[FR] Netherese Ruins

Here's the campaign I'm working on. Those who aren't FR freaks will be lost.

2000 years ago, the Netherese floating cities fell to Faerun when Karsus tried to claim the powers of a god. One city was floating low over the Spine of the World Mountains and crashed into a cold and isolated valley. The damage to the city was extensive but many buildings survived the fall partially intact. The few survivors took all they could carry and left to start new lives in warmer climates. Before they left, they interred their dead in ornate resting chambers and placed cunning magical traps all over the ruins to keep any possible looters at bay. They were forced to leave behind many treasures both magical and mundane and hoped to one day return for them.

Who can say what happened to the survivors or why they never returned, but the ruins of the ancient city now lay ready to be claimed by adventurers. The area is now home to a mixture of barbarian tribes, Snow Goblins and myriad less intelligent creatures. The traps and guardians that the ancient Netherese placed are there as well.

Questions:

What would these ruins look like now? I'm not too up of Netherese society so I'm not sure what they would have looked like 200o years ago.

How might a PC be able to tell that the treasure found here is of ancient origin? Would the Netherese have had an distinctive (now archaic) way of making weapons, tools or coins? What gods did the Netherese worship?

What would you put in this adventure? How might you hook the PCs in?

If I recall correctly Jergal and Chauntea were at least two of the deities that were worshipped back then. Mystral(sp) was also another. (The precursor of Mystra)

You can download the Netheril: Empire of Magic set for free as an ESD from WotC: http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads. Along with the info you're after, there's a host of other good stuff about Netheril in there.

I have to second the previous recommendation that you download the Netheril supplement which contains, inter alia, a map and pictures of a Netherese floating city as well as information on the deities worshipped at the time and their alignments (IIRC, Mystra was called Mystryl and was CN in alignment).

I would ensure that the treasure included books on magical theory using some of the Netherese-era mages that appear in the download. Don't forget to have the city come under assault by tomb tappers!

Wowowow - thanks!