Myth Drannor: The City That Fell Twice

Myth Drannor was the capital of the elven realm of Cormanthyr, in the forest of Cormanthor. It had many names: the City of Song, the City of Love, the City of Spells, the City of Bards. In the Forgotten Realms it stands for one idea. Elves, humans, dwarves, halflings and gnomes could share a single city and build something none of them could build alone. It also shows how that idea breaks down. The city fell in the 8th century DR, lay in ruins for more than six hundred years, was taken back by the elves of Evermeet, and was then destroyed a second time.

A dungeon master has to pick an era before running it. The city works very differently in each one, and the lore changes depending on which period a source describes.

Cormanthor Before the Name

The city was founded as Cormanthor in -3983 DR by the Coronal Kahvoerm Irithyl. For more than four thousand years it prospered with little trouble. It grew around two tributaries that join to form Oacenth's Stream, which runs south through Tilver's Dam to a pool at the city's southern end. Seen from above, the layout looks like the head of a battleaxe with the blade pointing west.

The western half is the oldest part. It holds the Old City of the noble elven houses, the Temple Ward (Sheshyrinnam) and the Lake Ward (Kerradunath). Castle Cormanthor sits at its center. According to the lore, the castle's Rule Tower rose out of the ground when the Rulers' Blade was drawn from the earth. A coronal ruled, advised by the arms-major, the spell-major and two Court Sages. The authority of these leaders was each embodied in one of the three Elfblades: the Rulers' Blade, the Warblade and the Artblade.

The Opening, 261 DR

Coronal Eltargrim Irithyl decided that Cormanthyr would only survive if it made peace with the other races. He set the elven wizards to raising a mythal under the legendary spellcaster Mythanthar. It was finished in 261 DR. Eltargrim then opened the city to people who were not Tel'Quessir, and Cormanthor was renamed Myth Drannor. The event is called the Opening.

The mythal kept the weather mild and protected the city from storms and forest fires. It also had secret powers that only its makers knew. Markers in the streets showed where levitation pillars would lift a person up to the skybridges and treetop homes. Noble villas used theurglass, which changes when touched. The wiki describes the magic as excessive, and that matters later. All the high magic and portals thinned the planar fabric around the city, opening easier paths to the Feywild, the lower planes, the Demiplane of Dread, and even the world of Krynn. The Gate Halls linked the castles of the great elven kingdoms. The Silversgate led to Eaerlann and the Honorsgate to the Forest of Mir in Tethyr.

A City of Many Hands

After the Opening, the eastern half of the city, Dlabraddath, was built for non-elven citizens. It is named for its designer, Labrad. The dwarves of the House of Gems built the Lifespring Wells, a pump network that fed the city's fountains. They also built the Channels of the Earthborn Wind, air vents running through every level of the Dwarven Dungeons below. The tunnels were lit with a "liquid fire". Above ground, the Seven Wizards taught at the Incanistaeum, the Speculum housed the wizards' guild, and Windsong Tower kept a set of the Nether Scrolls.

The tolerance had limits. Many elves spoke only to other elves unless someone addressed them first, though moon elves were the exception. Nobles always had right of way, even in the air, and nobody looked a noble in the eye until the noble looked first. The law was the Code of the People: a crime against one citizen was a crime against all.

The Council of Twelve and the Weeping War

The golden age peaked in 661 DR, the same year Eltargrim died without a successor. By Midsummer of 667 DR the Council of Twelve controlled Cormanthyr. The wiki calls them squabbling, entitled bureaucrats who acted in their own interest. Over about forty years the realm split into feuding city-states, and the infighting poisoned both the council and the guilds.

In 711 DR the Trio Nefarious came into the northern woods, attacked outposts and moved toward the capital. This started the Weeping War. Men of the Dalelands came to defend the city, repaying the elves who had first allowed them to settle the Dales. Cormyrean War Wizards fought with them. The Army of Darkness overran Myth Drannor anyway in 714 DR. In the last days a misfired spell turned Jerrok's Concert Hall into a cursed ruin. Some survivors settled in Tethyr by the grace of Strohm II. Houses such as Durothil, Silverspear, Symbaern, Nightstar and Nierdre went to Evermeet, and the fall began the migration known as the Retreat.

Six Centuries of Ruin

For more than six hundred years the elves kept the ruins hidden and mostly sealed. The only outsiders they allowed in were dragons, in the hope that the dragons would guard the city the way they guard their own lairs. The broken mythal leaked magic into the forest and created zones called the Edgelands. The Omberdawn family's park turned into the Sullymarsh, and the healing fountain around Castle Cormanthor became the Stillwater Ruins. Baelnorn guarded the tombs of their dead kin. In the 13th century DR, Lathander appeared to a group of his clergy, later called the Seekers of the Dawn, and gave them the Dawnstone to found a temple in the ruins. That temple became Dawnspire.

The Crowded Ruins, 1344 to 1369 DR

In 1344 DR the lich Druth Daern lured the Cult of the Dark Naga to the city. The phaerimm killed them, and Druth raised the bodies as bone nagas. In 1346 DR the alhoons manipulated the church of Bane into opening a portal to Avernus, hoping devils would fight the phaerimm for them. The archdevil Malkizid kept the portal open instead, and baatezu poured through. The Banites put up wards to contain them. Over the next ten years they spread rumors of great riches in the ruins, hoping adventurers would kill some of the devils.

1357 DR was the busiest year. An avatar of Moander marched from Yûlash toward the city. It was stopped before it arrived, but it left a scar through the forest called Moander's Road. In Marpenoth, Tyranthraxus took the city through a pool of radiance and settled in the temple of Labelas Enoreth. Adventurers, helped by a disguised Elminster, drove it out. In Uktar the Knights of Myth Drannor closed the Banite portal, though scores of devils remained. In 1369 DR a new pool of radiance appeared in Castle Cormanthor. The Cult of the Dragon under Kya Mordrayn planned to bathe the dracolich Pelendralaar in it, and adventurers stopped them.

Reclamation and the Second Fall

In 1372 DR the returned Netherese put up a shadowshell that trapped the phaerimm and nearly wiped them out. In 1374 DR the daemonfey conquered the ruins outright. In response, Seiveril Miritar led the Elven Crusade from Evermeet to retake the city, and his daughter Ilsevele became coronal. By 1375 DR Myth Drannor was a thriving city-state with influence over settlements in the Moonsea and the Dales. That same year, Netherese agents took the Nether Scrolls from Windsong Tower. This began a conflict between the two powers that stopped short of open war.

After more than a century of tension, war broke out in the Eastern Heartlands. The Netherese flying city of Thultanthar moved directly over Myth Drannor while its shades tried to take control of the mythal. During the fight Thultanthar fell onto the city, and both were leveled. Ilsevele survived, and her people fled to Semberholme, which had been abandoned.

Where the Record Disagrees With Itself

If you read it all as one timeline, some seams show. The wiki gives a population of 7,450 for 1373 DR, a year before the elves retook what was supposed to be a sealed ruin. It gives 10,000 for 1479 DR. The golden age peaks in 661 DR, the same year Eltargrim dies. The ruler table puts Ilsevele in 1375 DR, while the narrative crowns her in 1374. The vocabulary also changes over time. The Weeping War's first targets are described as eladrin outposts, the planar leaks reach the Feywild, and the late 15th century city has a Demon Estate corrupted by the Shadowfell, along with the mold-covered Citadel of Fungi. The article text used for this piece does not show which book introduced each detail. Confirm on the live wiki page or in the sourcebooks before ruling on canon at your table.

Using Myth Drannor at the Table

Sources