In 882 DR, a village a nd trading post on the shore of a
deep bay in the shadow of a great mountain was na med
Nimoar 's Hold, after the Uthgardt chiefta in who claimed
the area a nd fortified it. T he place became known to sea
capta ins as "Waterdeep," a na m e that dis placed the orig-
ina l w ithin a few generatio ns. In 1032 DR, Ahgha iron,
heir to the arts of Netheril, saved the ci ty fr om itself by
unseating Wate rdeep's warl ord a nd would-be emperor,
R aurlor. Ahghairon decla r ed th at wis dom , not strength
of arms , would rule in the ci ty fr om now on, and created
the Lords of Wate rdeep.
These and other nations a nd great city-states rose to
prominence a long the Sword Coast, forming a cha in
a long the Trade Way from Illusk in the far nor th to
Ba ldur's Gate in the south , near the border s of Arnn.
Like their elven a nd dwarven predecessors , they fought
off a ttacks by savage humanoids, including ore hordes
fr om the S pine of the World. Waterdeep, guide d by its
mysterious Lords, became a ris in g power, while old
Illus k fell to the ores for decades, until it wa s eve ntually
recla imed and the city of Lus ka n built upon its ruins.THE PRESENT AGE
T he four a nd a half centuries since the establishment of
the Lord s of Waterdeep have been tumultuous times for
the Sword Coast and the world. T hroughout this period,
civili zation struggles against the savage forces of chaos,
a nd life attempts to persevere again s t the agents of death
a nd strife, sometimes in places where even the gods
themselves have not been exempt from destruction.
The last one hundred fifty years have comprised one
of the most cataclysmic periods in Faeriln's his tory. On
no fewer tha n three occasions, Tori! has been sha ken to
its core by forces that have repeatedly rewritten the laws
of reality.THE TIME OF TROUBLES
In 1358 DR, the gods were cast out of their otherworldly
dom a in a nd made to wander the la nd incarnated as
morta ls. In seeking to recover the ir divinity, they warred
a mong themselves. Magic became unpre di ctable, a nd
the prayers of the faithful went una nswer ed. Some of
the gods -turne d-morta l we re sla in, while a handful of
morta ls ascende d to godhood, assuming the responsibil-
ities of the dead de iti es.THE RETURN OF NETHERIL
In 1374 DR, the Empire of Nether il rose again when the
floating city of Thulta ntha r, commonly known as S hade ,
returned fr om a nearly two-thousand-year-long excur-
s ion in the Shadowfell, to hover above the Anauroch
desert. The shadow-touche d nobles of the ci ty almost
immediately began hunting for a ncient Netherese ruins
and a rtifacts and preparing for a restoration of their
once-great empire.THE SPELLPLAGUE
In 13 8 5 DR, the ascended deity Cyr ic, aided by S ha r,
murdered Mystra, the goddess of magic, in her dom a in
of Dweomerheart. T his act ripped asunde r the fabric
of magic in the world, unleashing its raw power in a
catastrophe called the S pell plague. T housands of prac-
titione rs of th e Art wer e d r iven ma d or kille d, while the
face of Faer iln was reshaped by waves a nd veils of mys-
tic blue fire. E ntire nations were displaced or excha nged
with realms fr om othe r worlds , a nd par ts of the earth
were torn free to float in the air.THE SECOND SUNDERING
A cen tury afte r th e Spellplague, the la nds and peoples of
Faeriln had becom e accus tome d to th e state of things-
just in time for everything to cha nge again.
T he first indicati on of new turmoil came in 1482 DR,
w he n Bhaal, the long-dead god of murde r, was r eborn
in Ba ldu r 's Gate amid chaos a nd bloods hed, leaving two
of the city's dukes a nd m a ny of i ts citizens dead. The
return of Bhaal and his apparent reclam ation of the do-
main of murder from Cyric led some schola rs and sages
to believe that the rules by which all deities mus t abide
were in flux.
In 1484, strange cala mities began to occur through-
out Faeriln. An earthqua ke struck Iriaebor. A plague
of locus ts afflicted Arnn. Dro ughts gripped the south-
e rn la nds as the sea s teadily recede d in places. Am id
this tumult, conflict broke out in many regions of the
continent. The ores of Many-Arrows warred again s t
the dwarfhold s of the Nor th a nd the ir a llies. Sembia
invaded the Da lelands , a nd Cormyr raised a n army to
come to the aid of the Da lesfolk. Nethe ril brought forces
to Cormyr 's border, a nd Cormyr was drawn into a war
on both fr onts.
Throughout this pe riod, ta les began to spread of indi-
vidua ls who had been touched by the gods and granted
stra nge power s. Some of these so-called Chosen were
at the ro ot of th e conAicts that gri p the la nd. S ome
seeme d driven by divine purpose, w hile other s claimed
to be mystified as to why th ey would be singled out.
In 148 5 , in Icewind Da le, the Chosen of Auril fome nts
war with Te n-Towns and was defeated. In Anauroch ,
seein g that Netherese forces we re spread thin, the
long-subjugated Bedine peopl e rebelled. Having de-
feated or besieged the dwarfhold s of the North, ores
ma rch on Silverymoon. In Cormyr a nd S embia, the
Netherese and the Cormyreans traded ground, while the
Dalelands became a wa r zone. As if to offset the drought
in the south, in the autumn of 148 5 the Great Ra in be-
gan to fall around the Sea of Falle n S ta rs a nd continued
unceasingly.
While the waters rose to the east in earl y 14 86 , the
tide turned against the ores in the North, and by the
end of the year their a rmies were broken a nd scatte red.
Also during that year, the elves of Myth Drannor cam e
to the aid of the Da lela nds and helped pus h back Sem-
bia n forces. On the Sword Coast, the Hosttower of the
Arcane rose again in Lus ka n , along with the Arcane
Brothe rh ood. In Waterdeep a nd Neverwinte r, e fforts
were made to clear those cities of century-old rubble
a nd neglect. Cormyr repulsed the last of the S embia n
a nd Netherese forces fr om the nati on, recla iming its ter-
ritory, a nd recalled its forces, turning inwa rd to address
issues of rebuilding.
La te in 14 8 6 , the Great Ra in finally aba ted, but this
event didn't s ignify an end to the chaos. The S e a of