The First Age

Netheril’s history began nearly 5,000 years ago at the site of seven fishing villages during the time of the First Flowering. Those who follow Dalereckoning would place the date at -3859DR, but to the Netherese, 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 (unless otherwise noted, all years past this point are in 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. Greatjoy 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 cantrips, he cast a spell to start a campfire. Two years later, the community considered the first human arcanist (a Netherese name for a wizard) 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. 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 132. 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 204, 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.