The Old Ones
The Gnome Bard Earnhart was one of the nine and he has spent most of the last century studying the old culture. The Old Ones had no known written language so his conclusions about them are based on his observation and theory.
The Old Ones were man-shaped with an additional set of arms set behind and above the first which would have been lower and more forward than a mans. The Old Ones had large round eyes set more to the side of their heads then most, which may have made them rather far-sighted. They had no visible ears, but the stubby flared horn on the top of their head may have served the same purpose. Their mouths were filled with sharp teeth, including two long fangs on the lower jaw which projected far over the upper face, far too far to be practical in chewing food, the sharp teeth suggest that they were carnivores, or possibly even blood drinkers. Statues have shown that they varied in size from anywhere between 4 to 9 feet in height, although the great difference in size suggests that there may have been in fact two or more races of the Old Ones (other sages have suggested that the Old Ones grew thoughout their life cycle accounting for the size difference). The Old Ones mostly lived underground so most of their cities were buried or destroyed in the cataclysm, except for ceremonial structures which survived above ground because of their being mostly made of stone.
At some point 20,000 years ago a vast explosion centered on the ruins on which Coronet are built on, destroyed the Old Ones, blasted the lands around Coronet flat, destroyed the mines in the mountains around the Crown and blasted the lands around the Crown into a vast collection of islands. Evidence suggests that the Old Ones ceased building anything but magical weapons during the last 20 years before the cataclysm, these weapons were often enchanted to do more damage to outsiders, suggesting an extraplaner invasion. Curiously, Coronet was undamaged by the explosion. It is believed that the aftermath of the cataclysm during which air would have been pulled away from Coronet to fill in that which was destroyed by the cataclysm is what killed the inhabitants of Coronet.