Aearee

The aearee were the avian creator race of Faerûn. The aearee prospered during the Days of Thunder.

History
They originally inhabited the Aearee Enclaves on a massive island in the Silver Sea, around −31500 DR. This island existed off the coast of what was Faerûn, pre-Sundering (later found beyond Anchorome.

They rose to prominence circa −31000 DR, around the time of the Tearfall. They established the Aearee Empires across Faerûn, and built a few grand aeries. The Aearee-Krocaa founded Viakoo on Mount Havraquoar in the west, the Aearee-Syran founded Phwiukree in the Star Mounts in the north, and the Aearee-Quor founded Shara in the Orsraun Mountains.

Around −30700 DR, a number of lammasu defeated a much larger force of Aearee-Krocaa, killing one thousand. The aearee later experimented on domesticated landwyrms to create winged wyrms, or wyverns. Supported by wyvern forces, the Aearee-Krocaa empire commenced a rapid expansion.

The aearee of the Kookrui-Shara rookery fell into conflict with the gnolls of Urgnarash −30400 DR. Gnoll shamans, following Yeenoghu, summoned marrash to spread disease among the aearee. Aearee crops were blighted, and the aearee suffered the Wasting Plague. The Aearee-Quor were decimated, and many of them began worshiping the demon lord Pazrael to seek salvation.

Finally, around −30000 DR, dragons all over Faerûn gathered in the first Flight of Dragons to assault the aearee in the sky, on land, and underground. The Aearee Empires fell, as Viakoo was burned from the air and Shara was conquered by the dragon-general Nagamat.

Legacy
Many thousands of years later, Captain Eartharran Neirdre of Evermeet sought a lost city of the creator races and discovered a floating city off the northern coast of Anchorome. It contained statues of the inhabitants, and Eartharran named the race "aearee". However, dragons assaulted and destroyed Eartharran's flying ship, which crashed on an island north of where Fort Flame later stood.

In the mid–14th century DR, the question of whether dragons or some avian race were one of the creator races was a long-running debate among scholars. Loremaster Ignace Dethingeller discovered the remains of Eartharran's ship and journal, and communicating his discovery of the aearee city to First Reader Tethtoril of Candlekeep in the late 14th century.

The aearee created or were the ancestors of the following races and creatures:
 * Wyverns.

Nations
The three Aearee Empires established their capitals in the following locales:
 * Aearee-Krocaa: The grand aerie of Viakoo on Mount Havraquoar
 * Aearee-Syran: The aerie of Phwiukree in the Star Mounts
 * Aearee-Quor: The rookery of Shara in the Orsraun Mountains

Description
According to Captain Eartharran Neirdre's sketches of statues found in a reputedly aearee city, the aearee were a humanoid race with both avian and draconic features, including both feathers and scales. Eartharran wondered if they were descendants of dragons who'd evolved bird-like features, or an ancestor of both avian and draconic creatures.