Post by Xaos on Feb 23, 2006 2:33:16 GMT -5
The Ten Black Days of Eleint, now a score of years past, shall forever remind nobles in Tethyr and the whole Realms of the fate that awaits those who abuse their power and influence over others. According to the few surviving nobles of that period, some were aware of such unrest among the people, but mostly those from the border states around the Forest of Tethir who suffered the brunt of the elves' wrath during the Hunts. Among the dukes and other nobles under Alemander IV, only two, the dukes of Dusk and Suretmarch ,were seen as utter tyrants, though others were harsh to their workers and vassal counts. While the unrest among the highlanders seems justified, it hardly explains the vicious uprisings in the lowlands.
According to a number of diviners and priests who spoke with many exhumed parties, the hysteria that gripped many folk during these times came from on high, though which gods may have been responsible is unclear. Some sources point to the Banite clergies that were numerous around Tethyr at that time, while others mention the dark god of destruction Talos and his minions. An even wilder legend that those in County Uluran hold true suggests that the vengeance of the elves' gods forced many peasants to rise up against their overlords in retribution for the torment they visited upon the Tel'Quessir. One story isolated to the village of Toralth mentioned a black cloud with red eyes descending upon the village (Malar's mark), which turned villagers and local elves into ravaging hunters of the nobles.
Of all the varied tales of gods and priests rallying marauders from the villages all about Tethyr, only one can be traced to a particular known person: Dlatha Faenar, a priestess of Beshaba. A number of accounts link her to a visit at the camp of General Sharboneth the night before the attack on Castle Tethyr. She was also seen on the ramparts of the castle the night it fell. Her exact actions and involvement with the fall of Tethyr are unknown, and she cannot be approached at the Spires against the Stars for questioning. Still, the interest of the Maid of Misrule and her deadly but beauteous servant is not unfitting, as the luck of both traitor-tyrants ran out that night.
One possible explanation for the destruction of so much could be a former power-play by either Myrkul or Bhaal to upset the tyrannical power of Bane in the area by rallying aid from the worshipers (if not the god itself) of Malar, Beshaba, and their own assassins. By destroying the tyrants of Bane, their own power would grow; however, the plan seemed to fail as Bane's tyranny only gained a further grip through lesser, more grasping and greedy hands during the unrest.
The Ten Black Days, the 13th through the 22nd day of Eleint in the Year of the Bright Blade (1347 DR), brought down eight entire noble families, four of Tethyr's larger castles, and six temples (to Bane, Bhaal, Helm, Lathander, Mystra, and Oghma). It caused the deaths of more than 600 other people with ties to the royalty, such as guards and servants. Once Castle Tethyr burned to the ground, the mobs seemed to spring up and spread out in all directions from its smoking ruins. No place was safe if the mobs believed it harbored anyone of noble birth.
Within two days, the Piirlons of Zazesspur (Queen Rhinda's family), the Sakhars of Myratma (the royalty's main merchant arm and cousins to the king), and the western branch of the Riiklass clan (the family of Princess-Consort Dhara) in the Purple Hills were murdered by mobs. It was later discovered that the nine Riiklass nobles were innocent traders and metalsmiths.
Four days after the king's death, only two counts remained in their seats of power, under siege in western Tethyr (though they too fell by the end of the Black Days). Lord Tuvos the Rune Count Akasi, the wizard ruler of the area called Monrativi Teshy Mir, died in a spell-battle that also destroyed his castle and acres of surrounding greenery. His slayers were the members of Tethyr's adventuring company of wizards, the Magis Mir, who disappeared seven months later from their refuge in the Forest of Mir. The abusive taskmaster Count Romar Miklaas of the Purple Hills died at the hands of longsuffering halfling tenants and their druid allies on his own manorial lands.
The Sixth Day saw the greatest destruction and the widest exodus of nobles, as mobs set torches to many of the noble villas and manors in and around Ithmong. While 12 families of lesser or now-unseated nobles escaped to Riatavin or parts farther north, others died at the hands of the mobs. Four wagons, complete with the entire remaining noble families of the Mir Protectorate, tried to exit to the north through Survale Ford; they thought they were traveling incognito, but a bribed servant betrayed them. The mob caught up with the escapees and the carriages were forced off the Helmbridge and into the raging River Ith, where all aboard drowned. The rich cattle ranches north of Ithmong and Myratma were looted and set aflame, and the night was commemorated as the Night of Nine Fires, as the burning manors were visible for miles around.
The remaining four Black Days saw confused manhunts throughout the country with paranoid mobs still raging about the cities and the countryside. Many were murdered as they tried but ultimately failed to protect children hidden among them who happened to be of noble birth. In the eastern highlands, the clans held firm to their clan loyalties, but they simply held the chaos in check in small areas, as did the duchy of Elestam to the east. By the end of this period, over 550 nobles had been killed, and the toll among the commoners ran to 1,700, due to out-of-control fires or mercenary soldiers defending their lords.
Of the 56 seated nobles (and over 100 titled lesser nobles) that ruled before the 13th day of Eleint, only two dukes, one count, and five barons survived to the end of the Black Days within Tethyr. They were spared either by luck, fear, or their natures as kind, just masters whose people came to their defense. All the rest either died or fled the country, though some heirs stayed behind to hold onto their family's power.
Lord Nivedann Illehhune, the heir and tyrant duke of Dusk just like his father, marshalled his forces (including three of the surviving vassal barons) around him and held out against a protracted siege that finally led to the destruction of his castle and the duke's death in Mirtul of the Year of the Crown (1351 DR). Of the three barons, Lord Erktos Kytolamn of Valshall and Banite Lord Challas Barstonn of Shelshyr died while trying to flee Tethyr a year into the siege (though some say they died on orders of Duke Illehhune, who confiscated their money and equipment to fight the siege). The last official baron of Tethyr, Nivedann's uncle Lord Maxos Illehhune of Cyvann Hills, died with his nephew during the final siege attacks. (Lord Hhune is a distant relative of this family.)
Count Vartan Thrynnar of Alonmarch took many of his tenant farmers into their castle for protection, and his loyal
troops broke the first of many small sieges against them. Until the Reclamation, however, Lord Thrynnar was only able to control and defend roughly half of his county from the marauding peasants and power-mongers.
Baron Amir Raslemtar, though he survived, fled Tethyr with his family for their continued safety, not trusting on blind luck to see him through the years ahead. In good faith, the mob that had hours before executed his overlords the Duke of Ankramir and the Count of Bashyrvale provided him and his family safe escort to a ship heading north to Baldur's Gate.
The final surviving baron, Lord Dinos Akhmelere of Kirgrove, fled with a caravan of his possessions along the Trade Way in hopes of settling safely in Esmeltaran, but he never arrived at his family's lesser holdings in Amn. Elmanesse elves today say that the great hunter of elves was dealt with according to his own actions, but add nothing more.
The last duke of Tethyr's easternmost duchy of Elestam, Lord Valon Morann, held his borders firm with loyal troops to prevent any of his corrupt neighbors from fleeing to him for help. Within two months of the Black Days, the duchy seceded entirely from Tethyr after ousting four corrupt barons and counts and their families, as they were more loyal to their despot neighbor the Duke of Dusk.
According to a number of diviners and priests who spoke with many exhumed parties, the hysteria that gripped many folk during these times came from on high, though which gods may have been responsible is unclear. Some sources point to the Banite clergies that were numerous around Tethyr at that time, while others mention the dark god of destruction Talos and his minions. An even wilder legend that those in County Uluran hold true suggests that the vengeance of the elves' gods forced many peasants to rise up against their overlords in retribution for the torment they visited upon the Tel'Quessir. One story isolated to the village of Toralth mentioned a black cloud with red eyes descending upon the village (Malar's mark), which turned villagers and local elves into ravaging hunters of the nobles.
Of all the varied tales of gods and priests rallying marauders from the villages all about Tethyr, only one can be traced to a particular known person: Dlatha Faenar, a priestess of Beshaba. A number of accounts link her to a visit at the camp of General Sharboneth the night before the attack on Castle Tethyr. She was also seen on the ramparts of the castle the night it fell. Her exact actions and involvement with the fall of Tethyr are unknown, and she cannot be approached at the Spires against the Stars for questioning. Still, the interest of the Maid of Misrule and her deadly but beauteous servant is not unfitting, as the luck of both traitor-tyrants ran out that night.
One possible explanation for the destruction of so much could be a former power-play by either Myrkul or Bhaal to upset the tyrannical power of Bane in the area by rallying aid from the worshipers (if not the god itself) of Malar, Beshaba, and their own assassins. By destroying the tyrants of Bane, their own power would grow; however, the plan seemed to fail as Bane's tyranny only gained a further grip through lesser, more grasping and greedy hands during the unrest.
The Ten Black Days, the 13th through the 22nd day of Eleint in the Year of the Bright Blade (1347 DR), brought down eight entire noble families, four of Tethyr's larger castles, and six temples (to Bane, Bhaal, Helm, Lathander, Mystra, and Oghma). It caused the deaths of more than 600 other people with ties to the royalty, such as guards and servants. Once Castle Tethyr burned to the ground, the mobs seemed to spring up and spread out in all directions from its smoking ruins. No place was safe if the mobs believed it harbored anyone of noble birth.
Within two days, the Piirlons of Zazesspur (Queen Rhinda's family), the Sakhars of Myratma (the royalty's main merchant arm and cousins to the king), and the western branch of the Riiklass clan (the family of Princess-Consort Dhara) in the Purple Hills were murdered by mobs. It was later discovered that the nine Riiklass nobles were innocent traders and metalsmiths.
Four days after the king's death, only two counts remained in their seats of power, under siege in western Tethyr (though they too fell by the end of the Black Days). Lord Tuvos the Rune Count Akasi, the wizard ruler of the area called Monrativi Teshy Mir, died in a spell-battle that also destroyed his castle and acres of surrounding greenery. His slayers were the members of Tethyr's adventuring company of wizards, the Magis Mir, who disappeared seven months later from their refuge in the Forest of Mir. The abusive taskmaster Count Romar Miklaas of the Purple Hills died at the hands of longsuffering halfling tenants and their druid allies on his own manorial lands.
The Sixth Day saw the greatest destruction and the widest exodus of nobles, as mobs set torches to many of the noble villas and manors in and around Ithmong. While 12 families of lesser or now-unseated nobles escaped to Riatavin or parts farther north, others died at the hands of the mobs. Four wagons, complete with the entire remaining noble families of the Mir Protectorate, tried to exit to the north through Survale Ford; they thought they were traveling incognito, but a bribed servant betrayed them. The mob caught up with the escapees and the carriages were forced off the Helmbridge and into the raging River Ith, where all aboard drowned. The rich cattle ranches north of Ithmong and Myratma were looted and set aflame, and the night was commemorated as the Night of Nine Fires, as the burning manors were visible for miles around.
The remaining four Black Days saw confused manhunts throughout the country with paranoid mobs still raging about the cities and the countryside. Many were murdered as they tried but ultimately failed to protect children hidden among them who happened to be of noble birth. In the eastern highlands, the clans held firm to their clan loyalties, but they simply held the chaos in check in small areas, as did the duchy of Elestam to the east. By the end of this period, over 550 nobles had been killed, and the toll among the commoners ran to 1,700, due to out-of-control fires or mercenary soldiers defending their lords.
Of the 56 seated nobles (and over 100 titled lesser nobles) that ruled before the 13th day of Eleint, only two dukes, one count, and five barons survived to the end of the Black Days within Tethyr. They were spared either by luck, fear, or their natures as kind, just masters whose people came to their defense. All the rest either died or fled the country, though some heirs stayed behind to hold onto their family's power.
Lord Nivedann Illehhune, the heir and tyrant duke of Dusk just like his father, marshalled his forces (including three of the surviving vassal barons) around him and held out against a protracted siege that finally led to the destruction of his castle and the duke's death in Mirtul of the Year of the Crown (1351 DR). Of the three barons, Lord Erktos Kytolamn of Valshall and Banite Lord Challas Barstonn of Shelshyr died while trying to flee Tethyr a year into the siege (though some say they died on orders of Duke Illehhune, who confiscated their money and equipment to fight the siege). The last official baron of Tethyr, Nivedann's uncle Lord Maxos Illehhune of Cyvann Hills, died with his nephew during the final siege attacks. (Lord Hhune is a distant relative of this family.)
Count Vartan Thrynnar of Alonmarch took many of his tenant farmers into their castle for protection, and his loyal
troops broke the first of many small sieges against them. Until the Reclamation, however, Lord Thrynnar was only able to control and defend roughly half of his county from the marauding peasants and power-mongers.
Baron Amir Raslemtar, though he survived, fled Tethyr with his family for their continued safety, not trusting on blind luck to see him through the years ahead. In good faith, the mob that had hours before executed his overlords the Duke of Ankramir and the Count of Bashyrvale provided him and his family safe escort to a ship heading north to Baldur's Gate.
The final surviving baron, Lord Dinos Akhmelere of Kirgrove, fled with a caravan of his possessions along the Trade Way in hopes of settling safely in Esmeltaran, but he never arrived at his family's lesser holdings in Amn. Elmanesse elves today say that the great hunter of elves was dealt with according to his own actions, but add nothing more.
The last duke of Tethyr's easternmost duchy of Elestam, Lord Valon Morann, held his borders firm with loyal troops to prevent any of his corrupt neighbors from fleeing to him for help. Within two months of the Black Days, the duchy seceded entirely from Tethyr after ousting four corrupt barons and counts and their families, as they were more loyal to their despot neighbor the Duke of Dusk.