The Weeping War

The Weeping War was a battle that culminated in 714 DR, in which the Akh'Velahr (the army of Cormanthor) were defeated by the invading daemonic forces named the Army of Darkness, leading to the fall of the elven city of Myth Drannor, the greatest and most powerful bastion of civilization by far at the time.

The exact power responsible for the original demonic summoning was a charismatic a half-daemon orc shaman named Gerdreg, a son of Agglemax the Corrupt. Gerdreg summoned vast armies of daemons to raid the lands of the Dragonreach, but Aulmpiter, Gaulguth and Malimshaer broke free of their master's control and rounded up huge numbers of goblinkin in the surrounding area.

Fflar 

• The Battle of Helmgrove: When late word of this large army reached Captain Fflar of Myth Drannor, he immediately set a watch post north of the city at Helmgrove, appointing the company of the Shield of Myth Drannor to the detail…

Iramine Amatar was an eldritch knight from Myth Drannor. At a young age, she entered one of the elves’ many spell casting academies- the Irithlium where she studied both martial and arcane disciplines. When her studies were completed, she joined up with an adventuring troupe called the Shields of Myth Drannor along with a wizard named Eldarniel. Iramine was the lover of the wizard Eldarniel, court magician to the powerful elven king Eltargrim.

Together they explored ancient ruins and plumbed arcane secrets, but their chief passion was finding and cataloging the mystical properties of moonlight, starlight and constellation magic. Some lore masters credit them with discovering silver’s effects on lycanthropes and crafting the first ring of shooting stars.

When Captain Fflar ordered the Sheilds of Myth Drannor to Helmgrove the entire company was destroyed by the demonic forces.

• Burnt Ridge: A second pre-battle stand was made at Burnt Ridge, where hundreds of the defending wizards were killed…

Yorik of Burnt Ridge was not witty, nor insightful, nor sociable, but the half ogre was fanatically loyal to his employer, the wizard Drendar Wands. For a seemingly young member of the aristocracy, Drendar had many enemies. Yorik protected him with life and limb, though he came close to death on more than one occasion. Unfortunately, it became apparent to Drendar that Yorik was not equipped for the magical conflicts he habitually sought out. Drendar’s ambitions waited for nobody. Drendar returned Yorik’s loyalty in full and forged a weapon of great power for him—an axe known as Lorestealer.  

Because Yorik had no spell casting skill, Azar constructed Lorestealer to compensate for this shortcoming and to shore up his own offensive power. With the throwing axe, Yorik could use a scroll by cleaving its parchment, thereby releasing the stored magic.  

The weapon was put to great use during the Battle of Burnt Ridge and although the battle was lost, Yorik saved himself and his master by cleaving a greater teleport scroll just as defeat was eminent transporting them safely to Waterdeep.

• Evacuation: Fflar set about evacuating Myth Drannor of all non-combatants, but this began too late and the evacuation continued even as the battle began…

House Nasadra

In the time before the Weeping War during the First Age of Magic, several mighty elf clans battled each other for supremacy over territories in Cormanthor. One of these great elven houses was a drow clan named Nasadra. As the dominion of Nasadra grew strong and influential, clans of the Tangled Trees as well as the Elven Court began to worry the drow house was gaining strength too quickly.

• Siege of Shadow: The siege of Myth Drannor by the Army of Darkness was named the Siege of Shadow and began on 21 Kythorn, 714 DR. The forward army and the best wizards have been defeated by this point, and only three thousand defenders remain.

Tait Wyvernspur and Gelgar Morn were from Dagger Dale and parleyed with the Brightmantle dwarves to aid them in the war against the Army of darkness. Weapons were forged for these two to ride into battle. The first was the Sword of the Dales a finely crafted bade and Fiend Bane, carried by the cavalier Tait Wyvernspur.

• Thousands of the Army of Darkness were slain in the battle itself, but they were far too numerous to be stopped by the defenders. They overran the Myth Drannor, burning and pillaging it entirely. Much destruction was caused when wizard towers, still occupied by wizards who had refused to leave, were blown apart, spreading much devastation and unpredictable magic across the city.

When a great Army of Darkness threatened to overrun the world and extinguish all human life. Goblins, giants, and drow formed unholy pacts, creating armies of ghouls, skeletons, wights, and zombies that wiped out entire regions, adding the slain to their undead numbers. Church leaders in the Dalelands could not afford to let bickering and religious differences come between them any longer. One man united them— Tragen Gundwynd. Tragen did not believe in any deity, for what god would allow so many people to suffer at the hands of Gerdreg and the daemons? Tragen did believe in something greater than himself, however—the resilience of humanity. To him, nothing was more divine than this one truth.  

Original Knights of Myth Drannor

As territories fell to the Army of Darkness, fleeing populations were pushed farther and farther inland, into Cormanthor and the Dalelands. They were being herded against the Thunder Peaks, over which they could not climb fast enough to escape their pursuers. Tragen knew this. He rode out to each pocket of dalesmen and urged them to combine forces rather than face extinction—they could not refuse aid, and they were too few in number to make a stand alone.

Tragen gathered all the holy persons around him for a final stand including Argus Kordova and Rudolph Van Richten. That day, the tide of battle shifted without any divine intervention. The dalesmen survived by saving themselves but Myth Drannor was lost.

• Banes' Duel: At the climax of the battle, Aulmpiter called Fflar forward and the two engaged in one-on-one combat that became known as the Banes' Duel. Both Fflar and Aulmpiter were slain when a magical blast engulfed them.

Only two hundred elves and allies out of the 3000 who remained behind to defend the city escaped. After this, the directionless remnants of the Army of Darkness spread out as far as Sembia. The elves living in the woods around Myth Drannor spent two years ridding their land of the bugbears, flinds, gnolls and orcs who had been part of the army, taking heavy casualties. The elves who took over the ruins of the city ensured that the surrounding area was closed off from outsiders and those of other races, so that another army could not invade; these became known as the Knights of Myth Drannor.