Antonica · EverQuest (original release)
Neriak
The dark elves’ city, carved from the mountains beside Nektulos and lit by magic, never by the sun: three zones from the Foreign Quarter to the Third Gate, and a temple to Innoruuk at its heart.
Carved from the mountains
Neriak is the centre of the dark elf empire, a splendid, dark city carved out of the mountains beside Nektulos Forest in Antonica’s northeastern corner. No natural light has ever reached it. Magic and fine craftsmanship light it with glowing colours, and fountains and monuments to Innoruuk, the dark elves’ god, fill its streets. The EQ Atlas calls it twisted but beautiful, carved from the earth millennia ago.
The game splits it into three zones: the Foreign Quarter, the Commons and the Third Gate. Dark elves and trolls begin here, and the guilds cover clerics, enchanters, magicians, necromancers, rogues, shadow knights, shamans, warriors and wizards and beastlords.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Neriak · Allakhazam: Neriak Foreign Quarter (zone) · Allakhazam: Neriak Commons (zone) · Allakhazam: Neriak Third Gate (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: Neriak Commons
Quarters and guests
Evil races of every kind, trolls and ogres among them, come to Neriak, but most are confined to the Foreign Quarter, where the dark elves trade with the outside world. Allakhazam notes that the trolls lived there for a time after losing their own city. The deeper city holds the shops, guild halls and homes.
The Third Gate holds the city’s power: the Ebon Mask rogues, the Priests of Innoruuk, the necromancers’ House of the Dead and the Maiden’s Fancy. The full artisan set is on hand, everything but fletching and tinkering.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Neriak · Allakhazam: Neriak Foreign Quarter (zone) · Allakhazam: Neriak Third Gate (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: Neriak Commons
A dangerous welcome
For all its beauty, the city is full of danger. One wrong step anywhere can get you killed, especially for trolls and ogres, who are guests but not welcome everywhere. The EQ Atlas puts that down partly to dark elf superiority and partly to a plot hatching just beneath the surface of the city.
The dark elves’ history, from the god of hate who made them to the empire they build in the dark, is told in Neriak and the Teir’Dal; their god in Innoruuk and his realm in the Plane of Hate.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Neriak · Allakhazam: Neriak Foreign Quarter (zone)
The only road
Neriak can be reached only through Nektulos Forest, to the city’s well-guarded entrance on the forest’s east wall. North of the forest lie the broken Lavastorm Mountains, the lair of the great dragon Lord Nagafen and the Temple of Solusek Ro. South lie the Commonlands and the humans’ cities of Freeport and Highpass, the dark elves’ enemies.
The dark elves’ reach across Norrath also touches Crushbone and Castle Mistmoore on Faydwer.
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Neriak · EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Nektulos Forest · Allakhazam: Neriak Commons (zone)
Lore tied to this zone
Sources: EQ Atlas (eqatlas.ca): Neriak · Allakhazam: Neriak Foreign Quarter (zone) · Allakhazam: Neriak Commons (zone) · Allakhazam: Neriak Third Gate (zone) · Project 1999 Wiki: Neriak Commons