• -30400 DR

  • The Wasting Plague
    In a conflict between the gnolls of Urgnarash and rookery of Kookrui-Shara, shamans of Yeenoghu summons marrashi - spirits of pestilence from the Barrens of Doom and Despair - to blight aearee crops and spread a wasting plague among the avians.

    The Aearee War
    An Aearee named Sieska Waewielonn of the Okwalok-Shara rookery over the shores of the Great Sea discovers the name of Pazreal, a demon lord. With the fiends aid, Sieska becomes lord of Okwalok-Shara. Soon all the rookeries of Aearee-Quor abandones the faith of Quorlin and turns to Pazreal (all except the rookery of Tiennkoo-Shara, which flees to the farthest peaks of Kara-Tur, where their descendants yet thrive today as the crow-headed race known as Tengu, they are the only branch of the Aearee-Quor who never lost their wings). Pazreal teaches the Aearee-Quor how to summon Vrocks, but at a great cost, he took from them their power of flight. The Aearee of Shara never again ride the winds, except by spell or steed.

    Sieska then wages war on the other Aeraree nations to the north and west. Aearee-Krocaa is the first to fall. Aearee-Syran, defends with the aid of fey allies, winged treants, and soarwhales against Aearee-Quor's near-endless demon vrocks and battle rocs. In the end, Mornungongbarae (possibly the first treant), who had guarded the High Forest for nearly a thousand years, rises up and brings down the Quor floating city, but at the cost of his own life. His tragic sacrifice is still sung by treant skalds today, in a saga called The Lament of Mornungongbarae. »

  • c. -23900 DR

  • The forest community of Sharlarion survives the Sundering nearly complete. These fortunate elves increases their number and spread into the surrounding forest, hills, and lowlands.

    The elvish kingdom of Aryvandaar (preset-day High Forest) is established. »

  • c. -12500 DR

  • The elves of Aryvandaar discover the Hall of Mists beneath the High Forest and summon an arakhor (an elder form of treant) to guard the site. Over the millennia, this creature becomes known as Grandfather Tree. »

  • -9000 DR

  • End of the Fifth Crown War
    The Fifth Crown War ends with the utter defeat of the Vyshaan and the dissolution of Aryvandaar. Much of the High Forest is abandoned for an age, leaving the forest open so the gods might restore its peace. Many elves begin migrating back to the Elven Court in the eastern forests, while others migrate into the Inner Sea (this marks the last great elven migration to Seros). Keltormir and Illefarn emerge intact from the Crown Wars, and the latter realm joins with the vassal realm of Ardeep now that Shantel Othreir is no more. »

  • -8400 DR

  • A few sun elves return to found Siluvanede in the northwestern reaches of the High Forest. »

  • -7600 DR

  • Moon elves and a few sun elves disaffected with Siluvanede's growing elitism found Sharrven in the southern reaches of the High Forest. They are joined by a few elves from Evereska due to overcrowding. »

  • -3381 DR

  • Two of the Nether Scrolls are stolen during an excursion in the High Forest. The mages carrying the scrolls are slaughtered by a grove of treants. The Scrolls are never recovered. »

  • -2770 DR

  • The Slaughter of Sharrven
    The elf realm of Sharrven fragments and falls due to an explosion in the monstrous population within the southern High Forest engineered by the fey'ri of Siluvanede. Survivors flee to Eaerlann and Evereska, and the realm lies vacant but for a few settlements and outposts (though the southern forest retain the name "Sharrven" until the modern era). While proof is sorely lacking, the paranoid elves of Siluvanede quickly blame the power-hungry mages of Netheril, and vow to slay any Netherese wizard that strays into their western High Forest realm. »

  • -2436 DR

  • An unknown thief returns seven of Netheril's remaining Nether Scrolls to the ancient ruins of the Iqua Tel-Quessir (creator races). Three of the scrolls are placed in the Hall of Mists beneath Grandfather Tree of the High Forest, and two others are placed in the Crypt of Hssthak, which later becomes part of western Anauroch. The location of the other two scrolls remains unknown. »

  • -339 DR [Year of Sundered Webs]

  • Fall of Netheril
    Nearly all of the Netherese enclaves fall to the earth and are destroyed due to disruptions in the Weave brought about by the casting of the epic spell, Karsus's avatar and the subsequent death of the goddess Mystryl (Mystra). The body of the momentary god Karsus falls to earth in the eastern region of the High Forest.

    Karsus, also known as THE Archwizard, believed that the gods were nothing more than mortals who had mastered magic that he hadn't yet discovered. When he began researching 12th-level magic in the early -459 DR, he concluded that this was the power that the gods themselves wielded. His mistake was believing that common magic was what separated the gods from the archwizards, but it wouldn't be until the Time of Trobles in 1358 DR until Ao, the Overlord of the gods, demonstrates that there is more than just magic at work in the rise and fall of gods.

    Karsus was a man full of self-confidence and an unshakable faith that what he believed was the way things really were. Not even the pleadings of his closest advisors could sway him once a decision to do something was made. This character trait applied itself from the smallest of enclave decisions to the creation of the most powerful spell ever created, Karsus's avatar.

    Another facet of Karsus's personality also shined through to anyone who met him: He was stark, raving mad. He acted like an excited child most of the time, and his tantrums were to be avoided at all cost. He could be warm and friendly or ruthless and tyrannical; there really wasn't anything in between.

    Karsus went through many "special friends" during his lifetime. These were individuals whom he suddenly took a great liking to, spoiled for a while (obtaining information or services from them) and then tossed aside like a forgotten toy. Some in the Karsus Enclave viewed the designation of "special friend" as a death mark. »

  • The archwizard Aumvar is transported by contingency magics to his secret lair in the heart of the High Forest, where he undergoes the transformation to lichdom. Aumvor never returns to his castle, leaving it and the fruits of his studies to his great-grandneice, Morasha. »

  • -298 DR [Year of Nine Watchers]

  • The Cult of Karsus founds the city of Karse in the depths of the High Forest. »

  • -111 DR [Year of Terrible Anger]

  • The Orc Marches
    The entire North erupts as great orc hordes stream south from the Spine of the World and the Ice Mountains to lay waste to all in their path. Illusk and Gauntlgrym fall to this onslaught, and Delzoun is devastated by countless orc assaults. Most of Illusk's population manages to escape by sea or by magic and is spared. The elves of Iliyanbruen, Rilithar, Siluvanede, and Eaerlann unite to shatter the strength of the orcs and halt their rampage south into the High Forest and Dessarin Valley. »

  • 604 DR [Year of the Immured Imp]

  • The armies of Phalorm drive off an orc horde that besieges Secomber. Ellatharion, Phalorm's elf king, leads an army of elves and halflings into the High Forest in pursuit of the orcs, and neither king nor army returns. »

  • 691 DR [Year of the Stricken Sun]

  • Lord Erthaer Javilarhhsson, the youngest son of King Javilarhh "the Dark" Snowsword returns to the court of Delimbiyran convinced he had found a valley he wished to call home. With the consent of his nephew, King Davyd Snowsword, Lord Erthaer raises a host of men and leads the settlement of Starshadow Vale (so known for its position on the southwestern fringe of the High Forest, poetically placed "in the shadow of the Star Mounts"), seizing the lands from orcs and other fell creatures. King Davyd elevates Lord Erthaer to the rank of Baron of Dauntylgar, and gives him title to Starshadow Vale upon condition that the newly installed baron (or his heirs) could hold the land for at least a dozen winters. »

  • 702 DR [Year of the Clutching Death]

  • Unbeknowst to the humans of Delimbiyran, and the settlers of Starshadow Vale, the orcs of the western High Forest consider Starshadow Vale to be a sacred burial ground, and it is the founding of the barony and subsequent wave of settlement in the region that forms a great orc horde.

    Orc raiders form the High Forest inflict heavy losses on the splinter kingdoms of Delimbiyran that were formerly part of the Kingdom of Man. Many of these lesser realms are destroyed before the armies of the Duke of Calandor finally defeat the orcs.

    Among the realms left shattered in the horde's wake was the Barony of Starshadow Vale, just eleven winters after its founding (and 1 winter short of fulfilling King Davyd Snowsword's requirements for Baron Erthaer Javilarhhsson taking rightful lordship of the lands). In defiant anger, the Baron Erthaer defies the gods and becomes a ghost, haunting the Starshadow Vale, and longing to restore Dautylgar to its earlier status and maintained for at least one full winter. »

  • 883 DR [Year of the Giant's Oath]

  • An eddy of magical chaos emanating from Hellgate Keep causes the Hall of Mists and Grandfather Tree in the High Forest to be infested with a colony of warped, gargantuan red ants. »

  • 890 DR [Year of the Burning Tree]

  • Aerosclughpalar "Gildenfire", a gold dragon who became a protector of the High Forest, is born. »

  • 964 DR [Year of the Pickled Privateer]

  • Yornar, the ranger hero of Mielikki is lost in the woods and beset by bugbears. He asks Mielikki for aid, and she grants him Yornar's Trail Companion and instructs him to keep and then give it to the one of her choosing. Eventually, Yornar passes the Companion to the priestess Emthreena Gulkryn in this year (who was fighting the spreading influence of Hellgate Keep in the eastern High Forest).

    She also recieves instruction to pass on the Companion, and so forth, as the Companion passed on from one needy ranger to the next priest, as Mielikki willed. This process comes to be known among Mielikkans as the "the Rightful Cycle", from priest wielder, to ranger carrier, to priest wielder. »

  • 1018 DR [Year of the Dracorage]

  • Tordath Ironfist, blood of Turgo, the dwarven lord and his followers were returning to the Forlorn Hills after visiting kin working a small mine in the depths of the High Forest, but they are forced to take shelter amid the ruins of Starshadow Tower by the passage of an errant green wyrm. The ghost baron Erthaer Javilarhhsson, possessed Tordath and then led him back to Firehammer Hold, where the charismatic young clan leader convinced many of his kinsman to return with him to the vale. The stout folk rebuilt Starshadow Tower within a matter of months, and then set about establishing a ruby mine along a nearby ridge.

    Less than two months after their arrival, the dwarves of Starshadow Tower were no more, and the ghost baron's keep was once again a smoking ruin. The great red dragon named Imvaernarhro, torn from slumber by the madness of the Rage, set fire to the vale, quickly killing Tordath and his followers and tearing into the ruby-laden ridge with his grasping claws. Since that time, the stout folk have avoided Starshadow Vale, but tales still speak of the fortune in rubies they left behind of Imvaernarhro's lair. »

  • 1214 DR [Year of the Walking Wrath]

  • A flight of seven wyverns (thought to be under the spell-control of an evil mage who employed them in several thefts and raids at about this time, although his identity and fate are unknown) tear apart the Mielikkian temple of Highluthholt (which stood in the High Forest some days' travel east of Secomber). Yornar's Trail Companion (an artifact of Mielikki) is among the temple treasures taken in the raid. This is the first recorded break in the Rightful Cycle. »