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Ilythiir was a realm of the dark elves during the Dawn Ages and First Flowering (founded roughly −27,000 DR)[8] before being destroyed after the Descent of the Drow following the Fourth Crown War.[9]

Geography[]

Ilythiir was an expansionist country,[7] that started in the southern jungles[10] and spread throughout southern Faerûn during the Dawn Age.[11] It experienced another period of expansion during the First Flowering, during which it spread across the areas later known as the Shaar and Forest of Amtar.[9]

Inhabitants[]

Ilythiir was founded by dark elves.[10] Its leadership consisted largely of dark elves.[12] According to Ka'Narlist, this was due to a genetic dominance of the dark elves. If the same was a measure, the dark elves derived a claim for superiority from their trait.[13]

Slaves[]

Ilythiir was a nation that institutionalized slavery. Known slaves included elves, wemics[14] and minotaurs.

After Syòrpiir, Eiellûr and Thearnytaar fell in the face of Ilythiir's strength, the moon and wild elves were enslaved. The aforementioned trait of the dark elves included their offsprings as dark elves in one-two generations.[15]

Furthermore, Ilythiir was a society in which results of the research topic "creation of life" were a source of pride and they did create specific creatures to serve them.[16] Athamault was one such research facility.[17]

Notable Inhabitants[]

Clan Sethomiir

was the ruling House of Ilythiir. Its fiendish patron was Wendonai.[18]

Clan Hune

was a clan of Ghaunadaur-followers.[19] They aided the remnants of Miyeritar of House Aelryth.[20]

Ka'Narlist

leader of Atorrnash[12] and first worshiper and consort of Lolth.[21] Seemingly died in the First Sundering.[22]

Notable locations[]

After the dark elves were banished from the sunlit realms after the Crown Wars, most of the remnants of the empire were razed by elves hoping to eradicate any presence of their evil cousins. The ruins of Ilythiir were the most sparse of all the ancient elf empires to survive into later ages.[17]

Athamault

or the "Iron Pit" was a fortress built during the Second Crown War near the Lake of Steam. It served as a research facility for spells and the alchemical creation of life.[17]

Citadel of Slime

was a cave, that functioned as a temple, and a site to conduct sacrificial rituals, to Ghaunadaur.[17]

Elder Orb of Ooze

was a subterranean temple to Ghaunadaur. Clan Hune built it to empower themselves but were killed by their god for some offense.[19]

Misty Vale

was strictly spoken not Ilythiir's territory. The Wild elves who helped Ilythiir during the Second Crown War were granted this land.[15]

Narathmault

or the "Dark Pit" was a fortress in Riildath, or Forest of Lethyr and Rawlinswood, built around −10,400 DR.[23]

Organizations[]

The drow, Ilythiir's descendants, intentionally ignore their forebears' history for it forced them to accept how much they did lose.[17] However, there were organizations that did remember their roots:

Church of Vhaeraun
The church of Vhaeraun's goal was to bring the drow back to power and take back what they'd lost.[24][25]
Fanatics of the Overflowing Pit
This was an order of crusaders dedicated to Ghaunadaur. It was presumed that they survived the fall of Ilythiir and continued to exist in some fashion in Llurth Dreier.[19]

History[]

Dawn age[]

The elves came to Toril via gates of the Fey, around −27,000 DR.[8] The dark elves were the members of the second immigrant wave and differed from the elves of the first immigration wave, aquatic elves, avariels and lytharis,[10] in not wanting to lead tribal lives in forests.[8] During that time, dragons were the hegemons of Toril. Non-dragon races’ treatment ran the entire gamut of cattle to glorified slaves.[26][27] It wasn’t clear how they managed it but the Ilythiiri negotiated with dragons and founded the first elven state on Faerûn, Ilythiir, with the capitol of Atorrnash.[8]

Like all other elves during that time, the Ilythiiri didn’t have an idea that something like an elven pantheon existed.[8] They picked up the faith of Vhaeraun as the major one[7] and started had a successful expansionist policy with the church of Vhaeraun as the driving force behind it.[11] Ilythiir enjoyed a high degree of safety from dragons.[28] Ghaunadaur’s faith was a minor player[11] but was considered the more attractive choice for those wizards who looked to life force as a power source.[13] Eilistraee made it her duty to oppose the church of her brother,[2] but had only a small following.[1] In Ilythiir, religious affiliation wasn’t a factor that prevented one from climbing the social ladder as proven by Ka'Narlist, a follower of Ghaunadaur,[29] who managed to advance to a position like one of the leaders of Attornash.Where he was respected[12] and openly talked about his faith[29] as well as about his disdain of the major faith[30] to foreign diplomats whom he met for the first time.[31]

After accidentally destroying their own country[8] and downsizing their population to less than hundred[32] around −25,400 DR, elves from Tintageer fled to Toril.[8] These elves sent emissaries to Ilythiir[12] around −25,100 DR.[8] These emissaries knew about Ghaunadaur from Ilythiir.[13] That entity’s power was the basis for these elves to first bargain with,[33] then killing,[34] and then taking the red dragon Mahatnartorian’s territory for themselves.[35]

Around −25,000 DR, the Dracorage mythal was created as a concerted effort of elves.[8] This act, gradually weakened the hold of the dragons and eventually lead to the end of the Time of Dragons[35] and with it to the start of the First Flowering.[10]

Around −24,500 DR, Lolth’s attention was directed to Toril through the intrusion of Kethryllia into her Demonweb Pits.[9] Ka'Narlist became her first worshiper and consort.[21]

First Flowering[]

During the first millennium of the First Flowering, Ilythiir spread further to the south and to the east of the continent. Around the time of −23,200 DR, Ilythiir's territory included the Shaar and the Forest of Amtar.[9]

During this time Ilythiir was on generally good terms with the newly founded elven nations,[10] despite skirmishes with Orishaar that started around −20,000 DR, which flared up and abated for about 7000 years.[36][9]

Around -18000DR, some Ilythiiri nobles discovered Ghaunadaur as a suitable patron for them. Other evil deities, Lolth among them, also made inroads into the nobility of that country.[5]

In a matter of centuries, Lolth's machinations successfully poisoned the previously good relationships between Ilythiir and the other nations. It went to the point, that the different elven subraces sought a means to get rid of dark elves.[37] The idea didn't revolve around killing but the creation of a dark-elf free piece of land. Among those who were excluded from the project and from the result were dark elves on their side like worshipers of Eilistraee The exclusion heightened general resentments between dark elves and others.[38]

Around −17,600 DR, the First Sundering to create the aforementioned dark elf-free land was cast, the continent was destroyed as collateral damage. Among this collateral damage was Atorrnash, Ilythiir's capitol. The casualties in lives were immense[9] and it did also affect the religious landscape of Ilythiir. A large part of the church of Vhaeraun died.[39] Conflict with the church of Eilistraee opened the path for Ghaunadaur and Lolth to become more popular.[40]

Around −17,500 DR, three elven realms, Thearnytaar, Eiellûr and Syòrpiir made steps to unify themselves into a single nation. Ilythiir sabotaged these efforts[5] by assassinating the three nations' leaders while simultaneously convincing each of the three nations of the culpability of another of the three. By −17,100 DR, the three nations' relationships to each other deteriorated so far that they started the War of Three Leaves among themselves. The war ended around −16,800 DR. By this point, the three came behind Ilythiir's involvement and started skirmishes against that nation alongside continuing to skirmish each other.[41]

Crown Wars[]

The Crown Wars were a series of wars that led to the end to the elves' golden age.[5]

Second Crown War[]

In −11,800 DR, Miyeritar lost the First Crown War against Aryvandaar.[42][41] This was Ilythiir's pretense to start the Second Crown War[43] in −11,700 DR,[42][41] not because they had strong relationship with Miyeritar, their relationship was thin, but because that nation was the only other one with a meaningful proportion of dark elves.[43] In their quest to destroy Aryvandaar's allies, Ilythiir destroyed Orishaar. That nation was an ally[42] and major trade partner of Aryvandaar, which also lay physically the closest to Ilythiir.[41] These successes took its own momentum and new wars like the Second Crown War were practically a foregone conclusion.[42]

After Orishaar fell, Ilythiir isolated and burned down Syòrpiir around −11,600 DR. This usage of fire was considered so offensive by Thearnytaar and Eiellûr, that they decided to fight Ilythiir.[42] They successfully stopped Ilythiir's onslaught on northern lands around −11,500 DR.[41][44]

At around the same time,[42] Aryvandaar started something, what Ilythiir's leadership believed to be a genocidal campaign against Ilythiir's citizens. In their plight, Geirildin Sethomiir, llythiir’s coronal, made a decision. He summoned Wendonai,[45] a balor under Lolth’s employment, and bought power from the demon and with it from Lolth.[18] It catapulted Lolth's church to importance in Ilythiir.[42] The nation’s nobility followed their royalty’s example and bought power from other fiendish patrons. Around this time, the mind set and conduct of the Ilythiir became one that made the pretense to avenge Miyeritar sound less and less serious.[18] Until the Fourth Crown War, apart from Lolth, Ghaunadaur, Kiaransalee and Vhaeraun provided the dark elves similar help.[4] These kind of actions led to the Ilythiiri to gain the nickname dhaerow.[18]

The arrangement with fiends proved itself successful. Ilythiir found itself attacked during the Sable Wars, (circa −11,450 DR). They faced an invading force from Eiellûr and Thearnytaar, in addition to a small amount of aid provided by Keltormir and Shantel Othreier, aiming to reform or conquer the dark elves before they destroyed any more realms. Over half the invading forces were wiped out by the dark elves' corrupt magic.[41][42][44]

By −11,400 DR, Eiellûr was isolated and burned down like Syòrpiir. Ilythiir had help of who hoped to restore peace by appeasing the Ilythiiri.[41][42][44] A similar fate befell Thearnytaar in −11,200 DR and with it the Second Crown War ended. That forest country was occupied by dominated monsters and undeads. [42][20] Keltomir got frightened of Ilythiir and prepared for an attack against it.[18] The two nations skirmished along its southern and eastern borders in the following years.[20][42][44]

Fourth Crown War[]

Around −11,600 DR, resistance against Aryvandaar re-flared in Miyeritar.[23] The scale wasn't clear but Ilythiir's factions sending aid to Miyeritar's in the form of weapons, intelligence and training wasn't unheard of.[20]

Eventually, Miyeritar was destroyed by the Dark Disaster, the suspected culprits were Aryvandaar (based on no evidence),[23][46] or Miyeritar's high mages, as an accident to harness power for their resistance.[47] Either way, Ilythiir blamed Aryvandaar and the Fourth Crown War was launched, circa −10,450 DR. This new wave of hostilities saw the Ilythiiri openly using the corrupt powers granted them by their dark and evil gods,[23][42][48] namely Lolth, Ghaunadaur, Kiaransalee and Vhaeraun.[4]

During this war, Keltomir ceded land around −10,300 DR and forced Aryvandaar and Ilythiir to face each other in −10,270 DR over the Stone and Claw Campaign,[23] it was the first time the two nations faced each other in a military campaign.[42]

Ilythiir attacked Shantel Othreier, by that point Aryvandaar's territory.[23] Over half a decade by −10,110 DR, Ilythiir destroyed large parts of Shantel Othreier's forests with fire,[23] and by −11,000 DR the entire nation.[42] Miyeritar's survivors fought on Ilythiir's side,[20] actually by this point in time, the claim dark elves were only found in Ilythiir wasn't inaccurate anymore.[49] Still, elves asked the Seldarine for divine salvation.[23]

Elves' plea were answered by −10,000 DR. Corellon's magic changed the dark elves into drow. Over the course of two months, weakness against sunlight and/or the efforts of the other elven nations drove them into the Underdark and Ilythiir ended.[23]


References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Eric L. Boyd (November 1998). Demihuman Deities. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 16. ISBN 0-7869-1239-1.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Eric L. Boyd (November 1998). Demihuman Deities. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 13. ISBN 0-7869-1239-1.
  3. Eric L. Boyd (November 1998). Demihuman Deities. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 13, 20. ISBN 0-7869-1239-1.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Reynolds, Forbeck, Jacobs, Boyd (March 2003). Races of Faerûn. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 35. ISBN 0-7869-2875-1.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Travis Stout (February 2005). Lost Empires of Faerûn. Edited by Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 51. ISBN 0-7869-3654-1.
  6. Eric L. Boyd (November 1998). Demihuman Deities. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 13, 28, 37. ISBN 0-7869-1239-1.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Elaine Cunningham (1999). Evermeet: Island of Elves. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 109. ISBN 0-7869-1354-1.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 Brian R. James, Ed Greenwood (September 2007). The Grand History of the Realms. Edited by Kim Mohan, Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 8. ISBN 978-0-7869-4731-7.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Brian R. James, Ed Greenwood (September 2007). The Grand History of the Realms. Edited by Kim Mohan, Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 10. ISBN 978-0-7869-4731-7.
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Reynolds, Forbeck, Jacobs, Boyd (March 2003). Races of Faerûn. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 27. ISBN 0-7869-2875-1.
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 Eric L. Boyd (November 1998). Demihuman Deities. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 28. ISBN 0-7869-1239-1.
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Elaine Cunningham (1999). Evermeet: Island of Elves. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 113. ISBN 0-7869-1354-1.
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 Elaine Cunningham (1999). Evermeet: Island of Elves. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 117. ISBN 0-7869-1354-1.
  14. Elaine Cunningham (1999). Evermeet: Island of Elves. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 120. ISBN 0-7869-1354-1.
  15. 15.0 15.1 Eric L. Boyd (November 1998). Demihuman Deities. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 113. ISBN 0-7869-1239-1.
  16. Elaine Cunningham (1999). Evermeet: Island of Elves. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 117–118. ISBN 0-7869-1354-1.
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  21. 21.0 21.1 Elaine Cunningham (1999). Evermeet: Island of Elves. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 156. ISBN 0-7869-1354-1.
  22. Elaine Cunningham (1999). Evermeet: Island of Elves. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 173–174. ISBN 0-7869-1354-1.
  23. 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 23.5 23.6 23.7 23.8 Brian R. James, Ed Greenwood (September 2007). The Grand History of the Realms. Edited by Kim Mohan, Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 15. ISBN 978-0-7869-4731-7.
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  32. Elaine Cunningham (1999). Evermeet: Island of Elves. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 96. ISBN 0-7869-1354-1.
  33. Elaine Cunningham (1999). Evermeet: Island of Elves. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 128. ISBN 0-7869-1354-1.
  34. Elaine Cunningham (1999). Evermeet: Island of Elves. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 135. ISBN 0-7869-1354-1.
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  36. Steven E. Schend and Kevin Melka (1998). Cormanthyr: Empire of the Elves. (TSR, Inc), p. 29. ISBN 0-7069-0761-4.
  37. Elaine Cunningham (1999). Evermeet: Island of Elves. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 157. ISBN 0-7869-1354-1.
  38. Elaine Cunningham (1999). Evermeet: Island of Elves. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 158. ISBN 0-7869-1354-1.
  39. Elaine Cunningham (1999). Evermeet: Island of Elves. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 174. ISBN 0-7869-1354-1.
  40. Eric L. Boyd (November 1998). Demihuman Deities. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 37. ISBN 0-7869-1239-1.
  41. 41.0 41.1 41.2 41.3 41.4 41.5 41.6 Brian R. James, Ed Greenwood (September 2007). The Grand History of the Realms. Edited by Kim Mohan, Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 12. ISBN 978-0-7869-4731-7.
  42. 42.00 42.01 42.02 42.03 42.04 42.05 42.06 42.07 42.08 42.09 42.10 42.11 42.12 42.13 Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Travis Stout (February 2005). Lost Empires of Faerûn. Edited by Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 52. ISBN 0-7869-3654-1.
  43. 43.0 43.1 Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Travis Stout (February 2005). Lost Empires of Faerûn. Edited by Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 53–54. ISBN 0-7869-3654-1.
  44. 44.0 44.1 44.2 44.3 Steven E. Schend and Kevin Melka (1998). Cormanthyr: Empire of the Elves. (TSR, Inc), p. 30. ISBN 0-7069-0761-4.
  45. Lisa Smedman (June 2008). Ascendancy of the Last. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 211–212. ISBN 978-0-7869-4864-2.
  46. Steve Kenson, et al. (November 2015). Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. Edited by Kim Mohan. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 16. ISBN 978-0-7869-6580-9.
  47. Steven E. Schend and Kevin Melka (1998). Cormanthyr: Empire of the Elves. (TSR, Inc), p. 22. ISBN 0-7069-0761-4.
  48. Steven E. Schend and Kevin Melka (1998). Cormanthyr: Empire of the Elves. (TSR, Inc), p. 31. ISBN 0-7069-0761-4.
  49. Eric L. Boyd (November 1998). Demihuman Deities. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 93. ISBN 0-7869-1239-1.
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