Sil'Thalis

Just northeast of the town of Phandelver, in the Sword Coast region of Faerûn, lies the entrance to a vast network of ancient vaults that has tormented the surrounding lands for generations. Within them, the besieged House Domini keeps a terrible secret. Farther away, in a coastal town, its people safeguard an ancient archive connected to the vault network. The archive draws upon the power of strange void entities known as the Void-Fed, beings whose origins and true nature are poorly understood. The vaults, the archive, and the Void-Fed are remnants of an older age whose influence still reaches across the Sword Coast.

This takes place 400 years before the Domini Saga The Ancient Vaults Long before the present conflict, powerful civilizations constructed or occupied a network of vaults, archives, void wells, ward-stones, and other magical structures across the region. Their original builders and purposes are not completely understood. Some systems preserve memories, records, or magical impressions, while others serve functions that have been forgotten. The Void-Fed Void-Fed entities have existed since before the current houses rose to power. They are associated with ancient void wells and the Shadowfell, but they are not inherently hostile or predatory. Different cultures have treated them as allies, witnesses, tools, dangers, or sources of magical power. Much about their origins remains disputed. The Coastal Archive A coastal settlement safeguards an ancient archive connected in some manner to the vaults. The archive uses or interacts with Void-Fed power. Its exact relationship to the vault network is poorly understood outside those entrusted with its operation. House Domini House Domini currently occupies and protects portions of the ancient vault network near Phandelver. The House is under increasing pressure from its enemies and keeps secrets concerning the vaults, their history, and the magic found within them. House Xar House Xar seeks greater access to the vaults, archives, memory practices, and Void-Fed magic. Rivalry between Xar and Domini has escalated beyond political maneuvering into open conflict. Both houses employ soldiers, spies, assassins, mages, intermediaries, and independent agents. The Xar/Domini War The conflict has spread through settlements and trade routes surrounding the vaults. Alliances shift, neutral communities attempt to remain outside the fighting, and individuals caught between the houses may be pressured to choose sides. Neither House is universally trusted, and neither controls every ancient structure associated with the vault network. Iteration Spellcraft War has accelerated experimentation with magic. Mages increasingly develop spells through successive iterations, modifying existing workings in response to failures, enemy countermeasures, new discoveries, and changing battlefield conditions. Iteration spellcraft is not a single school of magic. It is a method: cast, observe, alter, and cast again. Different practitioners may produce radically different versions of the same underlying spell. Experimental iterations can be powerful, unstable, incomplete, or dangerous. Techniques regarded as established magic in later ages may still exist here only as prototypes. The Present Crisis House Domini is besieged. House Xar is expanding its efforts to acquire knowledge and control connected to the ancient systems. The Void-Fed and the archive have become increasingly important to both sides. Sil'Thalis, a dark elf mage caught between these powers, has no predetermined allegiance. His decisions may bring him into conflict or alliance with Xar, Domini, the keepers of the coastal archive, independent factions, or forces whose interests predate all of them.