History of Cormanthyr - The Weeping War
Despite all its internal strife, Myth Drannor might eventually have found peace again had the Trio Nefarious not returned.
The three nycaloths—Aulmpiter, Gaulguth, and Malimshaer—had brooded in their mystical prison for nearly two millennia, plotting their revenge. Finally, the flight of the red dragon Garnet over the throne of the coronal fulfilled a condition of their release, and a gnoll shaman of the Moonsea was able to summon them forth. As soon as they were freed, the three fiends put their plans into motion. Ruthlessly establishing themselves as the leaders of dozens of barbaric humanoid tribes, they used a combination of magic, brute force, and sheer terror to organize the disparate tribes of orcs, goblins, ogres, bugbears, and other monsters into a single cohesive army, which the elves would later dub the Army of Darkness.
While the Trio Nefarious was assembling its army, the people of Cormanthyr were busy dealing with other dangers.
After many centuries of relative inactivity, the drow had gone on the warpath once again and retaken the Twisted Tower from the worshipers of Eilistraee. Over the next several years, they harried the north-western reaches of Cormanthyr and even struck into Cormyr and the Dalelands occasionally. Although it was never clear whether the drow had predicted or known about the Army of Darkness, they were in an excellent position to exploit the coming war for their own benefit.
The Weeping War, as the elves called the campaign that led to the fall of Myth Drannor, began in the Year of Despairing Elves (711 DR). In its opening gambit, called the Northern Massacres, the Army of Darkness invaded Cormanthyr’s northern reaches.
A reversal of fortune occurred over the next two years, when the forces of Cormanthyr managed to slay two of the nycaloths that commanded the Army of Darkness and reclaim the Elven Court.
But while these valiant acts bought the citizens of Myth Drannor time to evacuate the city, the beleaguered forces of the Akh Velahr were in no position to drive the Army of Darkness back because, thanks to drow intervention, Cormanthyr could receive no aid from its allies in Evereska, Evermeet, and Silverymoon.
The Weeping War ended in the Year of Doom (714 DR) with the Siege of Shadows, in which the Army of Darkness laid siege to the city proper.
Myth Drannor was finally taken and sacked, although Aulmpiter, the last of the three nycaloth lords, died at the hands of Captain Fflar Starbrow Melruth.
With the destruction of the Trio Nefarious, the Army of Darkness lost its direction and leadership. Many of the humanoids dispersed and made their way back to their homelands; others made new lairs in the ruins of Myth Drannor.
The capital of Cormanthyr was moved back to its ancient seat at the Elven Court, but the great elven kingdom never again reached its previous height.
Because many of the nobles still blamed non-elves for the fall of the empire, humans, dwarves, and members of other races were no longer welcome in Cormanthyr. A trading village called Elventree was established to allow necessary commerce, but Coronal Oacenth’s dream of unity was over. After centuries of decline, the elders of the Elven Court began the Retreat, leaving Cormanthor a virtually uninhabited forest within three decades.
Today, surface-dwelling drow—largely worshipers of Vhaeraun and other drow deities exiled by the priestesses of Lolth—have claimed a large section of land in Cormanthyr, including a section of the Elven Court.
