Neriak and the Teir’Dal

Innoruuk’s children

The Teir’Dal are Innoruuk’s people. The Prince of Hate made the dark elves by twisting high elves, and the royal lines of the high and dark elves share an ancestry. That makes Neriak and Felwithe two branches of one family tree, which may be why they hate each other so much. Neriak is ruled by King Naythox Thex and Queen Cristanos Thex, and the Thex name runs on the other branch too: Firiona Vie, Tunare’s Chosen, is the daughter of King Tearis Thex of the high elves.

A city under the forest

Neriak lies beneath the Nektulos forest. Its tunnels were first carved by rivers flowing from Lake Neriuss, then widened and shaped by dark elf magic into a city, laid out as a series of gates, each sealing off a more exclusive part. The First Gate holds the Foreign Quarter, home to Neriak’s allies: ogres, trolls and the humans of Freeport. The Second Gate is the Commons, which has no lights at all, because no citizen needs them. The Third Gate is the home of the nobility, where there is little commerce and no one not of Teir’Dal blood is warmly welcomed, however loyal they have proved. The Fourth Gate holds only the Darklight Palace and its grounds, and is closed to the public.

Dark elves without money are treated little better than outsiders, and because so many citizens are necromancers and shadow knights, the undead are a common sight in the streets.

Dragoon Zytl’s diary

One dark elf officer, hundreds of years ago in the years before the invasion of Faydwer, gave a blunt reason for the First Gate: it was built to keep the trolls away from the Third. Dragoon Zytl called it “a testament to the superiority of the Teir’Dal,” its monuments meant to show lesser races their place. He disciplined a whole contingent for questioning the King’s orders (“To question the King’s orders is to question why you are allowed to breathe”), and heretics who said Innoruuk had fallen silent were executed. He drilled his men twenty hours a day, and when his rival Gmiz came to congratulate him, he stabbed Gmiz before the assassin’s dagger was fully raised.

Trolls in the Foreign Quarter

Neriak’s alliances had consequences. Trolls of Clan Grobb found refuge in the city, and their leader, Bortar Ripkiller, was killed there. To players, the Foreign Quarter was simply where an ogre or troll could finally sell their loot without being attacked on sight.

The Neriak Signal

The city paper had its own voice. Under the headline “No Aid from Faydark” it boasted that the world “lives in fear,” and “fear leads to death or Hatred.” It honoured a young intern, Fylis Vileseer, killed while reporting on troll aggression. On Firiona Vie’s disappearance it called her “the vile high elf of some renown” and hoped the iksar had kidnapped her again.

In the game

Neriak was the starting city for dark elves in 1999, reached through Nektulos Forest from the Commonlands side of Antonica. For evil characters of any race it was one of the few places where guards would not attack them, which is exactly what the Foreign Quarter was for.