The Age of Arcanum

The Age of Arcanum (historically referred to as the ancient era or that legendary Age) was an epoch of unmatched magical power, grand empires, and unprecedented collaboration that once spanned the Sword Coast. Eons before recorded history, formless gods arrived at a world churning in chaos. Seeking to understand their place in the universe through creation, they tamed the primordial chaos and birthed the mortal races: first the elves, then the dwarves, then humans, with others quickly following. Because these children originally lived short, violent lives, the Archheart (and the other gods) gifted magic to the mortal races, giving them small slivers of divine essence to defend themselves and withstand the tumultuous world.

During this prosperous golden era, the mortal races perfected their magics, spawning unimaginable feats of arcane innovation. However, this progress also bred unchecked arrogance. Many began using their magical gifts in a ruthless pursuit of power, immortality, and even attempted to seize godhood for themselves.

The Calamity and the Divine Gate

The unchecked pride of mortals eventually ignited a catastrophic global conflict known as The Calamity. Whether sparked by mortal attempts to usurp divinity or by escalating wars between mortal nations that dragged their creators to the battlefield, the result was a devastating, magical arms race. Deities and mortals alike worked diligently to construct new arcane engines of war. Heroes fought monsters, angels clashed with devils, and great wizards battled legendary warriors, leaving the grand magical cities of the era completely destroyed and the natural world scorched and barren. This devastating conflict left deep physical scars upon the landscape of the Sword Coast that remain visible to this day.

During this war, a severe schism split the pantheon: the Betrayer Gods sought to destroy or enslave humanity, believing them untrustworthy with magic and free will, while the Prime Deities defended their creations. Realizing the ruin their physical presence brought upon the Material Plane, the Prime Deities ultimately sealed the Betrayer Gods and themselves behind a barrier known as the Divine Gate, sacrificing their ability to physically walk the earth. This sorrowful farewell ended the Calamity and ushered in the modern era, where the gods’ power can only be channeled by their most devout worshipers.

A Forgotten Sky

The sky of the Age of Arcanum was fundamentally different from the modern night. The long line of stars that modern peoples believe symbolizes the Divine Gate—marking the Era of Divergence—did not exist. Furthermore, Selune, the Moon, and her tears did not shine in the heavens because she herself walked the earth as a physical being.

When the magical anchors of Gond’s Smelter are activated, they project a perfect representation of the night sky as it appeared 1,000 years ago. As the ancient sky aligns, some stars fade while others rearrange themselves into three distinct constellations that celebrate the tripartite alliance:

The Pact of Phandelver and Wave Echo Cave

In the North of the Sword Coast, the cooperative spirit of this legendary epoch was best exemplified by the Pact of Phandelver, a historic alliance detailed in the historical text The Rise and Fall of the Pact of Phandelver by the legendary wizard Elminster Aumar (the Sage of Waterdeep). This tripartite alliance was brokered by King Phandelver II, a fire-hearted human pioneer who led settlers into Neverwinter Wood. He united with Queen Kima of Axeholm, a proud dwarven sovereign known for her stubborn pride and love of finely crafted warhammers, and Archmage Larellion (sometimes spelled Lorelion), steward of the elven tower known as the Hand of Sehahine.

Ancient Seats of Power

Relics of a Lost Era

Following the defeat of the Guardian of the Forge, several incredibly powerful artifacts from the Age of Arcanum were recovered from the deep vaults of Wave Echo Cave:

The Sundering and Modern Echoes

The Pact of Phandelver was ultimately undone from within and without as the Calamity reached the north. Long peace bred deep shadows; whispers of dwarven greed and elven aloofness fractured the alliance, leaving the humans isolated against encroaching orc hordes, undead, and other armies led by the Betrayers.

This collapse was catalyzed by Larellion’s daughter, Vyldara. Jealous of her sister Agatha (favored by their father as the “Moonlit Prodigy”), Vyldara sought to master the magical arts and claim Axeholm. Though treated with kindness by Queen Kima, Vyldara betrayed her, poisoning the Queen with a slow venom, and subsequently slaying six guards during a desperate escape attempt. Cut down by the dwarves, Vyldara was abandoned by her father and her goddess, Sehanine Moonbow. She rose as a banshee, turning Axeholm’s residents into undead and forcing its abandonment.

In his grief, and falsely believing the dwarves had kidnapped Vyldara, Larellion fell into despair as enemy hordes descended. He enacted a desperate measure, casting the Mythal of Moonshadow to shift the Hand of Sehahine into the Ethereal Plane. Angered by this abandonment of their allies, Sehanine Moonbow and Corellon twisted the mythal into a divine curse: the Hand would only return permanently to the Material Plane when it could aid the valley’s people, its inhabitants were frozen in repeating memory loops, and Larellion was transformed into a Baelnorn—a mad, immortal lich bound to the tower as his phylactery. Agatha, lost to tragedy, became a weeping banshee haunting the vicinity of Conyberry.

In modern times, the drow drider Nezznar “The Spider” sought to claim the Forge of Spells, defiling the altar of Moradin (the All-Hammer) in favor of Lolth. Recently, a band of adventurers known as The Magnificent Five—consisting of Nalini, Gilmore, Erevyn, Farwald (the amnesiac Lord’s Alliance hero Hrothgar Hillsfar), and Hope—put an end to the Spider’s machinations and reactivated Gond’s Smelter.

Following directions from Agatha’s spirit, the party traveled to Axeholm. Together with the fey sorceress Aja (disguised as a talking goat) and the freed dwarf Gotrek, they confronted Vyldara. Gilmore severed her connection to the physical world, allowing her to express deep remorse, ask for her father’s forgiveness, and finally pass on to Selune’s embrace under the guidance of the Matron of Ravens.

The party then traveled to the Hand of Sehahine, phasing it into the Material Plane using Vyldara’s Heartstone. Inside, they cleared the Sentinel Floor, helped the lucid spirits restore the gardens and Scriptorium, and confronted Larellion in the Observatory. Erevyn discovered his own ancestry as a descendant of Larellion’s bloodline. By presenting proof of his daughters’ peace, the party helped Larellion repent, lifting the millennium-old curse, laying the spirits of the Hand to rest, and claiming the legendary Astrolabe of Sehanine.