The influence of the empire of Netheril has been felt for thousands of years. Its people live in a strict hierarchy-the nobles of High Netheril, whose people--mages and scholars of the highest caliber--live in flying enclaves miles above the land (the great city of Ythryn being one such example), and the commoners, who live on the land itself. The Empire spreads across large swathes of Faerun.
The First Age
Netheril’s history began at the site of seven fishing villages during the time of the First Flowering. It was the dawn of the new age. Within a scant few decades, the citizens of the fishing villages of Fenwick, Gers, Gilan, Gustaf, Moran, Nauseef, and Janick referred to the years as NY, which stood for Netheril Years. The birth of Netheril was known as the First Age, lasting up until the year 326 NY.
The villages had made the decision to band together for mutual protection against marauding orc bands. The shaman king of Gers, called Nether the Elder, created a calendar to celebrate the union. The coalition of villages was named Seventon, since the marriage of seven villages created the newfound nation. Great joy reigned through Seventon, the people celebrating both their first steps toward civilization and the wisdom of their leaders. A few years later, however, King Nether renamed the kingdom Netheril‚ which meant Nether’s Land. He demanded more and more tribute from the united villages, and many feared that Seventon would collapse. The citizens from the united villages cried out in protest, and the future for the kingdom began to look very dim.
A poisoned dirk signaled the end of Nether the Elder’s reign, however, and a strong and just successor—Nether the Younger—stepped in to take control. No one ever learned who held the lethal blade, and frankly, no one was really in any hurry to find out. The stress of living under a tyrannical and egotistical leader fell away, and the people lived in peace once again, free to concentrate on trade. The nation’s name, however, stood the test of time.
The Netherese chose a new form of government—one based loosely on democracy. They had a single king whose surviving firstborn was destined to take the place of the elder, but the leaders of each village had a single vote. The vote of the king was worth five votes, however, giving him more political clout than any single leader.
Fourteen years after the formation of Netheril, the Earlanni elves approached the loosely tied villages. Until this time, elves were a mere myth—imaginary creatures sent by the gods to lend a hand and redirect erred humans to the correct path. Netheril bowed its head in awe to these “messengers of the earth spirits” and venerated them. It took several years for the elves to convince these scarcely civilized humans that they were mortals.
With this accomplished, the elves established trade with Netheril beginning a friendship that lasted for centuries. One of the many things the elves traded was magic. Nether the Younger’s friend, Therion Gers, was the first Netherese to learn this new trade. After one year of tutelage in the ways of cantras, he cast a spell to start a campfire. Two years later, the community considered the first human arcanist the third-most-important person in their society, under Nether the Young and Spiritsummoner the shaman. The people changed the mage’s name to Therion the First of Gers, since he was the first arcanist of Netheril.
For the next century, trade continued with the elves, and magic use in this small nation grew in leaps and bounds. Unlike many other cultures, magic use was considered essential, and everyone who turned the age of ascension (13 summers) was taught the ways of magic. Those showing an aptitude were taught more than those who had a lazy, careless attitude toward it. The importance placed on magic helped bring Netheril to the top of Toril’s magical nations.
Word of a nation of “humanlike rock beings who dwelled in earthen mountains and hills” reached the ears of the Netherese around year 132NY. The brave traveled south and far to the west in search of these strange, stone creatures. To the south, the trail turned cold, and the scouts returned empty handed. The scouts who traveled west headed farther and farther with each expedition, and each time, the trail seemed to get warmer.
By 204NY, the western-reaching scouts intercepted a Rengarth hunting party and befriended them. These nomadic human barbarians told tales of the peoples populating the underground and revealed the location of the rock creatures to the Netherese. The scouts sent word back to Seventon, reporting their new-found information, and immediately headed toward the mountains to the north.
As they approached the Barren Mountains south of the Cold Forest, the adventurers were beset by one of the largest orc hordes ever to hit the area. No one survived to warn the Rengarth people or the Netherese of the approach of the horde.
As the orcs cut a 20-mile-wide swath of death and carnage across the Rengarth ancestral lands and swooped south and west toward the elves, the Eaerlanni and Illefarni nations prepared for war. With aid from Netheril (a token—but sincere—gesture compared to the might of the elves, considering Seventon’s low population and magical ineptitude), the elves began a long-running campaign to remove the orc threat.
The elves of Eaerlann were the greatest threat to the orc invasion, and their warriors and arcanists fought with such fervor that the Netherese were in awe. Behind Netheril, the Illefarn elves battled the orcs. It was believed Illefarn had importance in only two battles, their presence elsewhere barren of results.
The Nether Age
The year 326NY marked one of the most important dates in Netheril’s history-the discovery of the nether scrolls. This set of 100 scrolls provided the Netherese with an incredible jump in spellcraft unseen in the history of Toril. This was an age of tremendous learning in Netheril that lasted until the birth of its greatest archwizards.
The person responsible for unearthing these vital pieces of magical lore was unknown; he’s referred to as Finder. While searching the area west of the Far Horns Forest, Finder ran across an ancient ruined building that appeared to have been inhabited by a race who utilized the walls as well as the floor. The chairs and utilitarian furnishings seemed to indicate the species possessed more than two legs—possibly four.
Finder searched every nook and cranny in this old, dilapidated building, hoping to find something of value to sell when he reached home. When he discovered the gold scrolls, he realized he had found something worth far beyond the scrolls’ monetary value. He returned the scrolls to Netheril and studied them incessantly. Finder discovered that the 100 gold pages were actually two sets of 50 scrolls. One set looked much older and tarnished than the other. He called the gold foils the nether scrolls, named after the nation of his birth, and shared his newfound information with the arcanists of Seventon and Zenith a few years later. Within a few short decades, everyone in Netheril was blessed with the knowledge contained in the scrolls.
Congenio's Pebbles
Few spellcasters existed that commanded the respect of their peers, and fewer still are those whose names survived millennia after their death. Congenio Ioun was one such arcanist; his name is still known thousands of years after his death in the form of ioun stones. These magical stones floated above the head of their owner, bestowing a variety of special powers, and they were highly sought after by the arcanists of Netheril.
Congenio was born in the year 364NY and, in an unprecedented feat of skill, created his first magical item at the age of 33: Congenio’s pebbles. During his lifetime, he created over 30 Congenio’s pebbles that did everything from allow a creature to see in the dark to provide a temporary power increase. In the year 451NY, he changed the name of the pebbles to Ioun’s stones, and in 1319NY, he passed away to the realms of the gods, living an abundant 955 years. Congenio was considered the first major arcanist to come out of Netheril and was always looked upon as a genius before his time.
Delzoun
In the year 401NY—after 269 years of searching—the Netherese finally discovered the realm of the stout, short, humanoid rock beings who dwelled within the hills and mountains. The creatures were none other than the dwarves of Delzoun. The long search to find the dwarves didn’t make establishing ties any easier, however.
It took a few years to discover what each culture wanted from the other. The Netherese found it nearly impossible to sell their new magical items and spell research techniques to the dwarves, since the dweomers failed to function some of the time (the Netherese believed this was due to the dwarves’ closeness to Jannath, whom Netherese sages saw as being a very nonmagical being). The dwarves found a steady purchaser of finely crafted metal weapons in the Netherese, however, and that single commodity consumed most of the trading between Delzoun and Netheril.
The Netherese established trade routes across the Narrow Sea between the dwarven port city of Ascore and the Netherese cities of Harborage and Zenith. They also created the Lowroad, which passed through a heavily guarded passage through the Underdark. Back before the days of the phaerimm, this was an area actively patrolled by the dwarves in order to keep it free of illithids, drow, and other denizens of the evil Underdark
Mythallar Era
Netherese now concentrated on spellcasting. The Mythallar Era provided the one invention that would shape Netheril’s future in ways no one could possibly foresee. It took its creators to amazing heights of power.
Ioulaum
One of the greatest human archwizards to ever grace the lands of Toril—quite possibly the longest-lived creature known—was born in 544NY. Ioulaum was a major catalyst for Netherese spellcraft, training over 3,000 arcanists. Without his imposing presence, the magical mythallar that allowed Netheril’s cities to float in the air might never have been created.
Ioulaum led a major battle in 714NY, bringing thousands of Netherese spellcasters and warriors to mount an attack against the largest concentration of orcs in Netheril’s land at the time— leading them into the Rampant Peaks. Fourteen days later, the orcs retreated, but not before over 18,000 bodies lay rotting on the slopes and valleys of the Rampant Peaks, 10,000 of whom were orc corpses.
Ioulaum, however, was not finished. He wanted to find out where the orcs were stationed, and he wanted to remove the threat forever. He tired of the loss of people, food, and caravan cargo to the looting beasts, and nothing was going to stop this conflict until every orc was exterminated. After years of scouting, tracking, and scrying, Ioulaum’s outriders and seers found their major habitats: the knolls surrounding the headwaters of the Canton River.
With more than 50,000 troops, Ioulaum began his greatest campaign—a war that lasted 16 months. Called the “Excursion into Extinction,” Ioulaum led 32,000 troops to their death, but he succeeded. No orc was able to escape Ioulaum’s gauntlet, since the whole area was surrounded and magical gates set up throughout the hills allowed the instantaneous transport of troops from one location to another in order to block all points of desertion. Over 140,000 orcs were slaughtered, their bodies reddening the snows of two mountains that became known as Bone Hill and Thunder Peak.
The First Loss
In the year 764NY, a tragedy occurred in Netheril: Half of the nether scrolls— one complete set—were stolen. The two copies, luckily, were separated in order to assure that one copy would remain in case of fire or other loss. The newer-looking set was stolen and never found. The storage vaults used to contain the scrolls were sealed, alarmed, and trapped to the best of Netheril’s magical ability, but the scrolls were nonetheless removed without setting off the alarms, unsealing the vault, or activating the traps.
The Mythallar
Ioulaum proved his importance in the year 845NY, when he created the mythallar. This magical device dug deep into the weave of magic (controlled by the goddess Mystryl) and gave access to raw, unfiltered magic. It allowed Netherese arcanists to create magical items without need of a permanency spell and provided the constant magical force that allowed entire mountains to hover in the air.
Before this device was created, Netherese arcanists could place only simple dweomers on small objects with limited abilities — at the supreme cost of a mage’s vitality. In times before the mythallar, arcanists who made multiple permanent magical items could be picked out of the crowd: Their bodies appeared much older and bent than their years. The process of making an item with permanent effects took its power from the mage’s body, a process not many arcanists were willing to succumb to.
With the advent of the mythallar, arcanists were able to create magical items that would, in effect, be permanent incantations as long as they stayed within the one-mile-radius effect of the mythallar. The first of these quasimagical items was created in 848NY by Ioulaum himself. He created an elaborate mantle that allowed the wearer to see in the dark and hear the thoughts of all those within 20 feet.
Once this magical item was created, the floodgates were opened, and the nation of Netheril was suddenly faced with a glut of magical items. The prices of such quasimagical items dropped to one-tenth the going rate for “real” magical items. The cost of traditional magical creations—those that required a permanency spell—rose to three-times the going rate, since only those who left the range of a mythallar required such items.
Floating Cities
Ioulaum once again proved his worth when he created the first floating city in the year 866NY. Tired of fighting orcs, goblins, and others who wanted to feed off the toils of the Netherese, Ioulaum took one of his mythallars to the southern section of the Rampant Peaks and sheared off the summit of a mountain with an 11th-level spell. Using a form of Yturn’s levitation and Chronomancer’s gravity reversal, he placed the mythallar in the center of the flat side (effectively upside down) and rotated the mountain point down, giving him a large, circular, flat surface upon which to build a city. He called the new structure Ioulaum’s Enclave, and it soon became a flying city as people from all across Netheril flocked to him, wanting to live in the clouds, high above the threat of “those who fear and don’t understand magic.”
As the leader and creator of Ioulaum’s Enclave, the archwizard was in absolute control. He allowed the people to have a say—and he sometimes took their advice and wishes to heart—but when it came right down to hard decisions, Ioulaum made them all. While Netheril was concentrating its efforts to increase the number of floating cities (which, by 1048NY, had risen to 13), the orcs were feeling the pressure of extinction. They felt the only way to continue as a race was to rid the lands of the Netherese. That year, a major offensive was set against the cities of Zenith and Conch; the orc threat began moving toward the Seventon region.
The seven cities sent their finest warriors westward to confront the orcs, only to be turned back when word of an orc sneak attack east of Seventon reached their ears. Seventon had never fought a two-front war before and, without the help of Ioulaum’s enclave, the Seventon region would have turned into spoils ripe for orc plunder.
The Silver Age
Badly in need of resources, the Netherese began sending scouts throughout the region to look for mining opportunities. Their primary source of raw materials was discovered when Dekanter, a Netherese miner, unearthed a huge lode of gold, iron, mercury, silver, and platinum in 1101 NY. For over 1,000 years, this mine provided Netheril with more mineral wealth than any other location.
During this 550-year push to find natural resources, the Netherese also began setting up small colonies and outposts throughout what was to become the Savage Frontier. These outposts served as safe harbors for the long trek into the Frontier, a place where food, water, fresh horses, and other supplies were made available to the caravans and explorers delving into the area.
During Netheril’s territorial expansion, Netherese at home were in tune to another expansion of their own. The constantly available magic from mythallars allowed relatively low-level arcanists to create quasimagical items for themselves, and these arcanists were all looking for the magical invention that would allow them to retire. Most of these new magical items were designed with the common person (the middle class) in mind.
This group of people were the ones in greatest numbers and carried with it the greatest promise for get-rich-quick schemes. These small-time arcanists had the right mentality: make an item cheap, simple to use, and make it appear to be invaluable—basically turn a nicety into a necessity.
The first items to enter the market were simple roomlights, a globe that continually shed light in a room. This ended with it being perfected into a globe that would light with an activating command or sound (depending upon the desires of the purchaser). Soon, every house floating on an enclave had one in every room.
Next came running water, contrived by opening a permanent fissure into the Elemental Plane of Water, controlling the flow with a simple spigot. Once this was accomplished and sold to every house, indoor plumbing and water closets were the next logical step.
Outposts
Netheril’s archwizards began to feel a bit cramped. As more and more cities rose into the air, they feared their numbers would grow until their presence blotted out the sun. They felt expansion was in order. They expanded their sphere of divination to the east and to the west, but found the land to the west more to their liking. The east was home to nations that were rising in power, although not really following the magical paths set down by Netheril.
A few archwizards, however, debated whether to subjugate the eastern nations under their rule. All plans to infiltrate the eastern cultures were laid to rest when the western lands, controlled loosely by barbaric tribesmen who were “sired by the consummation of the Earthmother (an aspect of Jannath) and a wolf,” were deemed an easier target. The Terraseer, a mysterious oracle, was probably the main reason Netheril didn’t expand to the east. He and a company of powerful arcanists headed an expedition into the Frontier to investigate the land for strip mining and general exploitation.
After 22 months of travel, he returned with reports that amazed the Netherese. “To allow this land to be dominated by mindless savages unable to understand the simple concept of collective imagecraft (powerful surrealisms or illusions manipulated by the subconscious minds of three or more mentalists that could become reality with a simple thought) would be a crime against progress and enrichment,” cried the Terraseer. The Terraseer urged Netheril to immediately establish outposts in this new frontier.
In 1491NY, the Terraseer found an ideal location for an outpost that could provide water for caravans and scouts heading into the mineral-rich mountains, but they had to remove creatures that called the land home: owlbears. In what was soon to be known as the Caravan War, Netherese scouts and outriders destroyed the 3,000 owl bears, creatures given existence by the Creator Races thousands of years ago. Once safety was provided by the warriors, the arcanists came into the town and set up one of the most elaborate piping systems available. Drilling over five miles into the crust of Toril, the arcanists provided the Old Owl Well outpost with an everlasting water supply.
Old Owl Well was manned with a company of warriors and a handful of seers who used spells and crystal balls to scry on the activities of the Illefarn elves, who at the time viewed the Netherese as a possible adversary. Despite the tension with the elves, Old Owl Well became a major stopping point for thirsty caravans within five years.
Two other watering stations and spy outposts were created in this new frontier. The first was stationed in the forested area northwest of the future site of Southkrypt. Since these Netherese frequently had to leave their outposts—where the mythallars wouldn’t function—they began a long, arduous campaign to create real magical items with the power of the quasimagical items—not an easy process. After several generations, they succeeded.
The second outpost was along the northern edge of the Westwood, tucked away into the foothills of the Sword Coast Spires.
The Golden Age
The time of the Chronomancer’s birth in 1652NY marks the beginning of Netheril’s Golden Age, when the nation was at the very pinnacle of its power. Netheril began lifting one enclave into the sky per year. Soon, dozens of these magnificent monoliths of magic rode the air currents or moved in orbital patterns around the loosely defined borders of the Netheril empire. Each archwizard who created his enclave heeded Ioulaum’s example, setting up his or her own laws and guidelines that the enclave’s residents had to follow. As time went on, the people had less and less say, and their voice regarding changes in government, tax rates, and the such were drowned out by the archwizards’ lust for more power. The enclaves soon became a vehicle to provide funding for the archwizards’ spell research, a staging area for campaigns against other archwizards, and excursions into the quasi- and paraelemental planes.
The Chronomancer was concerned about the other human civilizations on Faerun. He felt that Netheril’s snobbery toward lessmagically developed nations was a mistake that would come back and haunt the empire. While the Chronomancer shared many of the archwizards’ weaknesses (such as the belief that the gods were just powerful archwizards who could be challenged), he also cared about the well-being of Netheril’s neighbors. This included the elves, dwarves, and barbarian peoples.
When news of an orc horde ravaging the Illusk nation in 1756NY reached his ears, he entered the fray, helping the human settlements fend off the attack. Unfortunately, even the incredible power of the Chronomancer couldn’t save the nation, and he fell victim to a degenerative wound that killed him eight years later. He very well could have taken healing and curative spells to fix his ailment, but, like all of Netheril archwizards, he believed the gods were merely archwizards like himself who had found “ultimate magic.” Their pride wouldn’t allow them to put their faith in the deities for fear if they put their trust in these advanced archwizards, they would never achieve “ultimate magic” themselves.
Netheril was never without some rising menace, and the archwizards had to spend a lot of time dealing with enemies from both the surface world and from within their own ranks. This included destructive acts by Netherese citizens as well as the nonhumans that swarmed around and within Netheril’s borders. In the year 1963NY, Netheril bore witness to an internal menace: citizens who had little aptitude or respect for magic.
Nine men broke into the “Most Holy and Magical Chamber of Ioulaum the Demidivine,” killing nine guards in the process and losing seven of their numbers, to steal 24 parts of the nether scrolls. When the thieves escaped to the surface world, a manhunt began. The thieves, fearful of the archwizard’s retribution, pounded the priceless golden scrolls into indiscernible baubles. They then sold these gold nuggets, receiving about 260 gp in coins. In 2201NY, the Mines of Dekanter were plundered to their fullest. Nothing more could be mined from this site, and Netheril abandoned it. However, the Mines of Dekanter were reopened three years later in order to accommodate the creation and research of dangerous spells-all because of one incident: The destruction of a flying city.
The First Falling
The first enclave fell in 2202NY, when the floating city of Sunrest yielded to the effects of ill-planned spell research. The city hailed the impending creation of a spell called the Sunrest sunshock (which was an early attempt at an ultra-powerful meteor swarm spell), but an accident occurred. The spell probably worked correctly, especially when eyewitness accounts from the city of Remembrance reported a blinding flash of light from the west, with a deafening roar that followed a few minutes later. Those who watched were horrified to see the whole enclave fall to the ground into a heap of rubble and stone. No one survived the accident.
The Barbarian Schism
In an unprecedented move, the Angardt tribes living near Frostypaw befriended an arcanist from Netheril who began teaching them spellcraft in 2477. The arcanist wanted to help the Angardt fend off orc raiding parties, and the tribesmen were eager to learn new techniques to rid themselves of the murderous hordes. Unfortunately, the nearby Rengarth tribe, fearful of magic, drove the Angardt from their homeland. For seven years, the Rengarth battled Angardt tribesmen that chose to stay until all of the magic-following tribe was well away from their lands.
Age of Discovery
In 2654NY, miners found something that would change their lives forever-the gems known as chardalyns. An arcanist known as Elorian examined the gems as the miners brought up the “useless rocks” to her. She was amazed at the degree of magic the stones seemed to possess. Before long, she realized that the gems could hold a single spell that was cast into them, later releasing the magic when the fragile gem was crushed. This discovery launched the empire into an expedition frenzy that lasted more than 500 years.
The discovery of the chardalyn gems caused many of the Netherese enclaves to intensify their efforts in mining the surrounding hills and mountains. Many of the archwizards believed even greater prizes awaited discovery, and they invested huge sums of money in an effort to be the first to find them.
Realmspace
Next in line of importance, behind chardalyns, was spelljamming, or flying ships into Realmspace. The Skyward Realms, as the space mariners of Yeoman’s Loft called Realmspace, was believed to be the next great frontier for raw materials, such as mined ores, spellcraft, and “discovered” magical items. The Yeoman’s Loft explorers, however, were also responsible for racial “experiments,” basically vivisecting anything they ran across. This gave the Netherese, the only humans to have ventured into Realmspace up until 2795NY, a very bad name and a horrid reputation-akin to the fear generated when an illithid spelljamming ship was seen.
This dread did nothing but separate the Netherese from the spelljamming community already in space and made trade nearly impossible. In fact, Netherese ships were attacked on sight. Oberon, an arcanist born during this time in Netheril’s history, tried his best to mend his nation’s reputation in space, but it was to no avail. One hundred years after the first ship ventured above Toril’s surface, Netheril recalled the last one. The tremendous expense of armoring and defending their ships far exceeded any profits to be made in Realmspace. Since the Netherese were unsuccessful in creating their own helms and other spelljamming items-being forced to rely on the Arcane for such materials—they decided to drop out of Realmspace.
Oberon, distraught over the loss of his love, moved to Yeoman’s Loft and attempted to maintain a presence in Realmspace. Even his death 10 years later didn’t hamper Netheril’s presence, as others who felt and shared his dedication continued in his wake.
More on Mythallars
These magical devices look much like a crystal ball but are about 150 feet in diameter. The globes shed a very bright light—almost as blinding as looking directly into the disc of the sun—with dimmer shadows and shapes moving across thier surface. Ornate stands keep the perfectly spherical devices in place. Mythalars convert raw magic from the weave of Mystryl and sends that power throughout an enclave to provide the magical energies required for quasimagical items to continue operating. This allows arcanists to create quasimagical items without the need to expend their life force for permanency spells. Every enclave contains at least one mythallar-especially since the mythallar is absolutely necessary to keep the city afloat.
When a quasimagical device is within the effect of a mythallar, it gains the ability to use the magical powers that have been imbued into it. Outside the area‚ quasimagical devices cease to function and are completely nonmagical devices.
Mythallar have an effective range of one mile. Therefore, if an enclave is larger than one mile in diameter, it needs to have more than one mythallar. On such a city, the overlap of effect from two mythallars doesn’t double the effect of quasimagical items.
Touching a mythallar is extremely dangerous.
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