Chapter 282: Extra History of Netheril (IV)
Fortunately, the effects of absorbing magic are obvious. The land around the major floating cities in Naseril is becoming increasingly deserted. But at first, this situation did not attract the attention of the Grand Masters. They just moved the floating city elsewhere and that was it. When they noticed that these "plagues of the land" seemed to be following the city, the Grand Masters really felt that something was wrong. However, as these cities moved around, they really "led" the Felin Demon Kui to complete a desertification movement. The result was the formation of the great desert known as Anauroch.
The plague is raging, but the arcanists have been unable to come up with a good way to deal with Feilin Mokui. Sometimes, some powerful Grand Masters would create even more amazingly powerful magic, but at this time they would often encounter raids launched by the Felin Demon Sunflower, a creature that only wanted to destroy humans. Phaelings rarely leave alive, and through their magic, they block most prophecy-inducing magic. This almost cut off people's contact, and it was difficult for them to even judge whether a certain Grand Arcanist was still alive. Of course, this also prevented news about the progress of the war from being disseminated in a timely manner.
The dual power of absorbing magic resulted in the ineffectiveness of quasi-magical items in the floating city. Moreover, any magic that is not permanently injected into an item under the environment of magic constancy, its power will tend to be ineffective or even negative under this influence. Iolum's life-extending magic is another kind of magic that frequently fails and also causes the caster to quickly shorten his life. However, at least normal magic can still be used.
Heavy Magic
Karthus discovered that the magic-draining magic of the phaerinn was weakening the immortality spell he had cast on himself. He knew that if he couldn't solve the culprit, he would have to choose another way to survive. So he became a lich and began to study "heavy magic". But this new combination of physics, chemistry, and magic was extremely unstable. If Netheril and even Toril are not destroyed before he succeeds, Karthus believes that, compared to the magic that is sucked away, the heavy magic will bring about a change in the form of magical power. sublimation. Destroying those hateful underground creatures was his main purpose in studying heavy magic. These guys should be entirely blamed for the continued decline in Netheril's available magical energy.
Heavy magic, unlike any intangible magic, is a tangible and perceptible entity. It has a spherical appearance and a pure honey-like color. It will not stick to even a little impurity when it touches any object. Instead, it can automatically dissociate from any object that comes into contact with it. Crossing heavy magic with one hand or on foot feels as light as crossing a shallow body of water.
Heavy magic can be enchanted with other magics, which was discovered by Karthus. He also determined that they could be "painted" on any surface (such as a wall, a door, or a mechanical device) and have the same magical effect on that surface. He also discovered that he could easily stuff a small amount of heavy magic with dispel magic into the keyhole. That would render detect trap and lockpicking magic devices ineffective.
The ability to create heavy magic power is directly proportional to the arcanist's level. Each level of spellcasting corresponds to one cubic foot of heavy magic (weighing up to one pound). So, when Karthus cast heavy magic, he suddenly gained 41 cubic feet of heavy magic. Then, he added a Volhm’s drain spell to the thick gelatinous semi-fluid substance, which maximized the power of the spell, with a radius of effect as high as 2,500 feet. Unexpectedly, this heavy magic first began to weaken the magic output of Mythra's core. The extremely effective suction magic sucks away all the magic power, but returns it to Mythra's core. The floating city was slowly stripped of its magical power source.
As you can imagine, the floating city became crumbling. All the lights flickered, and the power of the quasi-magical items came and went as the magic fluctuated. Karsus desperately used magic to lift the heavy piece of magic, then cast a Tolodine’s gust of wind and threw it far away from the city. However, those things fell heavily into the High Forest, killing an arcanist who lived there, Ulgrith. The man who turned his back on Netheril was drained of his life force and became a lich.
After the first failure, Karthus spent several more years perfecting the research, trying to make it have a positive effect. One of his favorite things to do is to enchant a bunch of heavy magic with various enchantments so that he can "paint" them wherever he wants. He once "painted" Toscudlo's hallucinatory terrain all over the walls and dome of the house, creating various dream-like scenes. In addition, he can also make the trial box in the court remind everyone at any time that someone standing on it is lying.
When the use of heavy magic was being developed in other ways, a group of demons from the lower planes infiltrated the city of Lianzhong. The city is located in the north of the Far Horn Forest. The demons planned to occupy it until they replaced Karsus. They seemed to succeed, but they didn't. Karsus and his loyal advisers and friends spent three years, and finally used heavy magic with Oberon's dismissal and Aksa's disintegrate to beat the monsters to death.
Around 3505, the archmages were worried about the strange reactions to magic (caused by the spells of the Phelin Magic Apricot). Many of them left the country and fled to various places in the west and north. One of the arcanists traveled west to the ruins of Ellaska and established a new human country in the name of this ancient country. He used his magic to raise the entire city from the ground. Although the city was not completed, the arcanist passed away, but his dedication did benefit future generations.
Those who stayed behind continued to search for the weakness of the Phairim. At this time, the Netherese had a mysterious foreign aid, a race called Sharn. As a result, the Phairim suddenly faced the dilemma of fighting on two fronts. When the Sharn encountered the Phairim, their mutually attacking spells collided and began to change the nearby landforms, causing the continuous mountains to turn into rolling hills and the desert to expand.
The Fall
Around 3520, the great Archmage Iorum disappeared. His friends, including Karsus, believed that he had to leave Netheril because he relied heavily on the power of magic to maintain his life (he was nearly 3,000 years old). Iorum's whereabouts eventually became a mystery.
When the people learned of Iorum's disappearance, Netheril fell into panic. The Archmages were always worried because the situation was on the verge of mutiny. Karsus felt that an extremely heavy burden was on his shoulders, that was the future of Netheril. It was time to make a desperate effort to revive the country from the crisis, he felt. So after years of research, he created a kind of magic and used it on himself.
This spell is "Incarnation of Karsus", a unique 12th-level spell. It can temporarily steal the power of a god. Karsus chose the goddess of magic, Mithriel, as his target. Finally, he cast this spell, but he never thought that it would permanently change the way magic works. Extensive knowledge often overwhelms rational wisdom, and Karsus is no exception.
He felt that the divine power rushed in from all directions, surging and wildly. Suddenly, his mind was filled with incredible knowledge. But in an instant, Karsus realized what a terrible thing he had done. He stole power from a god that he should not have stolen. Mysriel's duties required her to frequently use her powers to regulate and repair the weave of magic - for the weave was always under threat, often damaged by the abuse of magic by the Netherese and the phaerimm's magic. When she lost the ability to stabilize the weave of raw magic (natural, pure, unprocessed magical energy), magical energy suddenly became rampant. It surged and fluctuated in disorder, making the power of all magic suddenly doubled - although it only lasted for a short time.
In order to protect the weave, Mysriel sacrificed herself before the situation became out of control. Only in this way could she sever her connection with Karsus and seal the weave. This also caused all magic in the world to disappear temporarily. Unfortunately, without the support of magical power, Netheril's floating cities fell one after another, and Karsus was quickly swallowed by death. His bloated body turned into a stone statue and fell from the crumbling platform of the floating city, plummeting to the ground. His body sank in the wind, his petrified eyes still shone with the wisdom of a god who knows everything and can do everything. He vaguely witnessed the end of the floating cities being shattered and the withering of all life there.
His heart was broken - greed for the power of the gods made him open the door of destruction with his own hands, burying his home, his relatives, his friends, and his people in the abyss of disaster.
Soon Mystra was reincarnated. The new goddess of magic was named Mystra. She used the body of a beautiful peasant girl - although the girl only knew some basic tricks, she was born to be a great master. After that, her first thing was to rebuild the order of the magic network. This time, she added some restrictive rules, and spells above level 10 could no longer be used. By the time Mystra completed the new magic network, she had only saved three floating cities of Netheril, and none of the others were spared. The three cities were Anauria, Asram and Hlondath. They were originally located in the sky and survived until the magic network was restored. They landed safely on the ground, and the residents stumbled out of the city in shock.
The priests of the Goddess of Magic were all informed by the gods about Karsus. Some are in dreams, others are through visions that occur during prayer. Mystra's purpose in doing this was to warn people and prevent such tragedies from happening again in the future. However, Karthus is still revered as the only mortal in history who relied on magic to reach the realm of god, even if it was just a flash in the pan.
Within a few months, the surviving residents left the city, fearing the threat of the phaerimm, punishment from the gods, and attacks from orcs. About a third of the population moved north. The rest established the "ghosts" of the Netheril Empire in the southern part of the old empire - or to put it more politely, the nation of survivors - including Analil, Athrun and Harundanth. Three city-states.
Some of the people who moved north misinterpreted Mythra's "revelation in the dream". According to their own understanding, they built a small city near the body of Karsus, which was already a blood-red stone statue. They regarded the great master of the previous generation as a dead god and enshrined his body. They also named the city "Karse" to show respect for the "god". However, their reverence for Karsus angered one neighbor. Later generations generally believe that the lich Ulgrith destroyed the city in 3533 as revenge for Karthus. But another sage believes that Ulgrith is also seeking to destroy what remains of Netheril at Ascalhorn. Little by little, it is very patiently playing out its revenge drama, becoming more evil as time goes by.
Ulgrith opened a secret door to the Nine Hells of Baator, where they found reinforcements. Over the course of centuries, one by one, the Baatezu infiltrated Cape Ask. At first, they pretended to be attendants and servants and entered the lives of local people. But soon, they began to play the role of advisers and planners, traveling between powerful arcanists, fomenting infighting, misunderstandings, and panic. Nearly a thousand years later, Cape Usk finally became Hellgate Keep.
The End of the End
During the "End of All" period, which lasted for more than 300 years, all survivors of Netheril met a devastating end. The Dark Ages began in 3826, when Athrun was struck by one of the deadliest plagues in Toril's history. Within a month, everyone was dead. Even those who escaped from the epidemic areas were not spared in the end.
It is believed that during this period, Kiputytto (a god who sought to replace Talona's priesthood) attempted to subvert Talona's influence in Toril, but was ultimately killed at Talona's hands. At that time, in order to let the city residents who wanted to appease the wrath of the plague goddess to pray to her, Tyrona chose the doomed Athrun to show people the power of the plague. Through this move, the number of people who believed in Tairona and prayed to her suddenly increased. The goddess of poison and plague gained enough power as a result. She kills Djiboutido and absorbs her divine powers.
In 3970, Analil fell. During an attack by the orcs, they succumbed to the might of their enemies. However, after the city fell, people launched a surprise attack on these marauding orcs, who were already severely injured.
The Crown Against Scepter Wars began in 4058 and ended in 4167. But in any case, the battle between Cormanthyr and Harundans was quickly over. Both sides lost only a few troops. Most of this war was a display of the military and magical strength of the participating countries. In the end, Myth Drannor defeated all enemies and became the winner.
As unsurprising as Mis Zanor's success in most wars was, Harundanth's swift demise. In 4188, this city-state's "dying breath" became weaker and weaker. As the Analok Desert gradually swallowed up its land and starved its people, the Analil people were finally driven away by the desert and fled into the heart of Faerûn. (End of chapter)