Thousands of years ago the region was very different and at peace. A wise and powerful kingdom of Moon elves protected the lands from their fortress city of Skeld. The moon elves, or Silver Elves, are half elves and were allied to great kingdoms in the south. From the 500ft tall Moon Tower the Silver Elves of Skeld wielded a great power – the Moonstone of Skeld. It is said to have collected and stored the power of the moon and with it they could focus the light and illuminate all corners of the lands for hundreds of miles. The moonlight could also be focused into beams that could destroy entire armies. With this power the Silver Elves of Skeld protected the lands and drove the orcs and evil creatures below ground into the vast caverns below the Gristleborg hills. Settlements sprung up all around the lush fields surrounding Skeld without fear and the land prospered.
There was one region to the north where the light of the moon tower couldn’t penetrate. It was perpetually covered in a dusty gray fog that didn’t seem to move with the winds. Scouts were sent out and reported nothing living in the area and that there were unnatural geologic formations resembling stalactites rising as high as mountains out of the the earth.
The land was at peace for hundreds of years until a new king took power in Skeld. The rightful queen and general of the armies of Skeld, Nathira, was in the north fighting a war against the Necromancer of Stonehold. When she did not return, the warden appointed by Nathira, a jealous elf named Cyndril named himself king with the support of his council of greedy merchant lords. Cyndril was a small minded ruler only concerning himself only with his wealth and particularly the appearance of wealth. One night it is said the king was visited by a vision in which he saw a great black stone statue of himself in the main square rivaling the height of the moon tower. In his vision the people all paid him the tribute he deserved, even worshiping him through his statue. His vision also showed him a huge black stone door in the side of a huge gray stalactite mountain in the shadow lands and he knew what he must do. Soon after he assembled the kingdoms best stone masons and an small army of workers and rode north to the unseen lands. He returned months later but with only a fraction of the workers he left with, manning oxcarts hauling shiny black monolithic stones.
Construction of the great statue began at once and soon the king’s likeness began to appear in the chiseled black stone. The king poured all the resources of the moon elves into the project and the capital fell into disrepair. Finally the huge monument was finished and the great unveiling ceremony was ordered. When the veils fell, a quiet fell over the crowds. The statue was not the likeness of the elven king but of a horrible horned figure glaring out at the city. King Cyndril being under a spell saw the people cowering and running from what he thought was a very realistic likeness of himself. He flew into a rage and ordered anyone fleeing or cowering executed. Thus begun the end of Skeld. Thousands were executed and many thousands more fled. A unseen darkness seemed to flow from the statue like a fine gray mist. The King locked himself in the moon tower and spoke to no one. The next full moon the Moonstone of Skeld went dark for the first time in this age. Soon orcs and other monstrous creatures started multiplying in the Gristleborg hills unhindered by the now darkened Moon Tower and new and terrible creatures started appearing in the fields of Skeld.
News of the events in Skeld reached Nathira in Stonehold. She returned with her army in secret and set about reclaiming the throne and relighting the moon tower. She visited the mountain in the unseen land where Cyndril mined the black rock to make the statue. She sent wise counselors to Gorathia to search the archives of the capital. She learned that an ancient being of terrible power known as Gornoth was reaching out from the Shadowfell and had corrupted Cyndril and his counselors. She know what must be done. Using a shard of the Moonstone of Skeld from her necklace and with deep ice from the Slor Mountains she forged a weapon that could defeat Gornoth and his servants. Armed with this sword IthilNel, or the Tooth of the Moon, she rode north with her army and defeated Gornoth in the battle of the Black Hill. Gornoth and his servants were pushed back behind the great black doors that lie in the side of the ashen mountain known as Tor Nevis.
It is known that Nathira and her forces then returned to Skeld. What is not known is what happened next. Accounts of refuges speak of a deception and a great battle of elf vs elf and of the evil deeds that followed. For years after anyone who tried to enter the city of Skeld did not return. Now unnatural sounds and lights in the mist are all that is know of Skeld to the outside world.