Post/Author/DateTime	Post
areschoug 04-28-07, 01:16 AM	North of Arn forest, east of Silver Marches, where the Fork Road ends, there's a ruin. A mystical place of ..hang on, of what!? I need some help here. What is the ruin of Ascore?
Old Sage 04-28-07, 01:37 AM	I think LEoF was originally planning to have some fun with those pyramids, but that tale didn't make the final cut. There's still an NDA that applies though... so there's always a chance we'll learn more. Writers like Eric Boyd always hoard bits and pieces of lore and half-written Dragon submissions to place into appropriate products if opportunities present themselves. As for the pyramids of Ascore - who knows... See also Anauroch and The Savage Frontier.
Old Sage 04-28-07, 01:42 AM	Here's some additional thoughts from Eric L Boyd - "Thinking out loud ... ( Note, I don't have access to my sources a the moment, so I could be missing something important. Need to check The North, FR5 - The Savage Frontier, FR11 - Dwarves Deep, Lords of Darkness, Silver Marches, and Lost Empires of Faerun ) Ascore is a dwarven settlement, the eastern part of Delzoun. Trade between the Netherese and the dwarves of Delzoun goes over the Narrow Sea, from Runlatha to Ascore (see Lost Empires of Faerun for info on Runlatha) and via the Low Road (mentioned in FR11 and discussed as well in DDGttU and LEoF). Netheril falls in -339 DR. Delzoun falls circa -100 DR. We don't know when Ascore was abandoned, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was between -339 DR and -100 DR. I imagine the collapse of Netheril would have quickly undermined the raison d'etre of Ascore. Initially there would have been a rush of refugees, and then the city would have dwindled. The pyramids could have appeared in one of five time periods: pre-Ascore: If this happens, the site is fairly random and it's also unclear why the dwarves would build their city around them and not five miles away. during-Ascore/during Netheril: If this happens, the dwarves are presumably the builders. It's a dwarven city with Netherese expatriats, not the other way around. Given that pyramids are not generally associated with the dwarves, I don't think this makes much sense. during-Ascore/post Fall: If this happens, we might postulate that the dwarves are being overwhelmed by an influx of Netherese refugees, similar to what happened to the Eaerlanni elves of Ascalhorn. Worse, the Netherese refugees might have brought all sorts of "bad stuff" with them that keeps getting out of control. Finally, the city might be regularly attacked by the phaerimm. The dwarves might decide that the city is doomed anyway, so they start building containment facilities (i.e. the pyramids) as the population dwindles. Alternately, the pyramids might be designed to defend Delzoun's eastern frontier against the phaerimm. post-Ascore: If this happens, the city has already been abandoned. Someone (could be anyone) decides the ruins make a nice place to build the pyramids. If this is the case, we don't have much to go on, as there is no contemporaneous culture (aside from Mulhorand) from this era that is known to build pyramids. Absent a review of the above sources, I'd probably go with the "post-Fall of Netheril as Netheril dwindles" idea. I think I like a "contain Netherese legacies" explanation better than "defend against the phaerimm", but it could be a mixture. --Eric"
areschoug 04-28-07, 01:51 AM	Nice. That's a start. Thanx Few things though. NDA? FR11? DDGttU?
Old Sage 04-28-07, 03:52 AM	NDA - Non-Disclosure Agreement FR11 - Dwarves Deep DDGttU - Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark