Avariel history and other esoteric things...

[Arravis]

I'm hoping the Forgotten Realms gurus here might be able to lend me a hand. I've posted this in the Wizards site as well, but I suspect to get an answer I'll need to post it far and wide, anyway...

I've been researching avariel history (which I plan to post once I'm done ), and in doing so it's created more questions then it's answered. It seems that avariels were last "seen" in the beginning of the First Flowering (probably circa -23,000 DR). From there they next appeared at the Aerie of the Snow Eagles near Sossal.

The Aerie of the Snow Eagles is built atop the ruins of a dwarfhold on Mount Sundabar. The dwarven keep was built by dwarves from the collapsed Ice Kingdom of Dareth (circa 1,000 DR, due to constant white dragon attacks), in the Mountains of Dareth (Peaks of Cold Death), and some of their Delzounian allies. There they built their citadel and waged war against the dragons. Their last stand was at the Mount Sundabar dwarfhold, which is likely the actual cause of ther sheered peak.

Anyway... I'm trying to figure out what happened to the Avariels for 24,000 years. The very earliest they could take over Mount Sundabar was probably 1,100 DR, that's just a huge gap in the timeline. The only mention of any of this time is the line from Races of Faerun:
"They took to the skies only when they had to, hiding on the ground like vermin and living terrible, dirty lives as nomads and scavengers."

Anyway... suggestions and ideas would be welcome. Thanks guys!

-Arravis

 

[dagger]

I think they were hiding on Evermeet or some other elven hideout. It mentions in one of the Arcane Age box sets that they where hunted down by dragons way back near the first flowering.


Since elves are not native to Toril maybe the few who lived left Toril and went 'home'.....

 

[BrooklynKnight]

Yanno what i'd love to know? If Avariel are wizards IP or if they are public domain/open source.

(yes i know they arent in the srd, and the concept of "winged elves" is historical, its the name i'm curious about.)

 

[Arravis]

Probably their own intellectual property, why?

Anyway... anyone know of even a hint of a "canon" or "official" answer to this anywhere? It might simply be one of the many realms mysteries there has never been an answer to...

Personally, I'd think the answer should be something that, more or less, takes them out of the time stream or simply stagnates them in their knowledge. There has been effectively no mention of them in the realms until recently and it would seem next to impossible for them to have remained hidden all that time. If they were hidden well, then they should have prospered where they were at, their numbers going up dramatically, etc. Anyway, personally I imagine a group of people for whom time had stopped... they don't know about the drow, and many other things since they left long before those events happened.

Perhaps Aedrie, their goddess, removed them from the world to protect the last of them from the dragons... and had only in the last few millenia returned them to the world.

Anyway, any thoughts on this?

 

[Angcuru]

Welll.....

The Avariel were a key element in my (as of now discontinued) story hour, and I figured it went a little something like this.

The reason they dropped off the radar for 24,000 years was because they very much wanted to be forgotten (at least for a while).

It seems logical to me that they largely lived nomadic, extremely xenophobic lives, moving from place to place constantly, staying in mountainous areas when possible. This probably went on for a few millenia, until either the dragons who were hunting them thought them extinct and gave up the search, or the Avariel found a few really good isolated spots high up in the mountains where not even the airborne dragons were searching for them. Eventually, stationary communities were formed, and the Avariel began to gather in these areas. They likely kept their numbers low, initially, as fewer winged elves means less chance of being discovered. As time went by, the communities would increase in size, and maybe one or two more would be colonized/founded as acceptable locales were discovered. During this time, Aerdrie Faenya likely used her divine influence to shield them from prying eyes, further increasing their survivability.

I personally think that the sudden appearance at the Aerie of Snow Eagles was a little-thought-through attempt to bring them back into the setting. If you are including it at ALL, (which I did in mine, still don't know why) it would likely have been one of the later Avariel settlements, and because of it's fortifiable position it was greatly built upon and established as a 'last-retreat' fortress in case of another surge of dragon attacks.

ANYway, that's the way I see it happening.

As an aside, I think that the name Avariel was given to them by humans, as it there is litte elvish to it at all. It just sounds really cool. It was probably derived from the elvish for 'remote elves' Avahairedhel(ah-vah-high-reh-thel), which slow-tongued humans mistook for Avariel The elvish equivalent of 'winged elves' is raamavoitedhel, which just doesn't look too good for a race name, hence its non-use.

 

[Alzrius]

It mentions in one of the Arcane Age box sets that they where hunted down by dragons way back near the first flowering.

I did a word search on my PDF of the Arcane Age boxed set (available for free on the WotC page), and no hits for "avariel" came up (or "avarial" either, just in case). However, searching for "winged" pulled up some interesting hits.

According to the Winds of Netheril book, page 65, it mentions that in -933 DR (that's the date after you change it back from the Netheril calendar), that there were rumors of winged human(oids) in the Barren Mountains. However, parties to find out more about these beings all failed.

Also, according to the same page of the same book, in -1531 DR the village of Bandor was wiped out by a plague reportedly spread through contact with winged humanoids, and the plague spread to another settlement called Vandal Station where it claimed 4,000 lives before it ceased.

I think they were hiding on Evermeet or some other elven hideout.

I very vaguely recall (IIRC) the old Elves of Evermeet sourcebook saying there were almost no avariel on the island, and that the queen there was trying to get the message to them that they'd be welcome there.

 

[dagger]

From: TSR1165 - FR - Arcane Age - Cormanthyr Empire of Elves

"The Dawn Ages/The Time of Dragons

Toril, at this time, is dominated by dragons far more powerful than those on Faerun today. Isolated pockets of territory fall under giant control, and these grow toward the end of this age. This is the first epoch that mentions any of the smaller humanoids, since the first mentions of the elves trace back to this time. These legendary epics and songs sing of elves overthrowing and slaying dragon and giant overlords, and carving nations for themselves. There also are a few songs mentioning brave elves with wings fighting the dragons
in the skies, but these ballads are all tragedies, as they relate the avarielsí annihilation by the dragons."

The First Flowering

By the Time of Flowers (as it was called in Illefarn), the elves had settled into five major civilizations on Faerun. Spread from north to south along the western coast were Aryvandaar (gold elves), Illefarn (green elves), Miyeritar(dark and green elves), Shantel Othreier (gold and moon elves), and Keltormir(moon and green elves). There were other elven outposts and realms both on Faerun and beyond in other parts of Toril such as Thearnytaar, Eiellur, and SyÚrpiir (the predominately green elf kingdoms in the major forest south of the Vilhon Reach) or Orishaar and Ilythiir, the moon and dark elf domains in the woods south of the Lake of Steam (in the forests that once covered the Shaar). During these centuries, the elves held back the orc hordes, the dragons, and the giants, slaughtering them all and allowing the other races the chance to survive and thrive in safety. The only major loss to the elves at this time was their winged brethren, the avariel. The last avariel is believed to have taken wing from Faerun and flown west over the ocean centuries before Aryvandaar grew among the trees."


And that is it....

 

[Arravis]

Yep, got that one Dagger . Actually, in Races of Faerun they changed it from west to east, probably to explain their current location. Anyway, Alzrius, thanks for the info I'll probably work those in... I like them .

Good info, thanks guys!