Silverymoon
Silverymoon was a powerful city of the North and the thriving pinnacle of human culture, even amidst the wilderness of the Savage Frontier.4663 Though the Moon prized both education and art, especially music,2846 the city also emerged as a home to many notable wizards, sorcerers, and other mages,19 together forming the pervading magical traditions for which the Great Silver Hearth was most famous.1946 Its invisible Moonbridge was one such emblematic structure, as it was borne entirely from the Art.284664
Sometimes translated as Aerasumé (pronounced: /ˈeɪrɑːsuːˈmɛ/ AY-rah-soo-MEH65) in ancient Elven,3 the city’s virtues, pursuits, and populace were grandly considered echoes of fabled Myth Drannor.4666 By the mid-to-late 14th century DR, this was largely attributed to the benevolence of Silverymoon’s then-ruler, High Lady Alustriel, who fostered unity between humans and demihumans within her city’s walls.284647 Later in her long rule, the Gem of the North became the prime signatory state of the League of the Silver Marches and was viewed by many as the capital of the fledgeling nation.
Structure
When Alustriel was still in power, the politics of the city flowed smoothly. Legal disputes were delegated over in the morning with spare time left for private appointments with those who request them. In the evening, she declared any new laws or decrees, met with foreign delegations and oversaw policy debates. If these debates went on for too long, she would ask that the arguments be submitted to her in written form and then these would be copied and distributed freely to the citizenry. The public would themselves argue about the matter and then their written opinions were collected the next day and, guided by her own experience, Alustriel would cobble together the final policy.
History
The land on which Silverymoon would be built had long been sacred to the patron deity of rangers, Mielikki, and the unicorn goddess, Lurue.126 Though it was only populated some time after the fall of the Empire of Magic, first settled by people of Netherese blood,127 their choice to work alongside nature—not against it—was said to have compelled the two deities to bless the site.126
The city of Silverymoon began as Silverymoon Ford, a simple bridge of wood and rope built low across the River Rauvin's shallows in the Year of Dreaming Dragons, 384 DR.1289129 More than half a century passed before anything else was constructed in the area, until, in 447 DR, the Moonsilver Inn was established on the bridge's northern bank.130 After that, only a dozen years later, a lumber camp was erected, surrounding both bridge and inn. With this, Silverymoon Ford instead became known as Silver Village.131
Silverymoon became a city in Uktar 637 DR, when a stone wall was built around it for the first time and the first ruler of Silverymoon, High Mage Ecamane Truesilver, was elected.132 He was instrumental in setting the foundation to the city's enduring fame of a center of lore and knowledge throughout the North. Truesilver founded a library and subsequent rulers of the city pursued artistic endeavors and further consolidated Silverymoon as a place where art, culture, lore, and magic were highly valued.133
After his death in 712 DR, and a reign of seventy-five years, Ecamane was succeeded by the second High Mage of Silverymoon, Aglanthol the Red, his nephew. When Myth Drannor fell in 714 DR, some prominent scholars found shelter in the city, but they were followed by the demons that destroyed their home. The then reigning High Mage, Aglanthol, perished in the ensuing fight in 719 DR. His successor, Ederan Nharimlur, by contrast, reigned for many years in peace. It was in his reign that the city almost doubled in size.133
Upon Ederan's death in 784 DR, his daughter Amaara Nharimlur became the High Mage of Silverymoon. In 815 DR, Elué Dualen arrived in the city and befriended Amaara and her sister Lynx. In 821 DR, Elué and Lynx established the Lady's College, the first open school for mages in Silverymoon to take students, not apprentices, and as payment for tutelage required an equal amount of time of service in defense of the city. In 843 DR Elué and other wizards created the Moonbridge, the city's most famous landmark133 along with the wards of Silverymoon.134 Eventually Elué became High Mage in 857 DR after Amaara left for Evermeet. Elué left the post in 876 DR with Lynx.133
The succession of High Mages was disrupted in 876 DR, when the warlord Lashtor, then commander of the city's army, took the city by force, destroying many important buildings and killing many wizards in the process. He could not remain in power for more than a year, however, as he was deposed by Tanalanthara Mytersaal, a mage also known as Lady Wolf. Lady Wolf sacrificed herself in 882 DR while fending off a horde of orcs.135
The next High Mage was chosen by the people of Silverymoon to be Tanisell the Cloaked, who during his reign strengthened the wards of the city and constructed the Vault of the Sages. In 920 DR the Keeper of the Vault of Sages, Nunivytt Threskaal, succeeded Tanisell.136
Beginning in the Year of the Cold Claws, 940 DR, Threskaal's reign bore witness to the Second Trollwar,137 a conflict between the Waterdhavians and the Evermoor trolls. Until the armies of the civilized North were united by Aeroth, Silverymoon's champion and War Captain,72137138 the fighting lasted a dozen years;137 he was, however, able to lead them into the Trollmoors, with the war culminating in the nine day Long Battle and a victory for the Northern kingdoms. Before departing, Aeroth had been gifted Taragarth, the magical bastard sword forged long ago by the Gem's own Elfgar, and he wielded the blade so effectively as to earn it a second title as the Bloodbrand.72137138
Forty years after the end of the Second Trollwar, in the Year of the Scythe, 982 DR,137 the mantle of Warlord was taken from Rayuth, who passed away in his old age, and given to his sadistic son, the arrogant Tulven. Aeroth, by then an older, white-bearded man, grieved the loss of his previous master. This sorrow, combined with his dislike for Tulven, cost Silverymoon its champion, who soon departed the Gem of the North with his wife and their six sons. Though incorrect, it was common myth that the Bloodbrand had been left behind in the city, perhaps lost in a labyrinthine cave beneath the streets or in some hidden hoard.72138
Threskaal reigned for over a hundred years in peace until his death during 1050 DR.136
High Mage Orjalun was the next to take up the mantle of rulership and oversaw a reign that included the emergence of many famed mages such as Ahghairon and Bowgentle.52136
Circa 1057 DR, the great dwarfhold of Citadel Felbarr, north-east of Silverymoon, was left behind by the Stout Folk. Very soon after, more than three thousand Silvaeren soldiers and other military officers were sent to occupy the keep,7480139 seeking to annex it into an outpost to the nearby Ice Mountains and Coldwood. The Silvaeren hoped for mineral wealth, to bolster their coffers of gold and silver—the latter of which was in particularly low supply—but they also sought massive trees, which they thought to use in the building of their ships.139 It was almost immediately after the Citadel was garrisoned that nearby orc tribes began skirmishing with the human forces.7480139
For 50 long years, Silverymoon held to Felbarr. This was only until they found themselves surrounded by an awful horde of orcs, which had charged the Citadel from Dead Orc Pass, the mountain cleft between the Silvaeren and the wilderness they sought to explore.7480139 It was said that, so numerous were the orcs, it was impossible for the arrows flooding the sky to miss.139 Though the onslaught was endless, and though the garrison's forces were decidedly not, they nonetheless shot everything they had into the orcs, missiles both mundane and magical. The Battle of Many Arrows, as it came to be known, lasted for over four months, with orc corpses piling higher and higher against the Citadel's walls until their still-unrelenting brethren finally crested the Silvaeren's defenses. The monsters butchered Silverymoon's people, and wrested control of their eastern base.7480139
Another disaster befell Silverymoon in the year 1150 DR, a plague against which nearly half the city's inhabitants perished.52136
Orjalun's reign ended in the Year of the Long Watch, 1230 DR,52 when he appointed Sepur, an apprentice of his, as the next High Mage.52115116 It was to be a short reign, however, as Sepur left the city behind only two years later,52note 5 taking with him Orjalun's staff of Silverymoon and his Arbatel. Though Sepur's ultimate fate was unknown,115140 sagely Alphontras had heard of a strange sight in the nearby Evermoors: a tor had been seared, atop which rested only a broken staff.115140
In the aftermath of Sepur's vanishing, an elected mayor ruled for the next three years;52 this reign, in the Year of the Black Horde, 1235 DR, marked the first time that an enemy broke through the city walls since the office of High Mage was established. It was then that the army's commander, Khallos Shieldsunder, forcibly took control of the orc-sieged settlement, but the invading orcs were repelled only by the timely arrival of a combined force of elves and Harpers, led by Alustriel Silverhand and her sister Storm Silverhand.141
Alustriel subsequently became the city's only ruler to have been unanimously chosen by the people, and the only one to have reigned for so long.141
Silverymoon also became the home of the Amnian Princess Rasa Parhek, at some point after her birth in the Year of the Shattered Wall, 1271 DR; for her own protection, Rasa was entrusted to the High Lady Mage. It was also in the Gem of the North that the Princess met and married Dornar Steelsar, bearing him four children. However, she and her youngest were ultimately forced to leave the city in 1297 DR, after assassins from her homeland slew her husband and their two eldest children.142
Circa 1335 DR, Fythuera, a harpist, and her long-time husband, Hargun the Tall, himself a tradesman suffering from the shaking fever, had a child. Less than a year passed before they left the city, however; this left their son, named Narm Tamaraith, with no memories of this very earliest childhood.143144145
In the Year of the Wanderer, 1338 DR,146 Silverymoon's court was visited by such figures as the renowned Elminster, Distyl of nearby Nesmé, the adventurer Urnen, and Abadda Moonglamaer. Carrying with him Susk, an infamously silent sword, the long-ago prince was challenged for it by Distyl, ultimately losing both his life and his weapon to the man. Though the blade was soon carried off, and lost in turn, by its new owner,147148149146 no one discovered that the fallen elf had secretly been a doppelganger.146
As part of the First Dragonspear War, the northerly village of Triboar was ransacked, such that, by Mirtul of the Year of the Worm, 1356 DR, its citizens, and those of similar, nearby towns, had fled. The Gem of the North was one city the refugees escaped to, as were Mirabar and some of the ports on the Sword Coast.150
By the Year of the Prince, 1357 DR, Silverymoon, as well as Sundabar and Citadel Adbar, had attacked the demons of Hellgate Keep, failed to reclaim the city, and faced direct offensives from the ghoul-hold themselves.151152 Though the fiends were turned back, the armed forces of these three cities, dwarves and humans alike, rallied together with those of nearby Everlund to block off Turnstone Pass, clashing near-endlessly to maintain their tenuous, if strategic, hold on the valley and keep their enemies from the northern cities.76152
It was this same year that young Narm and his new bride, the spellfire-wielding Shandril Shessair, decided to leave behind the Dalelands and return to the Great Silver Hearth,153154155 where they could be under the protection and tutelage of Alustriel.153154 This long voyage was encouraged by members of the Harpers, powerful wizards, and even the Knights of Myth Drannor.155156157
In Uktar of the Year of Shadows, 1358 DR, a terrible winter fell over the Gem of the North—worse even than the winter of 1357 DR, which had been the harshest season that most of the Silvaeren remembered. With the cold came monstrous assaults by winter wolves, devil dogs in enormous groups, and even the dreadful frost giants.158
Alustriel's reign officially ended in 1369 DR, when she stepped down, passing the city's supreme office to her trusted adviser Taern "Thunderspell" Hornblade. She assumed the title of High Lady of the Silver Marches in 1371 DR (the year the confederation was born) and became the leading figure of authority in the new-found confederation.159
When the Spellplague struck Silverymoon, it broke the city's mythal. All hope was not lost, however, as this meant it protected the city from the brunt of the Plague's effects.160
Silverymoon was involved in the destructive War of the Silver Marches between 1484 DR and 1485 DR, still under Taern's leadership as of 1485 DR.161 However the city's lacklustre efforts to help Sundabar during the war tarnished its reputation.162163
By 1489 DR, High Mage Taern Hornblade had stepped down as ruler of the city and Methrammar Aerasumé took over as Lord of Silverymoon. Despite this, Taern still spoke for the city among the Lords' Alliance.
Territories
The borders of Silverymoon's owned territory were distinguished using grey rocks which bore, engraved upon them, the city's Royal Badge.74 To the immediate east of Silverymoon was Silverymoon Pass,7475 and the city of Sundabar beyond it,63 while to the Gem's west hid the Heralds' Holdfast,76 Mithral Hall, and Settlestone.77 Far past them, Silverymoon was, if one went through Longsaddle, roughly 470 miles (760 kilometers) from the volcano of Mount Hotenow, both of which lay to the Moon's south-west.78 Moving south would lead one first to Everlund,637980 and then to the north-western reaches of the awe-inspiring High Forest.63 The town of Secomber, on the other side of the High Forest, was over 500 mi (800 km) away from the Moon.81
According to the stories told regarding Melazzar, a bard of Waterdeep, there laid another forested region between the Moon and the settlement of Triboar, far to the south-west; this forest was said to be the home of a number of sirens who lived around Dark Crag.82 The popular narrative of Olithard's Tune also purported the existence of a bardic college in the forest to the south of Silverymoon, which the eponymous bard sought out.83 However, he found only korreds, who bade him return to the Gem of the North.
Military
The Silverwatch108 policed Silverymoon's streets while the Moon Garrison protected the city from external threats.109
Armies
The Knights in Silver
The primary fighting forces of Silverymoon were the famed Knights in Silver, named as such by the adventuring bard, Mintiper Moonsilver.4628 A lionhearted group of more than 500,46 these gallant humans and half-elves stood fast in the face of sundry threats, both to their city and to the North as a whole, as if they were no danger at all; after having won many battles that others would deem hopeless, their enthusiasm was not unearned. Victory in these combats occasionally depended on the assistance of the Mistmaster or the Shadowcloak, two mysterious mages, but that fact did little to undermine the importance of the Knights' temerity and willpower.28
By 1372 DR, they were led by a paladin named Sernius Alathar,19 and recruitment was overseen by Recruiting Master Mazillor Shatterstave, who scrutinized each potential applicant for suitability among their ranks.110 Under Mazillor's watch the Knights in Silver rose to 704 members.111
Although the Knights were often found protecting the walls of Silverymoon, they were also sent on patrols of the wilderness around the city in a radius of 50 miles (80 kilometers). On these sojourns, they were always accompanied by a wizard or sorcerer of the Spellguard, another one of the city's standing armies.112
The Spellguard
The Spellguard,19 led by the half-elf wizard, Jorus Azuremantle,113 was established in 1255 DR as a personal bodyguard for Alustriel herself. Over the intervening years, however, it grew to into a city-wide force, spreading their duties between the High Palace and the rest of Silverymoon. By 1372 DR, the Spellguard numbered 32 members, 7 of which were Warders that oversaw the activities of the rest.110
The High Guard
Veterans of the Knights in Silver were the only people allowed to work as part of the High Guard, a subsection of Silverymoon's military that was solely and directly responsible for the security of the High Palace and its environs.
Religion
The Silvaeren tended to worship deities that aligned themselves with the Gem of the North's pursuits—which focused on artistry, beauty, and academia—as well as those that matched their dependence on the nearby woods, like Shiallia, Silvanus, and Mielikki.30 The city also had temples to Lathander,28 Milil, Oghma, Helm, Selûne,2829 Mystra, and Tymora,29 but it notably outlawed the Church of Cyric.
Foreign Relations
Allegiances
Silverymoon was—alongside such cities as Waterdeep, Sundabar, and Neverwinter—a member of the Lords' Alliance;39404142 by 1357 DR, the Gem of the North could even be considered the most influential and sizeable city in the whole North, second only to the City of Splendors.89 A year later, in 1358 DR, both Silverymoon and the Alliance were in talks with Everlund regarding the city's requests for the establishment and upkeep of a proper road, leading from their gates to Yartar, along the majority of the Evermoor Way.80
The Great Silver Hearth also maintained a positive relationship with the massive granary known as Goldenfields, despite the fact that Tolgar Anuvien, its ruler, quickly gained influence in the mid–14th century DR, on par with that of Lady Alustriel or the Neverwintian Lord Nasher.89
The Moon was also known as a stronghold of the enigmatic group known as the Harpers. Despite their clandestine nature, the organization was generally esteemed in the Savage Frontier,43 as both High Lady Mage Alustriel,909192 and Khelben Blackstaff of Waterdeep,43 openly acknowledged their membership in the organization.439192
Silverymoon was also the leading city of the Confederation of the Silver Marches. Though still burgeoning, as of the late 14th century DR, and facing difficulties when cooperation was needed, it was nonetheless a common belief that the regions's cities would fall to the many enemies that surrounded them unless they managed to unite and fight as one.4445
Adversaries
Though Silverymoon had many allies in the North, it also had its fair share of enemies. The Gem of the North was a primary foe of Grintharke and the demonic forces he gathered in Hellgate Keep,43 as well as of King Graul of the Ice Mountain orcs. This last sought to conquer the North itself. Graul wished to see either the Moon or neighboring Sundabar as the first to fall under his grasping tyranny,42 and so his orcs often raided against the two cities.93
This was a similar goal to that of the Arcane Brotherhood,94 a small group of wizards and sorcerers who controlled the port city of Luskan from within their Hosttower of the Arcane.9495 Though the Brotherhood did not count Silverymoon among their worst enemies in 1358 DR,43 this would later change, with the city, and the Silver Marches as a whole, being considered the main targets of the Brotherhood's quest for domination.94
Though not a primary foe of the Zhentarim in themselves, the forces of Zhentil Keep chose to begin their expansion into the North from Llorkh due to the city's distance from Silverymoon and Waterdeep both.96 Enemies also lurked in the depths of Toril: the Underdark. In 1358 DR, an army of drow elves from the city of Menzoberranzan laid siege to Mithral Hall, a dwarven stronghold under the leadership of King Bruenor Battlehammer, and were driven back only with the combined efforts of Mithral Hall and Silverymoon.
Trade & Transport
The bulk of Silverymoon's economy involved those finer pursuits of art and academia,98 and it provided ample patronage to renowned schools of music. Magical studies were another primary industry of Silverymoon, as was the humbler craft of forestry.46 Beyond these, much of the city's overland trade arrived from eastward Sundabar, bringing with it the riches of Citadel Adbar, a dwarven stronghold and the site of Faerûn's most prosperous mines.6399 Silverymoon was one of Sundabar's three most common, and important, trading partners.100 These excursions through Silverymoon Pass, however, could be harrassed by bandits from the Nether Mountains.7493101102
Beginning at some point in the 7th century DR,note 4 and for many generations afterwards, the Moon suffered the depredations of the Chieftains in Gold, a blossoming culture of raiders.101102 By 1357 DR, the unceasing reavers of Silverymoon Pass were instead orc patrols originating from the Citadel of Many Arrows—which was, in itself, an everpresent threat.7480 It was said that the Citadel's king, Obould, was loyal to Graul of the Ice Mountains,93 with such vast forces within the Citadel itself that it was impossible for Silverymoon to eradicate them, despite their attacks occasionally targeting the city gates of the Gem or of Sundabar.7480
Given the isolated and dangerous nature of the land around Silverymoon, merchant caravans traveling to and from the city would sometimes hire the help of the Company of the Wolf, a capable adventuring company of the Northern Interior, as both guards and guides.103 Though the city was also home to an outpost of the Six Coffers Market Priakos, a widespread and successful mercantile company,104 much of the short, overland trade routes between the Gem of the North and Yartar were monopolized by the folk of Everlund.80
Goods & Currencies
Silverymoon minted its own coinage, in the denominations common elsewhere,105 as well as its own, unique coin,105106 the moon.106 Referred to, in the mid–14th century DR, as an electrum moon, it shone a metallic blue and was made into the shape of a crescent, being valued at 2 ep within Silverymoon's territory but only 1 ep beyond it.105107 It later became valued at 2gp and was accepted throughout the Silver Marches.106
Some of the good produced in and exported out of Silverymoon was a variety of white wine with a distinct blue tint: Silverymoon Blue. This wine became all the rage in Ravens Bluff in the late 14th century DR.
Silverymoon Blue wine, books, paper, herbs, inks, glass, glassware, furs, timber, and valuable ores
Food (especially grain and livestock), armor, weapons, footwear, textiles and clothing
Comments