Sharath

The Dhe'nar dwelled in Rhoska-Tor for many years. Entire generations of the People were born, lived, and died in the magically haunted tunnels there. However, when the time came, and they were called upon, they left, heading south. The journey across the Southron Wastes to the southern jungles was not an easy one for the Dhe’nar. It took five years of difficult travel and was filled with great hardships.

Some of the Dhe’nar starved on the journey or were killed by roving packs of monsters left behind by the Ur’daemon. Some fell in their tracks dead from exhaustion. Others wandered off into raging sandstorms in the desert and were never heard from again. Entire groups composed of dozens of elves were lost, separated from the main group by desert squalls or seismic activity. But, the Dhe’nar persevered, their belief unwavering in Noi’sho’rah’s prophecy and Tahlad’s vision.

The Dhe'nar found a home deep in the jungles far to the south of Rhoska-Tor. Food and game were plentiful. They found a large hill, eerily bare of vegetation, adorned with a circle of standing stones and shrouded with curtains of magic visible during the nights of the new moon. They built an elaborate tomb on the peak of this hill, of the same stone as the obelisks, quarried several miles away. In this tomb they placed Tahlad’s body, still perfectly preserved by powerful ensorcellments. Around the tomb they began the construction of a great city. They named this city Sharath, the Promised Land.

Here the Dhe'nar caste structure developed into what it is in modern times. The people were divided into four castes: the worker caste, the warrior caste, the temple caste, and the warlock caste. Each caste served an important role in their society and works with each other in their goals.

During this time the city of Sharath grew into a sprawling mecca. Despite their time in Rhoska-Tor, the Dhe’nar were still a strongly spiritual and peaceful people. They befriended the local tribes of primitives, trading elegantly crafted Dhe’nari goods for seeds, animals, and numerous other things.

The Great Temple was built, along with the Tower of Arcane Arts. The Dhe’nar priests and warlocks used their powers to the benefit of the Dhe’nar, as well as the surrounding tribes with which the elves traded. They mastered the weather, extending the growing seasons for crops and supplementing the natural bounty of their labors with magic.

The elves also built a great College of War. Within, the greatest Dhe’nar warriors became teachers, sharing the secrets of the art of warfare with the new generations of Dhe’nar warriors alongside the strongest and bravest of the primitive tribes who shared the land with the elves. These warriors saw The Way as a road of peace, where martial prowess was mastered by the spirit and used only as the last, and most dire, resort.

Shialos du S'karli, or The library of The Way was built. In it were placed the ancient tomes documenting the teachings of Noi'sho'rah and the Arkati, as well as the numerous volumes of Dhe’nar knowledge gleaned in Rhoska-Tor. Tahlad’s journals, a massive set of nearly 10,000 volumes, one for each year since the Exodus, were also preserved here. Scribes within the library copied the volumes, distributing them to the Dhe’nar people, sharing Tahlad’s vision of The Way.

The library was a huge structure, centered on the hill upon which Tahlad’s tomb was built. Its liabo marble towers, capped with minarets, reached above the forest canopy dozens of feet. A great set of marble stairs, numbering two hundred exactly, reached from the verdant forest floor to the base of the library’s massive double doors. Upon the doors were embossed, in gold, the figures of Tahlad and Noi’sho’rah. On the left door was Tahlad, with Noi’sho’rah on the right. Each of them was depicted with one hand raised, holding a ball of light, fashioned from huge faceted diamonds. At the apex of the sun or moon’s travel across the sky each of these balls of illumination glowed with a haunting, but pure, white light.

Eventually, the Dhe'nar fell to ways that did not follow the one true Way as taught by Noi'sho'rah and Tahlad. The great mecca that was Sharath was destroyed in a rain of sulfurous fire.

For 50 days and nights fire rained down upon the Dhe’nar city and the surrounding jungle.

On the fiftieth day, a great earthquake shook the ruins of Sharath. A huge mountain, like the broken tooth of some angry god, tore loose from the earth. Its highest peak drove up from the ground directly beneath Tahlad’s tomb. Stone and rubble rolled down its slopes, destroying even the smallest fragments of Sharath's architecture that remained. As the sulphurous rain began to abate, the mountain spewed great geysers of lava and ash

On the 51st day the survivors emerged from the caverns where they were hiding to see that a great mountain, which came to be called Gh'Thuul U'thnoga, stood where their city once did, but the jungle around them was still there. Every tree, every shrub, even the lowest undergrowth, stood as if nothing happened. However upon closer inspection they found that the jungle was composed entirely of gray-black ash. Ever since, Sharath has also been known as the Forest of Ash.

Almost ninety percent of the Dhe'nar died in the cataclysm. The only ones who survived were the few who remembered the teachings of the Arkati the changes in Dhe'nar society to be a corruption of The Way. These few took refuge in hidden tunnels and caves to avoid being discovered by those loyal to the priest caste. Some even abandoned Sharath entirely and fled into the jungles to the south as the fiery rain began to fall.

The Great Fire had many effects on the inhabitants of Sharath. The eruption that produced the Great Mountain destroyed nearly all the construction that constituted the city, leaving the Dhe’nar homeless. The flora and fauna that surrounded the city was completely obliterated, leaving the elves without food or any reliable materials with which to create shelter.

Within the rubble of the fallen city, the Dhe'nar survivors found the entrance to Shialos du S'karli. They committed the information contained within the library to memory, reciting the verses over and over so that they might pass the information down through the generations so it would never be lost again.

The discovery of the library served as the great catalyst of the Dhe’nar rebuilding. It showed the elves the wonder and greatness of their past and the potential their people held within. The restoration of the library and the renewed study of its contents galvanized the people to restore their homes and dignity.

After the Great Fire and the discovery of Shialos du S’karli, a vast warren of tunnels was also discovered within the Great Mountain. The Dhe’nar capitalized quickly on this newfound haven and the entire Dhe’nari population relocated into the mountain.

The exploration of the tunnels during this time, early in the Dhe’nari habitation of the tunnels, was aggressive, however. The Dhe’nar searched desperately for both new living space and resources they could use for themselves and exploit for trade with other races in the area.