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."