Aetheril

## **The Principality of Aetheril**

The Principality is a vassal of the Stonehearth Marquisate and follows its own slightly-modified version of the *Charter of Light*. The recently constructed capital of Shadowbane Keep is at the southwest corner of the Central Highlands (an area once known as the Plain of Standing Stones).

The Principality has its own palatine *Coronet*, and when they are ready to elevate that cadet house into a kingdom, Stonehearth expects to spin it off into an independent member of the Commonwealth.

Formed by the recent assumption of former Shadovar Netherese territory, it is the largest contiguous polity on Faerûn. At roughly 2,800 square miles, including the eastern range formerly known as the Desertsmouth Mountains, Aetheril measures more than 8x the area of the Stonehearth Marquisate (~340 square miles) itself.

### **Shadowbane Keep**

Located just west of middle, about a third of the way north from the lower border areas with Cormyr, the capital keep was built at the area that allowed the best access into the Underdark. The primary mission was (and still is) the interdiction of the phaerimm accidentally released from the Memory Spire. Most of that terror faction has since been destroyed, but Stonehearth continues to root out the last of them.

The capital is a three-phase complex, with a walled city on the grasslands level, a smaller walled city and heavy keep straight up the cliffs on the upper plateau, as well as a connected tower on the peak of the adjacent mountain. High, heavy walls stretch over 10 miles and rise over 14,000 feet from the base of the grasslands to the top of the lighthouse tower on the closest peak of the range.

### **Commerce and Industry**

Aetheril is comprised of the still-under-construction capital, plus 11 former "Low Netheril" support towns scattered through the southern area. Those towns supply a mix of agricultural and industrial production, with a population that was marginally Shadovar Netherese intermixed and intermarried with former Bedine (who had occupied the area when it was the Anauroch Desert). Those towns are slowly coming up to Stonehearth speed.

Though it is still under construction, the capital is already a bright point of trade. While surface trails do connect central Faerûn with the Sword Coast – and those trails are being paved into merchant-friendly highways – Shadowbane already has an always-on portal to North Point.

This portal has turned into a massive point for both personal and profession travel, allowing travelers to shave off weeks – and attracting trade to and from Cormyr, the Dalelands and Sembia to the southeast.

From the west, the elves of Evereska have opened a dialogue and limited trade with the purveyors of primal magic, though that is extremely controversial among the elves.

### **Geography**

Aetheril is a comparatively large landlocked grasslands region. There are both spring and glacier-fed lakes and rivers, with one body of water large enough to qualify as a small sea. The central highland bloc, once called the Plain of Standing Stones, is an elevated volcanic plateau roughly 1000 feet above the surrounding grasslands and is a mixture of rough, mountainous (volcanic) terrain, cool, windswept semi-arid plains, and with patches of scrub and alpine forests in lower-wind areas.

Grasslands are the natural ecological state for the lowlands and it's worth noting that for more than a millennia, the region was a magically-drained desert wasteland. This ecological disaster was the result of strategic persistent magic by the phaerimm as a weapon against Netheril – and this condition created weather patterns that affected all of Toril, and especially upper Faerûn.

When the Shadovar returned in **1372** DR, more than a century ago, the Netherese descendents restored their ancestral lands to their natural state.

### **Recent History**

**1488** was politically significant: it was the turbulent aftermath of the fall of the Shadovar Netherese that became the threshold for Stonehearth to forsake their non-interventionist policy and enact their now-famous (and somewhat ominous) ***Duty to Act***.

The literal fall of the floating city of Thultanthar (Shade) marked the end of the Shadovar Empire, but not the end for the returned Shadovar. While the bulk of their military force was destroyed, they were still able to skirmish with (and largely dominate) the Sand Kings, the now-intermarried Bedine that had staked a claim in the sands of the Anauroch.

The desert was now gone, but some of the Bedine descendents still knew where a few of the ancient secrets were buried. This "rebel group" was in a series of retreats and drew the Shadovar forces into a fight at a hidden "living tomb" known as the *Memory Spire*. In the battle, the ruins were caught in the crossfire and the protective wards of the Spire were destroyed. This released trapped phaerimm, who immediately destroyed the Bedine and overwhelmed the Shadovar. Without missing a beat, the creatures attempted to reinstate their magical drain on the region.

It was the unwillingness (and inability) of the local jurisdictions to intervene that led to the unilateral Stonehearth assault to neutralize the phaerimm and reverse what damage they had already re-inflicted. The environmentally-draining magic was dispelled and the hazard areas were given accelerated restoration.

Given surrounding factions' reticence to get involved, Stonehearth claimed former Netheril. While there was initial acceptance, or at least no resistance, now that the surface phaerimm have been pacified, surrounding polities are now attempting to assert claims on the area, either as neighboring territory or as war reparations against the Netherese. Given their lack of claims in the immediate wake of the fall, and their lack of support agains the phaerimm, Stonehearth has denied those claims.

For more information on the history of Aetheril and fallen Netheril, check the **History of Aetheril** page.