Faydwer

Four cities, one island

Faydwer launched with EverQuest in 1999 as one of the three original continents, beside Antonica and Odus. Four major cities stand on it: the wood elf treetop city of Kelethin and the high elf city of Felwithe, both in the Greater Faydark, the dwarven city of Kaladim in the Butcherblock Mountains, and the gnome city of Ak’Anon beneath the Steamfont Mountains.

The island was built to be self-sufficient. A player who knew it could find hunting suited to their level at most two short zones from Greater Faydark, and Kelethin sat about as far from a port as anywhere on Faydwer, so a trip abroad meant crossing the island to the port beside Kaladim, in the Butcherblock Mountains.

Sources: Project 1999 Wiki: Zones of Norrath · Project 1999 Wiki: Kelethin · Project 1999 Wiki: Greater Faydark

Refugees from Tunaria

The elves did not begin here. After the Elddar Forest and Takish-Hiz were destroyed, the surviving elves crossed the Ocean of Tears. Some say the ocean is named for the tears Tunare shed for her lost children. The high elves named their new city for Alissa Felwithe, the Koada’Dal hero who led them through those years and helped secure the Greater Faydark as the elven homeland.

When they arrived, the elves set about rebuilding Takish-Hiz. The wood elves liked the woods as they were, left the half-built city and made their own home closer to nature, high in the trees. The two peoples agreed to disagree. Felwithe is still counted the elven capital, and the wood elves remain subjects of its king, Tearis Thex.

Not everyone accepts the high elves’ version. A legend holds that Felwithe stands on an older dark elf capital, Caerthiel, and the Teir’Dal of Neriak accuse the Koada’Dal of razing it and killing its people to the last elf. Most high elves deny it outright, though a few claim there is dark elf stonework under the city.

Sources: Project 1999 Wiki: Felwithe · Project 1999 Wiki: Kelethin

One forest becomes two

The orcs tell the forest’s story differently. In the shamans’ telling in Crushbone and the Faydark Orcs, the woods once covered all of Faydwer and were guarded by walking trees. Generations later the Crushbone clan hacked straight north through the thinnest part of the forest to the northern shore, and one forest became two.

In the game that split is the Greater Faydark and the darker Lesser Faydark to its south. The orc stronghold of Crushbone sits on the Greater Faydark’s northern boundary, and its scouts reach as far as the lifts of Kelethin. In the far south, the vampire lord Mayong Mistmoore keeps Castle Mistmoore on Ranthok Ridge, off the edge of the Lesser Faydark, a greater threat to the fey than any orc.

Sources: Allakhazam: Greater Faydark (zone) · Allakhazam: Lesser Faydark (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: Kelethin

The dwarves of Butcherblock

West of the forest rise the Butcherblock Mountains, the dwarves’ gateway into Norrath. Their city, Kaladim, began as mining tunnels in a dragon’s lair: Jendl Mizebrite killed the dragon with a warhammer and lost an arm doing it. King Kazon Stormhammer rules there now, and a giant statue at the entrance shows either Brell Serilis or the first king, Dagnor Butcherblock.

South of the mountains lies Dagnor’s Cauldron, named for the lake it surrounds. At the bottom of that lake is Kedge Keep, an underwater dungeon and the home of Phinigel Autropos, the last of the kedge that Prexus made. A tunnel in the Cauldron’s southern wall leads to the Estate of Unrest, a manor of tormented souls said to be the victims of the dwarf Garanel Rucksif, whose ghost waits in the basement.

Sources: Allakhazam: Butcherblock Mountains (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: Butcherblock Mountains · Allakhazam: Dagnor’s Cauldron (zone) · Allakhazam: Kedge Keep (zone) · Allakhazam: Estate of Unrest (zone)

The gnomes of Steamfont

East of the Lesser Faydark, in the island’s southeast, the Steamfont Mountains take their name from the geysers and springs in their peaks. Dragons once lived there: the fossilised remains of a very young dragon lie in a small valley, and the drakes that still roam hint that the region once mattered to the children of Veeshan. That history was lost long before the elves came or the gnomes surfaced.

The gates of the gnome city, Ak’Anon, are set into a mountain face to the far west and heavily guarded. Below, the city hides the Mines of Malfunction and the Dark Reflection, gnomes who serve Bertoxxulous, while above it the clockworks of Meldrath the Malignant still roam.

Sources: Allakhazam: Steamfont Mountains (zone) · Allakhazam: Ak’Anon (zone)

Port Faydwer and the sea lanes

Everything leaving Faydwer by sea went through the docks of Butcherblock, west of the great dwarf statue. They serve both oceans. The northern pier took the slow boat across the Ocean of Tears to Freeport, a round trip of about thirty minutes, and players learned to listen for cries of “boat!!”. The southern pier, from 2000, carried travellers across the Timorous Deep toward Kunark, the continent where Firiona Vie would be carried off by the iksar.

Faydwer kept growing after 1999. Secrets of Faydwer (2007) remade the Steamfont Mountains, and from Steamfont the remade zone now connects to the new lands of the Loping Plains and Dragonscale Hills.

Sources: Allakhazam: Butcherblock Mountains (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: Butcherblock Mountains · Allakhazam: Steamfont Mountains (zone)

Gods and heroes of Faydwer

Tunare, the Mother of All, is patron of Felwithe and Kelethin, and her unicorn Equestrielle haunts the Lesser Faydark, now corrupted. Brell Serilis is claimed by Kaladim and Ak’Anon alike. Prexus made the kedge beneath Dagnor’s Cauldron. Innoruuk’s Teir’Dal press their old claim to Caerthiel, and Bertoxxulous has a foothold under Ak’Anon. Among mortals, King Tearis Thex rules from Felwithe, Firiona Vie is Tunare’s Chosen, and Mayong Mistmoore watches from his castle.

Sources: Allakhazam: Lesser Faydark (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: Felwithe · Allakhazam: Kedge Keep (zone) · Allakhazam: Ak’Anon (zone)