Monument of the Ancients

The Monument of the Ancients was a tall step pyramidal structure located in an overgrown hollow of the Frozen Forest that towered above the local trees. Myths and legends claimed that the monument dated from the time of the First Flowering and protected a region of Toril where the boundary between the world and the Elemental Chaos was weak. Within the Monument lies an antechamber that contains another, smaller (but still massive) pyramid. Each of its four sides has ornate, portal-like structures that contain the properties of the four major elements; fire, water, air, and earth. Within this structure was the Anchor of Chaos, which was an arcane bulwark that sealed a comic fissure between realties. It is unknown who raised the monument or set the Anchor in place originally. The Monument itself was constructed of arcane stone and metal materials unknown on Toril and exotic even to the Elemental Chaos, and is seemingly impervious to the effects of time.

In the fifth century before Dale Reckoning, arrogant Netherese wizards set out to conquer worlds beyond Toril via a gate that they built in what are now called the Desertsmouth Mountains. Unwittingly, their gate allowed powerful immortals to come into Toril, sparking the Seven Sigils War. As part of their desperate counter attack, the Netherese archwizards of Rdiuz sabotaged the Anchor of Chaos so as to allow elemental primordials into Faerun, reasoning that they would hate the Immortals more. The fighting wore on for more than a century but the Netherese finally managed to banish most of the planar beings fighting on both sides. But one primordial, Maram of the Great Spear, escaped their attention.

Sensing the weakness between worlds, the primordial fled into the wilderness of North Faerun where primative humans worshiped it as a god. finally in -357 DR, an unlikely coalition set forth to confront the primordial. Marching north alongside Horreb artificers came the war wizards of Barze, the horse nomads of Varm, the gnoll warriors of Flindyke, the goliath hunters of Mount Akoro, and the gnome hammers of Forharn. Led by the Dark Three, they managed to vanquish the primordial and reseal the Anchor of Chaos, but at enormous cost.

In 1480 DR, another attempt was made by Maram to reopen the elemental fissure, but it was thwarted by a band of heroes.