Odus · EverQuest (original release)
Erudin
The white city of the Erudites on the coast of Odus: a quiet, practical capital built around the greatest library of the good races, with a small port for the ferry to Qeynos and the dark Toxxulia Forest at its back.
City of knowledge
Erudin is the home of the Erudites, a sect of humans who long ago left the known world to settle somewhere out of the way and study the known and the unknown. Now that they have come back into the world, their capital is counted among the finest collections of knowledge in Norrath.
The EQ Atlas finds the city notable for its practicality: there are buildings for what the citizens need and little else. The city is all but built around its great hall of learning, the Erudin Library, which the Atlas calls the greatest store of knowledge among the good races; its only rival is rumoured to lie far to the east in the dark elf city of Neriak. Allakhazam likewise counts it one of the biggest libraries in Norrath.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Erudin · Allakhazam: Erudin (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: Erudin
Guilds and gods
The Erudites’ guilds here are cleric, enchanter, magician, paladin and wizard. The paladins and clerics follow two gods: the Deepwater Knights serve Prexus, the Oceanlord, and the Temple of Divine Light serves Quellious, the Tranquil.
The Erudin Palace, a zone of its own, holds the city’s bank, jewellers and a potions merchant. Its upper floor leads to the three towers of the magical arts: the Craftkeepers for enchanters, the Gatecallers for magicians and the Crimson Hands for wizards. For artisans the city has a brewery, forge, kiln, oven and pottery wheel.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Erudin · Allakhazam: Erudin Palace (zone) · Allakhazam: Erudin (zone)
Erud’s exodus and the Heretics
The Project 1999 Wiki records the founding: disgusted by the dissipation and bad manners of their fellow humans, a group led by the Great Erud sailed from Antonica to Odus, then home only to the cat-like Kerrans. Erud built a city devoted to pure knowledge, academic, philosophical and arcane, and is credited with its whole system of law. Some say Quellious darkened the Erudites’ skin against the island sun and enlarged their minds; others credit Prexus for the skin; Erud’s records are silent.
The peace with the Kerrans lasted until Miragul turned to dark magic. The High Council condemned him and banned necromancy, and the civil war that followed ended in massive destruction, the accidental removal of a whole tribe of Kerrans to the moon of Luclin, and a brooding stalemate between Erudin and Paineel across Odus. The full story is in Erudin, Paineel and the Hole.
Sources: Project 1999 Wiki: Erudin
Getting there
Erudin has a small but busy port with regular ships across Erud’s Crossing to Qeynos. The P99 Wiki notes that the trip back means a shuttle from the docks out to the main boat, which never docks in Erudin but anchors briefly offshore.
Inland, the city is bordered by Toxxulia Forest. Passing through the forest leads to Paineel, there is an unused dock that leads to Kerra Isle, and there are druid and wizard portals in the forest. The city itself is calm and quiet, built for silent reflection, and many of its guild masters are, the EQ Atlas says, among the most knowledgeable in Norrath in their fields.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Erudin · Project 1999 Wiki: Erudin · Allakhazam: Erudin (zone)
Lore tied to this zone
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Erudin · Allakhazam: Erudin (zone) · Allakhazam: Erudin Palace (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: Erudin