The Fall of a Magical Empire - Netheril History III - Forgotten Realms Lore

The Fall of Netheril and events that lead up to it.

Who was Karsus, why did he do what he did?

I have tagged this video with Neverwinter Nights, due to the Netheril connection with Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide.

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This video uses the Netherese Calendar for all date references. For conversions year 1 NY on -3859 DR.

[CourtenayHippert]

Karsus believed that he could use Mystryl's power to end the Phaerimm threat once and for all. The moment he cast his spell and chose Mystryl, he realized his terrible mistake. He had gained the power, but lacked divine consciousness, and the wisdom required to maintain the weave. All magic stopped for a time. As he began to fall to his earth, moments before his death, the gravity of what he'd done had come upon him(no pun intended). He was in tears as he fell, able to see the enclaves fall and knowing that he had dealt Netheril a greater blow than the phaerimm. Mystryl sacrificed herself to save the weave, and was reborn as Mystra. Karsus *was* quite arrogant, and he thought he could handle what he had done. He didn't realize that Mystryl really was *all* magic. In the moment that Karsus' spell was active, the repercussions around the world were enumerable. Shar may have believed that the Shadow Weave was independent of the Weave, but it was not. The disaster of Karsus' folly was most *visible* in Netheril, but it rocked all of Realmspace.

[madhatterhimself]

The Vestige of Karsus, contactable and available as a Warlock Patron, is very much described as an arrogant entity;
However, The Sage of Shadowdale, Elminster himself has been called that often as well, despite everyone acknowledging
that he has the best interests of people at heart.
This, in turn, is an opinion Elminster himself has confirmed and agreed with as well, acknowledging that although
he wishes to do good, he often dismisses the wishes of his fellows, putting his own priorities above all others'.

So indeed, "Karsus' Folly" might have been nothing other than the "Sin of Ignorance and Foolishness."

[stanleyheath]

I actually was wanting Karsus to be doing what was best for Netheril.
I asked Ed about this, he said Karsus was indeed power hungry, Karsus did what Karsus thought was best for power.
Part of him seeking more power was from how easily magic came to Karsus.
"Absolute power corrupts absolutely. "
That was Karsus.

[karatemancometh]

I'd like to see something on Nimbral. Its woefully underrepresented in D&D lore.

[xezazase]

Ah. You DID improve the audio. Excellent. I am a fan 👍. Keep up the good work!

[LilacMage]

I Just want to ooint out that your videos have different volume loudness. but I like the lore pressentation.

[crank]

Karsus, your fall has been avenged by Leylin Farlier the Warlock of the Magus World.

[deedyn]

Where did you find the information about the ambush and the associated heist of the remaining scrolls? Good stuff. Keep it up.

[edwardleach]

Have you done a video about spellblades?

[SarevokRegor]

Didn't the Mythallar bypass the weave and use raw magic? Why would the destruction of the weave cause the mythallar floating cities to fall? Seems more likely Mystryl just killed some dangerous mages and then made up some stuff.

[RoleReviewsal]

just a small point of clarification. I believe the first syllable of "phaerimm" rhymes wit "pie." in Return of the Archwizards, the first person to come back from an encounter with them gasps out "fye ... reem." unless troy denning was totally making shit up, that seems like it must be the correct pronunciation