Could the LeShay be one of the creator races? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Could the LeShay be one of the creator races? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Purple Dragon Knight
07-17-03, 09:13 AM After reading the entry on LeShay in the Epic Level Handbook, I started thinking about LeShay being one of Faerūn's creator races.

LeShay

The LeShay civilization may have been the second inhabitants of Faerūn, directly following the saurian creator race. While the other deities battled, Chauntea's efforts to bring warmth and life to Faerūn increased. Oblivious to the conflict between deities, Chauntea had already designed most of Faerūn's plant species, but realized that she would require weather and mobile organisms to spread her creations across the lands. Thus she devised the concept of wind, rain and animals in order to spread her creations overland. Unable to control all these forces on her own, she dared interrupt some gods in their warring and asked them to take the mantle of some of these forces. Her most powerful creations, the trees, were given a leader (a tree of immense size, which later became Sylvanus thanks to a divine spark given by Chauntea).

Still, despite her endless efforts, Chauntea's creations seem to be heading to a sad, sullen state of entropy. Evidence of this was given when a reptilian lifeform evolved to a sentient state and spreaded their civilization like a plague, erecting dams and turning all fields and forest in swamps in order to accommodate for their own specific needs (thus becoming the first creator race).

In order to orchestrate the early development of Faerūn's lifeforms into a more diverse state, Chauntea went on a trip across the planes and met the members of the Seldarine and the Seelie Court. Corellon gave her a few elven souls and Titania gave her a few fey creatures to help her populate the lands. However, they both told Chauntea that without a master creation of her own, these brave souls might perish altogether or worse, turn to evil, for their attunement with her land would not be complete.

Thus Chauntea created the mighty LeShay race. She instructed these powerful servants to go forth and show elves, trees, insects, animals and fey creatures how to survive by using the land, and how to nourish the land in return. An era of prosperity emerged: bees finally learned how to pollinate flowers; birds discovered fruits and their droppings sprouted more trees; the bird's discovery allowed insects to proliferate, enhancing the decomposition rate of organic matter and giving richness to the soil; and so on. With the help of eyes and ears taken from the ranks of the aquatic shapechanging creator race, the LeShay gathered and put an end to the saurian race, allowing the lands to become fertile again.

After all this great work was done, Chauntea was pleased, for her creation was self-sufficient, if not complete. Her plants could now reproduce and spread across Faerūn, thus enabling the birth of more animals, which would in turn speed the growth of her creation. She rewarded her LeShay by revealing them her most prized secret: the knowledge of how all her creations interacted together. With this knowledge, the LeShay created the fey backroads and crossroads, allowing them to travel across all of Faerūn in the blink of an eye. This wonderful creation allowed them to increase their efficiency tenfold, and many more species were born, adding beauty to the tapestry of living creatures (flowers, butterflies, peacocks, hummingbirds, etc.) The LeShay were content, and for eons joy was ruling Faerūn and its creatures. By that time, Corellon began to look upon Faerūn as a perfect sanctuary for his moon and sun children that had been persecuted time and time again across several worlds...

When the evil dragons arrived on Faerūn, the LeShay quickly realized that their malice would consume the whole world if nothing was done. The LeShay made an assessment of their strength and realized that they would perish in time, despite their immense power: the LeShay was an immortal race, and once in a few centuries the land blessed them with a new member. Sadly, dragons would outgrow them, so battle was not the solution that would keep Faerūn alive in the eons to come.

The LeShay gathered around their mother Chauntea, and begged her to enlist help from other worlds. Chauntea went across the stars once again, and within a few centuries, dwarves, gnomes, halflings and giants were added to Faerūn's population. Corellon also made the decision to send his moon and sun children to Faerūn around that time.

Upon discovering the newcomers, the dragons immediately started to lay waste on their numbers. In order to allow enough time for these fledgling civilizations to master magic and raise their defenses, the LeShay went to battle, knowingly sacrificing themselves against the endless dragon flights plaguing the land. Slaying hundreds of wyrms at first, Chauntea's children started to decline slowly as the decades went by. Dragons kept coming and their depradations on nature put more strain on the LeShay, eventually driving a select few survivors out of battle altogether so they could help Chauntea complete her creation.

During the centuries that went by, however, elf and dwarf nations arose, mastering the art of defending themselves against dragons. Giants also weighed heavily in the balance, but their civilization did not survive. Although the dragons still unfurled uncounted horrors amongst these people, the onslaught of the LeShay brought the wyrms down to a number where the allied races could fight back, and they did.

No one knows if members of the LeShay race still exist. No records of their existence even remain in the hands of the major races of Faerūn. It is rumored amongst the highest of druidic circles that some of the oldest Faerūnian evil great wyrms sometimes mumble about "warriors wielding swords of light" in their sleep. Such occurrences are rare, and usually precede the awakening of the great wyrm in question. Venerable hierophant druids have been known to spot elf-like figures talking to Crossroads Guardians. These sightings have been made during approaches towards a crossroad in the form of an eagle or other bird of superior vision, always far in the distance. However, due to the sheer speed at which these creatures disappear, no druid has ever been able to confirm the identity of such individuals. When asked about these mysterious elves, the Guardians always fall in utter silence and become unfriendly, denying entry to druid (this has lead to a culture of discretion amidst the druids, who now avoid questions dealing with the whereabout of Guardians and their dealings with other fey creatures, keeping to matters of nature)

Powerful servants of Chauntea (those who have achieved such trust that they can communicate directly with the goddess) are sometimes given visions of the ancient LeShay people at work, in order to inspire them into performing great deeds for the benefit of nature. The select few who have been given a glimpse of these fey beings often debate of their existence. These folk believe that the LeShay can only exist if Chauntea's creation is not yet complete. This has led some to believe that Chauntea's work is done, for they have never seen a LeShay; others believe that the LeShay are still hard at work tending to the land and its creatures; a few have also started to believe that the LeShay's current efforts are spent trying to halt technology, convinced that innovations of all kinds can only spell doom for the natural equilibrium of Faerūn.

References: a. FRCS p.261
b. Epic Level Handbook p.202
Maskanodel
07-17-03, 10:32 AM That sounds awesome PDK. Seems like you put a lot of work into it. Might use it in my campaign.
Elereth_Berantor
07-17-03, 10:39 AM Very cool idea, and, better yet, very believable.
athelstan
07-17-03, 12:12 PM Wow! Great idea! Ive been toying with having the creator races popping up again in my campaign, and i will steal this idea right away. If youre interested, the lizard creator race was detailed in an issue of dragin recently, and they did a neat job. I like the idea of the leshay being the elf-like creator race, and the other elves being decended from them. Kinda like the tuatha de danan. The moonshaes elves were kinda secretive and never very detailed. Perhaps thats where the leshay chose to go. The moonshaes also worshipped an old, primal version of chauntea, which could work really well with your history.

Thanks for sharing some great ideas!
Temporal Reflections
07-17-03, 12:45 PM Pretty nice, but I do notice you opt to throw out the part of the ELH description of how leShay are from a multiverse that was destroyed in a grand cataclysm, the aversion of which would only produce an even greater tragedy. Well, it could be interesting if the Realms was a part of that multiverse (and has yet to go boom from the point-of-view of the FRCS).
Crust
07-17-03, 12:58 PM I couldn't use Leshays in my campaign, simply because each time I mention the name "Leshay," I'm forced to endure he image of 98 Degrees frontman Nick Lechay. It's not an image that goes well with the gaming experience. :P
Sarelle
07-17-03, 03:35 PM Very nice work PDK, very detailed and believable.

However I don't see the need of it in the many campaigns that use the old Great Wheel, or even Great Wheel + new cosmolgy. It is good of the new cosmolgy, though.

I also have an aversion to meddling with important history (i.e. the creator races, and the reason for their destrcution being leShay).

But sorry to pull out the negatives - it is good.
Purple Dragon Knight
07-17-03, 04:26 PM Thanks for you replies everyone!

Temporal Reflections: yes, I threw out the time continuum cataclysm, but...

athelstan: ... adds a good suggestion concerning the Moonshaes.

And get this: I believe there's a Time Gate in the Moonshaes called the Time Gate of Synnoria. I believe it also had to do with elves from the Cormanthy Arcane Age supplement (don't have it in front of me but I will check tonight). This Time Gate, and its ties with elves, could easily be worked into some kind of time cataclysm involving the LeShay.

Also,

athelstan: I didn't make the elves to be the descendants of the LeShay: I wrote this late so maybe this came out wrong. What I meant to say was that Corellon gave a few elves to Chauntea to help her create a natural harmony on Faerūn, on the condition that she'd create her own fey/natural race in order to help these elves attune to Faerūn. These elves are essentially native to Faerūn (Wood, Wild, Aquatic and Ilythiiri elves) because of their early attunement to the land and to the Weave through the help of the LeShay. Later on, Corellon sent moon and sun elves from another world (called Faerie I believe... see Elaine Cunningham's "Evermeet: Island of Elves" for more details on this important event). In a way, the LeShay are elf-like because Chauntea partly used the elven souls given by Corellon as a model... ;)
athelstan
07-18-03, 01:04 AM Huh. Something to think about. Gotta check out that arcane age reference. And what i was referring to about the elves, is i vaguely recall the ELH saying that the leshay were like the proto-elves. I havent read it in a whilke, so im probably a little confused. Gotta go back and read it. But Im gonna have the leshay pop up in my world, probably to help stop the githyanki invasion. Neat ideas i must say.

So have you seen the dragon article with the lizard creator race? What do you think

Question: What role do the lesahy have in the creation of the nether scrolls and their subsequent loss. Have you thought up any ideas for that?
Purple Dragon Knight
07-18-03, 03:21 AM Originally posted by athelstan
But Im gonna have the leshay pop up in my world, probably to help stop the githyanki invasion.
They would make excellent adversaries I must say... :angel:

Originally posted by athelstan
So have you seen the dragon article with the lizard creator race? What do you think
Not yet... it must be waiting for me in my box at the gamestore. I'm behind on my reading these days due to grad studies, getting engaged and other non-sense... ;)

Originally posted by athelstan
Question: What role do the lesahy have in the creation of the nether scrolls and their subsequent loss. Have you thought up any ideas for that?
Did not think about this yet, but this would fit in my little story quite well... :D

The LeShay could have gotten those from an extra-planar ally, a gold dragon great wyrm recently arrived in Faerūn or from Mystra. They would have introduced the scrolls to the dwarves, giants, and other races, finishing with the elves. This could explain the mystery behind them, and would explain why it is so hard to track their origins: the LeShay were using the fey crossroads to move them from place to place....

Who do you think they would have gotten the scrolls from?
Jeiroth
07-18-03, 09:20 AM Could the Vyshaan been Le Shay decendants????
athelstan
07-18-03, 12:45 PM Well, you could go several ways with the scrolls pdk. First off, theres different legends floating around about them, and theres diffent rules and facts governing them. Basically, discrepencies beyond first and 2nd ed, and third edition if they ever get around to detailing them. Kinda wished Sean k Reynolds was still around at wotc, he probably would have gotten around to converting them, but i digress.

In my opinion, my favorite legend of the nether scrolls was the first edition supplement, the Savage Frontier. It mentions 3 creator races, a lizardlike one (which gave rise to the lizard men, possible nagas and yuan ti as well, check out naga crown and tell me theres not some epic level magic going on there, again i'm digressing...), an avian one (the aarockra are descendents), and an amphibian one (the bullywugs are debased forms of, possibly the dopplegangers, locathah and kuo-toa. Later sources have just confused things.) Now its been alluded that the lizard race was the creator of the nether scrolls, and after they were gone, the humans found them after the elves (who sometimes are considered a creator race, and sometimes are planar colonists...i did mention it gets confusing, didnt I?). Now the elves didnt use them too much, they understood the power contained in them. The humans tore into them as soon as they got their hands on them, and made leaps and bounds with them, and then Netheril came on the scene.

Well, half the nether scrolls were stolen or destroyed (but they're indestructable), and its also alluded that the elves stole them and hid them from the humans, kinda like taking an ak-47 away from a 5 year old with a sugar dependency. By the time of Karsus' folly, the Nether scrolls were no longer in possesion of the Netherese.

So with that lengthy, murky written backstory out of the way, lets look at the nether scrolls. One account says that half are written differently then the other, so one creator race wrote half, another one wrote the other half, but whose to say theres not other sets of nether scrolls sitting around waiting to be discovered? I like the leshay being a creator race. I like the lizard man creator race. I like the Nether scrolls. I would say one race wrote half, and the other wrote the other half.

And when the Leshay saw what the humans were doing with their creations, they directed their descendents the elves to steal and hide the Nether scrolls away from the humans. When they witnessed the horror and destruction caused by the Nether scrolls, they turned away from the world completely, vowing never to interfere in the ways of the world. They traveled to the far off lands of Sossal, and have put themselves in stasis, sometime their dreams infecting the strange humans who live there.

Until now. Three horrors have arisen in the Realms recently, and the world that has been their home for so long is sure to fall unless the come out of stasis to help. The first is a shadow of their past, a cancer that was never fully cut out, namely the Shadovar. The second is the age old enemies, the lizard creator races, are coming out of their eons old slumber to try and reshape the world in their image once again. And the last is the Githyanki, who were once survivors of the fall of netheril, taken away from Toril in bondage by the mind flayers, returning once again to conquer and find the essence of the dead god Amauntor, to elevate their queen to godhood.

These three horrors would be suitable for the Leshay to make a return, based on what you have written i must say. Maybe they will return WITH the nether scrolls, kinda like Merlin returning with Excaliber?

Just some thoughts.
tauster
07-18-03, 01:54 PM athelstan: concerning the set that was lost to the netherese: they were indeed stolen by elves & brought to myth drannor, read cormanthyr, empire of the elves p.159.

The Quess´Ar´Thranthvar
Though the name has lenghtened and the form severely altered, the lost magical relics of netheril reside here: the Quess´Ar´Thranthvar, the "golden grove of hidden knowledge", are the mutated remnants of the long-ago stolen nether scrolls! ...
Purple Dragon Knight
07-25-03, 02:40 PM Hmm... after reading the Shapechange spell (as per 3.5), I've been wondering if a 25th level druid could shapechange into a LeShay (50HD). I've read nothing in the spells that says he wouldn't, although I'm wondering if all the LeShay feats would come along too (and the saves, and the BAB, etc.)

Thoughts?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Purple Dragon Knight 07-17-03, 09:13 AM	After reading the entry on LeShay in the Epic Level Handbook, I started thinking about LeShay being one of Faerūn's creator races. LeShay The LeShay civilization may have been the second inhabitants of Faerūn, directly following the saurian creator race. While the other deities battled, Chauntea's efforts to bring warmth and life to Faerūn increased. Oblivious to the conflict between deities, Chauntea had already designed most of Faerūn's plant species, but realized that she would require weather and mobile organisms to spread her creations across the lands. Thus she devised the concept of wind, rain and animals in order to spread her creations overland. Unable to control all these forces on her own, she dared interrupt some gods in their warring and asked them to take the mantle of some of these forces. Her most powerful creations, the trees, were given a leader (a tree of immense size, which later became Sylvanus thanks to a divine spark given by Chauntea). Still, despite her endless efforts, Chauntea's creations seem to be heading to a sad, sullen state of entropy. Evidence of this was given when a reptilian lifeform evolved to a sentient state and spreaded their civilization like a plague, erecting dams and turning all fields and forest in swamps in order to accommodate for their own specific needs (thus becoming the first creator race). In order to orchestrate the early development of Faerūn's lifeforms into a more diverse state, Chauntea went on a trip across the planes and met the members of the Seldarine and the Seelie Court. Corellon gave her a few elven souls and Titania gave her a few fey creatures to help her populate the lands. However, they both told Chauntea that without a master creation of her own, these brave souls might perish altogether or worse, turn to evil, for their attunement with her land would not be complete. Thus Chauntea created the mighty LeShay race. She instructed these powerful servants to go forth and show elves, trees, insects, animals and fey creatures how to survive by using the land, and how to nourish the land in return. An era of prosperity emerged: bees finally learned how to pollinate flowers; birds discovered fruits and their droppings sprouted more trees; the bird's discovery allowed insects to proliferate, enhancing the decomposition rate of organic matter and giving richness to the soil; and so on. With the help of eyes and ears taken from the ranks of the aquatic shapechanging creator race, the LeShay gathered and put an end to the saurian race, allowing the lands to become fertile again. After all this great work was done, Chauntea was pleased, for her creation was self-sufficient, if not complete. Her plants could now reproduce and spread across Faerūn, thus enabling the birth of more animals, which would in turn speed the growth of her creation. She rewarded her LeShay by revealing them her most prized secret: the knowledge of how all her creations interacted together. With this knowledge, the LeShay created the fey backroads and crossroads, allowing them to travel across all of Faerūn in the blink of an eye. This wonderful creation allowed them to increase their efficiency tenfold, and many more species were born, adding beauty to the tapestry of living creatures (flowers, butterflies, peacocks, hummingbirds, etc.) The LeShay were content, and for eons joy was ruling Faerūn and its creatures. By that time, Corellon began to look upon Faerūn as a perfect sanctuary for his moon and sun children that had been persecuted time and time again across several worlds... When the evil dragons arrived on Faerūn, the LeShay quickly realized that their malice would consume the whole world if nothing was done. The LeShay made an assessment of their strength and realized that they would perish in time, despite their immense power: the LeShay was an immortal race, and once in a few centuries the land blessed them with a new member. Sadly, dragons would outgrow them, so battle was not the solution that would keep Faerūn alive in the eons to come. The LeShay gathered around their mother Chauntea, and begged her to enlist help from other worlds. Chauntea went across the stars once again, and within a few centuries, dwarves, gnomes, halflings and giants were added to Faerūn's population. Corellon also made the decision to send his moon and sun children to Faerūn around that time. Upon discovering the newcomers, the dragons immediately started to lay waste on their numbers. In order to allow enough time for these fledgling civilizations to master magic and raise their defenses, the LeShay went to battle, knowingly sacrificing themselves against the endless dragon flights plaguing the land. Slaying hundreds of wyrms at first, Chauntea's children started to decline slowly as the decades went by. Dragons kept coming and their depradations on nature put more strain on the LeShay, eventually driving a select few survivors out of battle altogether so they could help Chauntea complete her creation. During the centuries that went by, however, elf and dwarf nations arose, mastering the art of defending themselves against dragons. Giants also weighed heavily in the balance, but their civilization did not survive. Although the dragons still unfurled uncounted horrors amongst these people, the onslaught of the LeShay brought the wyrms down to a number where the allied races could fight back, and they did. No one knows if members of the LeShay race still exist. No records of their existence even remain in the hands of the major races of Faerūn. It is rumored amongst the highest of druidic circles that some of the oldest Faerūnian evil great wyrms sometimes mumble about "warriors wielding swords of light" in their sleep. Such occurrences are rare, and usually precede the awakening of the great wyrm in question. Venerable hierophant druids have been known to spot elf-like figures talking to Crossroads Guardians. These sightings have been made during approaches towards a crossroad in the form of an eagle or other bird of superior vision, always far in the distance. However, due to the sheer speed at which these creatures disappear, no druid has ever been able to confirm the identity of such individuals. When asked about these mysterious elves, the Guardians always fall in utter silence and become unfriendly, denying entry to druid (this has lead to a culture of discretion amidst the druids, who now avoid questions dealing with the whereabout of Guardians and their dealings with other fey creatures, keeping to matters of nature) Powerful servants of Chauntea (those who have achieved such trust that they can communicate directly with the goddess) are sometimes given visions of the ancient LeShay people at work, in order to inspire them into performing great deeds for the benefit of nature. The select few who have been given a glimpse of these fey beings often debate of their existence. These folk believe that the LeShay can only exist if Chauntea's creation is not yet complete. This has led some to believe that Chauntea's work is done, for they have never seen a LeShay; others believe that the LeShay are still hard at work tending to the land and its creatures; a few have also started to believe that the LeShay's current efforts are spent trying to halt technology, convinced that innovations of all kinds can only spell doom for the natural equilibrium of Faerūn. References: a. FRCS p.261 b. Epic Level Handbook p.202
Maskanodel 07-17-03, 10:32 AM	That sounds awesome PDK. Seems like you put a lot of work into it. Might use it in my campaign.
Elereth_Berantor 07-17-03, 10:39 AM	Very cool idea, and, better yet, very believable.
athelstan 07-17-03, 12:12 PM	Wow! Great idea! Ive been toying with having the creator races popping up again in my campaign, and i will steal this idea right away. If youre interested, the lizard creator race was detailed in an issue of dragin recently, and they did a neat job. I like the idea of the leshay being the elf-like creator race, and the other elves being decended from them. Kinda like the tuatha de danan. The moonshaes elves were kinda secretive and never very detailed. Perhaps thats where the leshay chose to go. The moonshaes also worshipped an old, primal version of chauntea, which could work really well with your history. Thanks for sharing some great ideas!
Temporal Reflections 07-17-03, 12:45 PM	Pretty nice, but I do notice you opt to throw out the part of the ELH description of how leShay are from a multiverse that was destroyed in a grand cataclysm, the aversion of which would only produce an even greater tragedy. Well, it could be interesting if the Realms was a part of that multiverse (and has yet to go boom from the point-of-view of the FRCS).
Crust 07-17-03, 12:58 PM	I couldn't use Leshays in my campaign, simply because each time I mention the name "Leshay," I'm forced to endure he image of 98 Degrees frontman Nick Lechay. It's not an image that goes well with the gaming experience. :P
Sarelle 07-17-03, 03:35 PM	Very nice work PDK, very detailed and believable. However I don't see the need of it in the many campaigns that use the old Great Wheel, or even Great Wheel + new cosmolgy. It is good of the new cosmolgy, though. I also have an aversion to meddling with important history (i.e. the creator races, and the reason for their destrcution being leShay). But sorry to pull out the negatives - it is good.
Purple Dragon Knight 07-17-03, 04:26 PM	Thanks for you replies everyone! Temporal Reflections: yes, I threw out the time continuum cataclysm, but... athelstan: ... adds a good suggestion concerning the Moonshaes. And get this: I believe there's a Time Gate in the Moonshaes called the Time Gate of Synnoria. I believe it also had to do with elves from the Cormanthy Arcane Age supplement (don't have it in front of me but I will check tonight). This Time Gate, and its ties with elves, could easily be worked into some kind of time cataclysm involving the LeShay. Also, athelstan: I didn't make the elves to be the descendants of the LeShay: I wrote this late so maybe this came out wrong. What I meant to say was that Corellon gave a few elves to Chauntea to help her create a natural harmony on Faerūn, on the condition that she'd create her own fey/natural race in order to help these elves attune to Faerūn. These elves are essentially native to Faerūn (Wood, Wild, Aquatic and Ilythiiri elves) because of their early attunement to the land and to the Weave through the help of the LeShay. Later on, Corellon sent moon and sun elves from another world (called Faerie I believe... see Elaine Cunningham's "Evermeet: Island of Elves" for more details on this important event). In a way, the LeShay are elf-like because Chauntea partly used the elven souls given by Corellon as a model... ;)
athelstan 07-18-03, 01:04 AM	Huh. Something to think about. Gotta check out that arcane age reference. And what i was referring to about the elves, is i vaguely recall the ELH saying that the leshay were like the proto-elves. I havent read it in a whilke, so im probably a little confused. Gotta go back and read it. But Im gonna have the leshay pop up in my world, probably to help stop the githyanki invasion. Neat ideas i must say. So have you seen the dragon article with the lizard creator race? What do you think Question: What role do the lesahy have in the creation of the nether scrolls and their subsequent loss. Have you thought up any ideas for that?
Purple Dragon Knight 07-18-03, 03:21 AM	Originally posted by athelstan But Im gonna have the leshay pop up in my world, probably to help stop the githyanki invasion. They would make excellent adversaries I must say... :angel: Originally posted by athelstan So have you seen the dragon article with the lizard creator race? What do you think Not yet... it must be waiting for me in my box at the gamestore. I'm behind on my reading these days due to grad studies, getting engaged and other non-sense... ;) Originally posted by athelstan Question: What role do the lesahy have in the creation of the nether scrolls and their subsequent loss. Have you thought up any ideas for that? Did not think about this yet, but this would fit in my little story quite well... :D The LeShay could have gotten those from an extra-planar ally, a gold dragon great wyrm recently arrived in Faerūn or from Mystra. They would have introduced the scrolls to the dwarves, giants, and other races, finishing with the elves. This could explain the mystery behind them, and would explain why it is so hard to track their origins: the LeShay were using the fey crossroads to move them from place to place.... Who do you think they would have gotten the scrolls from?
Jeiroth 07-18-03, 09:20 AM	Could the Vyshaan been Le Shay decendants????
athelstan 07-18-03, 12:45 PM	Well, you could go several ways with the scrolls pdk. First off, theres different legends floating around about them, and theres diffent rules and facts governing them. Basically, discrepencies beyond first and 2nd ed, and third edition if they ever get around to detailing them. Kinda wished Sean k Reynolds was still around at wotc, he probably would have gotten around to converting them, but i digress. In my opinion, my favorite legend of the nether scrolls was the first edition supplement, the Savage Frontier. It mentions 3 creator races, a lizardlike one (which gave rise to the lizard men, possible nagas and yuan ti as well, check out naga crown and tell me theres not some epic level magic going on there, again i'm digressing...), an avian one (the aarockra are descendents), and an amphibian one (the bullywugs are debased forms of, possibly the dopplegangers, locathah and kuo-toa. Later sources have just confused things.) Now its been alluded that the lizard race was the creator of the nether scrolls, and after they were gone, the humans found them after the elves (who sometimes are considered a creator race, and sometimes are planar colonists...i did mention it gets confusing, didnt I?). Now the elves didnt use them too much, they understood the power contained in them. The humans tore into them as soon as they got their hands on them, and made leaps and bounds with them, and then Netheril came on the scene. Well, half the nether scrolls were stolen or destroyed (but they're indestructable), and its also alluded that the elves stole them and hid them from the humans, kinda like taking an ak-47 away from a 5 year old with a sugar dependency. By the time of Karsus' folly, the Nether scrolls were no longer in possesion of the Netherese. So with that lengthy, murky written backstory out of the way, lets look at the nether scrolls. One account says that half are written differently then the other, so one creator race wrote half, another one wrote the other half, but whose to say theres not other sets of nether scrolls sitting around waiting to be discovered? I like the leshay being a creator race. I like the lizard man creator race. I like the Nether scrolls. I would say one race wrote half, and the other wrote the other half. And when the Leshay saw what the humans were doing with their creations, they directed their descendents the elves to steal and hide the Nether scrolls away from the humans. When they witnessed the horror and destruction caused by the Nether scrolls, they turned away from the world completely, vowing never to interfere in the ways of the world. They traveled to the far off lands of Sossal, and have put themselves in stasis, sometime their dreams infecting the strange humans who live there. Until now. Three horrors have arisen in the Realms recently, and the world that has been their home for so long is sure to fall unless the come out of stasis to help. The first is a shadow of their past, a cancer that was never fully cut out, namely the Shadovar. The second is the age old enemies, the lizard creator races, are coming out of their eons old slumber to try and reshape the world in their image once again. And the last is the Githyanki, who were once survivors of the fall of netheril, taken away from Toril in bondage by the mind flayers, returning once again to conquer and find the essence of the dead god Amauntor, to elevate their queen to godhood. These three horrors would be suitable for the Leshay to make a return, based on what you have written i must say. Maybe they will return WITH the nether scrolls, kinda like Merlin returning with Excaliber? Just some thoughts.
tauster 07-18-03, 01:54 PM	athelstan: concerning the set that was lost to the netherese: they were indeed stolen by elves & brought to myth drannor, read cormanthyr, empire of the elves p.159. The Quess´Ar´Thranthvar Though the name has lenghtened and the form severely altered, the lost magical relics of netheril reside here: the Quess´Ar´Thranthvar, the "golden grove of hidden knowledge", are the mutated remnants of the long-ago stolen nether scrolls! ...
Purple Dragon Knight 07-25-03, 02:40 PM	Hmm... after reading the Shapechange spell (as per 3.5), I've been wondering if a 25th level druid could shapechange into a LeShay (50HD). I've read nothing in the spells that says he wouldn't, although I'm wondering if all the LeShay feats would come along too (and the saves, and the BAB, etc.) Thoughts?