Cirdan

The geography of the Duchy of Cirdan is dominated by vast alpine forest known as the Weald to humans (Ere-menethiril to the elven folk of Olieriendor). The duchy is bounded in the northeast by the treacherous Icelance River, which forms its border with the Duchy of Yordric,by the midnight waters of Lake Kronov to the north, by the Earthspur Mountains to the west and south, and by the Argol Plinth which marks the boundary of the Uplands and the Duchy of Borca. The entire duchy is encompassed by a vast valley between reaches of the Earthspurs, over 120 miles wide and 240 miles long (~28,800 sq. mi. to Ireland).

The lifeline of the duchy remains the River Wye, which flows the length of the valley from it’s headwaters at Kingsmouth upon Lake Sarph until it joins with the Great Imphras and Icelance Rivers at the Bluefang Water. The once-forest bounded Wye is now lined with fertile crop and pasturelands as well as dozens of large and small river communities, including the old capital at Wye and the new ducal seat at the Carberg in Doingorod.

The south banks of the Wye have been mostly cleared of the Weald. What forests remain on in the southern duchy have been reduced to scattered copses of mostly tamed forestland scattered amongst the rolling chalk downs at the foothills of the “Red” range of the Earthspur Mountains (so called because of their high iron content). The southern bank of the Wye is entirely controlled by the Barony of Imbrath.

The north bank of the Wye is still dominated by the Weald, a vast and ancient forest of black alpine trees that fills the lush hills between the Wye and the “White” range of the Earthspurs. Across this, the bulk of the duchy can be found over a hundred small communities of peasants and franklins, dozens of earldoms, as well as the Baronies of Wye and the Blasingmark. Though much of the East and Southweald have been open to settlement by humans for centuries, the West and Northweald, the heart of the forest, remains a forbidding and dangerous frontier which falls under sway of strange and fae creatures on the edge of the Shrouded Forest at the foothills of Mount Lament.

Pre-History and Human Tribalism

Cirdan has been inhabited by humans long before the advent of written or even unbroken oral traditions can tell. Examples of ancient Stone Age culture is indicated, and early human nomads mostly settled the area around the River Wye, clearing forests for early farmland to take advantage of the rich topsoil of the fertile river valley. Here, they developed early technologies such as ceramics and textile production. These unnamed ancient humans are also thought to be responsible for the construction of ancient cromlechs such as Pentre Ifan, Bryn Celli Ddu, the Algol Plinth, and Parc Cwm long cairn approximately 1,500 years before the first stones were laid in the distant city of Skuld.

In common with humans living all over the central Heartlands, over the following centuries the people living in what was to become known as Cirdan assimilated immigrants and exchanged ideas of the Stone and Bronze Age cultures. These people, part of the greater Darmöneii culture that inhabited ancient Impiltur formed themselves into clans and early nations, conducting trade and warfare both amongst themselves and amongst their neighbors. By the time of the invasion of the Nar, the area of modern Cirdan had been divided among the tribes of the Gorodoin, Ordovices, Tuitiarna, Demetae and Silures for centuries.

Of their neighbors, something here must be said. It is known to modern historians that the Cidrean part of the Earthspur Mountains, and indeed the greater Galenas chain itself, was the site of a succession of nearly unfathomably large dwarven kingdoms, including Dareth, Earthfast, Roldilar, and the semi-mythical realm of the Empire of Sarphil, suspected by some dwarven scholars to be the very origin of their race. The ancient Darmöneii of Cirdan both traded and warred with the dwarven thains and emperors across the broad sweep of history, faring far better in the first instance than in the latter. Dwarves had long ago mastered the art of iron working, and indeed had begun forging far more exotic metals before the first stone was raised at Pentre Ifan. A matter of great contention amongst scholars is why the secrets of the Iron Age seemed to elude the Darmöneii for so many years. Some scholars theorize that the ancient dwarves were too proud and isolationist to trade the secrets of iron work with their rivals in the eastern forests, but other counter that indeed dwarves were never shy about trading in the fruits of their labor, and yet very little iron is to be found in any settlement or site dating to the time of the Darmöneii. It is to this fact that other scholars will point when they reference the religion of the Darmöneii, and to their elven neighbors.

Of the elven settlements of ancient Cirdan very little is known by modern scholars. Since the drawing down of the Shroud across the far northern Weald trade, research, and conversation with the fay folk has become non-existent. Still, some conclusions about the relationship between the early Darmöneii and the elven kingdom of the Weald can be discerned. From the intricate design work to be discovered upon Darmöneii bronze weapons, armor, and even simple tools, it is apparent that to the early humans of Cirdan, and indeed most of Impiltur, the elven folk were objects of veneration, fear, and respect. Visages of strange, fay creatures can be seen in most of the oldest cairns of clan chieftains, while the little understood religion of the Darmöneii seemed to feature the spirits of the surrounding, ever-present woodlands quite prominently. It is believed by many scholars, therefore, that the inhibitor for the human use of iron was not lack of skill, but a taboo placed upon it by the druid-priestesses of the ancient pagan beliefs.

Invasion and the End of an Age

The invasion and eventual conquest of Cirdan by the Empire of Narfell was a sudden and dramatic awakening to the dangers of the lands beyond the forests of proto-Impiltur. While other tribes of the Darmöneii conducted intermittent trade with the rising petty nations of Narfell across the Easting Reach, the sudden expansion of the Kingdom of Tharos after the collapse of the distant kingdom of Ashanath and the unification of all of the Nar kingdoms beneath their banner soon spelled the end of peaceful trade and cooperation between the two human cultures. The brief upheaval of war between the Trinvellauni and Catovantes tribes in the coastal regions near the mouth of the Great Imphras River (then known as by its older name of the River Vuchar) provided all the excuse needed for the great Nentyarch Thargaun to place his adolescent eldest son Derevan in overall command of over 20,000 Nar veterans of the Unification Campaigns and double that number of capture hath-kul (or blood slaves). The first legions of the Nar made landfall at what would be called the Bloody Beach in -948 DR. Ostensibly, the invasion was to reinstall the puppet ruler of the Catovantes after the victory of the Trinvellauni, but even after easy victories against the local Darmöneii, the eastern empire had no intention of returning home. For the next 798 years the once fertile lands of the Darmöneii would become first an experimental battleground for untested Nar commanders and later a breadbasket of the Nar war effort against the Raumathari.

Though the broad, lowland river valleys fell relatively swiftly to the Nar generals over the course of three successive campaigns, the broad highland belt arranged at the foothills of the Earthspur and Galenas mountains proved to be a far more difficult battlefield. The initial disorganized and isolated responses to Nar incursions into the eastern borders of the Weald proved to be utterly disastrous to Darmöneii cause of resistance, as did the initial haphazard and independent forays out into the field of battle against the eastern aggressors. Likewise, the first forays of the overconfident and, until now, completely victorious Nar armies into the Weald turned into an utter and complete rout of the vanguard forces, thanks in no small part to the magic inherent in the elven defense of their human "children". The long borderland between the frozen northern reaches along the Great Glacier to the now open moorland of the Duchy of Borca became a continuous front of battle, and over the next three hundred years would alternatively switch from cold to hot warfare.

It was only in -623 DR, with the Nar defeat at the Gorge of Gauros thousands of leagues away in the Battle of Clipped Wings that the situation changed for the Darmöneii front lines. The first true military failure of the main legion army of the Empire of Narfell against the combined forces of Mulhorand, Unther, and Raumathar resulted in the death of Nentyarch Ulthas Orgolath and the ascension of his twin brother Nentyarch Ulthar Orgolath, but more importantly it spurred the overextended Nar to integrate their foul demon priests into their armies like never before. Even along the relatively domestic front with the Drithharl (meaning Demon Wood in the Nar tongue), the war for the survival of the Empire reignited, and the newly empowered priests began to hurl a near limitless supply of bound and trapped demonic creatures at the elven, faerie, and Darmöneii defenders of the long line of the eastern Weald. The Nar generals and their infernal advisors began to burn the very forest down around the beleaguered defenders. As the Empire of the Nar returned resurgent along their distant fronts, so did they beat back their long time enemies among the Weald's defenders. Decades of warfare saw the Nar cross the River Vascha for the first time, and burn the Gorodain settlements along the River Wye. Nar hortha led the vicious and half feral orcs of the northern wastes against the snow clad northern front. Each year that passed saw more and more of the sacred woodlands of the elves and the Darmöneii burned and despoiled by the increasingly debased and vicious Nar. Even the legendary Witch Queen of the elves was said to be powerless to stop the resurgent Nar, for in their bid for power the dark cabals of the Nar and their twisted Nentyarch had gained power enough to bind and dominate even her should she venture from her seat of power at Caer Caradul. In the great battles at the end of what the elves call the Second Age, millions of humans, fey, and orcs are killed in a period of constant warfare that would last for over two hundred years. In the carnage of the great Nar war, cities were engulfed and fell flame, great swaths of the once unified Weald were burned to ash, and even the Great Glacier itself was forced back from the battle lines by the twisted magic of the ur-hortha Kostchtchie.

In the year -181 DR, the war for the heart of the Weald had reached a fever pitch. Humanity had long since united under a single High King, the Ard Ri, annointed and ordained by the Witch Queen of the elves on the island of Caernarfon, and the dwarven thanes under the mountain drew more and more of the abyssal soldiers of the Nar into ignominious death under the rock, but the enemy seemed limitless and the defenders, for all their might and resolve, and in some cases their immortal strength, were tired and spent in their mad resistance to the shadow of Narfell. In that year, all seemed lost, for from the northern glaciers flew dragons under the control of the Nentyarch and the shadow which he served. And in that year, the Nentyarch arrived himself from his hidden fortress at Dun Tharos, casting aside the elven defenses at the heart of the Weald like twigs and kindling. Just when the battle seemed to have tipped, and the defenders of the Weald were being thrown into darkness and disarray, the battle changed. A vast host of new dragons appeared across the many fronts, and plunged into battle against their treacherous kin. The legends claim that the Witch Queen herself led them, bound into the form of a golden dragon of enormous size and power. On the slopes of the Cyroaereth, the Nentyarch himself was checked by the arrival of the elven Queen of Death and Winter, and their battle shook the foundations of the forest itself. The physical and magical destruction the dragons wrought as they attacked and counterattacked, and the madness of the battle on the slopes of the Cyroaereth was almost as great as that from the rest of the war combined. Death was everywhere, and chaos was absolute.

When it was over, both sides were broken. The orc hordes and the lesser daemons had scattered to the northern wastes. Legends say the Queen of Winter perished that day, and in her death she wailed a cry of boundless rage and sorrow, a paean of grief that raised a Shroud of non-existance around the heart of the Weald from which no mortal may emerge, but in her passing she broke the power of the Nentyarchs, now and forever, driving the spirit of fire and corruption from his black soul and leaving only Ilithkar, a broken, powerless man to be held before the war councils of the Darmöneii. The only dragons to be found across the length and breadth of the Weald were the broken and bleeding bodies of the dead, and of the Witch Queen no more was seen in this world.

Over the next several years, the Ard Ri and the Darmöneii survivors of the cataclysm together with their dwarven allies marched against those Nar Renyarch that still held the humans of the lowland in base captivity. Within ten years, what remained of the Darmöneii tribal lands from the northern wastes to the Citadel of Conjurers was returned to the banner of the Ard Ri and the battered and broken alliance. Across the Easting Reach, a new Nentyarch, Rheligaun "the Horned", offered terms of piece to the unified armies of the Witch Queen's Alliance, but the offer was refused. The Ard Ri and the human, elven, and dwarven soldiers made ready to invade the Empire of Narfell itself. Their efforts were to be in vain. In -160 DR, the Empires of Narfell and Raumathar unleashed the Great Conflagration upon each other, a cataclysm that would blacken the skies from horizon to horizon for nearly a decade. When the finally the clouds across the Easting Reach cleared enough for soldiers of the weary Alliance to cross, the Empire of Narfell was no more.

Peace and Colonization

In lands south of the Citadel of Conjurers and the Weirdingflow River, a second front against the Empire of Narfell was opened in -270 DR. An expeditionary force was launched against the Narfelli colonies by Emperor Dharien I of Jhaamdath, and under the leadership of General Sullus Varius Mirandor. Over 600 ships unloaded 120,000 Jhaamdathan legionaries into the ancient harbor laid down and later abandoned by dwarven settlers from Earthfast. For the next 15 years, Mirandor's legions would scourge the southern Narfelli Renyarchs before they received word of the Nikerymath Disaster that obliterated the Twelve Cities of the Sword in -255 DR. Mirandor's Legions had no home to return to and no emperor to whom they could report success. Stranded on a hostile front, Sullus Varius Mirandor resolved to make a home for his soldiers in the former colonies of the Nar, and to continue pushing the Nar ever northward. Over the next several years, massive refugee flotillas would arrive along the southern coast to settle in the ever widening front against the Nar. They would bring with them the last relics of the now sunken civilization of Jhaamdath, and their safety only hardened the old general's resolve. Eventually, the general and his soldiers began taking wives and concubines from among the liberated Darmöneii slaves women, and over the next 100 years, the soldiers, their children, and their children's children would continue to push the Nar Renyarchs back until they were forced to abandon even their Citadel of Conjurers.

In -181 DR, when the Dragon Cataclysm was claiming the great front of the Weald, the battle hardened armies of now General Impil Sullus Mirandor were rolling back the reserve forces of the softer, southern underbelly of the Nar colony states. Even they, however, trembled before the might unleashed in the northern skies. In -180 DR, the legions of Mirandor met the armies of the Ard Ri for the first time, at the ancient Darmöneii cromlech called Argol Plinth. There, the two battle scarred veteran armies hammered out an alliance over the course of three days, pledging to stand united until the last Nar bled dry upon the point of a sword. Together, the two breeds of men, the dwarves of Earthfast and Dareth, and the few elves the remained outside the Shroud scoured the length and breadth of the land purging it of every last Nar invader before turning their sights upon the greater empire beyond the Easting Reach. The Great Conflagration would finish off the dying, demon-maddened empire.

In -135 DR, General Mirandor returned south, where he was acclaimed the Dictator of the Nova Jhaamdathan colonists and soldiers from his seat at Impil's Tor above an ancient dwarven harborage they once called Lyrabar.

-118 DR Year of Elven Delights

The thriving settlement of Impil’s Tor is renamed Lyrabar by Ornrath Mirandor, harkening back to its dwarf roots and cementing the first trade ties with dwarves of the surrounding mountains.

–74 DR Year of Splendor

Inrath Mirandor establishes the kingdom of Impiltur and crowns himself king, beginning the Mirandor Dynasty of Old Impiltur.

6 DR Year of the Firestars

Fleeing plague and tyranny in Impiltur, the farmer Ondeth Obarskyr settles a tract of land on the outskirts of the Wolf Woods west of Marsember. He names the settlement Suzara’s City, after his wife.

77 DR Year of the Quivering Mountains

— With the aid of the moon elves of Vedrymmell, Crown Prince Baranth defeats the treasonous Morlorn, “the Usurper King,” at the Battle of Ilithra’s Smile and is crowned king of Impiltur. The Obarskyr mercenary supporters of Morlorn are exiled from the realm.

512 DR Year of the Wyvernfall

— The orc chieftain Ulbror leads a horde out of Vastar 331 and into the

uplands of Impiltur by means of countless small mountain trails over the

Earthspurs. King Sharaun of Impiltur leads his three sons and a small

army north but is defeated, and he and his sons are slain in battle. The

dead king’s son-in-law Duke Harandil Durlarven gathers another army,

which routs the orcs at the Battle of Bloody Reeds. He is crowned king

of Impiltur on the battlefield and establishes the Durlarven Dynasty of

Old Impiltur.

626 DR Year of the Eagle and Falcon

— Nobles of House Orbil attempt to seize the throne of Impiltur after assassinating

King Bellodar I. Their rebellion is savagely put down, and they are

declared outlaw and consigned to exile. King Bellodar II is crowned king of

Impiltur.

729: The Triad Crusade

The following excerpt was taken from the memoirs of Relgorn Hawkwinter, the self-styled “Paladin of Scrolls,” who penned it

in the Year of the Cowl (765 DR), the first year in the reign of King Erynd I of Impiltur.

I remember the first golden rays of the sun chasing away the

darkness on the day we made landfall on the southwestern coast

of Impiltur. After we had debarked, Lord Elethlim gathered us

into a great conclave, in which all men and women could speak

as equals. It was on that bright morn that we decided to burn our

ships. We of the Triad had sworn to cleanse Impiltur and bring the

light back to its people, and we would do so or die in the attempt.

Within days, we saw for ourselves the depredations that the

Scaled Horde had wrought. Most villages lay empty except

for corpses, and the few humans we did encounter sought our

blood and souls for sacrifice to the demonic masters they worshiped.

Our arrival had roused the dark ones to a frenzy, but

our bright blades swiftly sent the host of fiends that assailed

us back to the Abyss. We accounted for scores of rutterkins

and dretches, as well as even viler creatures—including the

nalfeshnee Drallith “the Poxed,” who rode a golden chariot

pulled by chained chasme, and the half-fiend Berdrinnar with

his troop of armanites. Those first few battles hardened our

resolve and strengthened our faith. So dire was the suffering

of this land that the Broken God had wept for its people, and

we prayed to the Triad that our strength would prove sufficient

for this holy task.

726 DR Year of the Dowager Lady

Impiltur is overrun by the Scaled Horde, an army of demons, from the western

fringes of the Rawlinswood and the Forest of Lethyr. King Forvar II of

Impiltur is slain in the fighting, bringing an end to the Durlarven Dynasty

of Old Impiltur. King Agrosh the Scaled seizes the throne.

729 DR to 732 DR

The Triad Crusade: An army dedicated to Tyr, Torm, and Ilmater led by the

paladin Sarshel Elethlim travels by sea to ravaged Impiltur and begins the

Fiend Wars against the Scaled Horde.

729 DR Year of the Twisted Horn

The paladin Belthar Garshin slays Agrosh the Scaled, the self-styled king of

Impiltur, at the Battle of Horned Heads, leaving the throne of this kingdom

vacant once more.

732 DR Year of the Proud Father

Sarshel Elethlim is crowned king of Impiltur with the newly reformed and

consecrated Crown of Narfell. He establishes the Elethlim Dynasty of that

realm.

788 DR to 806 DR

Harrowing of Nord: Nord is crowned king of Impiltur and begins a campaign

to ferret out and hunt down all fiends and fiend-worshipers throughout the

kingdom.

800 DR to 850 DR

Homesteaders from Impiltur settle the eastern shores of the Easting Reach

and push inland south of the Forest of Lethyr.

850 DR Year of the Empty Throne

King Beldred of Impiltur leads the Scouring, a year-long campaign into the

western parts of the Rawlinswood that slays and drives forth pockets of demons

that survived the Fiend Wars and the Battle of Moaning Gorge.

893 DR Year of the Raised Sword

An army of Nar horsemen led by the chieftain Galush attacks northeastern

Impiltur but is defeated at the Battle of Twelvepikes on the banks of the

Soleine River by an army led by Duke Lantigar Deepstar.

917 DR Year of the Winding Road

Windyn Balindre, an Impilturan merchant, pioneers the route of the Golden

Way 937 to Kara-Tur.

924 DR Year of the Cracked Turtle

Plague causes the death of King Peverel of Old Impiltur and his two male

heirs. His sole remaining descendant, Princess Aliia, is deemed too young to

rule by the senior nobles at court, and a new king is sought by way of royal

marriage.

926 DR to 1097 DR

The Kingless Years: After Princess Aliia of Old Impiltur dies at sea while en

route to wed her betrothed, Prince Rhiigard of Cormyr, the Elethlim Dynasty

comes to an end. Impiltur remains leaderless, and the realm fractures into

a seething cauldron of rival city-states as powerful nobles attempt to gain

the vacant throne.

1038 DR Year of Spreading Spring

The Great Glacier retreats from the lands of Damara, Vaasa, and upper

Narfell. Many folk from Impiltur and Thesk migrate north to the newly

uncovered lands.

1097 DR Year of the Gleaming Crown

Imphras the Great is crowned king of refounded Impiltur and establishes

the Heltharn Dynasty.

1110 DR Year of the Bloody Fields

Thay marches on Phsent, but the combined forces of Impiltur and the Theskian

cities defeat the army of the Red Wizards 1157.

1122 DR Year of the Rose Pearls

Princess Ilmara of Impiltur founds the fortress-city of Ilmwatch to guard

against the return of the hobgoblins.

— Queen Sambral dies, and after grieving for her, Imphras I soon passes as

well. Their son and eldest child Imbrar takes the Crown of Narfell as the

ruler of Impiltur.

1127 DR Year of the Luminar Procession

King Imbrar marches into the mountains, accompanied by his Royal

Guard—and Imbrar and his men are never seen again. King Imbrar’s

younger sister Ilmara takes the Crown of Narfell and begins her reign as

Impiltur’s queen.

1167 DR Year of the Parchment

Heretical

Queen Ilmara of Impiltur takes a husband

half her age, one Rilaun of Sarshel.

1169 DR Year of the Earth

Shaking

Imphras II is declared king of Impiltur

at birth, and his father Rilaun takes up

arms to seize the throne. He is defeated,

and Ilmara rules as Queen-Regent.

1177 DR Year of the Majesty

Princess Delile Balindre renounces her loyalty to the throne of Impiltur and

declares Telflamm an independent city-state.

1185 DR Year of the Immoral Imp

Imphras II, upon reaching age sixteen, is crowned

king by Impilturan law.

1208 DR Year of the Gamine

Crown Prince Talryn of Impiltur attempts to have his father declared unfit

to rule, but his brother Prince Lashilmbrar betrays the crown prince, forcing

Talryn into exile.

1209 DR Year of the Blazing Banners

Rebaera Osterhown, second wife of King Imphras II, dies giving birth to

their fourth son Fylraun.

— Impiltur and Aglarond contribute warships to an allied fleet that defeats a

great pirate flotilla led by Urdogen the Red 1204 near the Dragonisle.

1212 DR Year of the Blazing Banners

Crown Prince Talryn returns to Impiltur upon hearing the news of the death

of his father, Imphras II. The king’s death, however, is a ruse engineered by

Prince Lashilmbrar, who succeeds Talryn as crown prince when his brother is

executed for treason and has Talryn’s name stricken from the royal records.

1225 DR Year of the Winged Worm

— King Imphras II of Impiltur dies, and the Crown of Narfell passes to

Crown Prince Lashilmbrar.

1244 DR Year of the Defi ant Keep

Prince Elphras of Impiltur raises a castle near the

Great Barrow; the castle is mysteriously abandoned soon thereafter, and he

is not heard of again.

1276 DR Year of the Crumbling Keep

Imphras III, elder son of King Lashilmbrar and Thelmara Rorntarn, is

born in Impiltur.

1280 DR Year of the Manticore

Rilimbrar, younger son of King Lashilmbrar and Thelmara Rorntarn, is

born in Impiltur.

1294 DR Year of the Deep Moon

In Impiltur, King Lashilmbrar, Queen Thelmara, and Crown Prince Imphras

III are assassinated. Prince Kuskur, elder son of Imphras II, is named regent

until King Rilimbrar comes of age. Prince Thaum, only child of Regent Kuskur

and Elthinda Balindre of Telflamm, was behind the assassinations.

1295 DR Year of the Ormserpent

Prince Thaum gathers a mercenary army and sacks the city of Sarshel. He

then marches on the Tower of Filur and seizes the throne of Impiltur. Regent

Kuskur and King Rilimbrar flee into exile. Kuskur requests aid from Queen

Ilione of Aglarond, who sends her mysterious apprentice, known only as the

Simbul 1320, to dispatch Thaum. With Thaum dead, his son Imphras

(later Imphras IV) attempts to hold the throne.

1296 DR Year of the

Black Hound

King Rilimbrar is restored to

the throne of Impiltur. Kuskur

never returns to Impiltur,

choosing instead to live out

his remaining years in selfimposed

exile in Velprintalar.

His grandson Imphras is

placed under house arrest in

the royal tower of Filur

1297 DR Year of the

Singing Skull

— King Rilimbrar of Impiltur

marries Ilbritha Eirlthaun.

1299 DR Year of the Claw

Princess Sambryl 1336, eldest daughter of King Rilimbrar of Impiltur, is

born.

1317: Great Plague of the Inner Sea

The following is the high guardian’s account of the Wandering Wyrm. This text is kept in the ecclesiastic archives of the Tower

of the Eye in Procampur.

For many a tenday, we have watched the wyrm wander westward

along the coast, toward our fair city in the misty waters

of the Eye. The cities of Impiltur are beset by plague, and a

quarantine has been declared

in neighboring Tsurlagol.

We are next, I fear,

and the thultyrl

has wisely activated the temple corps to help defend the city.

I hear that King Rilimbrar dispatched a legion of knights

mounted on pegasi to kill the wyrm, but before they could

even close with the beast, the skins of the attackers erupted

with maggots. More than half the knights returned to Lyrabar

as maggot-ridden undead horrors, stalking the citizenry they

had set out to defend. Reports from Aglarond suggest that an

entirely different plague has spread there since the wandering

wyrm visited those shores, and a third

scourge has been unleashed along the

northern coast of Chessenta.

Some blame the Red Wizards of

Thay for these disasters, but I stand

with those who believe that the Mother

of All Plagues is feeling scorned anew.

Throughout the Inner Sea region,

new adherents are flocking to the

Church of Talona in the desperate

hope they will be spared.

But the Mistress of Disease is

notoriously ill-tempered and

fickle, and she is unlikely to

protect those who join her

faith in desperation.

So today we watch and

wait, in the desperate

hope that the wyrm

will bypass fair Procampur

and afflict

our neighbors instead.

Tomorrow we gird for battle, having

pledged our lives in defense of the

elderly, the infirm, and the young—

those most likely to succumb to Talona’s

disease-ridden touch

1338 DR Year of the Wanderer

The Windblown Goat is built near the old stone markers at Bezentil. Other

folk follow, giving rise to a small town at the site.

In Impiltur, King Rilimbrar, Queen Ilbritha, Prince Verimlaun, and Crown

Prince Imphras IV die in a mysterious fire at Filur. The infant Prince Soarimbrar

the Younger, a descendant of Velimbrar, is crowned king but Imphras’s

wife Sambryl 1351 takes the throne as Queen-Regent, moving the

royal court to Lyrabar.

1351 DR Year of the Crown

— King Soarimbrar the Younger of Impiltur and his entire retinue are slain

at the hands of unknown assassins while riding through farmlands outside

Lyrabar. He is succeeded by his infant nephew Imphras V, and Sambryl [1338,

1363] remains Queen-Regent.