History of Cormanthyr

Over the course of the next millennia, Arcorar’'s many domains flourished despite repeated orc and goblin attacks from the north and west. Jhyrennstar'’s magic made Arcorar'’s trees equally the most massive and the most resplendent of all their like on Faerûn. The green elf druids and rangers of this realm were as one with the greensward, and they made alliances for the elves with the centaurs, satyrs, treants, and other local sylvans.

Uvaeren’'s knowledge and lore continued to prove a boon to the Elven Court and the other realms. Elven lorekeepers from this realm were the most cryptic and secretive, and invented hundreds of ways to both record the annals of elvenkind and hide that information from any nonworthy eyes (in most interpretations, the N‘'Tel’'Quess). Many believe that the Uvaeranni enchanters created the first ''tel’'kiira'' of Faerûn. Among the more obscure of the legendary library methods of Uvaeren were:

• chimes keyed to play certain multiple elven melodies that gave far more information than their lyrics ever could (by association of the tunes and the pitch at which the chimes were set);
• a stone mural spanning an open-air temple that shows a massive crowd of armored elves walking in a scene of clouds, wind, rustling trees, and waving grass (100 different legends and warnings are there in ancient elven racial scripts, visible only under certain lighting conditions or by infravision. Of course, one has to know four different millennia-dead written languages to pick out the words from a carving of intricate chain mail links on one figure among hundreds); and
• a clear, smooth-surfaced crystal spindle as tall as an elf. (Its interior was inexplicably carved seemingly from within with faceted pictographs that change their appearance and meaning with a shift of light or viewpoint, allowing the full history of a clan to be placed in plain view but not be revealed to any who did not know how to read such Lightlore.)

During this time, Elven Court became the first of these elven realms to make contact with the dwarves (Sarphil) through the agents in the eastern forests across the Dragon Reach. The Elven Court sought to keep the forests east of the Reach under its control, and fought the dwarves to prevent their expansion to the surface lands. After a time, Sarphil’'s dwarves and the Elven Court struck an alliance, and both their realms profited greatly from trade and exchange of information.

The Twelve Nights of Fire

Tragedy invaded the glades of Arcorar in the Twelve Nights of Fire, five millennia after the arrival of the first elf of Elven Court. A star fell from the heavens, tearing across the sky and crashing upon the center of Uvaeren’'s settlements and librariums. The falling star brought with it a widespread meteor shower, all of which set the trees of western Arcorar aflame for twelve days. The fires decimated the western forest, splitting Rystall Wood from Arcorar and clearing a wide gash into the main forest along the direction of the meteor. Between the impact crater and the fires, the Lorelands of Uvaeren were destroyed beyond repair. About one-quarter of its people survived and later migrated either to Jhyrennstar or Semberholme.

The Return of the Dark

A few centuries after the calamity of Uvaeren, the first inklings of trouble began to surface from below. Both elven scouts of Jhyrennstar and dwarven miners of Sarphil were found dead, not by accident but by murder. The mysterious deaths continued for decades with no answers, though many rumors frayed dwarf and elf tempers alike as each chose to accuse the other of wrongdoing. Elven Court’s and Sarphil’'s clan leaders still met at Midwinter in -4400 DR, and they reestablished their alliance at Elven Court. Then, during the longest, darkest night of the year, evil struck.

Hordes of drow and duergar, the evil Underdark cousins of both races, flooded out of previously unnoticed tunnels and swarmed into Elven Court. The start of the fray showed the forces matched evenly, but when the second wave of dark elves and dwarves came up from the depths, the forces of good faltered. The meager forces assembled were easily overwhelmed, especially since the elves and dwarves set aside their weapons at Elven Court. More than thirty clans of dwarves and elves lost their leaders in the slaughter. The dark elves had learned many potent and malignant magics during their exile, and their resistance to elven spells helped turn the tide in their favor. They summoned spiders and deepspawn and other hideous monsters into Elven Court, ensuring mass destruction.

As the drow and duergar kept erupting from down below, the dwarves fought holding actions in the tunnels, and many brave dwarves died by collapsing the tunnels upon themselves and their foes. As the tunnels began closing with increasing frequency, two-thirds of the drow and duergar abandoned their attacks on the elven settlement and fled down the tunnels that led to Sarphil. Trusting that his elven allies could handle the remaining invaders above, Sarphil'’s King Dauringogh and 44 dwarves (including two of his four sons) chased the dark invaders to Sarphil, where they found Sarphil’'s warriors dead or routed. Despite days of fighting and knowledge of his homeland, King Dauringogh (hereafter called “the Doomed”) found himself and his people inundated with the evil Underdark races’ - most malevolent warriors and wizards. Within a month of Midwinter, Dauringogh and his remaining dwarves fled north, abandoning Sarphil.

After all was over, there were no more than 30 dwarf and 15 elf survivors of the feast hereafter remembered as the Dark Court Slaughter. Sarphil fell, and it was split into two occupied realms for the drow and duergar. Elven Court was despoiled and ruined. The elves had seen their city of law torn down in less than three days’ chaos, though it is interesting to note that none of the monsters (the primary destroyers of the city of Elven Court) visited destruction on the temples, just the secular buildings. The Seldarine temples were destroyed or desecrated by drow priestesses of Lolth filling them with venomous spiders and shattering the altars with dark prayers to the Spider-Queen. Not surprisingly, the drow did not occupy Elven Court, but fled after a few tendays terrorizing the survivors and neighbors of Elven Court. Now the elves knew their enemy, but it would take both races centuries to heal and recoup their losses before breaking again into open warfare.

For the next 400 years, the settlements and realms of Arcorar buzzed with activity and discussions on the course of action. Military activity increased tenfold, as the elves sought out the drow at every turn. During this time, the paranoia of the Rystalli came to the fore, and amid accusations of conspiracy and racial prejudices, the elves of Rystall Wood proclaimed themselves an independent nation, allied with Arcorar only against the dark elves.

When the Coronal of Jhyrennstar fell ill and his fever proved incurable, his death-bed wishes overruled the objections of many nobles, since he spoke as Coronal and as a prophet of Labelas: "“If we are to survive as is the Peoples’' right, one Coronal must vow to unify the tribes of this great land. One Coronal must unify sun and moon, sky and sea, earth, tree, and root, and his promise to all is long-lasting peace and strength in unity.”"

At the dying Coronal Oacenth’'s arrangement, the young clansmen competed in trials to test their strength of limb, magic, and character. After three candidates emerged from the testing, the High Mages that survived from Elven Court created new elfblades for the three. Within a High Magic ritual, the three simultaneously drew their blades; the runes upon them declared them ruler, defender by arms, and defender by Art. Kahvoerm Irithyl drew the ''Ruler'’s Blade, and while still in the ritual, the dying Coronal Oacenth removed his selu'’kiira'' from his brow and fused it to the pommel of the sword, granting him ruling knowledge and High Magic. With that task completed, the Coronal Oacenth walked away from the Ruling Ritual and the aged elf dissolved into a flurry of fireflies. Many elves of Cormanthyr today still see fireflies as a positive omen whenever found.

Coronal Kahvoerm Irithyl, with the acceptance of the Jhyrennstar nobles and Semberholme’'s Council of Trees, proclaims all the domains of the forest to be one realm and one people, and he renames the forest Cormanthor, and the realm is Cormanthyr. He repeats the elder Coronal'’s wish as his solemn vow to unify the woodland folk, and he declares this new nation needs its center, a great city in celebration of all that is life and all that is elven, "“for I would give our land its crowning jewel Cormanthor, the Place of Great Promise!”"

Coronal Kahvoerm spent the early part of his rysar seeking the site for the capitol, walking the breadth and length of his new realm of Cormanthyr. After 15 years of wandering about the forest seeking a sign, the Coronal fell into reverie on a low hillock beneath a shadowtop tree in the northern forest. Here is how the legend of the Founding Song tells it:

''"“His body glowed arcanely, his eyes shining of a golden god’'s touch, and he walked upon the air as lightly as a sylph. The First Coronal journeyed among the branches and the treetops, knowing not where he went, until he arrived at a grand glade with many clearings to greet the sun. There he walked and approached a low rise, drawing the Ruler’'s Blade as he strode thrice around it. Mounting the hillock, the Coronal saluted the highsun, and then drove his sword home till all that was seen was the hilt amid a circle of violets and bloodflowers."

After the Summoning of the Rule Tower, Cormanthor swiftly grew around it, a beautiful city of wood and stone and life and magic. Cormanthor became every bit the place of beauty the elves dreamed it could be. Everything that was Cormanthor blended with the very nature of its inhabitants and its surroundings, a perfect synthesis of life no matter where one turned.

For millennia, the elves of Cormanthyr lived in peace in their grand capital, but elsewhere in the realm, chaos ruled the days and nights. Over the next three millennia, the Cormanthyran People would face enemies such as abusive and arrogant Netherese archwizards, the ever-present threat of the dark elves beneath their feet (The Lands Under Shadow grew during this time.), the orcs of Vastar, and the awakening of ancient evils such as the Rotting God Moander. Through it all, Cormanthyr kept heart that they would prevail, as they did, as it was their destiny while they remained united. Even the constant harassment of the Netherese survivor states and the unrelenting destruction that followed them in the form of Anauroch did not break their spirits.

The clarifying moment (at least for the Coronal Eltargrim) came with the fall of Rystall Wood. Adamantly refusing to join the nation of Cormanthyr for centuries, Rystall Wood equally refused the aid of Cormanthyr when it needed it most. In the Year of Gleaming Frost (-64 DR), Rystall Wood was almost entirely destroyed by a combined horde of giants and orcs. Damage might have been lessened had the elves allied with the surrounding states of Hlondath and Asram, but all sides stubbornly cared only about themselves. The Netherese survivors drove the bulk of the horde into the forest rather than allow their own lands to be ransacked by the horde. As a result, the elves were outmatched and nearly all died. Of the survivors, most joined with the elven nation at long last, but nearly 100 peacekeepers of Yrlaancel rebuilt their city, determined to see their message of peace and understanding survive on its own.

After the Fall of Rystall Wood, the Coronal began disagreeing more and more with the stubborn elders of his Councils. Eltargrim saw naught but strife on all sides for the elves and all other good races. The realm of Cormyr, once an elven colony claimed from the dragons, grew into a human realm in less time than an elf’'s eyeblink. The goblinoids had firmly established themselves in the Stonelands for all time, merely because the army of Cormanthyr couldn'’t lower itself to allying with the all-too-human Purple Dragons of Cormyr to prevent it. Still, the orcs and other menaces loomed in the peaks above and between the races. The finding of the Ring of Winter might not have caused any damage or loss of life at all, had its wielder had the benefit of elven knowledge. A solution needed to be found to prevent the elves from losing more ground from the other races, good and evil alike.

Despite objections from elven nobles of Cormanthor but the full backing of the elder Tree-Spirits of Elven Court, Coronal Eltargrim and the Court summoned the human tribal and clan leaders who were tentatively nestled in small villages about Cormanthor’'s edges. After a year’s deliberations, the Dalesmen were the first humans of Toril in more than a millennia to witness elven High Magic as the elves of Cormanthyr raised the Standing Stone within the woods to commemorate the pact between the elves and men. That pact lies carved at the base of the 20-foot-high plinth of glossy gray stone: "“While there is even one Tel'’Quessir within the forest, the men of the Dales may settle the Cleared Lands around us. This stone and the Pact of Peace between our Peoples shall crumble if ever the Dalesmen willingly reduce the woods or invade the lands claimed by the Tel’'Quessir.”" The raising of the Standing Stone occurred on Midwinter'’s Night, and this is used as the starting point of the Dalereckoning calendar (1 DR). Many wonder why it has not crumbled ere now, and it is a matter of much thought; most sages believe that only a purposeful and fully conscious choice by a native Dalesman to cut down more than bramble and deadwood and violate this treaty will make the Standing Stone fall or shatter as an oathstone should.

Despite some clashes among stubborn humans and elves alike, the alliance kept both races in relative peace. However, marauding monsters and the everpresent threat of goblins and orcs and the like still worried the Coronal. In his reveries, he mulled over the Vow of Coronal Oacenth, and its relevance on the modern times. Eltargrim believed that the “vow to unify the tribes of this great land” applied to the N'’Tel'’Quess as well.

Again in opposition to his noble clan elders but with the backing of Elven Court, Eltargrim opened the forest of Cormanthor to N’'Tel'’Quess wizards, druids, and the rare non-human settlers in the Year of the Sword Violets (220 DR). Of course, there were always N'’Tel'’Quess in the forest in the forms of satyrs, centaurs, and other sylvan races, but these were the first nonsylvan Not-People allowed within the glades blessed by the Seldarine. In all, far fewer settlers petitioned to live among the elves than some feared. Even the dimmest humans realized the disapproval growing amid some elven circles, and only the truly bold risked their displeasure for the sake of learning about them and from them. Most opted to settle near the city but outside the trees considered part of Cormanthor. Inside of a decade, over two score wizards’ towers and druids’ groves dotted the forest near the elven city.

The late Third Century of Dalereckoning began the fall of the People, as some elves saw it, even when most races on Toril considered these years of reformation to be the turning point for the greatest city of Faerûn. As with many great events of change, all it took was one person with a mission. While the mission was simply one of learning and knowledge, the elves did not blithely accept the entrance of a lone human undetected into Cormanthor. Disguised as a noble elf and wearing a “stolen” ''tel'’kiira (granted him by the dying Lord Alastrarra), the young prince Elminster Aumar of fallen Athalantar surprised many with his boldness and skill with magic, but he angered many more with his mere presence. After a number of tests by both the noble House Alastrarra and the Coronal himself, the prince-mage was found to be Sha'’Quessir'', an elf-friend. Still, despite a public pronouncement and vindication by Eltargrim himself, there were many who saw not a mage eager to learn of the Tel’'Quessir but a “"Hairy One"” whose presence foretold only doom.

Those who opposed the unification of the races tried time and again to manipulate Elminster into being a puppet with whom they could prove the illogic of the Coronal'’s stance. These plots rarely lasted long, thanks to Mystra’'s aid and the friends the young mage made among the more level-headed elves of the Coronal'’s Court. He learned much of the intrigue and hypocrisy that existed among many of the elven noble houses, as he came close to losing his life because of them. For the later months of the year and two decades beyond, Elminster learned more of magic under the tutelage of the Masked, one of the most mysterious of mages in Cormanthyr or any of her contemporary realms. A near-captive, Elminster merely bided his time, waiting for signs from Mystra on how to proceed and learn.

Still, the grand plan of unification marched ahead despite all the machinations of the nobles or the magical mishaps that followed the young Elminster. In the Year of Soaring Stars (261 DR), the Coronal brought his plans to bear in the face of open rebellion and attempts on his life. Despite the best efforts of the Staryms and other rebels, a mythal rose among the star-dappled towers of the city, and the Coronal and the Srinshee crowned the new city Myth Drannor. Though some elves abandoned “the Coronal’'s "mad dream" of unity” and left the city (and, in some cases, the realm), many accepted it and Myth Drannor flourished in glory.