The road to ultimate power is paved with many perils

Shortly after the War of Establishment in which the gods sent Cthulhu to an eternal slumber deep beneath the ocean, the first mortal settlements began taking shape on the tropical continent of Zefrisa. The sturdy structures made from hewn stone were a monument to the early civilization's gratitude toward the gods for sparing their lives and freeing them from the Elder God. It would not be long before Mystra descended upon Zefrisa and taught the mortals how to draw from the Weave and produce their own magic.

But for one mortal, a human named Naxxus, these lessons weren't enough. He coveted the power that was afforded him by magic and sought to use it to become as strong as the gods themselves. He knew that in order to learn such power, he would have to extend his life far longer than any mortal had ever lived before. And so his first order of business was to decode the magic that held life together and use it to keep himself from dying. In this effort, he sundered his soul from his mortal body and hid it away so no one could find it. He then bolstered his flesh with necromancy and so became the first lich.

When the people of Zefrisa discovered Naxxus's plans, they planned to take him down, but they knew he had become too powerful already. They petitioned the gods for help, but the gods were wary of giving away too much power. So instead of helping directly, they gave heroic powers to a small group of adventurers.

These adventurers, Burlap, Mod, Dugan, and Vera by names, hunted Naxxus down and discovered his hideaway deep in the Zefrisan rainforest. They battled him for seven days and eventually, the sheer force of their combined powers sundered the earth. In a last-ditch effort, Naxxus took advantage of the gorge that formed and pulled magma out from the heart of Cronus, forming what is now known as the volcano, Mt. Naxxus.