The Vah Shir & Shar Vahl

Kerran nobles

Before the war between Erudin and the heretics, the Vah Shir were the nobility of kerran society. During that war they were caught in a blast of experimental magic, the same one that created what is now called the Hole. Their spiritual nature gave them some protection, and their shamans were especially quick to raise magical defenses for themselves and their warrior companions.

The RPG puts it plainly: the final battle of the Erudite civil war translocated the Vah Shir city of Shar Vahl off Norrath itself and left behind the crater that leads into the depths of Odus.

Sources: Library of Erudin: Vah Shir (On the Town of: Shar Vahl) · Library of Erudin: EverQuest RPG Player’s Handbook: History of Norrath (2002) · Allakhazam: Vah Shir

No books

The Vah Shir do not use written works. They hold that the impure magic behind the cataclysm came from Erudite research that twisted pure spiritual magic into something unnatural. So their lore passes from generation to generation in stories and songs, kept by the bards and the shamans.

Sources: Library of Erudin: Vah Shir

A city of acrylia

Shar Vahl is a beautiful walled city built from acrylia, a marble-like stone with glowing veins, at the center of a great crater made where the Shard of Norrath struck Luclin. A canyon surrounds it, and kerran fortifications add to its defense. The Vah Shir are not hostile to strangers, but anyone who earns their anger meets a Vah Shir warrior’s blade.

Sources: Library of Erudin: Vah Shir · Allakhazam: Shar Vahl (zone)

A hero lost

Their greatest beastlord, Khati Sha, went to explore the moon after the city arrived and never came back. The beastlord guild still bears his name. Read what really became of him on Khati Sha the Twisted.

Sources: Library of Erudin: Khati Sha

The Prophecy

The in-game book The Prophecy, reprinted in EverQuest II as A History of the Vah Shir, Vol. I, begins before kerran civilisation. Four elders climbed the highest peak of the Stonebrunt Mountains looking for more land: Kajek, the giant Shir, and the sisters Karani and Shahar. Shir wanted to fight for the land. Kajek asked the spirits instead, and by firelight the image of Shir appeared on the moon. “Up there lies land,” Kajek said. The spirits declared that the land must be shared “until the journey to the farthest land of the night’s sky can be made by the children of the beast,” and that on that land the chosen ones would become warriors of the great spirit.

Sources: Library of Erudin: Vah Shir (The Prophecy / A History of the Vah Shir, Vol. I)

The Splintered Age

A second volume tells of the age of splintered tribes. Mortally wounded and full of remorse for the bloodshed he had caused, Partha tore the fangs from his own mouth and gave them to Ratha Shir, the wisest of his sons, telling him: “You are not my heir, but you are the wisest of your kin.” The RPG’s Luclin sourcebook says the divided kerrans were finally united into one nation by a great leader, Kejaan Kerrath.

Sources: Library of Erudin: Vah Shir (The Splintered Age; Luclin — The Vah Shir)

Castes of Shar Vahl

The RPG Player’s Handbook names the castes that serve King Raja Kerrath. The Khala Dun are the warriors and the Taruun are the rogues, who served as scouts when the city landed and later on Norrath. The Dar Khura shamans and Khati Sha beastlords look after the people’s spiritual life, and the Jharin bards are the lorekeepers. Despite their exile, the Handbook says, the Vah Shir did not grow bitter. Survival bound them tightly together, and it is rare for one to put themself before their community.

Sources: Library of Erudin: Vah Shir (Player’s Handbook — Vah Shir)