In this series I will look at the history of the Forgotten Realms world and publish a series of maps depicting the continent of Faerûn and the wider world of Toril at various points in its past. Like my previous series, Nations of the Forgotten Realms, this series draws on The Forgotten Realms Interactive Atlas and other Dungeons & Dragons resources for the setting, particularly The Grand History of the Realms, Netheril: Empire of Magic, Cormanthyr: Empire of Elves and Lost Empires of Faerûn.

The work of Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Eric L. Boyd, James Butler, Thomas Costa, Ed Greenwood, Dale “slade” Henson, Brian R. James, George Krashos, Steven Schend and Travis Stout was particularly useful in compiling this series, along, obviously, with the work of everyone who has ever put pen to paper for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting (officially or unofficially).

A map depicting the Second Crown War, between the dark elven kingdom of Ilythiir and its neighbours to the north, Orishaar and the Kingdoms of the Three Leaves: Thearnytaar, Syòrpiir and Eiellûr.

The Second Crown War

With Miyeritar under attack in the north, Ilythiir decided to begin its long-planned war of vengeance against the northern kingdoms for the disaster of the Sundering, as well as continuing to worship gods considered anathema to the Seldarine.

In 11,700 BDR, Ilythiir ordered Orishaar to halt its trade and supply agreements with Aryvandaar by sea. Orishaar refused, believing that Ilythiir would not dare test their power and their alliance with Aryvandaar. They were wrong. The dark elves of Ilythiir invaded Orishaar with overwhelming force, deploying magic on a staggering scale. Aryvandaar was too busy securing Miyeritar to come to their aid. Orishaar was overrun and conquered within just months.

Thearnytaar and Eiellûr marshalled their strength and fortified the coast of the Lake of Steam, fearing a surprise Ilythiiri strike across the sea. But the Ilythiiri made other plans and instead sent a large army far to the east, striking Syòrpiir from the south and south-east. By 11,600 BDR Syòrpiir had been destroyed, with the Ilythiiri employing fire on a huge scale to burn out the enemy and divide their territory from Eiellûr to the west. The Golden Plains and Naga Plains were formed at this time.

Thearnytaar and Eiellûr formally allied and declared war on Ilythiir in 11,500 BDR. After forming a holding line to the east for fifty years, they invaded Ilythiiri territory by sea, with the intention of bringing Ilythiir’s rulers to justice, in a campaign known as the Sable Wars. But the dark magics of the dark elven gods were employed against them, and their forces were slaughtered, or transformed into hideous, crazed half-spider creatures known as driders, which were then unleashed against their own homelands. By 11,400 BDR Eiellûr had fallen, again through the use of fire. By 11,200 BDR Thearnytaar had likewise collapsed.

The growing chaos of the Crown Wars did have an unexpected impact elsewhere. Elven refugees fled to the lands of the Inner Sea and sought help from their aquatic elven brethren. In 11,743 BDR the sea elves of Aryselmalyr, a rising power of the Inner Sea, founded the great city of Coryselmal and employed magic so surface-dwelling elves could take refuge in the city. By 11,400 BDR the torrent of refugees had become enough that Aryselmalyr had to expand its borders through the Inner Sea, bringing it into conflict with the sahuagin for the first time. In 11,003 BDR, Coryselmal was confirmed as the capital of Aryselmalyr, marking the first year of the Calendar of Serôs, as the sea elves called the undersea realms below the Inner Sea.

Other refugees, fearing the ocean deeps, would flee elsewhere in Faerûn, to the vast forests east of the Inner Sea known as the Riildath and the Yuirwood, or north-east to the Great Forest on the Inner Sea’s north-eastern shores, beyond the plains east of Aryvandaar and Miyeritar.

Three years later, a huge, organic craft originating from elsewhere in Realmspace made planetfall in the Shining Plains, the area of open land east of Shantel Othreier and Keltormir, and to the west of the Inner Sea. This craft brough the very first illithids, or mind-flayers, to Toril. They soon disappeared into the caverns and caves below the plains where they founded the great city of Oryndoll, some twenty-six miles below the surface.

A map depicting the locations of the founding kingdoms of Shanatar, later called Deep Shanatar, the original homeland of the shield or mountain dwarves of Faerûn. All locations and borders are shown in the Underdark; surface features are shown for relative reference.

The Founding of Shanatar

In 10,800 BDR, there was a schism within the great dwarven kingdom of Bhaerynden over whether to establish further colonies or focus on their own affairs, especially given the chaos engulfing the elf kingdoms far above their heads. Finally, Taark Shanat, known as the Crusader, led his eight sons and a large number of followers out of Bhaerynden. They travelled westwards by paths unknown (possibly through what was already becoming known as the Underdark) and emerged in the mountainous lands west of the Lake of Steam. They continued westwards, eventually discovering the great underground city of Rringlor North (located just west of what are now called the Marching Mountains), a city inhabited by the species known as cloakers.

The dwarves took the nearby caverns of Alatorin as their stronghold and fended off cloaker attacks, as well as slaying four dragons from the Rift of Dhalnadar. The four dragon skulls were fused together by holy magic, blessed by Dumathoin, to form the Wyrmskull Throne. The site was renamed Brightaxe Hall, the capital of the newly-established kingdom of Alatorin. But Alatorin was merely the first of nine great kingdoms which would arise in the region. It would be joined by Barakuir, Drakkalor (under the Kuldin Peaks), Iltkazar (under the Omlarandin Mountains), Korolnor (under the Troll Mountains), Sondarr, Torglor (under the Snowflake Mountains), Ultoksmarin (under the eastern Marching Mountains) and Xothaerin (underneath Amn), each founded by one of Taark’s sons. The further kingdom of Holorarar was subsequently founded below what are now the Clovis Fields of Tethyr. These kingdoms were all part of the greater dwarf-empire of Shanatar, the Shield-Kingdom. The inhabitants of Shanatar became known as the shield dwarves.

Lying mostly under the territory of Keltormir, the dwarves of Shanatar established trade contacts with the elves above and began supplying them with weapons and armour, of which they would soon be in dire need.

A map depicting the Third Crown War, between the gold elf kingdom of Aryvandaar and its southern neighbour of Shantel Othreier. The extent of the Dark Disaster, when the conquered dark elven kingdom of Miyeritar was inexplicably scoured from the face of Toril, is also shown.

The Third Crown War

With the conquest of Miyeritar completed, Aryvandaar turned its eyes southwards to Shantel Othreier. Shantel Othreier was larger and more powerful than Miyeritar, with a longer history and powerful magic at its command. However, Shantel Othreier also had other concerns: it had lost forces fighting dragons, and lost more troops which it had sent to aid Thearnytaar and Eiellûr against Ilythiir.

Shantel Othreier tried to discourage Aryvandaari aggression, but failed. In 10,900 BDR, Aryvandaar’s armies invaded Shantel Othreier from the north and north-east, using staging areas in Miyeritar and powerful magic learned from the fallen solar Malkizid, who had rebelled against the Seldarine almost twenty thousand years earlier.

In 10,700 BDR the elves of Shantel Othreier launched a counter-offensive, planning to swing far to the east through the Gods’ Theatre with a very large force and attack Aryvandaar’s supply lines, forcing them to withdraw or starve. Getting wind of the plan, Aryvandaar sent forces to intercept. This resulted in the Battle of the Gods’ Theatre, in the modern Tunlands. Battle was joined and the outcome hanged in the balance until a vast horde of orcs swept out of the Sunset Mountains. More than seventy thousand elves were slain in the resulting massacre, one of the most severe losses of elven life in recorded history.

Shantel Othreier bore the brunt of the casualties and was permanently weakened by the loss. By 10,600 BDR, Coronal Ynloeth had died and Shantel Othreier surrendered to Aryvandaari occupation. However, Aryvandaar’s losses were also severe, weakening both their frontier armies and their occupation forces in Miyeritar. Resistance forms sprang up across both Shantel Othreier and Miyeritar, leaving the Aryvandaari having to commit vast forces to defending against hit-and-run attacks rather than preparing for the next stage of their campaign.

Tremendous pressure was now applied to Keltormir, lying as it did between the hammer of Ilythiir to the south-east and Aryvandaar to the north, unable to bring its full strength to bear against one less it be attacked on the other flank. The Keltormiri braced themselves for an impossible struggle.

The Dark Disaster

With the conclusion of the Third Crown War and the defeat of Shantel Othreier by Aryvandaar, Faerûn held its breath to see where the winds of war would blow next. The smart money was an invasion of Keltormir by Aryvandaar or Ilythiir, or both, and that realm accordingly prepared for conflict.

But the Aryvandaari were pinned down by constant rebellion, uprisings and rebel attacks throughout Miyeritar and Shantel Othreier, aided, or so the Aryvandaari suspected, by the remaining free kingdoms of the west, Ardeep and Illefarn. These attacks became so serious that Aryvandaar several times had to delay its planned attack on Keltormir to address them.

Then, in 10,500 BDR, a disaster of a magnitude not seen since the Sundering struck Faerûn. Dark clouds formed above Miyeritar and rapidly spread. A horrendous, poisonous rain struck the ground, accompanied by lightning and firestorms. The elves called it the Killing Storm, and it spread out to encompass most of the central part of Miyeritar’s territory.

It lasted at least days, possibly weeks, maybe even months. By the time it had ended, Miyeritar had been scourged from the face of the continent. A vast, blasted wilderness was left behind, an utterly dead wasteland that in later millennia would be called the High Moor. The death toll was certainly in the tens of thousands at the very least, maybe vastly more.

The calamity, the Dark Disaster, shocked Faerûn into an undeclared ceasefire that would last forty years. No precise explanation was ever found. Some believed that Aryvandaar’s High Mages had caused the catastrophe themselves, but many Aryvandaari occupation troops and civilians had themselves died in the event. Some believed that the rebel Miyeritari had caused it, but it was their own people who had borne the brunt of the casualties. Many concluded it was an act of High Magic brought about by one side but which had gotten out of control.

Whatever the cause, the Ilythiiri squarely blamed Aryvandaar, citing it as evidence that the Aryvandaari desired the death of every dark elf in Faerûn, something they could not allow to happen. They would now be urged to ever greater actions of destruction and evil, claiming it was in self-defence against the threat of genocide.

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