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Sharn

After the fall of Anaril, the Analoc Desert unusually stopped expanding. Many suspect that the Sarrens, powerful creatures that can alter the landscape around them when they cast spells, were the real reason that forced the Phalanx to stop absorbing magic. Others believe that it was the lack of magic that ultimately killed the Phalanx. Both of these theories may be true, but it is not ruled out that the real truth is very different from either.

Whatever the truth, one thing is indisputable. Whenever the magic of the Saren spirits and the magic of the Phalanx intersect, geological changes will occur all over Analoc. The mountains that were flattened by the Netherese building the floating city actually grew under the influence of the Saren spirits. New mountains were formed, and old mountains disappeared. Finally, under the effect of the hedging spell, the area of ​​the High Ice continued to expand.

The Saren spirits' motivations did not seem to be to rescue the Netherese. Communicating with the Netherese Archmage did not have any real impact on them, and they preferred to deal with the Forest Magick alone. In many cases, the Netherese found themselves caught between these two quarreling races.

The Last of the Necropolises They are a living page torn from Faerûn's nearly forgotten past. Their ancestors and their flying cities fell from Faerûn more than 1 years ago. Their homeland, the Empire of Netheril, was destroyed in a cataclysm caused by an experiment that attempted to save it from its greatest enemy. The magical knowledge possessed by the most advanced arcane folk disappeared from Toril at the time of its destruction, and has been since then.

The city escaped destruction thanks to the great magic that transported it and its inhabitants into the Plane of Shadow. Safe from destruction, the refugees (who called themselves the Shadovars) continued their society and civilization for centuries. Freely using shadowy materials for their arcane magic and experiments, the city's noble rulers imbued their new home with the dark energies of their new home. Already powerful wizards and sorcerers, they grew even more powerful as they mastered the dark matter of their new surroundings. In 1372 DR, the City of Shade suddenly returned to Faerun, appearing above the Wildwoods and heading straight for Anauroch, where it has remained except for a brief period of pillaging on the neighboring continent.

Stationed high in the sky over the Thirst Island, a flying city miraculously escaped the catastrophe unscathed, although this was entirely accidental. The noble ruler of this city was a powerful arcanist who had been experimenting with movement between Faerûn and the Plane of Shadow for a period of time. Eventually, his research not only allowed him to travel back and forth between the two planes at will, but also allowed other people and objects to travel back and forth with him.

In the weeks before the catastrophe, the arcanist - known to Shade only by his nickname, Lord Shadow - was considering the possibility of moving the entire city to the Plane of Shadow. Only days before Karsus cast his spell, Lord Shadow ordered the city to prepare for this experiment. On the night before the catastrophe, Lord Shadow teleported the entire city and all of its inhabitants to the Plane of Shadow. Upon arrival, he was very pleased that his previous predictions were correct. The city and all of its inhabitants suffered no ill effects from the journey. However, he was immediately dismayed to discover that, for reasons he could not yet understand, he could no longer move the city back to Faerun.

It took weeks to unravel the mystery, and when the city returned to Netheril, its inhabitants were shocked by what they saw. In the following days, the city traveled through the ruins of Netheril, desperately searching for survivors, but to no avail.

These Netherese could only assume that the horrific sights before their eyes were entirely the work of the hateful Phairim, and they longed for revenge, but Lord Shadow knew that his flying city alone could not compete with the Phairim, and he believed that the Netherese living in Shade City were probably the last survivors of this race. Finally, he decided that he could not risk losing his city and his subjects, and vowed to one day return to Faerun and rebuild the destroyed empire. The arcanist once again teleported the city to the Shadow Plane, where, after experiencing unforeseen circumstances, the city stayed much longer than he originally expected.

Dark Tome
When Turgit-no-Amu compiled his demonology, he was well aware that his work would attract the attention of certain entities - his subjects, or the Abyss itself. Amu firmly believed that everything in the universe was born from the chaos of the Abyss, and therefore the Abyss itself must be full of life. He believed that no creature, not even the undead, could fully comprehend the true nature of the Abyss. But he envisioned a path for the Abyss to evolve - back to chaos. Amu believed that the demons scattered throughout the Abyss were the result of the wisdom of the Abyss itself, and they were working to promote chaos. He believed that through the actions of the demons dominated by pure chaos, the Abyss could achieve its long-desired goal - everything, mortal and immortal, would re-evolve into a new universe, its existence completely free of order and any intention.

Few loremasters have read even a fragment of the Dark Tome. Even fewer can read Amr's thin, blurred, spider-webbed handwriting. Many of the Dark Tome survived Amr's own destruction (which also destroyed his homeland), but the destruction tore his manuscripts to pieces and scattered them across the world. Legend has it that the demonic assassins who targeted Amr cursed his tomes so that they can never be collected again. And some who have read more stained and damaged parchments claim that Amr cast a spell on his manuscripts, commanding them to float across the universe so that demons can no longer collect and destroy them.

If any of the demon princes knew the truth about this matter - in fact, at least one must have known it, because Ammu's power gradually increased with the deepening of his research, and no pit fiend or six-armed snake demon witnessed his death - they would have nothing to say, even if they wanted to express their opinions. Some people regarded this as another masterpiece of Ammu, but no one could say for sure.

Since the Dark Book of Amu conforms to the style of most magical writings, it is extremely difficult to copy it, even the smallest and safest part. However, the author of this book has carefully selected some excerpts, hoping to pass on Amu's demonology. But be careful. You found Amu's original work when you were eager for knowledge. Read it carefully, and always be on guard against a dark being that will swallow you up.

The origin of the devil

The Abyss and its endless layers give birth to countless demons. They scream and vent their hatred for all things until the noise becomes unbearable. Describing an individual demon does not cover the diversity of this species - if "species" is the right word. Chaos causes variables, so it is difficult to generalize about demons.

If Amu's theory is correct, demons emerged from the extension of Chaos, and the evil left behind in the Abyss when gods, demons, and other forces "ascended" to other planes to build their own realms or occupy the places created by Chaos. Since demons are directly derived from Chaos, there are countless types of demons in the universe, and even Amu only classified a very few of them. In fact, the more the ancient scholar studied individual demons, the more he despaired of establishing a so-called demon physiology. But this expansion can distinguish and determine the common characteristics of several types of demons.

But why are there commonalities? Aren't demons born from chaos? Amu has a very reasonable explanation for why the Abyss follows some vague rules. Demons come from the essence of the plane. The Abyss desires chaos and evil. It uses plane creations to make more parts of the universe return to the final starting point. Therefore, Amu believes that when the Abyss created most demons, it gave them the characteristics that are most suitable for spreading chaos and evil, and a burning desire to do so. Therefore, repeatedly creating a certain copy usually forms the commonality of demons.

Even with these theories, demons remain somewhat mysterious and elusive. Even to beings of the Prime Material Plane, demons have no "normality". To understand the manifestations of chaos and evil is to understand something that is beyond all theory.

Since demons have no common ancestor, physical form, or survival needs, they are difficult to explain physiologically, and some scholars claim that demons have nothing in common other than their origins.

But Amu disagreed. Based on previous theories, he believed that the Abyss created demons in form to fulfill specific tasks, which forced its creations to be consistent in certain aspects. Unfortunately, Amu could not provide enough evidence. As you can imagine, living demons are notoriously difficult to study. Once they die, their bodies either return to the Abyss immediately or decay very quickly. However, chaos is chaos, and some demon corpses are preserved to an unimaginable degree and can be used for research.

Basic organs
All creatures on the Material Plane share common traits. Humans, dragons, hippogriffs, mind flayers, and gnomes all eat. They all breathe. They all reproduce in some basic physiological ways. But we do not share these common traits with demons.

Demons are not creatures of the Prime Material Plane, and as such, their needs are different from those of other creatures.

Feeding: Demons do not need to eat. A demon can devour large quantities of food (of any kind), and they often take special pleasure in swallowing living sacrifices, especially those that are bloody or disgusting (stomach deep). Demons can consume tons of food in one meal without any consequences, which has led to debate as to where the food actually goes. The most common theory is that they teleport the food to the Abyss, but no one can provide definitive proof.

Breathing: Demons need to breathe. Their lungs are very strong and have strong resistance to external gases, including the deathly air of the Abyss, which can poison most creatures in the Prime Material World. Similarly, demons can breathe in any natural gas in the Prime Material World (after all, their air is not good).

Sleep: Demons do not need normal sleep. However, powerful beings occasionally force them into a sleep-like state, and demons can even be forced into unconsciousness, though that is not easy. Demons can choose to sleep (usually just a trick), but they gain no benefit from it.

Digestion: Although demons can eat anything they want, they do not digest food in the physiological sense. Food seems to disappear after being ingested unless the demon wishes to expel it. If they do, they may do so in a variety of ways (such as vomiting, oozing slime from pores, or other excretion methods) with no clear purpose other than to enjoy polluting the environment.

Reproduction: Some demons can have sex if they wish (although not all demons have the necessary "capital"), but this is not for the purpose of reproduction (most likely just for fun), new demons are created directly from the Chaos of the Abyss. Demons who are able to do so usually only do so to create half-demons, but such creatures can also be created by other means (through spells or curses).

Anatomy of a Dreadful Demon
A Dreadful is one of the lowest demons. It is difficult to capture a Dreadful alive outside the Abyss, and even more difficult to prevent its body from returning to the Abyss after death. Successful cases are unheard of. Despite this, an ancient researcher of the Dark Tome has succeeded in doing so and has managed to prove his discovery. The following is his work, although the original draft has been revised many times based on other documents (how did he catch it?).

1. Tendons: The dreaddemon's deformed, thin limbs are covered with lean, strong muscles. These muscles give it a huge grip that is completely disproportionate to its body size. This dreaddemon was still conscious during the dissection, and I observed its thin muscles struggling. Once the dreaddemon dies, the muscles quickly atrophy and become very soft and easy to cut. I am convinced that the strength of this creature comes not only from its physiological structure, but also from supernatural factors.

2. Claws: The powerful forearm muscles of the coward pull the tendons in the hand, giving its claws a deadly grip. Note the thin fingers. After the coward died, the hand bones became brittle, but before it died, these bones were as hard as steel. Before it died, I used several heavy blows with a hammer to open one of its phalanges, but after it died, I broke one with my thumb and index finger.

3. Abdomen: This is the biggest difference between a demon and a Prime creature. When this demon was alive (sadly, only for a short time), its dissected abdomen was filled with a very foul-smelling, swirling black liquid. One of my assistants tried to collect some of the liquid in a jar, but the liquid spontaneously wrapped around his hand and he screamed and ran out of the room (the liquid did not actually hurt him, but he no longer remembered the experiment that led to the accident). After the dread demon died, the liquid quickly dried up and concentrated into a tarry residue and a few small filthy organs. The smell lingered for a long time and dissipated slowly. The dread demon has an esophagus connected to the stomach, but it seems to have no intestines or any other digestive and excretory organs. This also scared me, because I fed this captive when I captured it, and it ate almost all the organic matter I threw into the cage - dead or alive. This also confused me, because I didn't know how it excreted. Maybe it vomited waste when no one was paying attention, or fluids flowed from its pores. I hope I catch another one soon so I can solve the mystery (and no one ever sees him again).

4. Brain: To my surprise, the brain of a dreik looks very much like that of a human or other Primeval creature. It's a different hue, though - darker, more purple. The stench from the opened cranial cavity is reminiscent of a cartload of boiled hides dumped into a pool of vomit (perhaps I should say "indescribable"). But the protrusions and wrinkles of the brain are similar to those of most higher mammals. The next time I dissect a dreik, I should open the skull before I dissect the abdomen, so that I can observe its brain functions while it's alive.

Whether this supplementer of the Dark Book captured and dissected another coward is unknown. (End of this chapter)