This ancient text is written in Loross and is entitled Triumph Exemplar, written by Sage Cathalegaunt of Hlondath, dated 4080 NY. It catalogues the various wars in Netheril throughout its history, examining the tactics, factions, and notable individuals involved. A key passage reads as follows:
In life, Strategor Matick of Netheril was a ruthless man with a smart wit and a disarming smile. Unlike other arcanists of the day, he was strong in his devotion to the gods, particularly the war god Targus. Matick is credited with more than fifty thousand kills, and his successes were legendary even during his lifetime. But one of his battles—the Last Stand at Humaithira—is remembered above all others. Long will tacticians and strategists study his heroic last stand, and the valor shown by Matick and his one hundred myrmidar in that conflict still resonates with the warriors of today.
In Netheril Year 2298, a vast army of more than three thousand giants invaded east central Netheril. Led by Thane Blóta of Skammháls, the jotun marched out of the Gods’ Legion Mountains in eight divisions to encircle the frontier city of Xanth. Offering no parley, they sacked the city and continued westward. Refugees escaping south across Basin Lake quickly sent word to nearby Undrentide to alert High Netheril to the invasion.
Surprisingly, none of Netheril’s mighty floating enclaves came to the defense of the ground-based settlements. The giants’ march was uncontested until Blóta’s army reached the narrow pass at Humaithira, in the Lodestar Mountains. The only route through the mountains for hundreds of leagues, the Pass of Humaithira consisted of a winding footpath so narrow that only one giant could move through at time.
A force of six hundred Netherese phalanxes waited there, blocking the pass. Among the troops stood Strategor Matick and one hundred of his elite myrmidar. Though severely outnumbered, the Netherese stood their ground, using their superior battle tactics and magical arsenal to delay the giants’ advance. But Blóta’s retinue included several powerful shamans, who used their totem magic to pass through the solid granite walls flanking the pass and circumvent the Netherese forces.
Though his warriors were surrounded, Matick cried out to the Reaver and pressed the attack. Blóta himself pushed through the throng to engage Matick in monomachia, or single combat. With most of his myrmidar dead or dying around him, Matick stood valiantly, swinging his mighty glaive and hurling spells with unerring precision. A simple misstep, however, brought Strategor Matick to his knees, and Blóta took his head.
The giants took the pass but suffered heavy losses in the process. The fierce resistance of the myrmidar had delayed the army’s passage sufficiently to let Netheril prepare for the final battle. Blóta’s forces were ultimately defeated outside Trinity, along the shores of the Hidden Lake. The Netherese rallying cry was “Humaithira,” and the noble sacrifice of Strategor Matick and his myrmidar gave courage to the defenders.