Nua'dar

''They live underground, 'course they murder anything that shows up. It's not exactly a locale that breeds friendliness.''

- Erasten Kole, Mage of the Spire One of the many offshoots of the Aei'kar, the Nua'dar live in the underground caves and tunnels of the Endless Deep, hence the name "Deep Shards". In the megacity of Ni'anora, the Nua'dar mine ore and then create the strongest metal alloys known. Their propensity towards secrecy and schemes has given them the public image of being rather nefarious creatures.

They also mine the singularly useful Varrite, which, though heavy and soft, blocks the effects of manashard. In recent months, they have had limited success smelting Varite into stronger alloys, but much work remains to be done.

Early History
The Nua'dar are direct descendants of those Aei'kar who lived in the province of Aldathaer. Driven underground by the rampant manastorms that began after the Schism, the Nua'dar were changed by the high concentration of magical energy. Their skin was darkened from the normal Aei'kar pale white to an ashy grey, their eyes became more sensitive to light and they gained a limited magnetic sensitivity.

For the first few centuries, the Nua'dar wandered the Endless Deep in tribes and larger clans. But in 304, they came into contact with an Aei'kar expedition in a bloody confrontation. In the ensuing conflict, the chieftains of the Nua'dar began to band together in order to stave off the advances of the more organised Aei'kar. Forming up in a natural cavern they named Nik'an, the Nua'dar prepared a defense against the oncoming Aei'kar. For two days, the armies clashed again and again leaving no time between assaults, not even a moment to collect the dead as was custom at the time.

On the third day as battle was joined and seemed to turn against the Nua'dar, a group of strangely tall elves appeared before the combatants. Clothed in silvery silk and with alabaster eyes, they awed those before them into stillness. The first among them stepped forward and named himself Aei'klathairius Adun, ambassador from the nation of the Everbright, another new race of elves born from the Schism.

He and his fellows bid their cousins to cease their fight and broker an end to a war that had been born of a misunderstanding, which they managed in a remarkably quick time. Most historians in recent years have come to the opinion that the Mor'kar and their spells were so powerful and their appearance so sudden to the beleaguered Aei'kar and Nua'dar that the two warring nations could think of nothing else to do. Pragmatically it would stand to reason that neither would want ill relations with such a powerful new player when they were already at war with another.

The Founding of Ni'anora
After the peace was made with the Aei'kar, the leaders of the remaining Nua'dar drew together in their old battlefield Nik'an to found the first of the Nua'dar cities, Ni'anora. First began in what is now the southwestern corner, the city grew quickly through the industriousness of its citizens and the wealth of minerals and gems that lay in the caverns about Ni'anora. Chief among them and the one most responsible for the massive wealth of the Nua'dar nation has been, is deepsteel. To many Nua'dar it is a common process but it smelts an alloy that is stronger and lighter than any surface metal excepting perhaps mithril or sunsteel. Most buildings in Ni'anora and other Nua'dar cities are built from deepsteel foundations. This construction makes them some of the most sturdy buildings in Canthia, a trait that keeps them from collapsing under the many tremours and burrowing creatures that exist in the Endless Deep.