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On Faerun

Prince Elminster Aumar of Athalantar
"Dragon! Splendid things, lad-so long as, ye look upon
them only in tapesries, or in the masks worn at revels,
or from about three realm off..."
{Astagarl Horwood Mage of Elembar said to an apprentice}

I am Elminster of Shadowdale, called by some Old Sage, and called far worse things by others.
I've walked these realms for over a thousand years.
Yet, I am far from the oldest, wisest, or mightiest being to walk the ground of Faerun with my well-worn- boots-and that is the truth.
But if ye learn the long history of my deeds, ye'll know precisely what I stand for, and what I am.
And that's a rare and precious thing, knowing yourself. Do ye know exactly what ye stand for?

Think awhile on that while I let my tongue loose for a bit and roll the splendid sights of these lands.
Over ye like the great green waves that crash on the rocks below where Mount Waterdeep rises up out of the cold and mighty Sea of Swords.
Let me speak of the wonders bards songs of the starry night sky all over these fair lands.
Let me tell ye of soft blue moonlight and spell stars in the hair of elven women, their bare shoulders all silver,
dancing under the trees of the High Forest--just as the ghosts of their fair vanished kin still dance under the moon in ruined,
friends-roamed Myth Drannor. Let me speak of brawling, bustling Waterdeep, the beaurtiful tower of Silverymoon,
and of a hundred other proud Cities with their lanterns and rumbling carts and shadowed alleys and dripping sewers,
their intrigues and striving and riches. Let me whisper of the realms below, the Underdark, a world of sunless caverns
where cruel elves with obsidean skin, purple-hued mind flayers, and things far worse battle in the depths beneath your feet,
and gems are born in the hottest deeps where rocks flow like water.

Heed my tales of old magic forgotten tombs or marked by standing, stones and portals that with a single stride span half of Faerun.
Beware cold claws that reach from the shadows and proudly sneering courtiers in gleaming finery whose honyed tongues and
sly plots are colder and more perilous still then steely talons.
Hear tells of wild places where dragons battle each other in the sky and ruins only adventures-like-ye- have seen that haunted by fearsome beholders, shapechanging horrors and oozing things many made of eyes and tentacles that lurk-and hunger.
Hold and listen well! If ye heed not a word of mine in all your days, remember this: Faerun needs it's heroes.
I'm one such to some, though I am old and battered and have left a heap of bloody, bitter mistakes behind me high enough to bruy empires.
Your sword must flash beside my faltering spells, for Faerun faces new, rising dooms that I cannot face alone.
Our homelands stand in worse peril now than ever before. Old evils stir, or return unlooked-for,looming like storm clouds over the darkened hills. Strife and change tear asunder nations and cities. Who can see who shall rise over all?
Even the monks of Candlekeep, who guard will the words of the prophet Alaundo who is never wrong, cannot know.

On Myth Drannor

Aye civilized is among the best descriptions ye could give of the citzens of Myth Drannor, and all the Cormnthyr
{though some are more civilized than others, of which I'll say little more.} Still, while legends and tales of fabled
Myth Drannor fill the ears of tavern-dwellers, there are those who cling to ridiculous fallacies.
Many believe falsely that elves are uncivilized since they live in trees and among the forests.
Others who know little more say the elves of Myth Drannor were to civilized and they lacked the passion and drive
to resist the Army of Darkness and their many other foes across the centuries, leading to their current dire straits.
These fool ought not speak such to an elf, for the drives and passions of 1,000 years of life run far deeper than the mere
spark of ardor that humans know.

The Elves of Myth Drannor



Sit ye down and learn, youngling. It was the elves that drew out and protected many barely gibbering humans of the millennia past.
It was the elves who taught them wondrous things, the least of which was civilization and the greatest of which was magic.
Fools who speak of elves and their lack of civilization has best hold their tongues lest their wagging strangle them.
Civilization in its purest form is the refinement of matter, arts, and learning, all which elves have in abundance.
Confuse not your tall cities and roads with civilization- a truer test is to be civilized among nature without intruding upon it,
and that was Myth Drannor at its height. The Tel'Quessir have ever been the pinnacle of civilization.
Despite my rather tense introduction to the City of Love, Cormanthor was a sight to behold,
ere the first elf ever mouthed the words Myth Drannor. The dawn that city finally shared its beauty with all the races was its finest day.
The mere thought of its glory outshine even the greatest of cities today. This is no slight on fair Waterdeep or
Suzail or any other metropolis-as ye no doubt know, there never was nor shall there yet be another city of Myth Drannor's
in the Realms again {though Alustrieis Silverymoon nigh approaches its harmony, peace and zeal for the love and lore.}
So few experienced the city's true wonders, and those of us who remember her do so with bitter tears at her twilight and fall.

Still brings a tear to this grizzled old mage's eye to remember the realm and look back upon those mistakes
of youth that might have been avoided. Hmm-Well, know ye that time is ever so short,
even for those who believe their mythal affored them all the time of Toril;
I pray that ye learn better from their mistakes than they did themselves-for the dead know many things,
but grasp truth grow in knowledge they are rarely able to do---

The Tower

{These notice can be found on the side of the path leading to Elminster's tower.}

"Gone gathering spell components."{This sign at the base of the path is very old}
"No trespassing, Violators should notify next of kin. Have a pleasant day."
"An anrchmage often can react poorly to interruption. Please reconsider before it is too late."
"Trespasser could die a quick and certain death or they could be invited in for stew.
Thank you for thinking of better of disturbing my privacy."
"Rumors of spike-filled pits along this path are almost totally false. Thank you for the caution."
"This ancient path is cracked and paved with bones of those who could not behave Elminster."



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