Monument of the Ancients

The Monument of the Ancients was a tall step pyramidal structure of unknown provenience located in an overgrown hollow of the Frozen Forest that towered above the local trees. Within the monument there was an antechamber containing another, smaller (but still massive) pyramid. Each of its four sides had ornate, portal-like structures that contained the properties of the four major elements; fire, water, air, and earth. Within this was the Anchor of Chaos, which was an arcane bulwark that sealed a cosmic fissure between realties. It is unknown who raised the monument or set the Anchor in place originally, but 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. 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 they invoked in what are now called the Desertsmouth Mountains. Unwittingly, their gate also allowed powerful immortals to access Toril, which sparked 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 war carried on for more than a century, but the Netherese eventually managed to banish most of the planar beings fighting on both sides. One primordial in particular, Maram of the Great Spear, managed to escape their attention.

Sensing the weakness between worlds, Maram fled into the wilderness of North Faerun towards the Monument, where the local primitive humans worshiped it as a god. Finally in -357 DR, an unlikely coalition of Horreb artificers, war wizards of Barze, horse nomads of Varm, gnoll warriors of Flindyke, goliath hunters of Mount Akoro, and gnome hammers of Forharn went north, led by the Dark Three on a mission to confront the primordial. They managed to vanquish Maram 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.