Page 19 - D&D - Player's Handbook

In 882 DR, a village and trading post on the shore of a titioners of the Art were driven mad or killed, while the
deep bay in the shadow of a great mountain was named face of Faeriln was reshaped by waves and veils of mys-
Nimoar's Hold, after the Uthgardt chieftain who claimed tic blue fire. Entire nations were displaced or exchanged
the area and fortified it. The place became known to sea with realms from other worlds, and parts of the earth
captains as "Waterdeep," a name that displaced the orig- were torn free to float in the air.
inal within a few generations. In 1032 DR, Ahghairon,
heir to the arts of Netheril, saved the city from itself by THE SECOND SUNDERING
unseating Waterdeep's warlord and would-be emperor, A century after the S pellplague, the lands and peoples of
Raurlor. Ahghairon declared that wisdom, not strength Faeriln had become accustomed to the state of things-
of arms, would rule in the city from now on, and created just in time for everything to change again.
the Lords of Waterdeep. The first indication of new turmoil came in 1482 DR,
These and other nations and great city-states rose to when Bhaal, the long-dead god of murder, was reborn
prominence along the Sword Coast, forming a chain in Baldur's Gate amid chaos and bloodshed, leaving two
along the Trade Way from Illusk in the far north to of the city's dukes and many of its citizens dead. The
Baldur's Gate in the south, near the borders of Arnn. return of Bhaal and his apparent reclamation of the do-
Like their elven and dwarven predecessors, they fought main of murder from Cyric led some scholars and sages
off attacks by savage humanoids, including ore hordes to believe that the rules by which all deities must abide
from the Spine of the World. Waterdeep, guided by its were in flux.
mysterious Lords, became a rising power, while old In 1484, strange calamities began to occur through-
Illusk fell to the ores for decades, until it was eventually out Faeriln. An earthquake struck Iriaebor. A plague
reclaimed and the city of Luskan built upon its ruins. of locusts afflicted Arnn. Droughts gripped the south-
ern lands as the sea steadily receded in places. Amid
THE PRESENT AGE this tumult, conflict broke out in many regions of the
continent. The ores of Many-Arrows warred against
The four and a half centuries since the establishment of the dwarfholds of the North and their allies. Sembia
the Lords of Waterdeep have been tumultuous times for invaded the Dalelands, and Cormyr raised an army to
the Sword Coast and the world. Throughout this period, come to the aid of the Dalesfolk. Netheril brought forces
civilization struggles against the savage forces of chaos, to Cormyr's border, and Cormyr was drawn into a war
and life attempts to persevere against the agents of death
on both fronts.
and strife, sometimes in places where even the gods
Throughout this period, tales began to spread of indi-
themselves have not been exempt from destruction.
viduals who had been touched by the gods and granted
The last one hundred fifty years have comprised one strange powers. Some of these so-called Chosen were
of the most cataclysmic periods in Faeriln's history. On at the root of the conAicts that grip the land. Some
no fewer than three occasions, Tori! has been shaken to
seemed driven by divine purpose, while others claimed
its core by forces that have repeatedly rewritten the laws
to be mystified as to why they would be singled out.
of reality.
In 1485, in Icewind Dale, the Chosen of Auril foments
war with Ten-Towns and was defeated. In Anauroch,
THE TIME OF TROUBLES
seeing that Netherese forces were spread thin, the
In 1358 DR, the gods were cast out of their otherworldly
long-subjugated Bedine people rebelled. Having de-
domain and made to wander the land incarnated as
feated or besieged the dwarfholds of the North, ores
mortals. In seeking to recover their divinity, they warred
march on Silverymoon. In Cormyr and Sembia, the
among themselves. Magic became unpredictable, and
Netherese and the Cormyreans traded ground, while the
the prayers of the faithful went unanswered. Some of
Dalelands became a war zone. As if to offset the drought
the gods-turned-mortal were slain, while a handful of
in the south, in the autumn of 1485 the Great Rain be-
mortals ascended to godhood, assuming the responsibil-
gan to fall around the Sea of Fallen Stars and continued
ities of the dead deities.
unceasingly.
THE RETURN OF NETHERIL While the waters rose to the east in early 1486, the
In 1374 DR, the Empire of Netheril rose again when the tide turned against the ores in the North, and by the
floating city of Thultanthar, commonly known as Shade, end of the year their armies were broken and scattered.
returned from a nearly two-thousand-year-long excur- Also during that year, the elves of Myth Drannor came
sion in the Shadowfell, to hover above the Anauroch to the aid of the Dalelands and helped push back Sem-
desert. The shadow-touched nobles of the city almost bian forces. On the Sword Coast, the Hosttower of the
immediately began hunting for ancient Netherese ruins Arcane rose again in Luskan, along with the Arcane
and artifacts and preparing for a restoration of their Brotherhood. In Waterdeep and Neverwinter, efforts
once-great empire. were made to clear those cities of century-old rubble
and neglect. Cormyr repulsed the last of the Sembian
THE SPELLPLAGUE and Netherese forces from the nation, reclaiming its ter-
In 1385 DR, the ascended deity Cyric, aided by Shar, ritory, and recalled its forces, turning inward to address
murdered Mystra, the goddess of magic, in her domain issues of rebuilding.
of Dweomerheart. This act ripped asunder the fabric Late in 1486, the Great Rain finally abated, but this
of magic in the world, unleashing its raw power in a event didn't signify an end to the chaos. The Sea of
catastrophe called the Spell plague. Thousands of prac-