Chapter 283 Extra: History of Netheril (V) and the Book of Darkness
Sharn
After the fall of Analil, the Great Desert of Analok unusually stopped expanding. Many people suspect that Saren spirits - powerful creatures that can change the surrounding landscape when they cast spells - are the real reason that forced the phaerinn to stop absorbing magic. Some people believe that it is because of the lack of magic that the phaerinn's spells eventually kill themselves. Even though both statements may be true, it does not rule out that the real facts are quite different from both of them.
Whatever the truth, one thing is indisputable. Whenever the magic of the saron spirits and the magic of the phaerim intersect, it causes geological changes throughout Analok. The peaks that were flattened because the Netherese built the floating city actually grew under the influence of the Saren spirits. New mountains were formed, and some original mountains disappeared. Finally, under the influence of the hedging spell, the area of the High Ice was even expanded.
The motive of the Saren spirit does not really seem to be to rescue the Netherese. Communicating with the Grand Master of Netheril will not have any real impact on them. In contrast, they prefer to deal with the Felin Demon Kui alone. On many occasions, the Netherese found themselves caught between the two feuding races.
The last of the floating cities, they are literally a page of living history torn from Faerûn's almost forgotten past. Their ancestors and flying cities both died from Faerûn more than 1,700 years ago, their homeland, Netherese. The Imperium was also destroyed in a catastrophe caused by an experiment that attempted to save it from its greatest enemy. The magical knowledge possessed by the most advanced arcane peoples disappeared from Toril on the day of its destruction. Since today.
The city escaped destruction only thanks to a great magic that transported it and its inhabitants to the Plane of Shadows. Safe from destruction, these refugees (who called themselves the Shadovars) spent the next few century continued their society and civilization. Free to use shadowy materials to cast arcane spells and conduct experiments, the city's noble rulers became imbued with the dark energy of their new home. Formerly powerful mages and sorcerers, they began to master the dark materials of their new environment. Become more powerful. In 1372 DR, the City of Shade suddenly returned to Faerûn, emerging over the Furywood and heading straight for Aenorok, where it remained except for brief raids on the neighboring continent.
Stationing the city high in the sky of the Thirst Continent, a flying city miraculously escaped the catastrophe unscathed, although this was entirely by chance. The noble ruler of this city was a powerful arcanist. He continued to experiment with movement between Faerûn and the Shadow Plane over time, and eventually his research not only allowed him to travel back and forth between the two planes at will, but also allowed other people and objects to travel back and forth with him.
In the weeks leading up to the Cataclysm, the arcanist - known only by the nickname Lord Shadow to the City of Shade - was contemplating the possibility of moving the entire city to the Shadow Plane. Mere days before Karsus cast his spell, Lord Shadow ordered the city to prepare for this experiment. Just the night before the catastrophe, Lord Shadow teleported the entire city and all its residents to the shadow plane. After arriving, he was very happy that his previous prediction was correct, and the city and all The inhabitants suffered no ill effects from the journey, however, he soon discovered to his dismay that, for reasons he could not yet understand, he could no longer move the city back to Faerûn.
It took weeks to unravel the secret. When the city returned to Netheril, its residents were shocked by what they saw. Over the next few days, the city traveled among the ruins of Netheril, desperately searching for Survivor, but nothing came of it.
These Netherese people can only assume that the horrific scenes in front of them are entirely caused by the hateful phaerimm. They are eager for revenge, but Lord Shadow understands that his own flying city cannot compete with the phaerimm, and , he believed that the Netherese people living in the City of Shade were probably the last survivors of this race. In the end, he decided that he could not risk losing his city and people, and vowed to return to Faerûn one day and rebuild it. With the empire destroyed, the Arcanist once again teleported the city to the Shadow Plane, where, experiencing unforeseen circumstances, the city stayed far longer than he originally expected.
Dark Scroll
When Turgit No Am compiled his knowledge of demonology, he knew full well that his work would attract the attention of some being - the subject of his research, or the Abyss itself. Am believed that all things in the universe were Born out of the chaos of the bottomless abyss, it can be inferred that the bottomless abyss itself must be full of life. He believed that no creature, not even the undead, could fully comprehend the nature of the Abyss. But he envisioned the path to the Abyss—a return to Chaos. Eminem believes that the demons scattered in the Abyss are the crystallization of the wisdom of the Abyss itself, and they are working hard for the development of Chaos. He believed that through the actions of demons governed by pure chaos, the Abyss could achieve its longed-for goal - that all beings, mortal and immortal, would re-evolve into a new universe, one whose existence would be completely divorced from order and order. Any intention.
Very few Loremasters have ever read even a fragment of the Tome of Darkness. And there are even fewer people who can understand Ammu's spiderweb-like thin and blurry handwriting. A large number of Dark Scrolls survived the destruction of Ammu himself (which was also the destruction of the mountains and rivers of his homeland), but the huge force of destruction tore his manuscripts into pieces and scattered them in all directions around the world. Legend has it that the demon assassin who targeted Eminem cursed his scroll (if you are not a master, don’t study alien creatures) so that it can no longer be collected. Some who have read more stained and damaged parchments claim that Amu cast a spell on his manuscripts, ordering them to wander around the universe so that demons can no longer collect and destroy them.
If any demon prince understands the truth of this issue - in fact, at least one must have understood it, because Amu's power gradually increases with the deepening of research, and no pit fiend or six-armed snake demon has ever seen it with his own eyes Seeing him die - they had nothing to say, even though they desperately wanted to say something. Some see this as another Eminem masterpiece, but no one can say for sure.
Since the Dark Scroll of Amu conforms to the style of most magical writings, transcribing even the smallest and most secure portion of it appears to be extremely difficult. However, the author of this book still carefully selected some excerpts, hoping to pass on Eminem's demonology. But be careful. You discovered Eminem's original work in your thirst for knowledge. Read with caution, always be on guard against a being from the darkness swallowing you up.
The origin of the devil
The Abyss and its endless layers gave birth to countless demons. They screamed their hatred for everything until the noise became unbearable. The description of an individual demon does not capture the diversity of the species - if "species" is even the right word. Chaos creates variability, making it difficult to generalize about demons.
If Amu's theory is true, the emergence of demons comes from the extension of Chaos, and the evil left in the Abyss when gods, demons and other forces "ascend" to other planes to build their own realms or occupy the places created by Chaos. . Since demons are directly born out of Chaos, there are countless types of demons in the universe. Even Eminem has only classified a very small number of demons. In fact, the more the ancient scholar studied individual demons, the more desperate he became at the idea of establishing a so-called demon physiology. But this expanded collection can identify and identify several demonic traits.
But why is there universality? Aren't demons born out of chaos? Eminem has a very reasonable explanation for why the Abyss obeys some vague laws. Demons originate from the essence of the plane. The Abyss craves chaos and evil. It uses the creation of the plane to return more parts of the universe to its final starting point. Therefore, Amu believes that when the Abyss created most demons, it gave them the characteristics most suitable for spreading chaos and evil, and the burning desire to do so. Therefore, repeated creation of certain replicas usually forms the characteristics of demons. .
Even with these theories, demons remain somewhat mysterious and elusive. Even for creatures in the material world, there is no "normal" for demons. To understand the symptoms of chaos and evil is to understand something that is free from all theory.
demon physiology
Since demons do not share a common ancestor, nor do they share the same body shape or survival needs, they are difficult to explain physiologically. Some scholars claim that the various demons have nothing in common except their origins.
But Eminem disagrees. Based on previous theories, he believed that the Abyss created demonic forms to fulfill specific tasks, which forced its creations to be consistent in certain aspects. Unfortunately, Eminem couldn't come up with enough evidence. As you might imagine, living demons are notoriously difficult to study. Once they die, their bodies either return immediately to the abyss or decay extremely quickly. However, chaos is chaos, and some demon corpses are preserved beyond imagination and can be used for research.
basic organs
All creatures in the material world have common characteristics. Humans, dragons, hippogriffs, mind flayers, and gnomes all eat. They all need to breathe. They all reproduce in some basic physiological ways. But we do not share these qualities with demons.
Demons are not creatures of the Material Plane. Likewise, their needs are different from other living things.
Eating: Demons do not need to eat. A demon can consume large amounts of food (of any kind), and they often take special pleasure in swallowing living sacrifices, especially ones that are bloody or disgusting (stomach-deep). Demons can eat tons of food in one meal without any consequences, sparking debate about where the food actually goes. The most common theory is that they transported food to the Abyss, but no one can give definite evidence.
Breathe: Demons need to breathe. Their lungs are very strong and they are extremely resistant to external gases, including the death air of the Abyss that can poison most creatures in the Material Plane. Likewise, demons can breathe in any natural gas on the Material Plane (their air is not good, after all).
Sleep: Demons have no need for ordinary sleep. But some powerful beings can occasionally force them into a sleep-like state, and demons can even be forced into unconsciousness, although that is not easy. The demon can choose to fall asleep (usually just a trick of deception), but gains nothing from it.
Digestion: Although demons can eat anything they want, they do not digest in the physiological sense. Food seems to disappear into thin air upon ingestion, unless the demon wishes to expel it. If they do so, it can take many forms (such as vomiting, oozing slime from their pores, or other means of excretion) with no clear intention other than to enjoy the pleasure of polluting the environment.
Reproduction: Some demons can engage in sexual behavior if they wish (although not all demons have the necessary "capital"), but this is not done for the purpose of reproduction (most likely just for fun), new demons are created directly from the Chaos of the Abyss Creative. Powered demons usually do this simply to create half-demons, but such creatures can also be created by other means (via spells or curses).
anatomy
The coward is one of the lowest forms of demons. It is difficult to capture a coward outside the Abyss alive, and it is even more difficult to keep its corpse from returning to the Abyss after death. Successful cases are unheard of. Despite this, an ancient Dark Scroll researcher managed to do so and manage to prove his discovery. The following is his work, although the first draft has been revised many times based on other documents (how did you catch it?).
1. Tendons: The thin and deformed limbs of the coward are covered with lean and strong muscles. These muscles give it enormous gripping strength that is completely disproportionate to its size. The coward was still conscious when it was dissected, and I watched its slender muscles struggle. Once the coward dies, its muscles quickly atrophy, becoming very soft and easy to cut. I am convinced that the creature's power comes not only from its physical makeup but also from supernatural factors.
2. Claws: The strong forearm muscles of the coward pull the hand tendons, giving its claws a fatal grip. Watch out for those thin fingers. The bones in the hand become brittle after the coward dies, but before it dies, these bones are as hard as steel. Before it died, I took a few hard hits with a hammer to open one of its phalanges, but after it died, I broke one off with my thumb and forefinger.
3. Abdomen: This is the biggest difference between demons and creatures in the main material world. While the demon was alive (sadly, only for a short time), its dissected abdomen was filled with a swirling, foul-smelling black liquid. One of my assistants tried to collect some liquid in a jar, but the liquid spontaneously wrapped around his hand and he ran out of the room screaming (the liquid didn't actually hurt him, but he could never recall it) An experiment that resulted in an accident). After the death of the coward, the liquid was quickly dehydrated and evaporated, concentrating into a pile of tar-like residue and a few dirty small organs. The smell lingers for a long time and dissipates very slowly. The coward had an esophagus connected to its stomach, but it seemed to have no intestines or any other digestive and excretory organs. This also scared me, because when I caught this captive and fed it, it almost ate the food I threw into it. Everything organic in the cage - dead or alive. This also confuses me because I don't know how it is excreted. Maybe it spits out waste when no one is looking, or leaks fluid from its pores. I hope I catch another one soon so I can solve the mystery (and then no one sees him again).
4. Brain: To my surprise, the brain of a coward looks very similar to that of a human or other creature in the Material Plane. But the hue is different—darker, more purple. The stench emanating from the open cranial cavity was reminiscent (perhaps I should use "indescribable") of a load of cooked hides dumped into a pool of vomit. But the brain's projections and folds are similar to those of most higher mammals. The next time I dissect a coward, I should do a craniotomy before the laparotomy so I can observe its brain functions while it's still alive.
Whether the replenisher of the Dark Tome captured and dissected another Daemon is unknown. (End of chapter)