Aquessir

Aquessir, also known as Shadowtop Borough, was a floating city of Netheril. Noted for its inhabitants' friendly disposition towards outsiders, as well as being the original home of the malevolent Crown of Horns, Aquessir was destroyed in −342 DR when the city's mythallar failed.

Geography
Aquessir was most commonly found floating near Shadowtop Alp, which overlooked the Janick river.

Description
Unlike most other Netherese enclaves, the inhabitants of Aquessir were happy to participate in trade with outsiders, particularly elves. Although Aquessir was home to many arcane researchers, the creation of quasi-magical items was never popular within the enclave.

History
The city was founded by the archwizard Trebbe in −2267 DR. Trebbe ruled Aquessir until he died in −2237 DR while finishing his work on the artifact known as the Crown of Horns. The ensuing explosion leveled an entire city block, and the artifact was subsequently lost.

In −1423 DR, the archwizard Requiar seized power in Aquessir. Having found the Crown of Horns, Requiar used the artifact to stage a bloody coup that left thirty inhabitants dead. By −1208 DR, the Crown had driven Requiar insane, and as a result he was overthrown and killed. After his death, the Crown of Horns vanished yet again.

An extensive search for the Crown of Horns was conducted, but the artifact eluded all efforts to find it. The archwizard Eliam, who ruled Aquessir at some point between −1205 and −697 DR, even hired adventuring groups to search the Eastern Forest, but to no avail.

The Crown finally resurfaced in −644 DR, when it was found by the ambitious archwizard Shadelorn. Shadelorn wanted to use the artifact to aid his experiments on creating a stronger mythallar. His research was finally successful in −342 DR. However, unbeknownst to Shadelorn, the Crown of Horns was eager to avenge its defeat hundreds of years earlier, and had subtly altered Shadelorn's experiments. When the new mythallar was activated, it absorbed every spell, magical item, and magical effect in a 20-mile radius. Anyone caught within the radius with magically extended lifespans collapsed in piles of ash, and Aquessir itself plummeted into the Janick river.

Notable inhabitants

 * Trebbe, the archwizard who founded Aquessir and created the Crown of Thorns.
 * Requiar, a ruthless archwizard who ruled the enclave for hundreds of years.
 * Eliam, ruling archwizard.
 * Shadelorn, an archwizard who unwittingly destroyed the city by involving the Crown of Horns in his experiments.
 * Shenandra, an archwizard who worked towards nullifying certain phaerimm spells. Although her experiments were eventually successful, Aquessir was destroyed the very moment she completed her work.