Rise: circa -4,700SG
Golden age: -3,200SG to -2,900SG
Fall: -10 to 0SG
The Aesatri, “those of the true lineage”, are a people based roughly on Nordic peoples and folklore. They are characterized by tall stature, a long head, light skin and hair, and light-colored eyes.
The Aesatri are known to have been inhabitants of the arctic reaches and eastern Shadow coastline since sometime within the Rise of Civilization (-9,000SG to -3,000SG), having had clans and tribes in the area long before the rise of the Zin'Charu empire. By the expansion of the Zin'Charu empire into the Yniam region circa -2,900SG, they held two major settlements, Thorm at the mouth of the Yniam river, and Asgard upon the Saakrune Peninsula much further south, jutting out directly east of the main reaches of the Vandor'ivae into the Saakrune sea.
Both cities fell under Zin'Charu rule until the disappearance of their empire; Thorm much earlier than Asgard, which was the last major Shadow settlements to succumb to the Zin'Charu empire circa -2,550SG. The cities were held and ruled by the empire until their abrupt disappearance in -549SG, at which point the Aesatri gladly returned to lordship of their own settlements.
The people of both cities did not march in the war of -10SG to 0SG; fearing another invasion, they instead looked to their own defenses. Battle raged around Asgard particularly, with the battle of Tyr and Bane in the forest directly to the west. Kelemvor, knight-captain of Asgard, led the city's armies in defense against a horde of undead risen from the swamps south of the city, led by the now-mortal Myrkul, who was killed but dealt a mortal blow to Kelemvor (who was later risen as the new god of the dead). Yngvild, Mystra's successor following her death in 0SG, was also a citizen of Asgard, and Kelemvor's lover prior to the Godswar.
Only slightly further west in the forest lay the site of the detonation of the ShadowGate at 0SG, which sundered the peninsula from the mainland, to leave Asgard stranded upon the newly formed island of Laerad. With some effort, Asgard restored relations with its sister city Thorm and has maintained them since.
The royal line of Torm (the name being degraded from Thorm through pronunciation), descended from pure Aesatri stock, has been only recently lost, with an unfortunate series of events leading many to believe their line was cursed. Beginning with the Queen's betrayal and subsequent execution, and the loss of their only daughter at sea during a diplomatic envoy to Asgard, the King has no successor to his line.
There are assumed to still be many small Aesatri clans in the northern arctic reaches, though none within mapped Sundering Shadows territory. Torm and Asgard serve as the main modern sites of their race, although much of Torm's citizenry is diluted with the blood of other peoples in the centuries since. Their royal line is believed lost (though the daughter is actually alive and under Asgard's protection - later plot for the restoration of the lineage!), leaving the city under the rulership of the Vizier, once only the King's advisor.