netherese archwizard as he went down fighting a titanic spell-battle against over forty hostile mages) occurs in three separate adventurers' diaries, all of which mention a hitherto-unknown wizard by the name of Larbrand "from southern lands" who used the crown in a quarry in the Tashalar circa 336 DR. The writers hailed from different cities around the Shining Sea; their attribution of a more southerly origin for Larbrand has led many to think he came from Halruaa or perhaps even Zakhara. The truth is now lost; even Larbrand's fate is unknown, beyond his later encounter with the sage Hoarmandar, whose description of the crown is Elminster's main source.




I'm sure i read somewhere about the Low Road about it being carved in a matter of weeks out of the solid rock which instantly made me think of this artefact.

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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 27 May 2015 :  10:36:48  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
A Netherese name for Axard near Ruathym located in Wyrms of the North - Raulothim


quote:
The years changed him, however, as years change all beings. These days, the great emerald wyrm called Raulothim seems more a statue than a gliding shadow. He spends long days lying motionless and gazing out over the North from the lip of his lair in the Pit of Stars, the cauldron of an extinct volcano (known to the Netherese as Xardmount) on the rocky island of Axard, the north-easternmost isle of Ruathym. The pit is named for the many blobs of volcanic glass -- white, clear, and smoke-hued -- that line its walls and gleam in the sun like so many gigantic cabochon-cut gems.



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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 27 May 2015 :  10:39:47  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Draconic enslavement mentioned in Wyrms of the North - Palandarusk.

quote:

truly ancient gold he-dragon (mature when Netheril was young), Palarandusk has prolonged his existence beyond the natural death and decay of his body through powerful magic of his own devising. Now the spells that maintain his magically-knit form are failing, and he dares materialize for only a few minutes each day -- usually showing himself for only a few seconds, to proffer something, snatch something, or attack.....

Palarandusk is first mentioned in a nameless, fragmentary book whose pages are burnished sheets of electrum stamped with characters unintelligible to the sages of today without benefits of magic to divine their meanings. In the days before Netheril was founded, Palarandusk dwelt somewhere along the Sword Coast and hunted such prey as wyverns from what is now Luskan to where Waterdeep was later founded.

Enslaved -- or forced into servitude to avoid a worse fate -- by the sorcerer Mileirigath in the early days of Netheril, Palarandusk spent centuries toiling in obedient obscurity, his longevity and eventually his nature and abilities altered by many spells cast on him by his master and Mileirigath's apprentices. When that realm of increasingly decadent splendor fell, he seized what magic (spellbooks in particular) he could from the ruins and the clutches of plundering illithids and other fell foes, and set about using his augmented magical abilities in freedom for the first time.....

Palarandusk is not known to have ever mated (though his early days are a mystery to historians and might well have included pairings), and he isn't known to particularly welcome the presence or friendship of other dragons. He worked amicably with other wyrms while in service, in Netheril, but seems never to have sought out other wyrms. A true and contented loner, the Unseen Protector maintains no current alliances.




It doesnt specifically say he was enslaved by Netheril so again i might link this to Thaeravel (legends from Elminster's Ecologies speaks of dragons enslaving humans around the Tunlands).

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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 27 May 2015 :  10:43:19  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
An first mention of Bedine i think located in Wyrms of the North - Iymrith. Also a spell used to keep phaerimm away (might explain why they used thrall armies in the later stages of netheril's fall). Finally is the possible mention of Netherese ruins in the Forgotten Forest.

quote:

Perhaps the most important of these is the magic that has kept her alive thus far: force burn, a spell derived from magic left behind by Netherese mages that is deadly to the subterranean race known as the phaerimms. Fear of it has driven them to ignore Iymrith rather than turning their power to the task of destroying her.

Adventurers are warned that Iymrith has developed spells that employ sand as a weapon -- and that apparently confer the ability to use such magic on some of the many gargoyle servants she has created. Iymrith is first heard of in adventurers' journals written circa 570 D.R. as a young and aggressive dragon who smashed a Bedine trading encampment on the edge of the desert, who tore apart a caravan bound for the distant Sword Coast, and who left the camp laden with desert gems.....

Iymrith apparently challenged an older dragon somewhere in the vicinity of the High Moor shortly after her emergence from Anauroch -- and had to flee for her life. Sorely wounded, she crashed into some ruins (possibly remnants of fallen Netheril) in the Forgotten Forest and hid for some years, healing slowly and stealing forth only by night to find food. At some point during this time of nighthunting, she somehow gained magic beyond the normal capabilities of even the oldest blue dragons; Elminster believes she was captured by a powerful archmage and modified by him to serve as an intelligent servant. This belief is supported by sightings of a blue dragon flying over the Delimbiyr Vale with a disintegrating, robed human skeleton perched between her shoulders in a high-backed saddle. This was almost certainly Iymrith, who soon began to raid camped caravans and Sword Coast settlements by night, unleashing wizard spells from a roster strong and varied enough that many mages used magic -- in vain -- to hunt down a rogue wizard they believed to be dwelling in hiding somewhere in the Greypeak Mountains.



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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 27 May 2015 :  10:44:36  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
More dragon enslavement mentions in Wyrms of the North - Balagos

quote:
Mithral Chain of Woe: This ancient, rarely seen item may have been crafted in long-ago Netheril, where they captured, subdued, and controlled (as steeds, digging forces, or beasts of burden) large monsters such as dragons. It consists of two mithral manacles that expand or shrink magically (from 3 inches to a 20-foot interior radius) to pass around a living body or stone spar that they're touched to as a command word is whispered (they do not change size if touched to wood or metal). A second command word causes the manacles to shrink again until they touch something solid -- allowing them, for instance, to be put over a man's head and then shrunk to clasp his neck snugly.



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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 27 May 2015 :  10:49:53  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
House Hannith in Procampur originally came from Opus according to a Primer on Vastian Geography.

quote:
House Hannith: One of the oldest houses in Procampur, House Hannith has been the backbone of the magical support for the city for nearly its entire existence. The founding members of House Hannith came from the Opus Enclave at the beginning of the downfall of Netheril. They generally stand aloof from the other noble houses, and think that only they truly consider what is best for Procampur instead of what is good for their family.



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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 27 May 2015 :  10:59:27  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
The Four Ruling Rings of Yrix Alquinnar are mentioned in Dragon 213 - Series Magic

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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore

Australia
6662 Posts

Posted - 28 May 2015 :  03:17:08  Show Profile Send George Krashos a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by dazzlerdal
Oddly enough, from the various sources i have read, i did not really consider Hlaungadath to be a Netherese enclave (it was stated as being one in the Anauroch sourcebook, but later sources cite it as an independant human city. The fact that its spires and domes are still largely intact says to me that it is unlikely to have fallen from the sky.



Ed's original concept lore for Netheril did not specify that enclaves had to be flying citadels/cities. All archwizards of Netheril created enclaves, whether on the ground, in the sky or underground.

-- George Krashos

"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
Moderator

USA
36800 Posts

Posted - 28 May 2015 :  03:49:00  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by George Krashos

quote:
Originally posted by dazzlerdal
Oddly enough, from the various sources i have read, i did not really consider Hlaungadath to be a Netherese enclave (it was stated as being one in the Anauroch sourcebook, but later sources cite it as an independant human city. The fact that its spires and domes are still largely intact says to me that it is unlikely to have fallen from the sky.



Ed's original concept lore for Netheril did not specify that enclaves had to be flying citadels/cities. All archwizards of Netheril created enclaves, whether on the ground, in the sky or underground.

-- George Krashos



Indeed. We had the Sargauth Enclave, as an example of underground ones, and the three that were on the seafloor in the Sea of Fallen Stars further demonstrate some geographical variations on the theme.

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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 28 May 2015 :  07:03:46  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Well I get that not all enclaves are flying cities. In my rewrite I have less than a handful of city enclaves, the rest are single buildings, small towers, force objects. The ones outside the Netheril basin tend not to fly, but for those inside Netheril I have an earthgliding enclave, an atmospheric enclave (doesn't technically fly it just kinda floats), and I'm debating on a swimming enclave.

As for Hlaungadath, I think its Lost Empires of Faerun that explicitly states it is a crashed Netherese Enclave. However I believe it also states it was a one time independent settlement.

Anauroch just mentions it as a ruined city.

If it is a Netherese Enclave then why is it largely intact (with extensive cellars).

If it isn't a Netherese flying city then what is it doing all the way up by Ascore. Its location today says it was either located inside the Narrow Sea (the Bay of Ascore) or on the opposite shore. I can think of no reason for its existence on the opposite shore because the northern tundra was empty of settlements and anything of interest except the ruins of Anarath.

Also its name is strange. If it was named Hlaungadath in Netherese times then it bears a striking similarity to the oasis of Haunga, and yet both locations are infested with lamia which leads me to believe that Haunga and its derivitives are the Bedine word for lamia. Which would make Hlaungadath one of the few enclaves not called by its Netherese name.


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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 28 May 2015 :  10:06:33  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Found a most curious quote about the migration of the Rus in Volo's Guide to All Things Magical, which seems to imply they travelled through the Anauroch Basin (but before the desert was formed.

quote:
In centuries long past, a restless people known as the Rus swept over much of Faerūn, raiding and pillaging the coastal lands. Some bands of Rus took to the rivers and made their way inland, first raiding and then settling. Before the great Anauroch Desert was formed, a river flowed through the then-forested lands to the Moonsea. One small group of Rus traveled through a chain of lakes and rivers as far as Rashemen and settled there. Their descendants.and echoes of their culture and their magic.can still be found in the land of Rashemen.




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Baltas
Senior Scribe

Poland
955 Posts

Posted - 28 May 2015 :  11:10:40  Show Profile Send Baltas a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Interesting find, especialy that some other sources claim the Rus were teleported directly to Rashemen.
I actualy allways preffered this version, with the Rus wandering around, till they got to Rasehemen. Especialy that we have quite a bit of teleporting around in Realms allready.
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 28 May 2015 :  11:17:18  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Well i envisaged it being both. They might be mentioned travelling aross the Anauroch Basin, but it never says they didnt skip a large portion of that travel using a gate

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Baltas
Senior Scribe

Poland
955 Posts

Posted - 28 May 2015 :  11:27:44  Show Profile Send Baltas a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Good point. The Rus being pressent in the Anauroch and the Moonsea region, could also help if one ties them with Shaundakul. As I mentioned on Shaundakul's thread, they do have some connection seemingly going on.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
Moderator

USA
36800 Posts

Posted - 28 May 2015 :  16:25:56  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by dazzlerdal

Well I get that not all enclaves are flying cities. In my rewrite I have less than a handful of city enclaves, the rest are single buildings, small towers, force objects. The ones outside the Netheril basin tend not to fly, but for those inside Netheril I have an earthgliding enclave, an atmospheric enclave (doesn't technically fly it just kinda floats), and I'm debating on a swimming enclave.

As for Hlaungadath, I think its Lost Empires of Faerun that explicitly states it is a crashed Netherese Enclave. However I believe it also states it was a one time independent settlement.

Anauroch just mentions it as a ruined city.

If it is a Netherese Enclave then why is it largely intact (with extensive cellars).

If it isn't a Netherese flying city then what is it doing all the way up by Ascore. Its location today says it was either located inside the Narrow Sea (the Bay of Ascore) or on the opposite shore. I can think of no reason for its existence on the opposite shore because the northern tundra was empty of settlements and anything of interest except the ruins of Anarath.

Also its name is strange. If it was named Hlaungadath in Netherese times then it bears a striking similarity to the oasis of Haunga, and yet both locations are infested with lamia which leads me to believe that Haunga and its derivitives are the Bedine word for lamia. Which would make Hlaungadath one of the few enclaves not called by its Netherese name.





I don't see an issue with the location. Neither the Sarguath Enclave nor the undersea ones in the Sea of Fallen Stars were inside Netheril proper.

When you've got the magic to make cities fly, a portal isn't that big of a deal and a teleport would be downright trivial.

And just because there is nothing of interest in a location now, it doesn't mean there has never been anything of interest there. Heck, the goal could have been simple isolation.

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Edited by - Wooly Rupert on 28 May 2015 16:27:37
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Gary Dallison
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United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 28 May 2015 :  16:41:32  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Well i'm going with the line that enclaves established outside of the basin are actually research or mercantile ventures designed to generate profit.

Sargauth was obviously doing something twitchy with mantles and wards and was using the old elven wards as a basis.

Hlaungadath is little use for trading since there are other bases that are far more useful (and land bound trading becomes pointless with the high magic of later eras).

The undersea enclaves were created to research the undersea races so Seros was obviously way more profitable and interesting than the Narrow Sea making Hlaungadath redundant in that respect.

So what else is there - a military outpost (i think there was an outpost that side of the Narrow Sea in the Netheril boxed set but i never really saw the need for it given the low number of threats coming from the High Ice (although i have discovered a nation of giants in that era).

I don't really know what i want it to be. I suppose it could be the remains of Lathery that were named by the Bedine word for lamia (its primary resident). But i'm trying to move away from city sized flying enclaves and Hlaungadath sounds like a ruined city.

It could be sarrukh but thats been done. It could be a successor city founded after the fall (that fulfils the independant city mentioned in one of the 3e sources).

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Gary Dallison
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United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 29 May 2015 :  13:22:13  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Well i've altered a few things in the timeline to make more sense. So here is how i imagine Netheril during the First Age.

Netheril didnt suddenly become a massive super power that suddenly occupied the entire basin in a few centuries, there were large and powerful neighbours to contend with as well as substantial geographical problems.

So Netheril remains isolated in the seventon region fighting off annual raids from ogres and goblinoids from the south (they occupy the hidden valley and i needed an explanation for why Netheril didnt expand to that valley until much later). These raids are the driving force behind the formation of the Alliance of Seventon.
When the Terraseer arrives in -3654 DR he manipulates the Netherese into expanding west over the Narrow Sea (the netherese couldnt do so by land because the mountains between Seventon and the Rengarth Plains were Rengarth holy ground and so anyone found trespassing was butchered on sight). So Harbourage is established first in the Teeth of Tagorlar, then Xentith (a name i made up to replace Zenith) on the south western tip of the Narrow Sea.
There the netherese establish peaceful relations with the Rengarth (they arent encountering them on holy ground anymore so the Rengarth arent homicidal), and meet the elves (i dont care how magical elves are they arent going to suddenly trade with seventon when its thousands of miles away across a sea and several hostile nations). Later they meet the dwarves as well and establish Runlatha.


So i need to move around a few dates. The Netherese didnt help fight the orc horde in -3655 (they were still isolated in Seventon), instead the Rengarth killed the orcs that made it into the Netheral Basin (Rengarth later become part of Low Netheril so technically its not breaking anything).

Also the elves of Eaerlann dont begin trading magic and ideas with the Netherese in -3845, -3839 and -3830, because the netherese are thousands of miles away, across a sea and Rengarth holy land. Instead, Avrauntra is a half elf from Eaerlann who arrives in Seventon and begins educating them in the ways of magic (from Elminster's Forgotten Realms), she teaches Therion of Gers . So the Eaerlanni kind of begin trading (ideas) with the netherese and teaching them magic, but not in an overt formal way.

In -3605 DR the netherese encounter their first orc hoard (only the remnants, most of it is killed by the elves and the Rengarth), and it piques their interest in the western forest (High Forest). Seeking revenge they begin exploring the forests to the west (the orcs that were driven away by Eaerlann came out of the forest) and so in -3540 they encounter settlements of Eaerlann.

That ends the first age and in the start of the Nether age they try to "welcome" the elves into the Alliance of Seventon, but fail. Survivors of that brief war (which engenders a reluctance to go to war among the netherese - explaining why they never tried to conquer other great nations at their height of power) come across the Nether Scrolls in the ruin that is now known as the Citadel of Mists.


As for religion. During this time the Netherese worship only two deities (whose names are found in primitive cave dwellings of now long vanished ancient people) - Selune and Shar.
Selune is the official patron of the Alliance of Seventon (Nether the Elder being a shaman of Selune), but Shar's worship makes gains early among the rich and powerful of Seventon because of monster raids.
It is Shar's influence that brings out the warlike nature of the early Alliance and its attempts to "welcome" various people into the alliance.
I'm undecided about Targus as yet whether he is known to them at the start or is born out of the various wars in Netheril's history.

Government wise during the First Age, the Alliance is a democratic union of the villages. Each village has a councillor (or elder) that gets one vote. After nether the Elder tries to take control there is a symbolic title known as "King of the Nethers" and grants the holder the power of five votes in council matters (this title is awarded to Ioulaum and lasts until the fall).
The Alliance allows a seat on the council to all settlements with a population over 10,000 people. So when they welcome the gnomes into the alliance they dont get a vote and so cant vote against being enslaved. When they welcome the rengarth into the alliance the barbarians have almost no permanent settlements (Vandal Station being the exception) and so get no say on the council.
Thus allowing Seventon complete control over all lands around the Narrow Sea.

And as alluded to earlier, there is no Netheril during this age, it is called the Alliance of Seventon after -3859 DR.

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Gary Dallison
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United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 08 Jun 2015 :  10:45:16  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Created a new organisation, called the Arcanus Magere, which served as an informal name for the group of Avrauntra's first apprentices. They then begin teaching students of their own (initially using the same guiding principals as Avrauntra).

From this the organisation grows into a national university of magic for Seventon (based in Gers), and is used by the Alliance as a national institution in its service.

Once the Nether Scrolls are discovered, the masters of the university (which by then has outposts in most of the seven towns of Seventon) begin researching the scrolls, but everyone that studies them comes away with different knowledge and spells. In a desire to steal the secrets of their colleagues, there develops a trend for spell duels which quickly turns lethal and ultimately results in Avrauntra disappearing (she merges with the weave and gives it a glimmer of sentience).

I'm as yet undecided whether Ioulaum's birth should be pre, or post Avrauntra's death. I'm actually debating whether his birth should coincide exactly with the moment of her "merging" and kind of like the repeated reincarnations of Mystra, Ioulaum gains a measure of Avrauntra's spirit/power/etc, which is what makes him so attuned to magic.

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Arcanus
Senior Scribe

485 Posts

Posted - 08 Jun 2015 :  20:21:08  Show Profile  Visit Arcanus's Homepage Send Arcanus a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Arcanus eh? Lol
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 08 Jun 2015 :  21:38:08  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Completely unintentional name steal, honest. I just needed a reason for the name Arcanist and decided upon deriving it from the school that trained them.

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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 09 Jun 2015 :  12:20:43  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I've tried to come up with a few noble houses and naming origins for some of the noted archwizards and arcanists of Netheril.

I have Therion Marick of Gers who is an ancestor of Finneldar Marric (otherwise known as Finder). Their descendants are the Maarekh sisters who were apprentices to Yrix Alquinnar and the inheritors of his rings of elemental mastery.


Yrix Alquinnar is also part of another noble house (from nauseef) called House Amagar. The descendants of House Amagar are the Amberguls that feature in the Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle adventure. I also have one of his descendants be involved in calling Maram of the Great Spear to Toril to end the Seven Sigils war (since Yrix was into his elemental control and Maram is a primordial elemental evil type creature).



Also had the netherese responsible for the creation of the svirfneblin. Its noted that the netherese did not create gnomes, but it doesnt say they didnt create svirfneblin who are concentrated around the northdark and the edge of anauroch.

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Barastir
Master of Realmslore

Brazil
1600 Posts

Posted - 09 Jun 2015 :  16:45:07  Show Profile Send Barastir a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Canonically they didn't created svirfneblin, but spriggan, dazzlerdal. Are you expanding this?

"Goodness is not a natural state, but must be
fought for to be attained and maintained.
Lead by example.
Let your deeds speak your intentions.
Goodness radiated from the heart."

The Paladin's Virtues, excerpt from the "Quentin's Monograph"
(by Ed Greenwood)

Edited by - Barastir on 09 Jun 2015 16:46:05
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Gary Dallison
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6361 Posts

Posted - 09 Jun 2015 :  19:34:30  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Well i found a reference that shows where the svirfneblin are most strongly concentrated.

quote:
Most svirfneblin live beneath northern Faerūn, particularly in the vicinity of the Buried Realms beneath Anauroch, although not directly under the Great Sand Sea.
From DDUGTTU

We know that the netherese experimented upon gnomes (they created spriggans).

There is a claim that the netherese created gnomes which we know is untrue, but there is no smoke without fire so perhaps they didn't create all gnomes, just one group of gnomes.

I could find no existence of svirfneblin in the history before -690 DR.

So given the first concentration of deep gnomes and the first appearance, and their present distribution it seemed likely that they were created either by the netherese or the phaerimm. I chose the phaerimm because of past history with gnomes.





I also think I have found an origin for the mythallars (ioulaum had to get the idea from somewhere), and I'm linking some magic of Valamaradace with Mahatnartorian; Master of the Mountain, with the mythallars and the Lowroad (the artefact in question replicates many of the powers of a mythallar - in a fashion).

I just need a better name than quasi magical items. They are essentially a wireless item so perhaps a nexus node or nexus depository or nexus terminus, something to represent a connecting network of magical energy (which is what a quasi magical item is, a part of a larger network of magical energy which it draws power from).

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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore

Australia
6662 Posts

Posted - 10 Jun 2015 :  01:08:09  Show Profile Send George Krashos a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Is it possible that deep gnomes weren't "created" but were simply rock gnomes who fled underground to escape a myriad of predators and after exposure to Underdark radiation evolved in time into svirfneblin?

-- George Krashos

"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High

Australia
31743 Posts

Posted - 10 Jun 2015 :  02:35:44  Show Profile Send The Sage a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I'm working from a rather antiquated memory... but wasn't there an throwaway line uttered by an NPC in the deep gnome city portion of the Icewind Dale CRPG that hinted at something like this for the origin of the deep gnome community featured?

I really only remember because it was something that intrigued me, and I immediately went off searching in the lore for something that canonised that possibility.

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