Athalantar

Founded in 183 DR by Uthgrael Aumar, the "Stag King", Athalantar occupied the area just south of what is now the High Forest. The kingdom helped to unite the leaderless farming communities of the area and was well on its way to greatness until the Stag King died in 216 DR. Eventually after much in-fighting between the princes of the realm the eldest prince, Belaur Aumar, took the throne in the Year of the Dancing Lights (218 DR) with the help of powerful wizards (later known as Magelords).

In the Year of the Flaming Forests (224 DR), it became apparent that these wizards were the true power behind the throne and once all the other potential claimants to the throne had either been killed or driven from the lands only one prince remained, the youngest, Elminster Aumar. Eventually the Magelord Undarl "Dragonrider" arrived in Athalantar with his dragon and destroyed the village of Heldon along with Elminster Aumar's parents.

Unbeknownst to the magelords Elminster had survived the destruction of Heldon and in the Year of the Loremasters (228 DR) was hiding as an outlaw under the assumed name of Eladar the Dark in the Horn Hills.

By the Year of the Chosen (240 DR), Elminster returned, now 28, to the capital led by the wise and loyal Helm Stoneblade, Knight of Athalantar, whereupon he slew both Belaur and the Mage Royal Undarl (who turned out to be a Malaugrym in disguise). Elminster bestowed the Stag Throne upon Helm and his successors, and they ruled benevolently and well until the reign of Onthrar, “the Ill-fated”.

Onthrar suffered the misfortune of rebuffing the affections of the noblewoman Aratanta Orrspear, who swore vengeance and found it in a faded old tome in her family library, recovered from a tomb on the High Moor by her ancestor, the sorceress Arlathra. The “Book of Banes” as the tome came to be known, was a collection of spell-curses and dark rituals, which the increasingly crazed Aratanta studied with feverish and deadly intent. In the Year of Regretful Births (313 DR), Onthrar and his wife Tyril welcomed the birth of triplet daughters. What should have been a joyous celebration was destroyed by the vile sorceries of the now mad-wits Aratanta, who ensured that instead of giving birth to three human girls, Tyril instead gave birth to three infant hags.

Having to slay his own progeny snapped the reason of Onthrar that day, and he lingered on for a further year, a broken man, until he took his own life. His brother Faeram took up the rulership, but it appeared that the Land of the Stag itself was cursed. Harsh winters, virulent plagues and blighted crops featured with unceasing regularity in the years that followed until the roused orcs of the Horde of Black Banners swept down from their mountain demesnes in the Greypeak Mountains and laid waste to the land, slaying many of its inhabitants.

Most of the survivors fled east to Elembar, while a brave few, led by Faeram’s nephew Dorgild, trekked north into the fringes of the High Forest. There they encountered the Uthgardt barbarians of the Tree Ghost tribe and were taken in, losing all memory of their ancestry and the Kingdom of the Stag. These survivors unwittingly brought with them the Hag Curse of Aratanta however, and in the years and centuries that followed, the Tree Ghosts would be bedeviled by the sporadic birth of these abominations.

Line of Rulers

The rulers of Athalantar are presented below: