Elves - Sun Elves
The majority of Faerûn’s sun elves live on Evermeet, having abandoned what remained of their ancient realms during the centuries following the falls of Illefarn and Cormanthyr.
They are only now returning to the mainland to re-establish their presence there. The sun elves are famed for their command of both arcane and divine magic, which exceeds that of any other living race.
Works of elven high magic thousands of years old still survive in the hidden refuges of the sun elves. Sun elves are responsible for the majority of the great elven cities of legend, although other elven subraces aided the construction of many of these cities. Myth Drannor is perhaps their most famous creation, although probably not their most magnificent.
Sun elf realms are the stuff legends are made of, an integral part of the history of Faerûn for thousands of years.
The sun elves certainly know this, for they distance themselves from non-elf races and often won’t let such “lesser beings” into their lands.
The sun elves migrated to Faerûn at the same time as the moon elves and the dark elves. Although they were the least numerous of the three peoples, they nonetheless quickly established several great nations, including Aryvandaar and Othreier.
Under the leadership of House Vyshaan, a dynasty of sun elves, the nation of Aryvandaar in particular soon became the most powerful elven realm of its time.
The Vyshaanti were aggressive expansionists, and their obsession with increasing the size of their empire at the expense of the other races is thought to be the major cause of the terrible Crown Wars of ten thousand years past.
After the Fifth Crown War, the Vyshaanti were finally overthrown, and the sun elves returned to a less aggressive lifestyle that has changed little over the intervening millennia. The next great nation founded by the sun elves was Cormanthyr in the year –3983 DR. This time they chose to build a realm founded on compassion, lore, and subtle magic instead of military might and great battle-mages.
As a result, the nation was much kinder and more powerful in the long run, and the elves of Cormanthyr accomplished many amazing magical wonders. For thousands of years, Cormanthyr stood as the most powerful realm in northern Faerûn, eclipsed only briefly by Netheril at its height. From their city of Myth Drannor in the heart of the forest, the Coronals of Cormanthyr checked for centuries the burgeoning strength of young human lands such as Cormyr or Sembia that rose in the years after Netheril’s fall.
The raising of the Standing Stone and the Dales compact of 0 DR, peaceful though they were, signaled the beginning of the end of elven might in Faerûn. Although Myth Drannor achieved its greatest flowering in the years of peaceful human and elven coexistence, its days were numbered. Cormanthyr finally fell in 714 DR, when an overabundance of portals in the vicinity of Myth Drannor weakened the boundaries between worlds, allowing a disastrous invasion of fiends.
Today, the bulk of Faerûn’s sun elves live in a third great nation, the distant island of Evermeet.
First settled in –9800 DR by sun elves from Aryvandaar, the young realm’s remoteness protected it from the ravages of the Crown Wars and the ensuing rise of human power on Faerûn. For more than ten thousand years, Evermeet has been the safest haven for elvenkind and the hidden refuge of elven civilization.
From Evermeet came the call for the Elven Retreat in 1344 DR, and the sun elves of Faerûn felt that call most deeply of all the elven peoples. Now that the Retreat has ended, the haughty sun elves are among the last to return to Faerûn.
Most sun elves still prefer to remain sequestered on their island nation, even though recent events have proved that Evermeet is not safe from harm.
Today, the only large community of sun elves remaining in Faerûn is the hidden city of Evereska, on the borders of Anauroch.