Netheril The magocracy of Netheril was one of the ancient human empires of Faerûn . Netheril was also the home of the most powerful wizard who ever walked on Faerûn , Karsus . The Netherese also created powerful artifacts known as mythallar s , which allowed mundane objects to become magical , dramatically changing the face of the Netherese Empire ( or better said , the face of the upper side of the empire , as Netheril eventually became twofold : the " have " , High Netherese , and the " have not " , the low Netherese ) . Overview . The Neth was a group of small farming villages that banded together for protection and led to an empire of human wizards , cities that floated across the sky and a terrible , terrible arrogance that nearly stripped Toril of its magic forever . It can be said that the empire of Netheril was the oldest surviving human empire , and as such it is not surprising that it passed through several different phases . The First Age was the founding and settling of the Netheril region by humans , and of their contact with elves who taught them magic . This was followed by the Nether Age , so - called for the Nether Scrolls that the Netherese people used to rapidly increase their knowledge of magic . Undoubtedly the peak of their power , this was a time when the Netherese were breaking new ground , both in advances in magical pursuits but also in exploration into other planes and even across crystal sphere s . During this age lived Karsus , a wizard of immense power who sought to seize the power of the gods . Indeed , it was his folly that led to the next age , the Fall of the Empire . Broken and shattered , it took the Netherese people a while to regroup , but eventually came the most recent age , the Re - Emergence of the Empire . The Fall of the Empire . Netheril was destroyed by Karsus ' s Folly : an attempt to steal the power of Mystryl , goddess of magic . She sacrificed herself in a last ditch effort to save Faerûn and was replaced by Mystra . When this happened , all magic ceased to exist for a time . Since Netherese cities floated above the surface , when magic ceased to exist there was nothing to hold the cities up . Netheril was almost completely obliterated in one fell swoop . The remnants of Netheril were then targeted by the phaerimm , who would have destroyed them and the rest of Faerûn had it not been for the intervention of the Sharn . Re - Emergence of the Empire . Three Netherese successor states ( Asram , Anauria , and Hlondath ) survived for a while , but all were eventually destroyed by the encroaching desert . Some Netherese culture survived in the country of Halruaa in the Shining South , which was founded by Raumark , a Netherese wizard who led a group of refugees south after foreseeing the destruction of the empire . However , the nation of Halruaa was almost completely wiped out during the Spellplague , and the area became one of the largest remaining areas of spellplague . Additionally , just before the time of Karsus ' s Folly , one of the floating Netherese cities , Thultanthar , moved to the shadow plane . During their time in the shadow plane , many of the denizens were affected by their environment and became shade s . The Shade Enclave returned to Faerûn with the help of the Evereska n elf Galaeron Nihmedu shortly before the Spellplague struck . History . The history of Netheril was one of great advances in the arcane arts and great hubris on behalf of the civilization ' s greatest archmage s . Thanks to excellently preserved Netherese records , written accounts from the Netherese Diaspora , and the fact that more than a few Netherese citizens lived survived into the 14th century DR — either through undeath ( e . g . , Larloch and Ioulaum ) or other means ( e . g . , the inhabitants of Thultanthar — historians gained a comprehensive knowledge of Netheril ' s history . The First Age . At the beginning , Netheril was a paradise of rivers , forests , lakes , and plains . Netheril was little more than a group of villages ( Fenwick , Gers , Gilan , Gustaf , Moran , Nauseef , and Janick ) along one such lake . Soon after this alliance was named " Netheril " ( after Nether the Elder who was assumed to be the leader ) , the nation proceeded to remove the threats close by . Seeking to widen the scope of both its power and land , it began expanding . This eventually lead the Eaerlanni elves to approach the humans . The elves taught the humans of this new alliance magic , and with talent unseen before ( possibly because of the shorter human life span ) the humans learned arcane spells with a fervor . Every denizen of Netheril was taught the very basics of spellcasting . Even average maids knew cantrips to make the broom sweep the floor . Those who excelled at the arts of magic became known as arcanist s , a rapidly rising political faction that was second only to the nobility of the nation . The Nether Age . The Nether Age began when the Nether Scrolls were discovered . The scrolls provided a huge leap forward in Netherese spellcraft . The name of the person who discovered these scrolls is unknown , and was known in modern times as only " The Finder . " The scrolls were found west of the Far Horns Forest by the arcanists of Seventon and Zenith . It was during this age that Congenio Ioun , in an unprecedented feat of skill , created his first magic item at the age of 33 , the " ioun stone " . The Mythallar Era . The Mythallar Era began with the birth of one of Netheril ' s greatest arcanists , Ioulaum . In - 3095 DR , half of the Nether Scrolls — one complete set — were stolen by Cormanthyr ian elves , and a rock gnome . The rock gnome took a peek at a Nether scroll , giving him and the gnome community knowledge of illusion s . In - 3014 DR , Ioulaum proved his worth with the invention of the first " mythallar " . It was soon found by Ioulaum that items known as " quasi - magical " items could be powered by a " mythallar " in place of the Weave . It was in - 2993 DR that Ioulaum created the first floating city , Xinlenal , kept afloat by the spell " Proctiv ' s move mountain " . The Silver Age . The Silver Age began with the discovery of Dekanter in - 2758 DR , a mine that provided Netheril with mineral wealth for a thousand years . During the push to discover the mines , small colonies and outposts were set up in what was later known as the Savage Frontier . The Netherese created several " quasi - magical " items during this time . In time , the Netherese archwizard s began to feel cramped in their floating cities , leading to ideas of expansion in the Savage Frontier . The idea to expand westward was fueled by the Terraseer , a mysterious oracle who discovered the Old Owl Well in - 2368 DR . The Golden Age . The Golden Age began with the birth of Jeriah the Chronomancer ( known simply as " Chronomancer " by the Netherese ) in - 2207 DR . During this time , Netheril began lifting one enclave into the sky per year . Soon there were dozens of enclaves riding the air currents or orbiting patterns around the loosely defined borders of Netheril . Jeriah the Chronomancer died from a wound when defending Illusk from an orc horde in - 2095 DR . The Age of Discovery . The Age of Discovery began in - 1205 DR with the discovery of the " chardalyn s " . With this discovery , the Netherese began to experiment with gem magic for about another 500 years . The Netherese archwizards ventured into Realmspace using " spelljammer s " , or flying ships . In - 1064 DR , the Netherese " spelljammers " ran across the illithid s , who attacked the Netherese " spelljammers " on sight , making trade impossible . The fear generated ended " spelljamming " about one thousand years later when it proved to be unprofitable . The Shadowed Age . The Shadowed Age began with the birth of Karsus in - 696 DR . Karsus was " the " arcanist of his time , mastering spellcraft almost inherently . While Netheril ' s flying cities flourished in the sky , magical residue seeped into the earth below and became an affliction for a race of subterranean dwelling creatures called the phaerimm . Eventually , the phaerimm grew tired of their torment and began to retaliate . They cast spells that drained life and magic from the earth and the floating cities of Netheril , creating barren wastelands where there once were lush fields and areas of wild magic . As magic began to go uncontrollably awry , many of the Netherese archmages fled in search of lands where their magic would not go wrong , including Ioulaum , who fled to a lair set up in the Underdark . The disappearance of the arch - mages caused panic , and people began to flee the land . The Fall . In - 339 DR , in an attempt to save his own floating city , or enclave , the young wizard prodigy named Karsus decided to cast a spell he had been researching for decades . In casting the spell , Karsus created a link between himself and the goddess of magic , Mystryl , and stole her divinity and power . At that very moment , Karsus swelled with incredible knowledge of everything , including his mistake . The war between the phaerimm and the Netherese was constantly damaging the Weave , which Mystryl was the only one capable of constantly repairing . To stop Karsus from completely destroying the Weave , Mystryl severed her connection with Karsus , and in the process destroyed herself . In the backlash from being disconnected from Mystryl , Karsus was permanently petrified and all magic around the world temporarily went null , causing the Netherese floating cities to plummet to the earth . This event would be known as Karsus ' s Folly . Almost immediately after Mystryl died , she was reincarnated as Mystra , the goddess of magic who retained her position until the Time of Troubles . Fortunately , she was able to save three of the falling Netherese cities : Anauria , Asram , and Hlondath . Two other cities , Thultanthar and Opus , were saved by Shar and Selûne respectively and survived in other planes . Almost all of the surviving Netherese forsook magic completely . The three cities saved by Mystra were later either destroyed or abandoned . The life - draining magic of the phaerimm continued and the lands of the Empire eventually became the Anauroch Desert . Eventually all trace of the Netherese Empire was forgotten and buried under the sands . The reemergence of the Shade Enclave . The flying enclave of Thultanthar had shifted in its entirety into the Plane of Shadow the day before Karsus ' Folly and remained there , unable to return for several weeks . When they saw what had happened in their absence , they decided they would remain to live in the Shadow Plane in order to maintain what could be the last of the Netherese people . However , in the year 1372 DR , the enclave returned to the Prime Material Plane with the goal of reestablishing the Empire . Since returning , the enclave came to primarily float above the north - western side of the Shadow Sea in the Anauroch desert . The Mythallars . Created by Ioulaum in - 3014 DR , these 150 - ft ( 46 - m ) crystal orb s drew power directly from Mystryl ' s Weave . Because of Mystra ' s Ban , the mythallar could no longer draw upon the Weave to power quasi - magical items or the creation of floating enclaves . Demesnes . Demesne s , landbound enclaves with " mythallars " each ruled by an archwizard not yet with a floating enclave , were the backbone of Netheril . The Mines of Dekanter produced large quantities of gold , iron , mercury , silver , and platinum to meet the arcanists ' demands . After the fall of Netheril , it became full of goblin s and gargoyle s , although it still contained a lot of gold , iron , mercury , and silver there . Rasilith was the capital city of Thaeravel , the Land of Alabaster Towers , before the Netherese overran the place armed with newfound knowledge from the Nether Scrolls . After the fall , it was half buried in the Quarter of Emptiness ruled by the phaerimm . Netheril in 1479 DR . Sembia was virtually a vassal state for Netheril . However , trade and diplomacy from this country were important to the Empire ' s economy , so Netheril allowed Sembia a limited amount of autonomy . Although the Spellplague was caused by Shar , millennia of indoctrination by Shar and her church enabled Netheril ' s government to rationalize the Spellplague as being the fault of the late goddess Mystra . Another former Netherese deity , Amaunator , returned less than a century before yet Netheril also reviled this deity , again due to Shar ' s indoctrination . The mages of Netheril were conducting experiments with the goal of restoring the Shadow Weave and , in turn , some of Shar ' s previous influence over the Art .