Sildëyuir

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Sildëyuir is a fictitious demiplane in the Forgotten Realms setting of Dungeons & Dragons and is one of the primary settings in the fantasy novel Farthest Reach by Richard Baker. It is the home of the reclusive star, or mithral, elves, who constructed the realm nearly two thousand years ago.

Sildëyuir is a plane of finite size that is conterminous with the Yuirwood in Faerûn, perhaps two to three hundred miles from end to end. The plane has many of the same features and hills as the Yuirwood, and its borders match those of the Faerûnian forest. Sildëyuir is covered with dells with silver-boled trees and streams. Its forests are not as dense as the Yuirwood’s, and its trees are taller and more majestic with very little undergrowth. Phosphorescent lichens grow on the silver-trunked trees, and unlike the humidity of the Yuirwood, the air of Sildëyuir is cool. At the borders of the demiplane, the forest grows thicker and thicker, and any track one follows or makes simply bends back on itself. Sildëyuir is in perpetual twilight. The sky in the distance above the crowns of the trees is a soft pearl-gray, and it seems as if there is no east or west, for the same source-less illumination lights the horizon no matter in what direction one looks. Near the sky’s zenith, however, the skies are the purple velvet of true night and are filled with preternaturally brilliant stars. During the “night,” the sky darkens into pure blackness. Time is slower in Sildëyuir; two days or years on the Material Plane is about one day or year in Sildëyuir. Sildëyuir can be accessed by circles of ancient stone menhirs built by the star elves which serve as portals from the Yuirwood, and vice versa. Sildëyuir is not connected to the Ethereal and Shadow Planes, although it is linked to the Astral Plane.

Sildëyuir is a relatively quiet place. There are a few animals such as white owls, silver-gray deer, black squirrels, large gray-furred bears, and foot-long emerald and sapphire dragonflies. The star elves, masters of song magic and the lords of the realm, live in elegant citadels of glass and pale white stone. They are a peaceful people, and their demiplane is a closely guarded secret, unknown even to most elves. The star elf population has been dwindling for centuries. They once had true cities long ago, but with the entire plane to themselves, they never saw a need to crowd together, so their keeps, towers, and small towns are separated by great distances, and several citadels are abandoned.

For several centuries, Sildëyuir has been slowly invaded by strange sorcerers from the Ethereal Plane called nilshai. They haunt the lonelier stretches of the forests, creating portals to their own realm that exude sluggish, silver-gray mists. The gray mists mark the border of a creeping blight. Beyond them, Sildëyuir is tainted and corrupted. The trees are dead and rotting, and thick, oily black moss grows everywhere. The silver starlight in these areas is gone, and the sky is black. The air is humid and stinks of overpowering rot. The blight essentially transforms the land into a pallid, festering jungle. There are huge, rotting toadstools that emanate a sickly green phosphorescence, and bulging, fluid-filled fungi hang from the rotting trees. The nilshai also loose monsters in the forests. Recently, the nilshai invasion has gotten worse. The nilshai now occupy citadels that were recently occupied by star elves, the former residents mysteriously vanishing. Some star elves are now considering leaving Sildëyuir and returning to the Yuirwood, while others advise seeking help from Aglarond and beyond. The Evermeetian sun elf Araevin Teshurr, now Grand Mage of the reestablished Myth Drannor, has promised to aid the star elves, and the high mages of Evermeet are considering to help.

[edit] History

In −9800 DR, the Yuirwood was settled by green elves in the aftermath of the Crown Wars. In −6950 DR, the star elves began leaving other elven nations and gathering in the Yuirwood. In −6600 DR, the star and green elves founded the realm of Yuireshanyaar in the Yuirwood. The human empire of Unther battled Yuireshanyaar in −1250 DR for control of the southern Aglarondan coast, and the Yuir were driven back into the woods. From −1076 to −1069 DR, the Orcgate Wars occurred after an Imaskari wizard opened up a gate in Mulhorand to the orc’s home world, and Yuireshanyaar was pressed hard by the orcs. Faced with the encroaching humans along the Wizard’s Reach (most from Old Unther), the star elf High Mages of Yuireshanyaar created a forest-wide network of stone circles and worked a mighty high magic spell through the stone menhirs to construct the extraplanar world of Sildëyuir from −900 to −600 DR. In −699 DR, the Year of Moon Blades Crashing, the star elves completely abandoned Yuireshanyaar for Sildëyuir, but many wild, or green, elves chose to remain in the Yuirwood. Araevin Teshurr and his companions visited Sildëyuir in 1374 DR, the Year of Lightning Storms.

Centuries ago, a star elf wizard named Mourel Duskwalker tried to seize control of all of Sildëyuir. He marshaled evil forces against the main star elf city and was eventually defeated. His body and remaining life force were sealed in his glass citadel, which was then removed from Sildëyuir and became a “loose” piece of the demiplane. Unbeknownst to the star elves, Mourel’s citadel has a portal that is connected to the Yuirwood. The nilshai sorcerer Tolg’byri discovered this portal and used the citadel as a base of operations for gathering an army to conquer Sildëyuir, which has awakened the spirits of Mourel and his followers. Tolg’byri was betrayed, and now his army is led by a supposed half-orc named Savera, whose true identity is unknown to “his” followers.

[edit] References

Baker, Richard. Farthest Reach. Renton, WA.: Wizards of the Coast, 2005.
Baker, Richard, Matt Forbeck, and Sean K. Reynolds. Unapproachable East. Renton, WA.: Wizards of the Coast, 2003.
Vaughan, Greg A. The Twilight Tomb. Renton, WA.: Wizards of the Coast, 2006.