Death Notice Book 8: Chapter 18: Ancient Path

Release Date: 2026-05-31 09:23:00

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The Ancient Path? The Sun Court? Qin Lun’s eyes flickered. He pretended to understand while diverting a part of his attention to check the Death Notice. He definitely couldn’t ask Iristin about these things. After all, he was currently posing as an elf. If he didn’t even know about elven history, it would raise suspicion.

Luckily, the Death Notice contained information about the Ancient Path and the Sun Court. These were important parts of the world’s background. Since the Shattered Starry Sky could piece together the epic storyline of the Great Elven Civilization, it naturally was familiar with the elves’ Ancient Path and Sun Court.

The elves of Faerûn originally did not belong to the Toril World. They came from a different realm connected to Toril’s Prime Material World, called Faeriel.

The reason for Faeriel’s destruction was unknown to the Shattered Starry Sky. It only knew that the survivors of the Tintageer Elven Kingdom used high-level time and space magic to break through the realm barrier and come to Toril. They settled on a continent almost entirely covered by forest, which they called Faerûn, meaning the One Land.

In the earliest years after the elves arrived in Faerûn, the rulers of Toril were giants and dragons. The elves and dwarves established many small, thriving settlements across Faerûn. The dwarves defeated the giants and began building an empire. Before that era ended, the elves also started doing the same, defeating the dragons.

They had long forgotten the lesson of the Tintageer Elven Kingdom’s destruction centuries before. The One Land—Faerûn—was shattered by the magical power released by the spell. The result was the destruction of hundreds of elven cities, countless elf deaths, and changes to the Toril World. The name Faerûn no longer referred to the One Land, but to the largest remaining continent. Evermeet was separated from the One Land at that time.

After the elven race revived once again, the first flourishing period of the Great Elven Civilization began. There were four surviving elven races at that time: Sun Elves, Moon Elves, Green Elves, and Dark Elves. The Sun Elves were the most powerful. Led by the elven Guardian Corellon, they established the first post-disaster settlement in a forest in northern Faerûn—Aryvandaar.

The Sun Elves called this forest the Supreme Forest. They considered themselves the elven royal family and named the elven royal court in the Supreme Forest the Sun Court. Their actions quickly drew dissatisfaction from the other three major elven races. Among them, the High Priestess Lolth clearly led the Dark Elves to oppose Corellon’s Sun Elves. Soon, they moved away from the Supreme Forest and established their own elven court in Ilisrui.

From then on, the Dark Elves and Sun Elves increasingly became mortal enemies. Resenting that the Moon Elves and Green Elves did not support them during the racial divide, they held no goodwill toward these two races either. This branch of elves eventually slowly descended into corruption and, after the Five Crown Wars, moved into the underground realm, becoming the infamous Drow Elves.

Although the Moon Elves and Green Elves did not support the Dark Elves in the racial divide, they were also deeply dissatisfied with the Sun Elves’ aggressive arrogance and their expansionist ideology of excluding others. To avoid civil war, most Moon Elves and Green Elves began migrating southward across the Faerûn continent.

These Moon Elves and Green Elves gradually established many elven settlements such as Ilfaron, Kaeldomo, Maiyelita, and Santa Osriel. Among them, the Kaeldomo settlements were very extensive, including elven kingdoms like Olyshaar, Serthel, Eaerlann, and Seopia.

During the epic two Dragon Wars and five Crown Wars, many forests were destroyed by fire and war, numerous elven kingdoms were ruined, and the elves’ Ancient Inheritance suffered irreversible losses.

Among them, the Maiyelita Elven Kingdom was annexed by Aryvandaar during the First Crown War. Ilisrui, Olyshaar, Eaerlann, and Santa Osriel were destroyed during the Second to Fourth Crown Wars. Olyshaar and Eaerlann were destroyed by the Dark Elves of Ilisrui, while Santa Osriel was destroyed by the Kaeldomo allied forces due to betrayal.

Of course, the Dark Elves of Ilisrui, having made too many enemies, were eventually defeated and moved into the underground realm, becoming the Drow Elves.

During this period, the Sun Elves of Aryvandaar reached their peak and established the Vyshaantar Empire. Due to their great achievements in the war against the Dark Elves, the Sun Court began to be recognized by the Moon Elves and Green Elves of Faerûn. The Sun Elves finally became the true pan-continental elven royal family.

However, the good times did not last long. In less than two hundred years, the Vyshaantar Empire declined from prosperity.

This opportunity was similar to the reasons for the decline of all great empires: the Sun Elves split from within. This gave the high mages and Moon God priests, who had been annihilated by Aryvandaar and were hiding in various places, a chance to turn the unfavorable situation of the free resistance struggle around.

The Fifth Crown War began. The allied forces of other elven races defeated the imperial army and invaded the Supreme Forest. The final Crown War ended with the complete defeat of the Vyshaantar Empire’s army and the fragmentation of Aryvandaar. Many areas of the Supreme Forest were abandoned, allowing the forest to grow freely.

After the split, the Sun Elves migrated eastward into the Cormanthor Forest. However, the fall of most royal family members caused them to lose their Ancient Inheritance. From then on, there was no more Sun Court.

The Five Crown Wars led the Great Elven Civilization into its final stage. Humans began to rise. Ilfaron and Kaeldomo were the only two complete elven civilizations that survived after the Crown Wars. However, the Kaeldomo Forest during this period had been divided by fire and war into many small forests.

The elves migrated south and east repeatedly during the wars, along with the Sun Elves migrating east from the northern continent into Cormanthor. Starting from the Supreme Forest in the northwest of the continent, the entire elven race extended southward to the Misty Forest, Wealdath Forest, Mir Forest, Winter Forest, Ank Forest, all the way to the Qiongda’er Forest, and eastward to the Cormanthor Forest.

These two migration routes of the elves were called the “Ancient Path”.

Now, due to the demise of the second-generation World Tree, the Sun Elves of Cormanthor began another great migration. They wanted to move to Evermeet. Evermeet is actually a fragment of the ancient Faerûn continent, huge in area, entirely covered by forest. It is called an island, but it is actually equivalent to a mini-continent.

When the Sun Elves’ Vyshaantar Empire and Sun Court fell, some Sun Elves, Moon Elves, and Green Elves colonized Evermeet. There were even some Dark Elves from before their fall. Among them, Sun Elves made up over 70% of the population.

Compared to the increasingly powerful humans on the Faerûn continent, Evermeet, with no other races, was a paradise for the elves. Many elves had already realized that this era belonged to humans. Elves living on the Faerûn continent either hid in remote small forests struggling to survive, or integrated into human society. There was no third option.

Although the elves’ current power was still strong, this trend could not be changed. For example, a thousand years ago, the Qiongda’er Elves, at the cost of the decline of the Moon Elf royal family, turned most of the Qiongdus Kingdom’s territory into the Vihong Sea. However, it had no impact on the overall human world. Their recovery ability was far beyond what the Qiongda’er Elves could match.

Based on this understanding, the Sun Elves of Cormanthor had a sudden idea. Taking advantage of the great migration, they sent a diplomatic mission to visit the elven courts of the major forests one by one along the Ancient Path, persuading all elves on the Faerûn continent to migrate together to Evermeet.

Of course, they knew this persuasion would not be very effective. Apart from a few elves living in poor conditions, most elven courts would not easily trust the Sun Elves again. Their expansionist ideology of supremacy in ancient times was really unwelcome.

However, the Sun Elves hoped that this effort would lay a good foundation for the future great elven family. The elven courts on the Faerûn continent would eventually gradually move to Evermeet due to human pressure. By then, the Sun Elves, with their majority population, might be able to rebuild the Sun Court again.

“So that’s how it was!” Listening to Iristin’s account, Qin Lun thought and slowly nodded.

“The path the Sun Elves took from the Supreme Forest to Cormanthor is now cut off by the Anauroch Desert filled with Phaerimm. They could only first go south across the Sea of Fallen Stars, detour through the Vihong Sea. Qiongda’er Forest is their first stop.” Iristin sighed with some admiration.

“Next, they would follow the southern Winter Forest, Ank Forest, and Mir Forest, all the way to Calimport in Calimshan. Then they would go north along the Great Trade Road until they reached the elven court in the western part of the Supreme Forest.

The entire diplomatic route was like a huge horseshoe, almost encircling half of the Faerûn continent. The journey was over ten thousand kilometers long. After finishing the last elven court, they would pass through Deepwater City, cross the Trackless Sea, and Evermeet would be their final destination.”

“This… is truly a great journey!” A strange light flickered in Qin Lun’s eyes as he smiled and asked, “Then they must encounter many dangers and difficulties along the way, right?”

“Well, leaving aside the human kingdoms along the route, even some elven courts might possibly prevent them from completing this mission.” Iristin said somewhat helplessly. “Forget about the elven courts that lost their Ancient Inheritance; those with the inheritance naturally wouldn’t want their arrival to affect the stability of the kingdom.”

Iristin suddenly said with a mysterious expression, “I heard from some tribal elders that the Sun Elves’ Ancient Path storm this time might also involve two major organizations: the Harpers and the Zhentarim.”

Qin Lun glanced at the Death Notice, suppressing the urge to ask Iristin for information about the Harpers and Zhentarim. He smiled and asked, “If the Sun Elf Diplomatic Mission seeks help from the Magic Cup Court, would King Testiel provide assistance?”

“Originally, no… but now… I don’t know!” Iristin frowned and sighed. Qin Lun’s question completely took away her interest in continuing the conversation.

Qin Lun nodded and did not press further. After chatting a bit more and noticing Iristin’s low spirits, he said goodbye and left.

«Volume 8 Chapter 15: Butterfly Effect

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Volume 2 Chapter 31: Combat Model »