Were the Nether Scrolls Ever Published Anywhere?

[joethelawyer]

Another thread made me wonder---I remember these things referenced in 1st edition FR material. I always thought they would be interesting if ever published. I haven't kept up with FR material in 10-15 yrs. Were these things ever detailed?

Thx

Joe

 

[Nymrohd]

A lot. The best you can find is on Lost Empires of Faerun which details the items in format (And they are disgustingly powerful). Their history can be pieced together from earlier editions forward in products like Netheril: Empire of Magic or The North in AD&D, though their origin story is best found in the aforementioned LEoF as well as Serpent Kingdoms. There are several other references as well but these are the major ones.

As for a quick sum of what they other. The Nether Scrolls were original named the Golden Skins of the World Serpent, an encycopedia of magical lore compiled by several generations of the creator races of Faerun through the organization of the Bae'tith. Began by the Sarrukh but continued and influenced by the batrachi and aerae empires that followed them, the Bae'tith sought to gather all knowledge of the arcane not only of their own races but also of the primitive human shamans of that era as well as other magical creatures. With the eventual decline of those races the Golden Skins were forgotten. The elves of Aryvandar rediscovered the scrolls or part of them and sought to seal their evil by summoning an arakhor, an elder treant that was later known as the Grandfather Tree. The Netherese not so much discovered the scrolls but rather were led to them by the Terraseer, an ancient Istossef sarrukh lich who helped guide Netheril to still unknown ends throughout the millenia of that empire's duration. I for one believe the Terraseer was looking for surrogates to carry on the ancient war of the Istossef with the phaerimm.

 

[Aexalon]

Cormanthyr - Empire of the Elves has about 1½ pages (p158-160) of information on one of the two sets of Nether Scrolls, specifically as reformed into the Quess'Ar'Teranthvar, one of the secret treasures in Windsong Tower in Myth Drannor.

It is said that a full set of 50 scrolls breaks down into 5 sets of 10, which must be studied in order (though going back to a previous set after studying a later one is supposed to reveal additional information. Also a known property of the scrolls was that different races learned different info from them. The 5 sets were:

• Arcaenus Fundarum: Basics of arcane knowledge, schools of magic, etc.
• Magicus Creare: Item creation (stand-alone, like weapons & wands), grafts, etc.
• Major Creare: Selfsustaining magic, augmenting items, dead-magic, antimagic, wards (mythals), etc.
• Planus Mechanicus: Planar structure, demiplane construction, planar travel, etc.
• Ars Factum: Artifact creation.

The form of the Quess'Ar'Teranthvar ("A slim, golden beech tree with golden metal leaves, its roots spreading out across the surface it rests on, and its trunk bark forming the face of a treant. Within the tree's branches are a small silver bird with an electrum beak, and a snake with alternating silver, gold and electrum scales.") supposedly revealed a 6th form of magical knowledge, corresponding to elven High Magic, or Epic magic (10th level and above) in general.

 

[Nymrohd]

Oh forgot that Anauroch: The Empire of Shade module. One of those horrible modules at the end of 3.5 that features the Quess'Ar'Theranthavar heavily.

 

[joethelawyer]

Thx for the info guys. I guess I thought they were 100 spells higher than 9th level for wizards. Turns out they were something else? I thought they would be a good source of epic level spells. Looks like they aren't what I expected.

 

[Nymrohd]

They are an excellent source of epic spells The Arcanus Fundare set of scrolls gave a +30 inherent bonus to Spellcraft checks, and Ars Factum contains the secrets to artifact creation. When combined in the form of the Quess'Ar'Theranthvar the equivalent of a hidden, sixth set of scrolls appears that teaches epic spells and elven high magic.

 

[Hunter In Darkness]

They guys already gave you solid info. The issue is well 3e did epic funny. In 2e the scroll where from a time when magic worked diff,very diff really. 10th,11th,13th level spells . Wizards of the arcane age worked more like a sorcerer then a 2e or 3e wizard. they learned a spell they knew it for ever spell books were for refance not need, they cast spells on they fly and gods where they powerful/ spells had no damage cap and they could do things other casters never could, like spell mantles and such. Most none wizards knew 1 or 2 minor spells, the scrolls are from a diff time, a time when magic tobbled gods and threaded to destroy the weave and magic with it.

So yes they can have epic spells in them if you like, they are artifacts they are the basis of all magic in Farun and most spellcaster know much thats in them, but thats just a fraction of the secrets they hold.

 

[Nymrohd]

By the way the major issue is getting a hold of them. The Netherese found only two full sets, one of which was stolen by the Cormanthyran elves and turned into the Quess'Ar'Theranthvar we have oft mentioned before, while the other one has been split into several pieces. The scrolls themselves cannot be destroyed. They can be broken apart to lumps of metal but they slowly reform and they rejoin seamlessly if brought together. It is of course possible that an additional set (or more!) exists, and you might be able to find some of the writers still alive, or unliving somewhere in faerun or elsewhere in the multiverse. For referense, sarrukh survive in Serpentes, Okoth and Oreme (Arthindol, the Terraseer is probably alive and well in Oreme though negotiating anything with the 35,000 year old lich should be quite the challenge). Batrachi survive as slaad lords and thus are probably not your best chance at information. Aerae lore can probably be found in their fallen empires and those of their descendants the aarakocra, though your best bet would be Maztica now displaced in Abeir (though there probably are some deformed aerae serving Pazuzu as unique demons in the realms).

 

[Shemeska]

Batrachi survive as slaad lords and thus are probably not your best chance at information.

The slaadi -vastly- predate the batrachi, though as I recall, there was material about the batrachi possibly being confused for them just based on some similar frog-like traits.

 

[Nymrohd]

Not slaadi Shemeska, slaad lords. The one surviving batrachi we know of has become a slaad lord, Bazim-Gorag the Firebringer.