| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| The Arcanamach |
Posted - 01 Jan 2018 : 01:59:08
Looking for any official information on this location in the Eastern Shaar. A search here yields zero results and the wiki just says they're a clump of hills. I mainly want to know why are they called the 'Council' Hills as the answer may shape the purpose for which I use the area. |
| 7 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| The Arcanamach |
Posted - 01 Jan 2018 : 22:42:13
Thanks for the input so far, I didn't realize there was previous lore associated with the hills though I do recall Shaundalar (just didn't remember the connection). |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 01 Jan 2018 : 20:51:54
Regarding the people of Council Hills and their link to Raumviri/Nar:
-75 DR Year of Leather Shields - An alliance of the Rashemi, the Rus, and the Raumviran witches finally liberates Rashemen from demonic rule. The hero of this conflict is a half-Rus/half-Rashemi warrior named Yvengi, who wields a great magical blade named Hadryllis against Eltab [–105, 106], severely wounding the demon lord and forcing him to flee. The Witches of Rashemen finally catch up with Eltab in the Sharawood, far to the south in the Eastern Shaar. They imprison him beneath the forest floor and bind a dracolich known only as the Everlasting Wyrm to be his guardian.
— After defeating Eltab, the witches demand the right to name the Iron Lord of Rashemen. The nation of Rashemen is established.
-69 DR Year of No Regrets - An Illuskan tribe from the island of Ruathym [–3000, 1356] travels through a portal to the Council Hills in the Eastern Shaar. Over time, the Illuskans mingle and join with the Arkaiuns who fled the fall of fabled Shandaular, capital of Ashanath, in the lands west of Rashemen centuries before. In time, this mingling of people leads to the establishment of the realm of Dambrath in the Shining South.
So, one of the things that's been playing in my head is to have some witches from Rashemen STAY in the council hills area to watch over the Everlasting Wyrm that's a dracolich that they've bound in the Sharawood. They may know that the portal in Shandaular is linked to their own portal in Ashanath (through which the rus recently came) and they try to get it to work. The reason why I'd want this... I want some witches who work like the durthans, but without the link to cold... the need for masks... the iron rulership of their people.... I just want them to be basically something like spirit shamans down in the Shaar, but their core magic is similar to the Rashemi. This would imply that Telthors exist down in the Shaar, which if most telthors are spirit animals, I'm fine with. |
| Markustay |
Posted - 01 Jan 2018 : 16:39:44
I theorized that there is a three-way portal system there, because illuskans also appeared in the Rashemen region via portal. However, somethings gone awry and the 'in' and 'out' on the Rashemen/Narfel side of things have become two separate points (perhaps some sort of magical-displacement affect left by Narfel or others, to avoid invasion coming from what should have been their 'Escape Gates').
And, of course, those three may be part of an even larger portal network, like the one connected to the Mucklestones (which itself is probably a small part of The Road of Stars and Shadows, and Elminster seems to be the only person to be able to 'cross' from one part of the road to another, although I would lay money on both Larloch and Halaster being able to do similar).
And I would have to agree on the folk in The Shaar being more 'anti-Narfel', so more about the original, nature-loving inhabitants of NE Faerűn, some of which became the Rashemi with their traditions, and some became the Shaarans, with their own, similar (Native-american like) respect for nature.
Conjecture: Both the folk of Narfel and the Rashemen are of Raumvari stock, so of even more ancient Gur bloodlines. Somewhere along the way the group split - one continuing with their more (Prime Material) nature based magic and traditions (very similar to druidism), and one consorting with planer beings a little too much. In the novel Frostfell we get a 'flashback' of early Raumathar, and it seems VERY druidic in outlook, but later on we see that they were corrupted by their war with Narfel, and became much like them toward the end. Most of that can be blamed on a single Demonbinder who switched sides (or did he? What was his ultimate goal, since he managed to turn his enemies into the same kind of people he had left behind?)
So what you have there is a single 'people' who were split along the lines of somewhat 'religious differences' over time - one following the 'natural order', and the other, the unnatural. To theorize even further, i think a lot of that started way back in Imaskar itself - I think they had two main factions. A more conservative, "lets work within the known boundaries of our natural laws", and another that was more about, "lets see how many of those laws we can break". With any technology, even magical, there comes a point where hubris begins to outweigh common sense, and you begin to experiment not because you should, but because you can. Fast forward a bit to the times of the Imaskari survivor states, and you'll have some groups going in one direction, while others following the opposite path. Formally united ethnic groups like the Gur/Raumvari became split over it.
The Dark Sun world of Athas is a prime example of this dichotomy - to Preserve (and maintain balance with the natural laws), or to Defile, and break those laws. No power comes without a price. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 01 Jan 2018 : 13:46:07
No, because Shaundalar was before Narfell by about 120 years. If anything, the council hills just hated Narfell, because with the fall of Ashanath the realm of Narfell rose to prominence. However, the Council hills WOULD be related to the Nars, just not Narfell (and the only reason I'm specifying this is that I don't see Shandaular as having demon and undead ties). An interesting part to note here is that the people of Shandaular OPENED the portal, it doesn't say they created it. Also, the council hills is where the people of Ruathym also came through.
–1064 DR
A two-way portal between the Shandaular, capital of the kingdom of Ashanath and Council Hills, far to the south in the Eastern Shaar, is opened. Shaundaular expands to encompass the lands surrounding the portal’s southern terminus.
–987 DR
Thargaun, son of Tharos, assumes rulership of the tribe with the death of his father and establishes the kingdom of Tharos with himself as its first ruler, or Nentyarch.
–970 DR
The Nentyarch of Tharos builds his capital at Dun-Tharos and forges the Crown of Narfell. He begins conquering the surrounding Nar kingdoms and uniting them under his rule.
–946 DR
The armies of the Nentyarch of Tharos destroy Shandaular, capital of Ashanath. All the petty Nar kingdoms are now united into the Empire of Narfell. The people of Shandaular flee by means of the two-way portal around which their city is built, leaving their leader Arkaius behind to seal it. These people, now in the Council Hills area of the Shaar, name themselves the Arkaiuns in honor of their fallen ruler.
-69 DR
An Illuskan tribe from the island of Ruathym [–3000, 1356] travels through a portal to the Council Hills in the Eastern Shaar. Over time, the Illuskans mingle and join with the Arkaiuns who fled the fall of fabled Shandaular, capital of Ashanath, in the lands west of Rashemen centuries before. In time, this mingling of people leads to the establishment of the realm of Dambrath in the Shining South.
We were actually talking about this portal network and its possible ties to an older elven network a couple months back, and thus the Rus showing up in Rashemen and these Illuskans in the Shaar. I was linking it up to possibly a portal in the Llewyrrwood (i.e. modern day Neverwinter Wood) and also linking it to the Llewyrr of Synnoria in the Moonshaes. Now that I've studied a little more of the Utter East and the Shining Lands, I also wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't a terminus in or near the Ajmer Forest in Durpar, which is the only sizable elven community in the area (and in doing this, I imagine that the Ajmer Forest say a few thousand years ago covered a LOT more area around the golden waters). If this is an acceptable idea, we can see how the northmen and moonshae cultures traversed to Ulgarth and the Utter East (and maybe they logged a good portion of the forest making ships and sailing away from said area to go further south). Interestingly, we don't know what subrace the elves of the Ajmer forest are (I'd assume wood)... but they also follow the ways of Adama.... possibly the "elven territories" in this forest once held LeShay (only thinking this due to the possible LeShay links to the Imaskari). In fact, IF Sarifal was linked in this network, we would have Leshay on two sides... it might be that these portals aren't an elven construct, but a Leshay one.
So, the possible portal network described MIGHT include the following
Ashanath (ruined city of Shandaular)
Council Hills (also ruined city of Shandaular)
Ilefarn's colony in the Neverwinter Wood/Llewyrrwood
Synnoria/Sarifal in the Moonshaes where the Llewyrr fled to
Ajmer Forest between Durpar and Ulgarth and bordering the Raurin
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| The Masked Mage |
Posted - 01 Jan 2018 : 05:18:18
quote:
Originally posted by KanzenAU
They’re originally the site for half the city of Shaundalar, magically connected to the Lake Ashane region in old Ashanath by a two-way portal. The portal was later closed, and the Council Hills part of Shaundalar eventually devolved into a meeting point for the nomad societies in the region that the survivors became. This is all from Shining South (3e).
I’m guessing the meetings were councils - hence Council Hills.
Remember this makes the Shaarans cultural (and magical) descendants of Narfell... Ruins and dormant portal means possible fun :) |
| KanzenAU |
Posted - 01 Jan 2018 : 03:52:20
They’re originally the site for half the city of Shaundalar, magically connected to the Lake Ashane region in old Ashanath by a two-way portal. The portal was later closed, and the Council Hills part of Shaundalar eventually devolved into a meeting point for the nomad societies in the region that the survivors became. This is all from Shining South (3e).
I’m guessing the meetings were councils - hence Council Hills. |
| Storyteller Hero |
Posted - 01 Jan 2018 : 03:33:51
Have you checked to see if there were any battles fought in that area or wars in that region?
Hills are a natural staging point for army command camps, where generals would communicate with councils of lieutenants and strategists.
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