Gau Drashari

The Gau Drashari were the forebearers of the Ashari and Drashari tribes of Exandria. From their beginning, they served as the protectors of places of strong elemental magic. Many of the earliest of them, including their leader at the time of the splitting of the settlement of Toramunda into Cathmoíra and Avalir, were genasi.

History

The Drashari were an ancient order of druids that tended to the historic holy sites of Toramunda and Mount Ygora. During the Schism, two mighty Primordials called Rau'shan the Emperor of Fire and Ka'Mort the Empress of Earth were laid low and sealed away by the Dawnfather and the Wildmother under the brumestone-filled and elemental magic-permeated Mount Ygora on the continent of Domunas. Early in the Age of Arcanum, the ancient Gau Drashari druidic settlement of Toramunda was built there. Over time, other people settled in the area as well, growing the settlement into a city.
About 292 years before the Calamity, a group of mages led by Imyr Por'co sought the permission of the Gau Drashari to lift the top of the mountain into the sky to become the flying city of Avalir. To gain this permission, the wizards agreed that 25% percentage of the magic collected by Avalir in its travels along the ley lines of Exandria would be apportioned to the druids. The Replenishment served as the city's return to its terrestrial sister city Cathmoíra every seven years to return the collected arcane ether into the surrounding area. In the year following a Replenishment, crops explode throughout the land, and often, a generation of magical children will be born and there would be a revitalizing.
The wizards also agreed to the installation of the Tree of Names within the city, although the Drashari refused to share with the wizards the purpose and function of the tree. The city also performed a secret function as it traveled the ley lines of Exandria: it wrote a spell of protection on the face of the world. Vespin Chloras was aware of this function, and once commented to Lacrytia Hollow and Micah Cormorant that the Tree was the reason that duplicating the ascension ritual of the Raven Queen was difficult.
Although the archmages of Avalir presented the Replenishment as an act of charity, it was actually a legal obligation to the Gau Drashari under the "Pact of Crown and Throne" or the "Drashari Pact". Avalir became the City of Crowns, and Cathmoíra the City of Thrones.
About 119 years before the Night of Blood and Shadow and approximately a year after the ascension of The Raven Queen to godhood, the Gau Drashari renegotiated the Pact by installing the Arboreal Calix over the Tree of Names to further protect it. After the installation of the Arboreal Calix, the Tree itself was no longer talked about as much.

The Night of Blood and Shadow

Historians don't know exactly what happened the night Avalir plummeted from the sky. That event itself is called the Shattering of Domunas, but the day itself is referred to as the Night of Blood and Shadow. A few scholars, having dredged up relics from the ruins of the cities, have pieced together a couple of details about that night, but none are certain that little what they have deduced is accurate. In truth, the night in question was more complicated than any scholars have imagineed.
On the Night of Blood and Shadow, the original Ring of Brass entered the chamber of the Arboreal Calix. In visions, Patia saw the last surviving Primordials (Rau'shan and Ka'Mort) sealed under Mount Ygora, and the seals tended to by the Gau Drashari. The wizards came and proposed lifting the top of the mountain to create their flying city. Imyr Por'co offered to bring the Drashari magical energy, and they agreed. Later, the Drashari summoned the Tree of Names into being, to protect Exandria by scribing the names of "those things beyond which should not come", etching runes of protection. For 292 years, Avalir had been writing a spell on the surface of the world to keep it safe, and the druids kept this secret from the wizards in an attempt to protect the tree.
In a vision, Patia Por'co heard the leader of the Gau Drashari, at the time the Pact was reached, shouting, "Unhand it", and voices saying, "What has it been doing? The tree is a wall. The tree is a gate. The tree is a pen, scribing, blossoms, leylines, writing, writing the names, the names. Petals falling all over Exandria. This was our bargain, Imyr." Zerxus Ilerez also read the birchbark scroll they had found earlier wherein the Head Druid of the Gau Drashari at the time the Calix was created wrote of why they felt they could not trust mages and could not share the tree's purpose with them.

A Shattered People

Almost a thousand years after the Shattering of Domunas, only fragments of the original Gau Drashari people remain. In Tal'Dorei and Issylra, the Ashari tribes guard unstable portals to the elemental planes. Their four tribes have similar purposes and powers, and with the aid of the current Voice of the Tempest are working toward a more united future. Meanwhile, in the Shattered Teeth, the Gau Drashi people focus primarily on protecting the portal to the Sea of Dreams, although they also have small outposts at points of extreme elemental bleed. Neither group knows their history before the Calamity, and neither is aware of the other or how they are related.

Successor Organizations

• Ashari