Shae Tirias Tolai, the City of Silver and Bone, is a ruined feyspire in Xen'drik. It was once home to eladrin, before it was destroyed and pillaged by giants during the Age of Giants.[3][1][2] In the past it was also called the City of Song and Silence.[5]
Description[]
- Keith Baker's commentary.
The city itself remains an enigmatic place, blending beauty and death, where bones of creatures and silver and marble structures coexist. Its eerie, haunted nature suggests the city still lives in some form, even in ruin. Shae Tirias Tolai was once a place where shades, nearing their final rest in Dolurrh, passed through a city of silver and bone, marked by luxurious tapestries, bone fountains, and strange necromantic practices. It was a city of the final chance, where necromancers offered a way back to life at a terrible cost.[6]
Defenses[]
There were once magical wards protecting the city, before these were broken by the giants.[2]
History[]
Some 80,000 years ago, the feyspire of Shae Tirias Tolai shifted from the plane of Thelanis, the Feywild, and into Xen'drik. But upon its arrival, the waiting giants of Xen'drik struck.[4] According to old tales, the giants hadn't been able to find the feyspire at first, but they located it because of the sounds of joy and celebration of its citizens.[7]
They used their mighty magic to break through the feyspire's protective wards, pillaged the city of its treasures, and destroyed it. They enslaved the eladrin inhabitants, while the ruins of the city were swiftly consumed by the jungle.[3][1][4][2]
From magical experimentation on their eladrin slaves from Shae Tirias Tolai, the giants magically created both elves and drow.[3] One of those stories describes how the giants mixed with mud the blood of the eladrin captured there to turn them into mortal elves.[8]
After the fall of Shae Tirias Tolai, the lords of the Spire of Dreams,[4] under the command of the mighty eladrin lord Shan Lian Doresh, along with his gnome advisor Marrot the Fool,[9] swore vengeance against the giant emperor for his ransacking of Shae Tirias Tolai and enslavement of his kin.[4] Thus, the next time the plane of Thelanis was coterminous with the Material Plane, the Lord of Dreams and his allies challenged the emperor of the giants. The Titan King cast a powerful ritual of exile on the feyspire, which sent it into Dal Quor, the Region of Dreams. The Spire of Dreams became Taer Lian Doresh, the Fortress of Fading Dreams, and remained trapped in that plane until its cycle eventually returned it to Thelanis.[4][10][5]
The Lost Feyspire[]
Today, the ruins of Shae Tirias Tolai are a sought-after destination for both scholars and the other feyspires now bound to Eberron. Many expeditions have been sent to find it, without success thanks to the Traveler's Curse.[2] However, some of the local population (such as members of the Qaltiar drow) have been able to visit the ruins.[11]
Rumors & Legends[]
The lost feyspire is purported to lie in a dark valley somewhere in Xen'drik, in an area where the effects of the Traveler's Curse are especially powerful.[2]
The magic wards that still linger over the ruined city may aid with connecting the remaining feyspires to the plane of Thelanis, or with thwarting the plots of Taer Lian Doresh.[2]
The Paranymph of Taer Lian Doresh, the Bridesmaid of Souls, is rumored to have once been an eladrin princess of the City of Silver and Bone before the giants destroyed the feyspire.[12]
Appendix[]
Further Reading[]
- Keith Baker's commentary.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 James Wyatt and Keith Baker (2009). Eberron Campaign Guide. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 49. ISBN 0-7869-5099-4.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 James Wyatt and Keith Baker (2009). Eberron Campaign Guide. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 196. ISBN 0-7869-5099-4.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 James Wyatt and Keith Baker (2009). Eberron Campaign Guide. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 36. ISBN 0-7869-5099-4.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 James Wyatt and Keith Baker (2009). Eberron Campaign Guide. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 143–144. ISBN 0-7869-5099-4.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Jeff LaSala (November 2010). “Explore Taer Lian Doresh: Villains and Vendettas” (PDF). Dungeon #184 (Wizards of the Coast) (184)., p. 50.
- ↑ Keith Baker (2018-08-27). Dragonmarks: The City of Silver and Bone (Blog). Dragonmarks. keith-baker.com. Archived from the original on 2018-09-01. Retrieved on 2025-01-15.
- ↑ Keith Baker (October 2010). The Fading Dream. (Wizards of the Coast), p. ?. ISBN 0-7869-5624-0.
- ↑ Keith Baker (October 2010). The Fading Dream. (Wizards of the Coast), p. ?. ISBN 0-7869-5624-0.
- ↑ Jeff LaSala (November 2010). “Explore Taer Lian Doresh: Villains and Vendettas” (PDF). Dungeon #184 (Wizards of the Coast) (184)., p. 47.
- ↑ Jeff LaSala (May 2010). “Explore Taer Lian Doresh: Fortress of Fading Dreams” (PDF). Dungeon #178 (Wizards of the Coast) (178)., p. 79.
- ↑ Keith Baker (2006). The Gates of Night. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 255. ISBN 0-7869-4013-1.
- ↑ Jeff LaSala (May 2010). “Explore Taer Lian Doresh: Fortress of Fading Dreams” (PDF). Dungeon #178 (Wizards of the Coast) (178)., p. 80.