Tavaray

In the two centuries after the raising of the Standing Stone, the rise of the infamous Shoon Empire far to the south saw a diaspora of Tethyrian humans from the lands of present-day Tethyr and Amn, most of whom traveled north and northeast, seeking lands to settle free from tyranny and slavery. The majority of those settlers founded settlements in what are now known as the Fields of the Dead and the Greenfields (although in bygone eras this region had a plethora of names: the elves called it Askavar which also served as the name of a short-lived realm of moon elves that fled the fall of Keltormir; the dwarves of Shanatar named it Tynnor (literally “field of danger”) when they trekked northwards to found the Lost Kingdoms, disliking its open spaces; and many early humans called it simply Olar, or “the Wide” in the ancient Thorass tongue, for it was the biggest open expanse of territory early humans ever encountered, surrounded as they were by elven forests and dwarven and goblinoid-held mountains). A courageous few, traveled even further north, lured by tales of fallen Netheril and the great elven empire of Aryvandaar, which promised immense riches to those willing to brave the slumbering dangers of these vanished realms.

The founding of the settlement of Tavaray by Clan Aulgaard of Ruathym in the Year of the Phandar (-50 DR) represented a new influx of settlers from the island kingdoms of the Trackless Sea, beset at the time by famine brought on by a series of bad fishing seasons and the depredations of drow raiders from Karsoluthiyl. This fishing and trading port soon assumed significant importance for coastal trade, forming a bridge between the mercantile kingdoms of the south and famed Illusk to the far north.

Beginning in 82 DR, Tavaray experienced an influx of Tethyrians in the form of religious refugees fleeing the persecutions of Qysar Shoon II. Among them were a band of worshipers of the deity Eldath, led by the Archdruid Elembar, who had fled their forest grove home in the foothills of the western Cloud Peaks after repeated incursions from Shoon-sponsored brigands who roamed the Ralamnish Ridings (present-day Amn). Elembar and his followers did not settle in burgeoning Tavaray proper, but established small grove settlements on the fringes of the Ardeep Forest. At first, the elves were concerned and the younger, more intolerant warriors, wishing to prove themselves in battle, urged Laranla Embrae Aloevan to lead them to bloody war, scouring their forest of the intruders and then in turn driving the humans of Tavaray into the sea. The wise Embrae counselled patience, noting that in ages past, other elven lands had sought to war on humans, only to lose or at best obtain détente when the elves could find no answer to humanity’s numbers.

In this regard Embrae was guided by visions received from the goddess Sehanine, showing her that her life and the future of Ardeep were now inextricably linked with humankind. She therefore began to consort with humans in various spellspun guises, manipulating and thwarting those who would do ill to the Ardeep, but forming friendships and growing to love those humans who were of a different bent; those who were committed to peace and harmony and wished to live in accord with the mysterious elves of the woodlands. Of those humans, Embrae learned to love and respect Elembar of Eldath the most. Revealing herself to him in the Year of the Quiet Valley (93 DR), she allowed him and his druid acolytes to travel freely through select areas of the Ardeep Forest (then much bigger and encompassing the open lands between the present-day Ardeep Forest and Forlorn Hills) following the clear forest streams to the site of deep springs which were used as sites of worship in the Eldathyn rite known as the Cleansing.

Within a (human) generation, the elves of Ardeep had established a trademeet in a clearing at the very south-western fringes of their forest and Laranla Embrae had established the Oak Pact with Clanlord Unndor Aulgaard, ruler of Tavaray, which acknowledged their respective territorial boundaries and formalized matters of trade and diplomatic ties. Through all this, the clarity of thought and measured presence of the now venerable Elembar was a boon to both the humans of Tavaray and the Ardeep elves, and his wisdom averted many conflicts as the years rolled on.

However disaster struck in the Year of the Jagged Leaves (114 DR), when the venerable green dragon Draeithimatar, forced out of his High Forest lair after coming to the unwelcome attention of the deadly Imvaernarho of the Star Mounts, descended on Ardeep Forest seeking to claim it as his own. The battle might of Ardeep whelmed swiftly and the great wyrm was laid low in a titanic battle above the trees when Laranla Embrae Aloevan and a host of elven knights and wizards mounted on spectral pegasi assailed the dragon. In its death throes, the wyrm’s venomous breath coupled with the effects of its shimmering spell mantle, thought to be of Netherese origin, devastated the south-central portion of the forest, leaving a desolate, poisoned uninhabitable scar. While the elves mourned the damage to the forest, Elembar of Eldath and his fellow druids, now gathered in the Stillwater Circle, set about healing the land. In a mighty weaving of magic, blessed sages say by the touch of the Green Goddess herself, Elembar brought life back to the blasted soil, crowning the ritual with the willing sacrifice of his own. That area of land, whilst healed, remained treeless and came to be called the Dragonfields by both elves and humans alike.

Line of Rulers

The rulers of Tavaray are presented below: