#netheril

[lycowarrior]

Can you see what I see

“Worry not! Eileanar shall show them the beauty we visioned, and the joy we have known. In time, all shall follow us and our enclave.”

—Karsus, aged 22

[janonna-art]

And here is the comic I've been throwing out so many spoilers for all this time!

We asked Gale - where does his love for everything Netheril come from?

And he went and answered… and continued answering… and answered again Let's sign up for the lectures~

[oldschoolfrp]

Skullport, watched over by the animated skulls of former citizens of an ancient subterranean Netherese outpost (Tony Sczudlo cover art for Forgotten Realms supplement Skullport by Joseph C Wolf, TSR, 1999)

Skullport, the Port of Shadow, is perhaps the best kept secret in all the Sword Coast North. A mile and a half beneath the orderly streets of Waterdeep squats the most wretched and lawless pit of thieves, buccaneers, slavers, and sellswords the Realms has to offer.

[estellisa]

Viridiana in all her Netherese glory. 🦚

Guest appearance from Binx, her mimic companion. 🐈‍⬛

It's good to be the queen. 👑

🎨 Commission from the wonderful Akira Raikou over on Bluesky!

[baldursgateconceptart]

The Netherese enclave of Eileanar.

Netheril: Empire of Magic

Artist Unknown

[hermetic-principles]

Gale/Karsus as a rarepair has consumed my brain. So here, a fic about it.

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Gale started hearing voices after the orb entered his body. Once the affliction was stabilized, he began having visions, too. At night, he inhabits another world, another life, as someone else who in his final moments commits deicide.

There is a bit of that someone left in the orb lodged in Gale's chest.

With Gale's help, that someone comes crawling back out into the world.

[emberstormrage]

What happened to netherese magic and Karsus's Weave?

I read an very interesting post by @bladesingerlily, but I don't agree with everything. I'll add something. Maybe someone will be interested in this :)

Let's begin.

Gale says that the magic hidden in the Sphere is dangerous. He senses it, but does not fully understand it. But Mystra explains it much better. She says that the magic of the Sphere is literally raw magic (which is what Karsus was working with), that it is an unstructured weave, and therefore extremely UNSTABLE and consumes everything it can reach.

Yes, raw magic gives great power, but it also affects its bearer, destroying them. It is dangerous and unpredictable, which is why most wizards prefer Mystra's stable weave.

About Netheril. There is another version of events, from the author of Jergal (I won't go into detail, you can read about it in the book)*.

Jergal is essentially the founder of Netheril; he brought magic to the first settlers of the villages from which Netheril grew. His own magic. He is a deity of death, and his magic has a strong necrotic basis; it is literally destructive. This is precisely why many of Netheril's magicians simply went mad.

Spellweaver

And we remember that Jergal is not a deity of this universe at all. He is a spellweaver, an alien, the last of his people who was able to obtain a spark of divinity by sacrificing the rest of his kin. And now his task is to bring back his people by destroying human civilization.

He was probably also behind the scrolls of Nether, which gave a powerful boost to the development of all Netheril Arcanists. It was a standard spellweavers tactic to give slave races (which they considered dangerous) powerful magical artifacts or knowledge that served to destroy them.

Jergal is the main villain of this universe (no, don't even remind me about BG3, we have a separate, funny version of Jergal there). Why would he give people something that would elevate them? He gave them something that would destroy them.

Note: By the way, the Absolute crisis is most likely the work of Jergal, and not the Dead Trio or Durge at all. It wasn't fatigue that made him hand over power over his domains to some idiots. He foresaw their potential as new evil gods.

His magic made the Netheril turn away from the gods, fueling their ambitions against the backdrop of universally accessible magic. It caused a literal stratification of society and slavery. And later, because of this same magic, a war with the Phaerimms began. And that same magic became their end.

Thus, Netheril magic is magic based on necromancy, enhanced by Mythallars and mixed with raw magic (especially during Karsus' lifetime). But it is still magic controlled by Mystra. And as with shadow weaving, Mystra wants to have complete control over it. And not without reason.

In the game, Mystra has no aversion to Netheril magic as a whole; it exists in some form even now (Halruaa). She has no tolerant of what lives in Gale—the remnants of Karsus's experiment, which threatens the integrity of her weave and is a dangerous entity that can be transformed into something even more harmful. Her main goal is to protect the Weave. And she fulfills it.

Karsus tried to create his own weave by usurping Mystryl's domain. But he didn't succeed. He found a way to take control of the weave, but he had no idea how to manage it. He was talented, but he lacked fundamental knowledge and relied too much on chance. (And these aren't my words, Greenwood said this.) That's not to mention that by the time Mystryl was overthrown, Karsus was practically insane from experimenting with heavy magic.

Note: Gale the God is essentially weaker than Gale the Chosen because he doesn't have access to Mystra's Weave, only his own divine power. And the Weave of Karsus never existed.

Yes, there are the beginnings of Karsus's weave, in the form of the entity that settled in Gale. But they are just the beginnings, not a full-fledged weave. Perhaps Karsus would have failed completely if he had had more time. Аnd Faerûn's magic would have become uncontrollable, causing a powerful cataclysm across the entire planet.

Ascending. "But canon Gale, without player intervention, ascends." I wouldn't say that Gale must ascend. That's a strange stereotype. And there is no such thing as a “canonical Gale.” In any case, he interacts with the player—that's how the game is designed. And his storyline ALWAYS includes two paths. Examples of this are here (scroll to the very bottom).

Moreover, Gale KNOWS that the path of the Karsus is destructive, and he says so himself. Several times throughout the game.

In addition, as the chosen one, Gale should know perfectly well WHY mortals (!) cannot access magic above level 9. But alas, Larian made so many mistakes in the lore that it is impossible to piece this story together into something logical. Otherwise, Gale, with all his talents, would not have such shameful gaps in his memory.

Summary. Of course, you can disagree with all of this and come up with your own theories. But it is in this version of events that I see a connection and at least some meaning in this whole epic. And explanations for what the game itself could not explain.

* Eric L. Boyd “Jergal: Lord of the End of Everything.”

[shadow-djinni]

I should....clean up some of those Netherese/Shadovar clothing concept design sketches I have floating around to post