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Originally posted by Lady Kazandra

Ed also shared some details about Netherese survivors in his '04 replies IIRC.

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Netherese Survivors in the Modern Realms

NOTE: The following was taken from two separate postings from the Candlekeep.com message boards.

I know of at least a dozen Netherese who are still active in the Realms of today, albeit some of them in greatly changed forms. Hint: a LOT of Netherese bound themselves into magic items (especially swords), to 'live on' telepathically. If your blade seems able to see what's around it without having visible eyes, hear thoughts of nearby creatures, and mend/heal itself in limited ways, it just might contain the sentience of a Netherese.

The pages of ELMINSTER: THE MAKING OF A MAGE and SHADOWS OF DOOM both contain Netherese survivors (one each), and I can reveal here that I know of at least two who reside quietly (pretending to be "just plain folks") in Waterdeep and Suzail, respectively. No, I'm not going to give names, because for a DM it's far more useful to have them as ‘handy tools.'

The Waterdhavian one founded a successful mercantile family now regarded as noble, and then (having prepared for this with covert investments, coin caches, and property purchases) faked his own death, to reappear as a retired merchant, a role he's played several times since. Like Elminster, he meddles covertly in city politics and society, spreading rumors and ‘turning' particular individuals to hold more cosmopolitan world-views (investing in other lands, and taking an interest in folk from those places). He does this because he very much wants to avoid Waterdhavian haughtiness from growing any greater than it is already.

The Suzailan one is a female who firmly believes that Netheril fell because of overweening pride and overarching mastery of magic. She enjoys life in Cormyr (when it isn't imperiled by war, of course), has hidden coins and gold in plenty for her needs, and covertly works to do two things: confuse and confound War Wizard investigations, and to make both War Wizards and others think that there are secret personal dangers involved in too much spellcasting, and in casting specific, over-powerful spells. She is VERY good at keeping hidden, spreading such rumors through the mouths of passing strangers by means of suggestion magics, and never doing anything openly herself. She's no enemy of the Crown; she just doesn't think allowing the War Wizards to reach the status of ‘extremely effective secret police' is a good idea. She's dwelt in Suzail for almost forty years, and knows it will soon be time to "disappear" or be noticed as something other than the well-to- do widow she's pretending to be, but is tarrying because she enjoys the city and its folk so much (she perceives a rising danger in wealthy, ever-restless Sembia of sorcerers and wizards becoming overproud and reckless in their use of magic, but has such a distaste for what she's seen of Sembian society that she just doesn't want to go there, while also seeing that it would be a very good place to take a new face and name).

You can, of course, create many more Netherese, though I'd suggest that they all conceal their origins and that they NOT (or try not) to know of each other, rather than forming any sort of shadowy secret society or power group. That would be why, even for the two examples from my novels, clearly identified Netherese should be very scarce. After all, if Netheril is most remembered as a "land of awesome magic," then anyone identified as Netherese can expect wizards and sorcerers to launch surprise attacks, mind- invasions, and attempts to capture or financially control them, to get all the magic that's "surely" waiting in their minds, or in the case of items, hidden in places they know.

...the Netherese survivors won't get along at all well with the people of Shade. In fact, I'd venture to say that ALL surviving Netherese in Faerûn would be wary at best, and actively hostile at worst, to the new "arrivals."

"Hiding from and otherwise ignoring" would probably be their initial reaction, and they'll quite rightly see attempts by the folk of Shade to find them as attempts to snatch their power. If that happens just once, word will get around, and the folk of Shade will then discover they've bitten off a lot more than they can ever hope to chew.

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Originally posted by Lady Kazandra

Where are the Cultists detailed? Lost Empires of Faerun?

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Has Ed made any connection about the possibility of some of the surviving Netherese perhaps being members of the Cultists?

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Originally posted by Lady Kazandra

Has Ed made any connection about the possibility of some of the surviving Netherese perhaps being members of the Cultists?

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Originally posted by Wooly Rupert

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Originally posted by Lady Kazandra

Has Ed made any connection about the possibility of some of the surviving Netherese perhaps being members of the Cultists?

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I don't believe anyone has asked him... His quotes on the surviving Netherese date back at least a year before LEoF.

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Originally posted by The Hooded One

Most Netherese would hide from the Cultists, too.
I ventured this opinion to Ed, and he agreed. And said certain Netherese might try to manipulate Cultists by feeding them information, both true and false. Out of whim, out of decaying sanity,and to see if they could be forged into some sort of weapon or outreach organization (witting or unwitting).
The scary thing is,
Ed CHUCKLES a lot whenever I mention Netherese. As if he's got more up his sleeves than just his arms . . .
love,
THO

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Originally posted by nbnmare

A couple more to add to the list:

The Night Parade are descendants of Netherese arcanists who emigrated to the Demiplane of Nightmares in -618 DR.

Similarly, the Maulagrym are descendants of a Netherese wizard, Maulag, who moved to the Plane of Shadow to study it (presumably along with several assistants, apprentices and servants). I'm not sure of the year, but it was some time before the Fall of Netheril.

In both instances, original members of the groups could yet survive...

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Originally posted by silvermage

If Malaug and his party migrated into the POS some years before the Fall of Netheril, similarly, the Shadovar also migrated into the POS at that time. If both groups stayed in the POS for a very long time, how came that they are so different with the Shades looking near-human without shape-shift abilities while Malaug and his children looked so distorted?

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Originally posted by At your Behest

No, actually she was captured by our most beloved Shadovar !

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Originally posted by Kajehase

It's mentioned in Lost Empires of Faerûn, if my memory serves me correctly for once.

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