"Talk?" Robert looked at the black-haired youth and became certain of one thing.
He did not know whether this guy belonged to the Eight Great Families, but he definitely had pure Netherese blood.
Though he had not personally witnessed the glorious Archmage Empire of thousands of years ago, every Haluar person remembered these ancient legends by heart: floating cities that looked down upon the world, a brilliant and powerful age of magic, the Three Gods of Death who emerged in that same era, and even the first—and strongest—The Lady of Magic, who had died at the hands of an Archmage.
There were, of course, many darker versions of those stories. For example, the first The Lady of Magic had merely wanted to see what Karsus, the most talented Archmage and now the God of Fools, could come up with; the Three Gods of Death had lived during the Netherese era but had nothing to do with Archmages; or the floating cities had been built because The Lady of Magic had favored mortals too greatly.
But facts were facts. Their Haluar ancestors had truly accomplished all of that!
Though after Mystra's death, the Netherese had once lived in hardship and displacement, only settling down after being accepted by Haluar's natives—and though some had remained in the former desert and become Barbarians who hated arcane magic—how could they forget their ancestors' glory?
Black and brown hair were considered one of the signs of pure Netherese blood.
Of course, even true-blooded Netherese were not necessarily gifted in magic. Plenty of people with such hair colors could not even manage a cantrip.
Still, apprentices who came to the academy with that bloodline would definitely receive better resources, and might even have organizations backing them.
For example, Yarrah Academy had groups such as the so-called