Outside Grounds
Around the fortress for dozens of miles is the semi-petrified remains of the forest that once made up all of the High Moor before the Dark Disaster. The outer trees are burned and twisted from the fires of the attack. The deeper one goes the more alive the trees seem. Clinging to everything is a sense of despair and dread that is inescapable and effects the actions of any who does not carry the House seal. The Dark Elves have heavily trapped the forest on the approach to the ruins. Sound is muted inside the forest including the animals. But the sights are all the impressive everything has a near otherworldly glow to it. Flowers are bright and tempting but to touch them brings untold sadness. But those people can barely help themselves when they do, but nearly all come to regret that action.
Those who know that this section of forest exists on the High Moor avoid it nearly at all costs for they say it is haunted with creatures not of the Material Plane. That is partly true for the Dark Disaster has tainted the land itself and on certain nights you can hear the sounds of life and happiness but then the screams and pain fill the air as the Dark Disaster destroys the land
Ruins of Lithailin
Surrounding Fortress Aendrieithel are the ruins of Lithailin the dark elf city which House Aleanrahel controlled since the founding of the Miyeritar nation in the earliest recorded history of the elves. Once a populous city of Dark Elves with many visitors of Copper and Wild Elves. But it was a Dark Elf nation. They valued warfare and magic. Dedicated to the Seldarine the temples rivaled anything on Evermeet. Their wealth stretched through the elven kingdoms. Other nations wore Lithailin fashion and read of their greatest literary works. It was many of these reasons that the Vyshaantyr Empire targeted the Dark Elves of Miyeritar with the terrible magics of the Dark Disaster. The fires and other magical plagues destroyed the forest and most of what the Miyeritar had built for themselves.
Once the magic died off and the dust settled the survivors emerged from their places of hiding and scattered. Some made their way to Aendrieithel other fled to other nations. In those haunted ruins of Lithailin hold many riches and treasures but House Aleanrahel guards those areas viciously and will seek to kill anyone who tries to loot from their deceased cousins. Those who escape with anything from the ruins is hunted down despite the cost. Any who touch what was stolen often shares the same fate until those outriders find the missing pieces. Once set out the Outriders do not return until they return with their prize.
Important locations in Lithailin
Temple of the Seldarine - One of the most ornate and beautiful structures any elven nation constructed to worship the Seldarine. It covered nearly fifty thousand square feet. Its central domes and spires seem to be grown and not constructed. From the main doors which were shaped to resemble giant leaves with prayers to the Seldarine on them is the main chamber. In the center is a statue of Corellion and his first mate Araushnee for the temple was built and destroyed before she fell from favor. At its height the temple was made up of interconnected gardens and shrines to all of the Seldarine for it was the center of worship for the whole of Miyeritar. From clerical spells to weapons and armor blessed by the highest priests at the time still remain in the rooms and studies of those who died in the Dark Disaster.
War Academy of Olaessari - Here the finest warriors of the city were trained to take command during the vicious Crown Wars. Olaessari was once a great general who died in battle against the hated Sun Elves of the Vyshaantyr Empire the academy was renamed in his honor. His tomb is in the front lawn of the Academy beneath a statue of him in full war plate with weapon and shield the statue survived the Dark Disaster. Within its libraries are the doctrines of warfare that have persisted for thousands of years, even before the elves arrived on Toril.
Spelljammer Dock - The only other structure like this one is on Evermeet. This was a place for the Spelljamming vessels that brought the elves to their home could be docked, repaired and resupplied to continue on their various missions. Several such vessels remain within the large structure on its various docking berths and domes. Brought from the place between the planes this once fortress resisted the Dark Disaster best of all and many refugees during that terrible time called this place home. It survived the most intact out of the entire city.
Fortress Aendrieithel
During the Dark Disaster when the ground shook and broke apart the land split beneath the fortress and it fell partially into the Underdark. Its basement touching the caverns and tunnels that the Drow would come to one day inhabit. The bulk of the fortress is made out of the largest tree the Miyeritar were able to find in that section of the forest. Tended with arcane, clerical and druidic magics to make it grow to such epic proportions that they could build their fortress off of.
Once they had grown the tree so that it could support the fortress is when they began to add the structures to it. This process took decades to complete but when it was finished the fortress was one of the best defended and heavily armed places in the whole of the Miyeritar nation. Blending stone, wood and other materials into a seamless organic form the fortress was a testament to all that the elves could do back in those days. The main doors into the fortress are massive and stand nearly 30 feet tall and intricately carved to depict ancient heroes of House Aleanrahel.
Beyond the doors leads into the main chamber of the fortress. The massive columns raise to the arched and pained ceiling depicting all manner of historical events prior to the start of the Crown Wars. It is here were the throne and the court of House Aleanrahel meet to discuss all matters of importance. Every other place in the fortress can be accessed from this area if one knows the way and possesses the right key phrases to disable to devices woven into the fortress at the time of its making.
The fortress has enough room to comfortably hold nearly two thousand elves at any given time and with the current numbers much of the fortress goes into further disrepair has so few of them are left to keep up with the degenerating effects of both the Dark Disaster and the Dark Descent. But the repairs they are able to make is enough to ensure that the fortress is not lost. The store rooms contain magically preserved foodstuffs and liquids to maintain the current population almost indefinitely but they also use what the forests provides for them.
One of the largest reasons many try to enter the woods to find the "lost" fortress of Aendrieithel was the vast armory that contained some of the finest weapons and armor the elven kingdoms were able to create. Stockpiles of magical items and other potent spells were kept in the vaults spread through out the fortress. It was also rumored that they held potent artifacts brought with them from the last of the elven empires. The libraries in the upper levels of the Fortress also attract those who crave lost lore and spells. The accumulated knowledge of House Aleanrahel is kept in the libraries. What the rest of the elves have considered lost it lay in forgotten corners of those libraries.
The fortress was once the center of Miyeritar culture and it will be so again. The survivors and their allies seek vengeance against the Illythiiri that later became tainted by Tanar'i blood and became the Drow during the Dark Descent. And for the Sun and Moon Elves for betraying the Miyeritar during that time which cursed the survivors as well. The taint of High Magic was like a shell against that terrible curse and they were only partially changed by exposure to those terrible effects.