Human, Netherese

Perhaps the best-known and most influential of the humans who built Faerûn’s ancient civilizations were the Netherese of ancient Netheril. Netheril was founded in –3859 DR by dark haired, fair-skinned humans who dwelt along the shores of the Narrow Sea, a body of water now lost beneath the sands of Anauroch. At its height, Netheril encompassed all the lands now buried beneath Anauroch, with colonies stretching westward to the Trackless Sea, and floating cities high above distant lands.

The cities of the Narrow Sea came to be known as Low Netheril, while the civilization of the clouds was known as High Netheril, famous for magic of surpassing power.

Although all Netherese used the Draconic alphabet, the language of Low Netheril, and the commoners of High Netheril was Netherese, while the nobles of High Netheril spoke Loross.

Both groups venerated the same pantheon, which included gods such as Amaunator (Lathander), Jannath (Chauntea), Jergal, Kozah (Talos), Moander, Mystryl (Mystra), Selûne, Shar, and Targus (Garagos). The clergy were far more influential in Low Netheril than in the arcanists’ soaring cities.

High Netheril collapsed after Karsus destroyed Mystra in –339 DR, and all but four of High Netheril’s ancient floating cities were destroyed. Three of those—Anauria, Asram, and Hlondath—were saved by the influence of Mystra and landed safely just west of what are now known as the Desertsedge Mountains, where they founded surface realms of the same names.

Asram fell victim to a plague spread by the goddess Talona in –33 DR. Anauria fell to an orc horde in 111 DR, and Hlondath was consumed by the sands of Anauroch and abandoned in 329 DR.  Inhabitants of these eastern “Netherese survivor states” eventually migrated south into Cormyr and east into the Moonsea region. Their descendants were largely absorbed into the burgeoning Chondathan culture of the eastern Heartlands and are now accounted as northern Chondathans or Vaasans.

The fall of Low Netheril had less to do with Karsus’s Folly and more to do with the ever-encroaching lifedrain spells of the phaerimm. As the pace of desertification increased, starting around –461 DR, most of the inhabitants of Low Netheril gradually migrated westward. Most scholars divide the westwardbound Netherese migrants into two groups. The south-western group founded realms in the river valleys of the Winding Water and the River Chionthar, while the north-western branch formed isolated city-states scattered across the Savage Frontier. Little evidence of Netherese culture remains among the descendants of either branch, for both groups were later subsumed by immigrants from across the sea to the west (the Illuskans) or by the native tribes of the region (the Tethyrians).

Four small groups of pureblooded Netherese are believed to survive in the present day. The Marsh Drovers of the Farsea Marshes are thought to be descendants of Anauria who were never absorbed by the Chondathan inhabitants of Cormyr. The Tunlar barbarians of the Plains of Tun are believed to be descendants of the Rengarth barbarians (cousins of the Low Netherese) of southern Netheril. The nomadic barbarians of the Ride north of the Moonsea are believed to be descendants of the Angardt barbarians of northern Netheril (also cousins of the Low Netherese). Finally, the fourth floating city of High Netheril, known as Shade, survived the fall of Netheril by vanishing into the Plane of Shadow. Shade reappeared in 1372 DR, after generations of warfare with the malaugrym in the shadowplane. Shade now rests on the northern shore of the Shadow Sea, which was once the Shoal of Thirst.

Human, Raumviran

Descended from the inhabitants of the great empire of Raumathar, the Raumvirans retain little of their former glory.

Their history is described under the Damaran and Rashemi ethnic groups.

In the present day, Raumvirans are concentrated along the shores of the Lake of Mists and the city of Almorel. Physically, Raumvirans bear a close resemblance to the Rashemi, indicative of centuries of close ties between the two groups. Although taller on average than their western neighbors, the Raumvirans are also generally stout and muscular, with dark eyes and thick black hair. Raumvirans are generally of lighter hue than the Rashemi, evidence of significant Sossrim heritage dating back to the height of their long-fallen empire.

Members of this ethnic group speak Raumvira, a tongue closely related to Rashemi, Dwarven, and a northern dialect of Imaskari. Raumvirans employ an alphabet of Dethek runes taught to them before the founding of Raumathar by the Siremun dwarves of the Firepeaks, a range of mountains to the east of the Lake of Mists.

Human, Shaaran

The grasslands of the Shaar are home to nomadic tribes of longfaced, yellow-skinned humans. Conquered by the armies of Calimshan at the height of the Shoon Empire, the Shaarans of the eastern grasslands reverted to their nomadic ways once the Shoon Empire collapsed, while those who dwelt along the shores of the Shining Sea and the Lake of Steam settled in cities and founded such realms as Lapaliiya and the ever-changing Border Kingdoms. Today, Shaarans are found as far west as Calimshan and as far north as the Vilhon Reach. The inhabitants of Sespech are largely of Shaaran descent, having been brought north to serve in Jhaamdath’s armies centuries ago.

Speakers of Shaaran employ an alphabet of Dethek runes, adopted from the gold dwarf traders of the Great Rift before the rise of the Shoon Empire. If there ever was a Shaaran pantheon, it was long ago subsumed by the more powerful Jhamdaathan and Calishite cultures. Little record exists of Shaaran culture before it was assimilated by its more powerful neighbors, for the Shaarans have long maintained a nomadic way of life and an oral history.

Human, Shou

The Shou are but one of many human ethnic groups in far-off Kara-Tur, albeit the most numerous and powerful. Similar in appearance to the Tuigan, they are yellowish-bronze in hue, with black hair and broad, flat features. At its height, the Shou Empire extended as far west as the eastern shore of Brightstar Lake. Today, Shou traders are rarely seen west of Semphar, although their emperor has recently established an embassy in Elversult and made use of a ship-size portal that opens somewhere on the Sea of Fallen Stars.

The Shou worship a pantheon of deities known as the Celestial Bureaucracy and employ the Draconic alphabet to represent the Shou language.

Human, Sossrim

The Sossrims are the inhabitants of distant Sossal, a frozen land that lies between the Great Glacier and the Great Ice Sea. With skin as pallid as snow and hair with the fine, silver tint of an icicle, the Sossrims have completely adapted to their arctic environment. Sossrims speak Damaran and use the Dethek runes.

They are believed to venerate the gods of the Faerûnian pantheon, although the worship of a relatively benign aspect of Auril seems to be predominant.