A Brief History of Cormyr

For hundreds of years before the advent of Dale Reckoning and the arrival of humans in the Central Heartlands, the land that would become Cormyr was called the Forest Country (by the Elves of the Empire of Cormanthyr), and it was firmly under the control of the dragons. Chief among these was Thauglorimorgorus, the Black Doom, a black dragon so old that his scales were fading from ebony to violet, and his eyes from yellow to dusky purple. He held dominion not only over his black brood, but over the wyverns, dragonnes, and even the reds and blues of the mighty Thunderpeaks and the Stormhorns.

In -205 DR, the Year of Good Hunting, Iliphar Nelnueve, called the Lord of the Scepters, came to the Forest Country. He was an great arcanist among elves, and a prince of the Empire of Cormanthyr. He and his kin determined to end the threat of Thauglor's brood to the southern eaves of Cormanthyr by driving them out of the Forest Country. After years of skirmishing with the wyrmkin on the borders of Thauglor's realm, Iliphar challenged the Dragon King to an ancient draconic ritual known as a Feint of Honor. The terms were nonlethal, to the surrender or incapacitation, and the stakes were the title of rulership over all the Forest Country. Against all odds, mighty Thauglor lost the engagement with the elf, and his rule was forfeit. The purple wyrm withdrew, but vowed vengeance against his tormentors. Thus, the Forest Country became the Forest Kingdom, and passed into the hands of the elves.

For several hundred years, the kin and relatives of Iliphar Nelnueve walked the forests of the land bounded by two mountain ranges, working subtle weavings of Art, building towers now long fallen into majestic ruin, and riddling the Forest Kingdom with elven portals to places both far and near.

The solitude of the People was first interrupted in -75 DR by the intrusion of a Netherese wizard named Baerauble Etharr. The wizard Etharr had come in search of magic, but he found nation of elves uninterested in human visitors. He was initially intercepted and imprisoned, but in time, he grew to be accepted by his captors, and even found love with one of their number, and elven woman named Alea Dahast who eventually bore him children. He would become an important bridge between elves and men in the future.

In 6 DR, the first small wave of human settlers finally arrived on the southern coast of the Forest Kingdom. Led by a stalwart frontiersman named Ondeth Obarskyr, the settlers were refugees fleeing from years of civil war in their home nation of Impiltur, far across the Sea of the Fallen Stars. The began construction of a village at the site of their landing near the mouth of the Starwater River on a series of seaside cliffs, lumbering the vast, wild wood to provide for building material and clearing ancient woodland glades for pastureland. The young human realm had no idea that the dark wolf woods they were beating back held the silent Forest Kingdom of Iliphar Nelneuve, but it wasn't long before the elves noticed them. The elven scouts who discovered the human intrusion considered the assault upon the woodlands to be a declaration of war, and they struck back, annihilating outlying farmsteads and attacking the humans from the cover of the forest.

It took all the diplomatic efforts of the Lord of Scepters himself, as well as the levelheaded Ondeth, and the mediation of Baerauble Etharr to avert a war that would have seen the massacre of the human refugees. Instead, a pact was brokered wherein the humans would become a kingdom, and that king would be responsible for the actions of those under his command. The woodlands of the Forest Kingdom would become a sanctuary, preserved in their ancient state, with their elven secrets left untouched and undisturbed. In return, Iliphar would lead his people back to the Empire of Cormanthyr, and the humans of young Cormyr could expand their civilization in peace. Baerauble was left behind, to guide the young dynasty and protect the pact. Though the assent of the elves and the popular acclaim of the humans would have made Ondeth Obarskyr the first king, he deferred in favor of his son, Faerlthann. Thus, upon Ondeth's passing, Faerlthann became Faerlthann "First King" and Baerauble Etharr became the first High Wizard of Cormyr in 26 DR.

In the last 1300 years, the human nation of Cormyr has seen many years of prosperity and just rulership. It has also seen many years of dark disaster and red war. For nearly four hundred years, the hand of the High Wizard Baerauble guided the rule of both good king and bad, through the painful process of nation building and into the dark madness of the so-called "Thornstrife Wars". Eventually, with his passing he transferred his mantle to his hand picked successor and many times descendant, Amedahast.

Her guidance saw the Obarskyr's acquire both the city states of Marsember and Arabel, and also the formation of the War Wizards of Cormyr, and the thwarting of the first and only attempt by the same organization to seize power for itself. In the tradition set down by Baerauble the Venerable, she passed her mantle to her own many times descendant, Thanderahast.

The tenure of Thanderahast saw the first ventures of Cormyr into the lands surrounding it's mountain borders, venturing out to thwart the ambitions of the greedy Shoon Imperium and taming the thirst for domination in their Sembian neighbors. The sworn vengeance of Thauglor the Purple Doom was finally meted out as the ancient beyond ancient great wyrm unleashed his long simmering fury upon the nation of Cormyr. The Purple Dragon is said to have met his end in 1018 DR with the sacrifice of Thanderahast and under the falling swords of the Army of Suzail. With Thanderahast's death, his apprentice (and descendant) Jorunhast was elevated to the position of Royal Mage of Cormyr.

Jorunhast was to guide the realm of Cormyr for the last three hundred years, through the rebellion and reconquest of Arabel and Marsember, as well as the final conquest of the land of Esparin in the northwest of the land. In the early years of Azoun IV's father Rhigaerd II, the throne had passed unto a regency. His uncle Salember was given the control of the Dragon Throne to hold until his nephew Rhigaerd came into his maturity. When the time came for the lawful transfer of power, however, Salember refused to cede control of the country, instead plunging the nation into civil war. It became known as the Dragon War, as Salember matched his own Red Dragon banner against his nephew's Purple Dragon. In the end, Salember was slain at the hands of Jorunhast himself, the first time in Cormyr's history that one of the Obarskyr's was assaulted by the Royal Mage of Cormyr. Even though he did murder to preserve the stability of the kingdom, he had gone against the greatest of the oaths of the Mage's Royal. He passed his mantle to the shoulders of his chosen apprentice, Vangerdahast, and left the kingdom that he had defended, going into self-imposed exile, whither, none can say.

When Rhigaerd died in 1333 DR, his eldest son Azoun inherited a kingdom still battered from the Dragon War. Many of the noble families of Cormyr had found themselves split between the support of the Red or the Purple Dragon, and it fell to Azoun and Vangerdahast to attempt reconciliation (and at times, retribution). The Cormyr of 1351 is a land that has mostly healed under the strong guidance of the King and his counselor, but restive nobles still chaff under royal rule. The northern city of Arabel, always a hotbed of political intrigue, roils with discontent. The lands once constituting Esparin have become a highway of smuggled goods and brigandage, and corruption spreads its dark influence to every corner of the Forest Kingdom, unseen but for the movement of shadows...