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the Gurs are thought to be primarily of Rashemi descent.
Although they have certainly intermingled with members of
other ethnic groups, they strongly resemble the natives of
Rashemen.

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by darkhaired,
fair-skinned humans

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Although all Netherese used the Draconic alphabet, the language of Low Netheril, and the commoners of High Netheril was Netherese, while the nobles of High Netheril spoke Loross.

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As fragments of lore dating back to the erection of
the Standing Stone refer to the nomadic Gurs, it is thought that
they fled their ancient homeland during or immediately after
the cataclysmic battle between Raumathar and Narfell.

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Speakers of an ancient dialect of Rashemi among themselves,
the honor-obsessed Gurs employ the Thorass alphabet and speak
Chondathan with non-Gurs.

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From Dungeon 150 web enhachment

In truth, Jergal is an alien god, brought
to the Realms millennia ago by a pod of
spellweavers who settled in the region now
known as the Chultengar, located in the
easternmost reaches of the of the Jungle of
Chult. It is believed that one of the earliest
Netherese archwizards studied necromancy
with the spellweavers of the Chultengar before
returning to Netheril, and that he founded the
church of Jergal upon his return.

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Originally posted by Baltas

It's purely a fan theory Krash. It's inspired from a few canon things though. First that that Gur resemble Rashemi, but are also said to be descended from Netherese. Second, that there was a Guri tribe in the Hordelands, aparently related to the Rashemi, and Raumathari, that gone west, aparetnly far west. Fans, combined those into a theory that the Guri arived in the Netherese basin, and build the Seven Towns there. The Gurs would be decesdants of the Guri/proto-Netherese, that didn't mix with the locals, acording to this theory.
I think Markustay started this theory.

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Rings of Farscrying: Two of these potent magic items were plundered from the detritus of a Netherese flying city that crashed into the Trackless Sea amid the islands of the Korinn Archipelago in the Year of Sundered Webs (-339 DR).

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Fhaor .Akh .Tel.Quess/ .Tribute of One.s Duty to the People.: This ceremony allows an elf of any age or health to sacrifice his or her life and normal existence in order to better serve the clan or community in a different form. This ritual severs the elf.s ties with the Call to Arvandor, but the duty and the powers of its new form prevent the elf from descending into madness; now, the Call is replaced by the Duty the form gives him.
Elves can become undead baelnorn, or Reverend Ones, in which their duty is guardianship of things, places, or people. They can also be transformed into tree spirits (choice of form as dryad, hamadryad, satyr, or treant), in which their duty is the guardianship of the trees and to act as advisers of Elven court.
This transformational ritual alters the elf.s dying form into a different state, not quite undead but not alive in the conventional sense for an elf. Transformed thus, the elf.s body is either changed into its new form or the body dies and the spirit then inhabits the new form, and the body is then interred as a special part of the closing ritual. This is one of the greatest sacrifices an elf can make for his community or clan, and thus those who undergo it are accorded the highest honors both before and after the ritual.
DM.s Note: Even at this height of elven civilization, a major part of this ritual has been lost. In times past, elves also could be transformed into weave spirits, beings of pure magic who help maintain mythals and spell fields and guard against abuses in magic. High Mages now theorize that the last Weave Spirit was created during Netheril.s rise, and the last High Mage who knew the casting was slain by an archwizard. While there is no proof, some High Mages wonder if such beings as will.o.wisps, nyth, and wizshades are not elven weave spirits gone mad or degenerated into corrupt forms due to the damage to the Weave with the Fall of Netheril.

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A High Mage could summon destructive power equivalent to that which created the High Moor. The ritual is known as Mormhaor.Sykerylor/ .The Killing Storm.. Most elves refer to this High Magic Ritual of Myriad as .Miyeritar.s Bane.. The High Moor is enough mute evidence to illustrate that this magic is not to be summoned ever again. In fact, the elves scrupulously pay attention to the talk of wizards in Faerűn; when even a hint has emerged of a mage considering a killing storm, that mage has been dead within a tenday and his books and notes of such magic destroyed irrevocably. (This assassination scenario happened seven times during the time of Netheril alone.)

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After 1d20 years without the attentions of Tyvollus, the metals will separate into the Nether Scrolls once again.

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Ooltul is a vague legend in the Moonsea and Dalelands region, but it was once home to a large number of Anaurian Hive beholders. Ooltul was the easternmost city of Xun.Qoroth, a beholder nation whose territory encompassed the deep tunnels west of the Desertsmouth Mountains beneath the Netherese survivor state of Anauria.

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libram entitled Mhuelosiun Mantles has recently been offered for sale in the markets of Ooltul. This legendary spell tome was penned in the years leading up to the Crown vs. Scepter Wars between Hlondath and Cormanthyr by the Mage Royal of Mhaelos, and is said to set out the process for creating one or more of the legendary spell mantles for which the Netherese arcanists were so famous.

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The tales you might have heard are true.these monsters really do eat the brains of other creatures. I had heard they regard humans as humans might in turn regard their goats. This, however, is not true, at least not in the case of Anauroch mind flayers. They are cautious, and actually overestimate their enemies (again, they differ from beholders in this respect). They do not attack unless they are sure they can win.
I believe the mind flayers. extreme respect for human powers comes not from the sparse confrontations with Bedine and ulugarr adventurers of the current Anauroch. Though I value my own worth in fighting highly, I have seen too much of the world to imagine that I am among the most fearsome creatures in it. I think perhaps the mind flayers are recalling far earlier contacts with the Netherese, that race of powerful sorcerers who once lived in what is now the Great Desert.

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omewhere beneath one of the darker, racier nightclubs of the city lies the lost crypt of the Wondermen, a lost, long-ago society of mages, perhaps from lost Netheril, who explored the extremes of human magic of their day.
Local lore holds that several of the Wondermen, now liches, guard the crypt, which is full of dancing ioun stones, wands, rods, and stranger treasures, including a huge crystal sphere containing an .eater of magic,. a cloudlike creature that, if released, the legends whisper, will devour all the magic in the world, leaving the Realms bereft of all spells and their effects. (This creature is a Nishruu. A close relative of it, a Hakeashar, appears in *FRE1.)

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Many wizards from Netheril escaped into wonder form when their kingdom fell, using a spell later (and independently) duplicated by drow mages; the wonderform spell included elsewhere in this book. Such transformed folk can speak normally, and work magic, while in wonder-shape, and escape from wonderform at will. As the being.s mind is completely shielded from contact, and the wonderform spell masks its true alignment aura with a .normal. wonder.s alignment, this can be a very effective hidingplace from a foe who is able to probe disguises readily.

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The Promenade encompasses an isolated quarter of the original Sargauth Enclave that was separated from the cavern of Skullport during the cataclysm that destroyed the Netherese outpost centuries ago.

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Centuries ago, the wizard Larloch, sorcererking of Netheril, created a powerful artifact with which he intended to control the minds of his court, reveal his enemies. plans, and summon powerful beings from the Outer Planes. The artifact served him well, and he ruled for many years, eventually becoming a powerful lich.

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The Bright Sword is real. It is called Beirmoura and was forged long ago by a wizard who sought to defeat the rising kingdom of Netheril by creating a series of wizard-slaying swords.

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The Ghost Sword - In the waning, decadent days of Netheril, a peculiar (for his people) sorcerer named Twyluth Ornadyn hit upon the idea that the salvation of the Netherese lay in turning their magical skills and lives back to living in harmony with nature and other living things. Ornadyn foresaw the need for battle magic to safeguard the survival of the Netherese as they learned the ways of all life, and he envisaged an armory of enchanted blades whose wielders could communicate with each other over long distances through meditation and
the blades. transmission of mental images and audible speech.

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Cloaktower: At the spot where the Neverwinter River flows into the city stands the Cloaktower. This is the meeting place and citadel of the Many-Starred Cloak. Among the treasures known to reside within this warded and trapped seat of power is a wondrous magical device found in a Netherese ruin: Halavar.s Universal Pantograph. It reputedly can make two coins from one, or two swords where there was only one before.

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Originally posted by George Krashos

The original human settlement of Illusk would have been Ice Hunter humans who venerated the arakhor as a god, Jeriah Chronos took an interest in the place because of Maegera and was looking to control the arakhor and the primordial when the orcs came and blitzed the place. The arrival of the next lot Netherese after Karsus' Folly would have been prompted by Melathlar coming across a lore trove of Jeriah and finding out about Maegera. They would have travelled to Illusk to seek to control the arakhor and Maegera as a weapon against the phaerimm leading to the arakhor becoming petrified (i.e. becoming a stone tree) and Maegera being let loose until the elves of Iliyanbruen brought it under control again at the site of present-day Gauntlgrym. The destruction wreaked by Maegera through the Neverwinter woodlands would have been the cause of the enmity between Illusk and the elves of Ilianbruyen, leading to the war between them.

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Originally posted by Baltas

Also Krash, you posted a interesting bit of lore, that may interest dazzlerdar, in the The arrival of the Rus thread:

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Originally posted by George Krashos

The original human settlement of Illusk would have been Ice Hunter humans who venerated the arakhor as a god, Jeriah Chronos took an interest in the place because of Maegera and was looking to control the arakhor and the primordial when the orcs came and blitzed the place. The arrival of the next lot Netherese after Karsus' Folly would have been prompted by Melathlar coming across a lore trove of Jeriah and finding out about Maegera. They would have travelled to Illusk to seek to control the arakhor and Maegera as a weapon against the phaerimm leading to the arakhor becoming petrified (i.e. becoming a stone tree) and Maegera being let loose until the elves of Iliyanbruen brought it under control again at the site of present-day Gauntlgrym. The destruction wreaked by Maegera through the Neverwinter woodlands would have been the cause of the enmity between Illusk and the elves of Ilianbruyen, leading to the war between them.

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It is theoretically possible to contact the trapped sentiences within the Tree of Wailing Souls, although any such communication will be tinged with the taint of madness and hindered by fragmentary recollection. Such communication might be established by means of psionic or magical telepathy or by necromantic variants of the tongues spell. As severing a head effectively "kills" the communication channel with the trapped sentience until the tree manifests chooses to manifest the being’s head once again, all such communication must take place on the slopes of Turlangtor while simultaneously battling the Tree of Wailing Souls. If such communication is ever attempted, some of the spirits that might be reached include King Connar V, one of Ammarindar’s later dwarven monarchs, Neldarnoth the Thrice-Cursed, a Netherese refugee who became one of the most admired Ascalhi archmages ere his disappearance,

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Founded ere the rise of Netheril, Glaurachyndaar was a small city in eastern Eaerlann near the confluence of the River Aulantrar (Deepingstream) and the River Starsilver, well known for its school of elven wizardry. After the Fall of Netheril, the High Mages of Glaurachyndaar joined the ruling council of Ascalhorn in advocating the reeducation of Netheril’s surviving arcanists in the ways of elven magic. Over the course of the next eight centuries, the elven mages of Glaurachyndaar worked closely with the Netherese refugees who settled in Ascalhorn, making the City of Scrolls an ideal candidate to emulate the example of Myth Drannor.

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The Trail of Mists is a little-known means of magical travel akin to a series gate [1] and believed to date back to the height of Netheril and Eaerlann. [2] Created by gnome illusionists [3] working in concert with Eaerlanni High Mages, the Trail of Mists served originally as a means of magical transport by which gnomes who had escaped enslavement by the Netherese could move about the northern and eastern High Forest without fear of being recaptured. [4] The Trail of Mists linked several score elven garrisons on the Eaerlanni-Netherese border with an elven fortress in the heart of Eaerlann since rebuilt as the Citadel of Mists. [5] From there the Trail of Mists led further south and west, enabling gnomes to safely flee far from their former masters. [6]

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As the Uthgardt are said to be well-versed in the art of navigating by the stars of the northern heavens, which they commonly refer to by dialectic derivatives of the names that their Netherese forbears learned from the elves of Eaerlann as they fled the destruction of Netheril, "Lunargent" undoubtedly introduced this confusing clue so that only the Sons of Uthgar could hope to find the Grandfather Tree.

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Originally posted by dazzlerdal

Well thanks to George's excellent writeup about Jergal that solves all the mysteries of Netheril that I couldn't think of an answer for, I'm going to focus back on my alternate rewrite of Netheril.

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Gem Spiders: Although these creatures are neither gems nor spiders, they resemble astonishingly large (the size of a human head, or even bigger) faceted gemstones attached to eight spiderlike legs upon which they scuttle about. As a result, they have always been called "gem spiders."

What they are in truth are automatons; the animated, semi-intelligent results of special variant stasis spells cast upon dragon eggs. Sages of arcane lore say the magic protects the eggs against all but the most ferocious extremes of heat and cold, and against most blows and crushing weights.

Gem spiders don't attack anything, or breathe, or do anything much except remain immobile for long periods, then they hurriedly move away from lights, sounds, and movements, always seeking dark concealment and immobility. Since such objects were often hidden by their creators (certain Netherese archwizards, and more recent arcane spellcasters who inherited or found the writings of the Netherese mages) in recesses behind walls, they have become confused in legend with other sorts of gems in walls, and in rare instances they have been found with them.

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A wizard who's taken to calling himself Maskalar Waterdragon (but who formerly acquired an unsavory reputation in Amn and various Inner Sea ports under several other names, including Alkandor Ilhorn and Surdran Wraethjack) recently came to public attention in Scornubel while selling "power gauntlets of lost Netheril." These are single gloves fashioned so skillfully of forgotten alloys that resemble electrum that they're almost as supple as well-worn leather. Anyone who wears one—not just someone skilled in the Art—can call on the gauntlet's powers: spell-like effects fired as rays or beams from the fingertips of the gloves, one discharge per digit every seven hours. These powers include magic identical to (or closely resembling) tearing claws, blinding bolt, lightning daggers, gripping chains, and ball lightning.

Waterdragon claims to have recovered many such gloves from a sunken Netherese wizard's tower that he describes as having the shape of a spindle, "with spires both above and below," that has lain under "a remote part of" the Vast Swamp in eastern Cormyr "since the fall of Netheril." He says he kept the best gauntlets for himself, and this claim was borne out when he was attacked by three mages at once—and bested them by unleashing volleys of triple fireballs followed by forked lightning bolts. Waterdragon has said that he knows where other ancient treasures lie underwater, still guarded by "things I dare not face."

In the Wizards Reach, a mage from Chessenta named Alamandur Rorskorn warns that drowned Ulsklar, a Netherese archmage who has slept in stasis underwater "for an age, and more" in his sunken citadel, was recently awakened by "overbold" wizards who sought to plunder Ulsklar's home, and is "taking a fell interest in wizards who now hold power in the lands, and think themselves mighty—and are mistaken."

The wizards who roused him, Rorskorn says, deserve whatever fell doom Ulsklar visits upon them, because they made what the Chessentan calls "the reckless fool's mistake." They killed the mistnetters they'd employed to help them clear the way to Ulsklar's citadel.

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The Isle of Prespur, located in the Sea of Fallen Stars, is not often visited. It has only one possible harbor, and no real cover. It was originally the private estate of a mage of great power named Prespur, and on it he built a castle. Prespur, a Netheril mage, studied and researched magic there in seclusion. It was his retreat when magic went afoul in Netheril, and his place of safety when Netheril fell. With his death, the island remained uninhabited for many years.

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Before recorded history began, a city stood in this cavern, its spires rising gently from the cavern floor like what were then young stalagmites. Its smooth crystalline walls morphed with the icy stone, forming one surface. It fell to an army led by Netherese arcanists, and the army utterly annihilated every trace of its structures -- not even ashes remained. Later Netherese inhabitants were mystified by seven smooth blue columns that seemed to grow like persistent weeds from the cavern floor, returning despite every attempt to erase their presence. Even now, long after Netheril fell and its scattered colonies were abandoned to the great desert, seven blue columns still stand as mute testament to the first inhabitants of this nameless cavern.

The portal under the High Ice seems to have chosen a guardian over the years just like the western portal has. Ancient legends speak of a madness that consumed the Netherese colony in this cavern, and more recent adventurer's tales suggest that Icindallix, the red dragon who laired here, was eccentric beyond her choice of habitat. It is possible that all this madness stems from the presence of the portal, which whispers in the dark to those it chooses to protect it. Now one inhabitant lives in the cavern, and that one is the portal's chosen protector: the half-remorhaz Red Worm.

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Buried deeper still in glacial ice is an artifact that dates from the time of the phaerimm and the fall of Netheril. Zzarka's initial tests showed the thing to be a powerful repository of the life drain magic with which the phaerimm planned to obliterate the world. She coveted the artifact for herself, but she feared that it might become unstable if she used magic to excavate it. Therefore, Zzarka set a crew of zombies to the task of digging it out of the ice. The work is slow, but zombies are patient creatures. A century later they are probably still there, digging . . .

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Baphitaurs are castoff experiments of Netherese wizards who operate in another dwarf-built hall, the keep of Andalbruin, now known as the Dungeon of the Ruins (see the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, page 294). Apparently created by merging minotaurs, humans, and the same bull-headed demons who allied with the dwarves, the baphitaurs fled their creators at Andalbruin and eventually gravitated to the one place in Faerűn they could truly feel at home: the Labyrinth.

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