Sothillisian War

The Sothillisian War was a war between the nation of Amn and the Sothillisian Empire, with the goal of recovering the lost Armory of Nedeheim, that lasted over four years, from 1370 to 1374 DR.

History
The ogre mage Sothillis and his mate Cyrvisnea began this war by leading their army of kobolds, goblins, hill giants and ogres, supported by Cyricists in an attack on Fort Ishla and Esmereltan in the. Both attacks were resounding victories, due in no small part to their superior numbers and the defenders being distracted by the secession of Riatavin to Tethyr. The ogre magi were dismayed to not find the armory in Esmereltan, but found documents hinting that it had been moved to the city of Murann.

Cyrvisnea led part of the goblin and kobold sections of their army, aided by their Cyricist allies to Imnescar and sacked it. Sothillis meanwhile, left a hill giant garrison in Esmereltan and went through Trademeet towards Murann, laying siege to it. The pirates of the Nelanther Isles blockaded Murann's port and the siege continued until the fall of winter. The monstrous army dug in and fortified its rear flank, capturing several Amnian watchtowers in the northern foothills of the Small Teeth and building several more west of Trademeet.

When spring came, Sothillis' forces conquered Murann and looted the trapped ships filled with Maztican gold. However, the ogre magi found absolutely no trace of the armory they had been searching for. The monstrous force ceased their advance as its leaders pondered on what to do next. Meanwhile, the Council of Six bickered over how much to spend on the army that would fight the Empire and which city they would attempt to retake first. It wasn't until the church of Selûne pledged their considerable resources to the war effort in order to reclaim their temple in Murann in the spring of 1372 DR that the army really mobilized. The Selûnite crusaders retook Imnescar and set up a new abbey in Hydcont Hall while the Amnian soldiers halfheartedly garrisoned Trademeet and besieged Esmereltan.

In the Year of Rogue Dragons, the dragon Iryklathagra, likely maddened by the Rage of Dragons, attacked the Twin Towers of the Eternal Eclipse, the Cyricist base of operations. She collapsed the eastern tower before retreating, injured to her lair. The Selûnites took advantage of this event and reopened the pass through the Small Teeth, cutting off the supplies to the Sothillisian Esmereltan garrison, making them easy pickings even for the weak-willed Amnian army. The city was recaptured and in turn freed up men to create a new front line along the Trade Way.

The saw the hostilities break out in full force. The Sothillisian Empire was restricted to the western Small Teeth, Murann, and the plains between the area west of the Trade Way and the Wealdath. They looked to be a much easier target, but were very well dug in so would be hard to dislodge. Also, the elves of the Wealdath refused to lend their help to the Amnian forces until they accepted Tethyr's sovereignty over Riatavin and Trailstone.

Sothillis and Cyrvisnea continued to fortify their positions in order to make a full-scale assault too costly for Amn, offering amnesty from attacks to wealthy Amnian merchant families in return for regular tithes of weapons and gold but refused to move from Murann until the armory they'd been looking for was found.

On Ches 15 of the, the Selûnites mounted an attack on the western tower of the Eternal Eclipse but after inflicting minor structural damage they were driven off. Four days later, a prior of Hydcont Abbey was assassinated, probably in retaliation.

House Tanislove refused to bribe both the Amnian commanders and the Sothillisians and its caravans were attacked by Sothillisian raiders, forcing them to redirect their caravans through Brost, which cost them time and money. When a Tanislove caravan dared the Trade Way a tenday later on Mirtul 3, it was immediately attacked by a band of ogres. The caravan was a decoy though and warriors of the Flaming Fist in the employ of Tanislove defeated the ogres in the Battle of Broken Wheels.

Nine days later, a farm belonging to House Gheldieg, allied to Tanislove through marriage, located near Kalathtyr by the southern banks of River Specie, was attacked, breaking a de facto truce that had existed along the northern flanks of the Small Teeth. The next day an elite company of adventurers (supposedly led by the half-ogre bastard son of Sothillis and based in the western tower of the Eternal Eclipse) freed a dozen ogres captured after the retaking of Esmereltan underneath a temple to Loviatar called the Black Spires of the Maiden. One of the ogres reported that the Armory of Nedheim was definitely under Murann, but in the Shanatar ruins of Xothaerin deep in the Underdark.

The Army of Three Stars conquered the Western Tower of the Eternal Eclipse after a fifty-day siege and learned though clerical interrogations of the dead about the location of the Armory. This information quickly reached the ears of several adventuring parties and Sothillis promised to trump any other offer given to those who sought it.

Reports soon surfaced of Xothaerin being occupied by stingers who demanded the return of all the treasures taken from Maztica. By Eleint 5, the Council of Six and the Sothillisian Empire, along with the Army of Three Stars and the survivors from the Eternal Eclipse had come to an uneasy truce and joined forces to create the Swordbelt Alliance and battle the tlincallis of Oaxaptupa. This marked the end of the Sothillisian War, and the beginning of the Stinger War.