Chapter 279: Extra History of Netheril (I)

(The next few chapters are extras, mainly about the grand history of Netheril, which is not related to the main text, and readers can skip them.)

The First Age

The history of Netheril began with seven fishing villages about 5,000 years ago, when Faerun was first prosperous (The First Flowering). People who follow the Dalereckoning calendar would think that it was only 3859 BC. But for the Netheril people, this year marked the beginning of a new era. Because, just a few decades later, the fishermen of Fenwick, Gers, Gilan, Gustaf, Moran, Nauseef and Janick had already adopted the "NY" calendar, which means Netheril Years. It is believed that from the "First Age" to the 326th Netheril Year, it was the time when the Netheril country was born.

At first, the fishermen decided to form an alliance to help each other in order to deal with the hordes of orcs. To this end, Nether the Elder, the shaman king of Giles, created a new calendar to celebrate the birth of the alliance. The seven sworn villages thus established a new country, and this union was named Seventon. At that moment, great joy dominated Seventon, and the people celebrated the first step towards civilization and praised the wisdom of their leader.

A few years later, King Nether changed the name of the country to "Netheril", which means the land of Nether. He imposed heavy taxes on the people, causing people to worry that Seventon would collapse. Resentment rose within the alliance, and calls for rebellion continued. The future of the country suddenly became bleak.

Finally, a poisoned dagger announced the end of the rule of the Great Nether, and then a strong and upright successor - Neter the Younger - stepped onto the political stage and began to take power. No one knew who had slain the Great Netherese with the fatal blade, and frankly, there was no rush to find him. After all, the oppression of the tyrannical, self-serving king had been swept away, and the people were able to live in peace again and freely pursue trade. The name of the country (although its origin is no longer extant) has stood the test of time.

The Netherese chose a new system of government - one loosely based on democracy. They had a single king, whose eldest son was destined to succeed him, but each village chief had one vote. The king's one vote was equal to five of theirs, which still gave him far more power than any of the chiefs.

Fourteen years after Netheril was founded, the Earlann elves came to the loose confederation. Until then, "elves" had been considered merely fictions, imaginary creatures - said to be sent by the gods to help humans and guide the lost back to the right path. The Netherese bowed in awe to these "messengers of the world soul" and expressed their admiration. It took the elves several years to convince these uncivilized people that they were just "humans". After this, the elves and the Netherese established a trade relationship, and their friendship lasted for many centuries.

Magic is one of the commodities used by the elves for trade. Therion.Gers, a friend of the little Netherese, was the first Netherese to engage in this business. After a year of instruction - learning cantras - he used magic to light a campfire. Two years later, the first human arcanist in Netherese society became the recognized third person, second only to the little Netherese and the shamanic spirit summoner. From then on, people changed his name to "Therion the First of Gers".

Over the next century, trade with the elves continued to develop, and the use of magic in this small country advanced by leaps and bounds. Unlike other civilizations, magic was considered indispensable here, and anyone who reached the age of "ascension" would learn magic. Those who showed a talent for magic would receive more true teachings than those who were lazy and careless. The emphasis on magic made Netheril the premier magical country in Toril.

In 132, the Netheril people heard a legend that "there is a country where human-shaped rock-dwelling creatures live on mud mountains and mounds." Brave men began to explore the south and the far west to find these strange rock-dwelling creatures. Those who went south felt the weather getting colder along the paths in the wilderness, and finally these scouts had to set off on their journey empty-handed. Travelers heading west stopped and walked, and went farther and farther. Every time they set out after resting, they felt the weather getting warmer.

Before 204, the scouts who arrived in the west encountered a hunting party of Rengarth, and the Netherese treated them kindly. These nomadic barbarians told them stories about the underground dwellers and revealed to the Netherese the locations of the rock-dwelling creatures. Therefore, the scouts tried to send news back to Severington to report their new discoveries, and at the same time rushed towards the mountains to the north.

When approaching the Cold Forest in the southern part of the Barren Mountains, the adventurers were besieged by the largest orc tribe that had ever attacked the area. No one survived, so the Lungoath and the Netherese approaching the orc horde were not warned.

The orcs launched an offensive that lasted 20 miles, bringing death and carnage with it. Their bands traveled through the ancestral lands of the Lungoas and raided the elves to the south and west. At this time, the elven countries of Illan and Illefarn were nervously preparing for war. With the aid of Netheril (a symbolic - but sincere - gesture, considering the strength of the elves, and considering Netheril's sparse population and ineffective magic). , the elves launched a long mobile war in order to eliminate the threat of the orcs.

The elves of Ierlan were the greatest threat to the orcish invaders, and their warriors and arcanists fought with such zeal that the Netherese were in awe. Behind the Netherese, fighting the orcs were the Elfane elves. It is generally believed that the Elfain elves only played an important role in two battles and achieved nothing else.

The Nether Age

The 326th year of Netheril was one of the most significant moments in the history of Netheril - this year, the Nether scrolls were discovered. This hundred-page tome enabled the people of Netherese to achieve an incredible leap in magical skills that was unprecedented in the history of Toril. An era of feverish learning emerged in Netheril and lasted until the birth of the nation's greatest archwizards.

People do not know who discovered this significant and legendary magical knowledge; however, he is known as the "Finder". As the Discoverer explored the realm west of Far Horns Forest, he passed by an ancient ruin. There seems to have been a race here that lived on the walls as if they were walking on flat ground. The chairs and the furniture they used told us that these animals had more than two legs - probably twice as many!

The discoverer searched the dilapidated building inside and out, trying to find some valuable items to sell. But when he found the golden scroll, he realized that what he had found was worth far more than exchanging it for money. So he took the scrolls back to Netheril and studied them. The discoverer discovered that the 100 golden scrolls were actually divided into two sets, one set of 50. One of the sets looked much older and duller. He called these golden scrolls "nether scrolls" after his homeland. Years later, he shared this discovery with the arcanists of Severdon and Zenith. Within a few decades, every Netherese was benefiting from the knowledge of the scrolls.

Congenio’s Pebble

Few practitioners can win the respect of their peers during their lifetime, and even fewer such people can leave a lasting name after death. Congenio Ioun was such an arcanist; his name, even 4,000 years after his death, is still known because of the Ioun Stone. . These magic stones can float above the owner's head, giving them various special powers. So later on, the arcane mages of Netheril sought them desperately.

Congenio was born in 364 and has unprecedented attainments in magic skills. At the age of 33, he made his first magical artifact: the Stone of Congenio. He created more than 30 Congenio Stones in his lifetime, and their functions ranged from granting night vision to temporarily improving levels.

In 451, he changed their name to "Ion's Stones". Congenio died in 1319 at the age of 955. He is considered the first major arcanist to come out of Netheril, and was an unprecedented genius in his time.

Delzoun

In 401, that is, the 269th year after the "132-year expedition", the Netherese finally discovered the legendary country, where a short, fat race lived among the mountains. They are none other than the Deljon dwarves. The Netherese people went through a long search to find these dwarves, but this did not help reduce the difficulty of communication between the two parties.

It took years for each race to figure out what the other wanted. The Netherese found it nearly impossible to sell the dwarves new magic items and techniques for spell research. And later, spells (Dweomer) would sometimes fail here. (The Netherese blamed the dwarves because of their similarities to the Jannath, a race that, according to the Netherese sages, was extremely ignorant of magic.) The dwarves, in turn, found a stable buyer for their fine metal weapons, the Netherese. This single commodity accounted for the vast majority of the trade between the two sides.

The Netherese opened a trade route that crossed the Narrow Sea between the dwarven port city of Askol and the Netherese cities of Harborage and Dzhannis. They also built the "Lowroad," a heavily fortified route through the Underdark. Dating back to the days before the coming of the phaerimm, the region has been closely guarded by the dwarves, who have kept it safe from illithids, drow, and other evil denizens of the Underdark.

Mythallar Era

With the discovery of the Netherese Tome, the Netherese began to focus on the study of magic. During the Mythallar Era, a new device was invented that would cast a shadow over the future of Netheril. This device gave its creators incredible power.

Ioulaum

One of the greatest of all human archmages, he was born in 554. Ioulaum was the primary propagator of Netherese magic, with more than 3,000 of his wielders. More importantly, without his grand entrance into history, the Mythallar core, which allowed Netherese cities to fly into the sky, would not exist.

Ioulaum launched a major war in 714. He led thousands of arcanists and warriors to Rampant Peaks and attacked the largest orc settlement in Netheril at the time. After 14 days, the orcs retreated, but more than 18,000 corpses were scattered throughout the mountains and valleys of Rampant Peaks, including more than 10,000 orcs.

But Iorum did not give up. He hoped to find the orc army's base and solve the problem once and for all. He had had enough of all this. People were killed, food was stolen, and caravans were robbed... all because of these damn beasts. Nothing could stop the war until he killed all the orcs. A year later, after constant reconnaissance and tracking, and even divination with crystal balls, Iorum's spies and fortune-tellers found the main base of the orcs: the mountains around the source of the Canton River.

So, Iorum led an army of 50,000 and launched the biggest battle of his life, which burned for 16 months. In the battle of Excursion into Extinction, 32,000 men died, but Iolum won. No orc escaped his grasp, as his army surrounded the entire region. Portals were erected one after another, all over the hills. This allowed troops to move from place to place instantly, cutting off all the enemy's retreat. More than 140,000 orcs were brutally slaughtered, and rivers of blood flowed, staining the snows of Bone Hill and Thunder Peak red.

The First Loss

In 764, a tragedy occurred in Netheril: half of the Nether Tome - a complete set, was stolen. Fortunately, the two volumes were stored separately to prevent fire and thieves, so the stolen one was the newer one, although it has never been found since. (End of this chapter)