On the foundation of Andunor:a historical lesson in survival
Fellow Andunorians!
A gift we've been given. A precious gift bestowed upon us by those who came before us, a gift which was paid for with a dreadful blood-price,
One to be cherished, to be defended. For if we squander it, truly, we have no right to exist.
I.
Since time immemorial the Great Houses that would eventually become the founders and protectors of Andunor stood guardians of the drow race and numerous other peoples of our Underdark - both free and bound.
Particularly, the Exalted Claddath, in rejection of complacency and death-like apathy, consciously embraced the noble mission of safeguarding our survival.
In an unappreciated self-sacrifice they willingly went to fight the foe in its very lair, sharing the cruel burden with the Vaunted Freth, holding the lines fast in the Vault, becoming the last bulwark that used to separate our world from the thralldom of Izlude's Torment for long centuries of peace whose price was paid by them.
Disappointingly, yet unsurprisingly, fighting off the monster* that threatened the very survival of our race, the Claddath of the past themselves became perceived as monsters by the very people whose peaceful existence they guaranteed with their thankless struggle. *- and successfully, all the while enduring the numerous distracting provocations from their overly proud Vault-neighbors
Behind their backs they got called "outcasts", "renegades", "exiles" - and worse - by those petty individuals who, cowering behind the Vault's defenders' backs, were frightened of the very might that shielded them from the illithid.
And yet, the Exalted protectors did not falter, fighting back the horrors and enduring the scorn of the ungrateful.
II.
Then, in 61AR, the Cataclysm struck. Destructive waves of psionic energy unleashed by the foe breached the rock, shook the caverns, reshaped the land.
The cities - previously sheltered from the horrors spawned from Izlude's Torment by the noble sacrifice of the Great Houses, and thus weakened by the rigidity and arrogant complacency - stood little chance against the onslaught that followed.
And yet, the people survived.
Finding refuge in the Pit of a Thousand Sorrows, adapting, to use its anomaly to their benefit, they persisted, surviving within a collapsing system.
Then, thirty-five years later, the Aboleths brought the devastating deluge, which became the final blow that washed the remains of the failed system away.
Those, who previously were the hegemons within the old system, found themselves disorganized and would surely face extinction dooming their people to perish with them, if it wasn't for those they smeared as the "ViLE ReNEgAdEs".
Indeed, in their wisdom, the Exalted Claddath and Vaunted Freth set aside their long-standing differences and joined forces to save the peoples of local Underdark while the "ancien régime" stood scattered and paralyzed.
The Great Houses acted fast, evacuating the Vault and sealing the Izlude's Torment behind to drown.
Employing Jhared and his engineers they (as some claim) used the Eye of Andunor to locate a safe site in the caverns above and shepherd the survivors there
In no small feat of engineering, entire buildings, that would otherwise be lost to the flood, were evacuated brick-by-brick to a new safe site, like the Grond House that still persists as the foundation of the Sharps District House.
Visionaries, the Great Houses also drafted out and implemented the concept of a city of separate districts built around the Hub middle ground, and thus, Andunor was established as the bustling trade city we know.
But how did they do it, what exactly enabled them to achieve something as great as this?
III.
The answer is - their ability to adapt.
The antediluvian elites, who could be considered the "dominant species" of the old system (in which the Great Founding Houses were but marginals, "outcasts") were the best adapted and most comfortable in that system, but they were also the most dependent on it.
So when the environment in which their system existed changed and their system collapsed they failed to adapt to the new reality.
Whereas the "marginals", those independent from the system and devoid of complacency that weakened the old elites, were quick to embrace the change and adapt, thus they filled in the void left behind by the failed predecessors, emerging as the new "dominant species" within the new system that was established and partially shaped by them in aftermath of the Deluge.
IV.
Thus, the lesson is as obvious as it is simple.
Adaptation is the key to survival.
Ability to adapt is, indeed, the key to survival.
This truth is not mine, but indeed the wisdom of the Exalted House Claddath, and yet, I share it without fear,, for the survival of Andunor, the survival of our very species depends on whether this lesson is learned.
V. Those who do not move forward are left behind to perish.
The city must persist, thus the city must adapt, the city must grow.
o Never grow rigid in your thinking, never let pride lull you into complacency;
o Reject the stagnation, decadence, degeneracy;
o Seek knowledge, but above all, seek the understanding;
o Be bold, have the eyes to see the world for what it really is;
o Develop boldly and relentlessly, innovate without fear;
o Cast away the degrading chimerae of superstitions and limitations imposed on you by your enemies;
o Pursue the perfection;
o Procreate and strengthen your line, secure your legacy;
o Adapt. Improve. Evolve.
Failure to do so is betrayal - a betrayal of those who came before us and paid in blood a terrible price so we might live in this wondrous city.
Decadence is treason, degeneracy is treason, stagnation is death, apathy is worse than death.
Those who do not move forward are left behind to perish.
Change is inevitable, embrace it boldly, become the future or die forgotten.
*While the message above is seems extremely pretentious, the signature below it is devoid of any official sigils*
Day 20, Month 4 (Tarsakh), 187 AR
Veszfryn Claddath