Candlekeep Forum
Candlekeep Forum
Home | Profile | Register | Active Topics | Active Polls | Members | Private Messages | Search | FAQ
Username:
Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

 All Forums
 Realmslore
 Sages of Realmslore
 For Thaeravel pt I.
 New Topic  New Poll New Poll
 Reply to Topic
 Printer Friendly
Author Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  

Beirnadri Magranth
Senior Scribe

USA
720 Posts

Posted - 02 Oct 2005 :  16:07:18  Show Profile  Visit Beirnadri Magranth's Homepage Send Beirnadri Magranth a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
Greetings sages,

I am focusing my research on the ancient kingdom of Thaeravel. The Land of Alabaster Towers is not listed in elven lore as a kingdom of the Tel'Quessir and so I must assume that it was a human kingdom. Yet, the humans of Thaeravel had great magic and had many old and powerful sorcerors. It is curious how the decadent sorcerors learned of their magic, and how they had remained distant from the elven kingdoms that were ancient as well and as talented in the weave if not more so. The sorcerors did not interfere with any kingdom or land to their west or north or else it would be documented in Netheril history as a threat.
According to the tome "Lost Empires of Faerun", the Netherese ripped magic from the sorcerors of Rasilith (the capital of Thaeravel) that was previously unknown to them. Therefore the magic that the sorcerors wielded was not contained in the Scrolls of Aryvandaar, because the Netherese had already plundered that text.

For the reasons of its ancient nature, its detachment from realmly affairs, and its unknown source of magical energy I have great interests in uncovering lore about the kingdom.

Sage, and Master of Realmslore, Mumadar Ibn Huzal suggested that Thaeravel was the same as Oreme "City of White Towers".
http://candlekeep.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=4012

I ask other sages advice:

-Where is Oreme is terms of modern or Netherese lands? "It lies approx 200 miles east of Weathercote Wood, on the edge of the empty sands of the Frozen Sea." where are these places?

-I find no other examples of white towers other than the city of Rasilith. While some towers could float (as Ondil of the Many Spells' had) I wonder if Rasilith was the only place of these white towers.

-Where can I find the history of areas south of the Quarter of Emptiness? Finding out histories of areas around Thaeravel could help describe theri relations with that land.

I will endeavor to learn more of this mysterious land and their magic. I will post more as soon as my queries are more cohesive and my lore-bits more substantial. Any aid in the meantime would be greatly appreciated.

[on a technical side, i know that the idea of thaeravel was though of from fleeting comments by Ed Greenwood and developed in some dragon magazine artcile. Im not sure of the number but I saw it posted on some thread relating, I think, to Phaerim. If anyone knows which number etc. and a way to read that article I would be grateful indeed]

"You came here to be a martyr in a great big bang of glory... instead you will die with a whimper."
::moussaoui tries to interrupt::
"You will never get a chance to speak again and that's an appropriate ending."

-Judge Brinkema

Beirnadri Magranth
Senior Scribe

USA
720 Posts

Posted - 02 Oct 2005 :  19:01:23  Show Profile  Visit Beirnadri Magranth's Homepage Send Beirnadri Magranth a Private Message  Reply with Quote
FINDING OREME

The Weathercote Woods is the forest directly Northwest of the Lonely Moor and East of the Graypeak Mountains. This forest is labeled on pg 174 of the Faerun Campaign Setting.

On the map provided at the end of the book, which folds out... it should be 1.5 inches (200 miles: since 120 miles is 15/16 of an inch) to the east, which is in the the middle of the western part of Anauroch.

this doesn't help much and I'm still left wondering...
What is does "the empty sands of the frozen sea" mean? Where the high ice used to be?... if oreme was a City of white towers on the high ice... then the towers could be ice towers and coldblooded serpents wouldnt have had serious problems with the temperature. (who might have inhabited the city since it was in the serpent book)

"You came here to be a martyr in a great big bang of glory... instead you will die with a whimper."
::moussaoui tries to interrupt::
"You will never get a chance to speak again and that's an appropriate ending."

-Judge Brinkema
Go to Top of Page

The Masked Mage
Great Reader

USA
2420 Posts

Posted - 24 Jun 2009 :  11:24:41  Show Profile Send The Masked Mage a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Ok... as far as I know, you will not find any answers about the land of alabaster towers because they just don't exist. You refer to a lot of 3rd edition material for your question. When 3rd edition FR started publishing, they just started adding new facts and jamming them into the spaces they didn't fit in smoothly.

Until third edition, the origin of the Nether Scrolls was a mystery lost to time and left to the imagination of FR fans...

Enter 3rd E and the Sarrukh... one of the seldom referred to creator races who has somehow managed to go 20000 years unnoticed by the Netherese, elves, etc. they are now credited with the creation of the Nether Scrolls. One of their empires was Oreme - for more info check out Serpent Kingdoms.

I personally see no reason to associate Thaeravel with Oreme.

I think it Highly more likely that is is part of another kingdom referred to in Elminster's Ecologies. This Kingdom was based over what is now the Stonelands (North of Cormyr) and consisted of cloud castles and such. The stonelands were formed when the Netherese destroyed these castles and they toppled to the ground. It would make sense to me that Thaeravel was one such. The nature of the magic in this kingdom was elven/fey in nature and as such would not be part of the Sarrukh scrolls.

If you really want me to I can look up the reference to that kingdom, but it wont help much - things were deliberately left vague back then - the game was more about wonderment than memorizing little facts about every corner of Toril - the North was a wilderness waiting to be explored.

Basically what I'm saying is Thaeravel can be anything you want it to be.
Go to Top of Page

Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire

USA
15724 Posts

Posted - 30 Jun 2009 :  16:24:21  Show Profile Send Markustay a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I was considering doing an article eventually for the CKC about that land. I did a lot of research, and although there isn't much info about it at all, there is quite a bit about the region it used to occupy, which would allow one to build a psuedo-history for the place.

My basic premise was that the term 'Sorceror Kings' actually originated with THAT land (as did the Scepter-technology), and the Netherease adopted that appelation for themselves after destroying Thaeravel (which means the artifact The Scepter of the Sorceror Kings was actually created by them).

I wasn't sure which way to go with the people themselves. Originally I thought they were yet-another group of Gur (considering that the Gur also settled south of them and became the Tunlanders - that group being known as The Mir). However, I decided that it would actually be better to have them as another ethnic group, and the fact that the Gur settled all-around them works to our benefit (and explains the early animosity of the Netherease). As of now, I'm thinking the people of Thaeravel were of of Talfiric decent (part of a proto-group I've dubbed the 'Dathites'). I also considered tying their early magical mastery to the Imaskari - perhaps as a distant Imaskari outpost, wherein at least one artificer carved-out a small Realm of his own. However, 4e's 'over-use' of the Imaskari makes me NOT want to use them anymore.

The Talfir still make the most sense, and we also get a nice 'Shadow' tie-in, which could have been part of the knowledge "ripped from the Mages minds". I think I like the idea that the stolen lore is what lead to Netheril's eventual fall (considering that we now know that Shar was behind Karsus' stupid mistakes).

Anyway, thats just some of my musings - the was also the Cloud Kingdom which co-existed with the Realm, in the airspace above, and also the Dwarven Kingdom of Oghrann, in the Tunlands (and there is quite a bit of other juicy tidbits regarding the Tunlands that could be tied into Thaeravel, including Batarachi ruins and warring goddesses).

Lots of disparate bits, but that gives us the ability to spin it all any way we want.

"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone

Go to Top of Page

Dalor Darden
Great Reader

USA
4211 Posts

Posted - 08 Aug 2010 :  18:06:09  Show Profile Send Dalor Darden a Private Message  Reply with Quote
What if Thaeravel was founded by a remnant of the same humans that created the Citadel of the Raven...making them an offshoot of the magical might of that lost empire?

Any thoughts by anyone?

The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me!
Go to Top of Page

Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire

USA
15724 Posts

Posted - 10 Aug 2010 :  20:58:35  Show Profile Send Markustay a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Dalor Darden

What if Thaeravel was founded by a remnant of the same humans that created the Citadel of the Raven...making them an offshoot of the magical might of that lost empire?

Any thoughts by anyone?

I have been re-contemplating this area, since my CKC article will 'most likely' centered around the Stonelands, and that region was once part of Thaeravel.

I was thinking about a little tie-in with Imaskar, not much, but basicaly a small group of them who were not so happy with the rulers of Imaskari (maybe religous differences) settled in the lands of the southern Anaoroch, far south of the barbarian Gur tribes settling around the narrow sea. basically a small enclave where they could study and and prcatice their religous beliefs in peace.

The people inhabiting that area at the time would be part of the Tethen/Talfiric group, and would have been more sedentary then their northern Gur neighbors. The folk of the Alabaster Towers would be the Artificers of Imaskar - just a few hundred, if even that many, who then 'looked after' and protected the locals, who in-turn provided them with food and basic labor (not a slave-situation as was apparent in Imaskkar itself - these folks were different).

So the people of Thaeravel would have been of mixed Talfir and Imaskar blood after a few centuries, with strong magical traditions. There is at least one reference to a Mulhorandi artifact in the region, and I am taking the liberty to say it was a mis-identified Imaskari artifact. I also went this route to completely differentiate them from the Netherease, who mixed with the more northern Anghardt peoples later on.

I was also going to tie-in the Cloud Kingdom (an enlightened kingdom of flying creatures that were at least allied with Thaeravel, if not actually part of it. That creates the situation wherein the Netherease were jealous of the Thaeravelites and their 'flying fortresses', and why both great, magical empires had 'survivor states' that battled to the very last (Anuria and the Cloud Kingdom).

Also going to use some dwarven lore for the region - the Kingdom of Ogrhann (sp?) rose in that region, and I feel it and the Cloud Kingdom may have been the surviving, non-humans elements of Thaeravel.

I was also going to tie it into the hidden city of Psionicist-Monks just east of the Stonelands, but that may have been a bit much - still trying to work that angle. I was thinking of having it be dwarven and gaurding some, ancient, dangerous magic/secret, and also be the secret behind the Crystal Grott (sp?). This last part was something I was hashing-out with Mr, Misc awhile back - hopefully he can chime-in with what he did there.

There is also the 'final battle' between the two powers of disease taking place in the area , and I figured Kiputytto was Netherease/Gur power, and that Talona was the Talfiric power, and that Talona saw her moment to strike when Kiputytto was greatly weakened after the loss of her Netherease worshippers. The final battle would have been fought between the two nearby cities in the Tunland marshes - one Netherease, one formally-subjugated Talfirans (the Thaeravel commoners). That battle is canon, sort of, as patrt of the folklore of those swamps.I was even going to fix a strange bit of FR lore that was in the Complete Book of Necromancers with this piece (Kiputytto didn't actually die after the battle - she suffered the ultimate debilitating disease - becoming mortal - and was hidden-away by her sister Loviatar until the ToT forced her return and final death).

I was even thinking about tying Halither to this kingdom - perhaps even as its Thaerchion (yes, that word had to come from somewhere - note the slightly different spelling). Not sure though - there was one errant mention of him and the Netherease, so i thought this could be where he encountered them. That is most-likely going to far though.

Tying together all the disparate bits for that area gave me a headache, and although some things worked out rather cool (if I do say so myself), others felt very 'forced'. Until I can come-up with a plan that is both logical and fits the existing lore I put the whole thing on hold.

"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone


Edited by - Markustay on 10 Aug 2010 21:06:23
Go to Top of Page

Duneth Despana
Learned Scribe

Belgium
273 Posts

Posted - 12 Aug 2015 :  14:28:46  Show Profile Send Duneth Despana a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Dalor Darden

What if Thaeravel was founded by a remnant of the same humans that created the Citadel of the Raven...making them an offshoot of the magical might of that lost empire?

Any thoughts by anyone?



That is also where my mind immediately went.

« There is no overriding « epic » in the Realms, but rather a large number of stories, adventures, and encounters going on all the time. [...]. Each creative mind adds to the base, creating, defining, and making their contribution to the rich diversity of the Realms. [...]. But Ed built the stage upon which all the plays are presented. Thanks Ed. » -FR Comic no.1
Go to Top of Page

Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire

USA
15724 Posts

Posted - 13 Aug 2015 :  17:51:21  Show Profile Send Markustay a Private Message  Reply with Quote
The problem is that puts them on both sides of the Netherese.

HOWEVER, I DO connect them going further back - the Talfir were a remnant of the humans who were once subjects of the dragon empires. That gave me my dark magic/sorcery connection that I wanted (for the article I never wrote).

The people who built the Citadel of the Raven would have also been from around that same time period - either the survivors of the Dragon Empires, or a group that somehow managed to co-exist with them (which would lead me to think giants... maybe some of the smaller types, like Firbolgs).

So, both could possibly be survivors of the fallen empires, but that connection is tenuous, at best. Thats like saying that the people of the Roman empire (after it fell) on one end of the empire were just like the people on the other side of the empire. Just because both survived the same even (first Rage of Dragons) doesn't mean they had anything in common, other then being contemporaries.

I like the idea of Halaster (Hilather) being the premier artificer of the splinter group of Netherese, having discovered 'something of importance' in the Tunalnds, pertaining to his latest area of research - negative Energy (Shadow) magic; something that would have been banned by the Imaskari, perhaps after some tragic (and spectacular) failures. That kind of brings us full circle with a lot of stuff - if Imaskar based the (lesser due to some recent writings by GK) Imaskarkana on fey magical traditions (which were sorcery), and those fey learned their own lessons the hard way about messing with 'dark powers' (they were driven from Faerūn by the machinations of the Dark God), then they may have passed those warnings onto their Imaskari students - "don't mess with stuff you can't control!"

The Story: Thaeravel Unfolding
Thus, Halaster fakes his own death/stasis (using a clone) and takes a group of his followers (students and retinue) and builds himself an alabaster tower somewhere close to the Tunlands so he can observe and hopefully find whatever it is he went looking for. Around the same time the (Gur) tribes around the Narrow Sea settle and become Seventon. The local tribes (Talfir) around that region (known as the 'Backlands' today) were attracted to the protection offered by the Imaskari, and over time that area (The Goblin Marches) became settled and known as 'The Land of Alabaster Towers'. Making peace with the local dwarves (who were digging around the same area Halaster wanted to discover his 'buried secrets'), and then inviting other local groups (flyers, and even non-flyers) into his burgeoning kingdom, the place became known as 'Thaeravel'. 'Thaer' literally translating in ancient fey as 'shadow magic' (the juxtapostion of 'Faer', or Arcane Magic), and the Imaskari word for land (Avel). Building floating fortresses aloft, and digging deep all around the Tunlands (and beyond), the dwarves, humans, and various 'flyers' (including dragon, giants, and avariel!), they became a power to be reckoned with. What they did not count on is the growing might of Nethril to their North.

When the raid came it was unexpected and lightening-quick, and the mightiest of Halaster's disciples were thrown down, along with their towers, and their libraries and even their minds were scoured for arcane knowledge. Among the attackers was the archmage Larloch, who took much of the 'dark teachings' back with him to study (and later pass on to his student, Telamont). Halaster became Hilather, and either surrendered when he saw he was over-matched, or simply changed his appearance and hid amongst the attackers (posing as one he saw fallen). eventually he made his way over to the Sargauth Enclave (Undermountain).

As for Tharavel's non-magical people, they became part of the new Netherese Empire (as second class citizens, at least for the first couple of centuries). The lands of the southern portion of Anauroch were annexed and that was that... but not quite.

The dwarves in their underground homes stayed put, and became more reclusive when their surface allies were conquered, Eventually they did find what Halaster sought... but thats a story for another time. suffice it to say that did not go well).

The floating portions of Thaeravel also survived, and became known as 'The Cloud Kingdoms' (mostly by the Netherese themselves - there was no true 'kingdom', just a very loose confederation of independent settlements in the sky). Both the Netherese and cloud Kingdom were wary of the other (both thought there was a possibility they could loose to the other), and a very shaky detente and truce formed. there were isolated incidents between the two all throughout Netheril's history, but both would claim the individuals were 'acting on their own and without consent'. For Netheril's part, it learned how to build its own, even grater settlements in the air, first the enclaves (flying fortresses), and later the skycities. This was in direct competition to the Cloud kingdom, and the two over-lapped, but things wouldn't come to a head until after the fall of Netheril, when much of the Cloud Kingdom's own power had literally fallen (the debris in the Stonelands), and the Survivor states began to pick-over the ruins of both. The peoples of the Cloud Kingdom were either killed, or dispersed. Only the giants and a few dragons remained in the area (in the Stormhorns - the chaotic weather dates from this period of instability).

The batttle between Talona and Kiputytto in the Tunlands area did nothing to help matters - both also took advantage of the chaos after the Karsus' Folly, and used two remaining groundling cities to wage war on one another. Thats also a story covered in another thread.

As for the Talfir - their power has waxed and waned, and the 'Shadow King' even tried to rise again, in recent memory. Note that that title was worn by Larloch at one time (thats canon).

"Whatever secrets lay buried in the Tunlands, the few that have been unearthed have lead to nothing but misery and despair. That region is best left alone by mortal beings and gods alike." --- Elminter


And thats the 'quick and dirty' version of the article I had planned. It covered a LOT of disparate stray bits of lore and wove them together as best I could. The Cloud Kingdoms were always a bit of conundrum. The dwarves of Oghrann... most went insane. A few survived as monks living in a hidden city... strange how they seem to have just suddenly developed psionic powers like that...

"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone


Edited by - Markustay on 13 Aug 2015 17:56:14
Go to Top of Page

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6351 Posts

Posted - 13 Aug 2015 :  19:41:12  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Well I haven't linked Halaster or any overt kind of shadow magic to THaeravel, but mine and Markustay's versions have some surprising similarities.

I subscribe to Markustay's theory (although I think GK proposed it first when talking about hobgoblin and human presence in Narfell), that following the thousand year war between giants and dragons, the elves and dwarves started setting up their own empires, but dragons also carved out empires for themselves (Morueme is a canon dragon overlord), they used humans (and hobgoblins) as slave races.

So all those ancient human ruins were built at the behest of dragon overlords. Without the overlords I'd imagine the primitive humans would go back to living in caves, because no one seemed eager to help or share anything with them.

Does that mean the people of Thaeravel and the Citadel of the Raven are related, probably only distantly. Perhaps the ancient human racial groupings all came from a single stock that was plundered by dragons and taken by them across the realms.



Now onto Thaeravel. I made it a remnant of one of the dragon overlord empires, and practitioners of sorcerer (from draconic bloodlines). If you check Elminster's Ecologies and the Tunland/Stonelands there is a story about an ancient dragon slain by gods who summoned a behir. Of course ancient people ascribe everything to gods, so I went with the dragons human descendants killed him off (probably by summoning monsters into his cave/tower while he slept).

I didn't go down the cloudlands/halaster route (somethings are just coincidence). Instead Thaeravel was just a nation of powerful sorcerers not unlike Netheril. They created the Sceptre of the Sorcerer Kings to destroy gods (or their avatar's to be more precise), but they never used it.

So Netheril finds Thaeravel and establishes a trading alliance, but Thaeravel wont share its deepest secrets. After having suffered such a recent defeat to the elves of Eaerlann, Netheril was unwilling to engage in another war (and indeed never engaged in another war again with a neighbouring nation), so they secretly laid a web of Steal Spells by carving inconspicuous runes throughout the city of Rasilith.

Then one night they activated the web all in one go and ripped every spell (and indeed all magical knowledge) from the mind of every spellcaster (which was all the rulers) of Rasilith. Over night the entire ruling class of Thaeravel was killed (or as good as killed) and the nation collapsed.

Many of the people of Thaeravel wandered west into the Western Heartlands (they became the ffolk), the rest stayed in the area around Rasilith and merged with the Rengarth and the netherese in the frontier (anything outside of Seventon at that time). This fusion of people became the Low Netherese.

Much later in the Shadowed Age, Melraunt Tanthul established an Outpost in the Hollow (the land where much of THaeravel existed) and discovered significant amounts of knowledge relating to the demiplane of shadow (it becomes the plane of shadow later). He gets killed for his heretical theories on demiplanes, but his son continues his work (with Karsus' sponsorship) and eventually creates the enclave of Thultanthar.


After the Fall I have a conflict between two quasi deities (one a child of Alithar Chonis, called Kippit Yutto, the other a reincarnating candidate from the Code of Reversion called Siam Orpheal). Both fight for control of the city of Phelajarama, and Kippit Yutto unleashes horrific plague magics that devastates the city.

Kippit Yutto flees the devastation (now infected with almost every known disease, and a few unknown ones). She becomes the first person to be struck by the force of the Sceptre of the Sorcerer Kings. Her physical form is destroyed, and the sceptre breaks apart.

Of course the destruction of Phelajarama gets attributed to legend and a conflict between two gods because there were no survivors to say what really happened, only the remnants of a plague more virulent than anything seen so far.


That's my take on it (it'll be in issue 11 or 12 of Alternate Dimensions).

Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions Candlekeep Archive
Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions: Issue 1
Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions: Issue 2
Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions: Issue 3
Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions: Issue 4
Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions: Issue 5
Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions: Issue 6
Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions: Issue 7
Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions: Issue 8
Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions: Issue 9

Alternate Realms Site
Go to Top of Page

Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire

USA
15724 Posts

Posted - 14 Aug 2015 :  02:35:44  Show Profile Send Markustay a Private Message  Reply with Quote
First, my reasoning: A lot of people are making a (fanon) connection between Thaeravel and the Talfir, and since we know the Talfir leaned toward 'dark (shadow) magics', I didn't want them to be just like the Netherese, so I 'flipped it'. Thats how I hit upon the idea that the people of the Aabaster Towers weren't quite the 'innocent victims' history portrays them as, and neither were the Netherse the ultimate 'ebil villains' (although sneak-attacking an entire country to steal their magic is pretty DARK). I prefer a more 'shades of grey' version of FR history.

Pulling Halaster in was an early idea if mine, because of his later connection to Sargauth/Undermountain. We see in EiH that Halaster is mad because of his contact with Shar - my assumption this was a gradual thing over a very long period of time (THOUSANDS of years). Throwing Larloch into the mix was a last-minute decision, as I was writing that. The last time I posted something about this scenario, someone pointed out that Telamont couldn't have been 'in on' the raid, so I needed someone older (and wiser) to bridge that gap. Larloch - with his title of 'Shadow King' - fit perfectly. Since I wrote that earlier, I actually figured out this attack - just a minor moment in a grand empire's history - was actually a MAJOR turning point in Faerūnian history. This is when Larloch would have first encountered Halaster.

So I did make a few 'intuitive leaps' here and there, but there was a logical path of progression in all of that. I like how it works out that 'shadow magic' was like an infection, spreading first to Thaeravel, and then through them to the Netherese (hence, the Netherese doomed themselves with their hubris).

Not sure about connecting Thaeravel to the dragon empires directly - WAY too much time passed between the two. All that would be left is legends half-remembered through folklore. By connecting Thaeravel to the Cloud kingdom (as an independent allied state), though, you do have some dragons there that may have known some of that history, and may have even been trying to preserve some of it. You also have giants as well - perhaps ones that learned the 'error of their ways', or maybe ones that left the conflict before it began because they refused to be a part of it (should only be good-tending dragons in the Cloud Kingdom). So Storm & Cloud Giants, and metallic dragons and avariel, all trying to build a society of mutual trust, and then a bunch of humans park nearby and shatter their dreams by getting them embroiled in their 'petty affairs'. The Netherese have a history of warring with giants, so some remnant of their ancient empires must have still been around. Thus, Thaeravel and the Citadel of the Raven could be connected on a deeper level - both may have been 'built' on the bones of a more ancient structure/kingdom (in the case of the CotR, the interior would have been altered so that the more ancient 'giantsh' proportions were lost, unlike in Ironfang Keep, where such things are still in evidence).

I do really like the idea that the Talfir were 'Thaeravel refugees'. Going by BRJ's old GHotR, I had placed the Talfir much further back, but since that part didn't make it into the canon cut, we actually can ignore it and just say the Talfir aren't nearly that old - just the barbarian remnants of Thaeravel (instead of the other way around). Thats a bit more realistic, and fits better time-wise. So it was just some early Ffolk/Dathite tribes that became part of the land of Alabaster Towers, probably as a side-effect of the people of Seventon driving them south (so there was animosity right from the beginning, which would have boiled-over when the Imaskari enclave took them under their wing).


When Worlds collide:
"Over the burning city of Rasiltih two powerful magi squared off. Ignoring the screams of the dying below, the two fought for a day and then a night, and then another day. As the last rays of sunlight disappeared over the western mountains, the two worn combatants finally paused in their struggle. Both had given as good as they received, much to the surprise of their opponent. They were so equally matched neither could harm the other, and the pair were fully exhausted, both in body and in magic. So it was there, over the smoldering ruins of crumbling alabaster walls and minarets the two struck a deal. Larloch would claim to have defeated his opponent, and instead would hide him away for a time in his own enclave. Halaster would not seek revenge for his fallen land, so long as Larloch helped with his research, and the two would exchange magical knowledge on a level unheard of before. And so it was that the two giants of two mighty empires came to an accord. It did not last long - a century at most - but both gained lore on arcane traditions that were very different from their own, and became so much the greater for it.

They did not part friends. Other Netherese had begun to suspect certain things, chief amongst them the Terraseer. Larloch knew it was time to throw his 'guest' under the wagon. On the eve of Larloch's betrayal, Halaster disappeared into the night, through a booby trapped Gate of his own devising... although creating such a thing under Larloch's very nose - in his own enclave! - should have been impossible. Larloch survived the explosion, of course. The last thing he remembers was a pair of twinkling eyes staring back at him through the Gate... and laughter. They say Larloch smiled his last smile that day, but it was an unpleasant smile."


From Tales the Archmages Tell at Night, penned by Leopott the Ignominious of Sembia in 1093 DR. (the last known copy of which disappeared from Candlekeep about a century ago).

"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone


Edited by - Markustay on 14 Aug 2015 02:52:25
Go to Top of Page
  Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  
 New Topic  New Poll New Poll
 Reply to Topic
 Printer Friendly
Jump To:
Candlekeep Forum © 1999-2024 Candlekeep.com Go To Top Of Page
Snitz Forums 2000