Council of Zulkirs

The Council of Zulkirs, also known as the Zulkir Council, was an assembly of powerful wizards that ruled over the nation of Thay, and their ruling class known as the Red Wizards. They were anonymous to the Thayan people, held ultimate power and only competed with one another for authority and influence.

The zulkirs were extremely wealthy and many possessed what seemed like near-infinite resources. While they collectively ruled Thay, each zulkir had their own schemes, interests and various lusts for power and pleasure.

Organization
Each zulkir was extremely powerful mage who specialized in a specific school of magic, and were chosen from among their peers in the same order. They served for life, or in some cases well past it into undeath. In truth, a zulkir held their seat within the council until they were completely and utterly destroyed.

Competition between the Red Wizards for the title of "Zulkir" was extraordinarily intense, as it was the highest seat of power in all of Thay.

History
Thayd, the mage who led the rebellion against Mulhorand and Unther in the, was the man responsible for the creation of zulkirs. The word "zulkir" originally referred to a member of Thayd's trusted inner circle. Some were more loyal than others, but all feared the man too much to plot against Thayd openly. These zullkirs served as Thayd's lieutenants and became the founders of Thay. During Thayd's lifetime, there existed a limited number of zullkirs that reduced from seven to five as these members of the inner circle perished.

When Thayd was executed in the, the surviving zulkirs dissolved into anarchy and power struggle. This inner conflict cost lives of many ambitious spellcasters. Subsequently, the struggle was abruptly cut short by the use of Escalthar's everlasting curse spell that shape-changed the struggling zulkirs every other second. The effects were permanent unless the zulkirs submitted. The spell's creator Escalthar forced the zulkirs to meet atop the Laltharr in southwestern Thay. There, the wizards became the Council of the Black Star under Escalthar's leadership. They agreed to the set number of eight zulkirs, each seat to be linked to specific "schools" of magic. In the centuries that followed, most members of the zulkirate were Thayan human males, despite there being no legal limitation to a zulkir's sex, gender, species, or residency. The history of the Council of Zulkirs was retold by Mystra as such.

Shortly after the formation of the Council of the Black Star, Escalthar mysteriously disappeared, never to be seen again. According to the research done by Elminster Aumar and Khelben Arunsun, Escalthar was Azuth, the Patron of Wizards, or his pawn. However, neither Azuth nor Mystra would confirm not deny this and simply smiled in response.

The First Zulkirate of the Council of Zulkirs was established in the autumn of the, by the lich Ythazz Buvaar and the original Red Wizards that fought for Thay's independence a century earlier. The Red Wizards appointed eight representatives to the council, each of whom was a master in their respective school of magic. The zulkirs then selected the tharchions, and rulers were given absolute power over Thay's regional territories, who were beholden to the council's greater authority. In addition to Ythazz, the first eight zulkirs were: Hahlomede Teeos from the school of abjuration, Tlantros Tulhoond – conjuration, Zarhandro Laeluth – enchantments, Dlueae Sharshyndree – evocation, Yaerind Mahl – illusion, Tarabbas Mroound – necromancy, and Kulvur Naraelond – transmutation.

Some dissidents were displeased with this system of governance, and rebelled against the council, but were finally stamped out in the. The council remained largely unchanged until the zulkir of necromancy Szass Tam, made a bold move for power in the late 14 century DR. By the, the Red Wizards were divided into philosophically-opposed factions and council was divided. Szass Tam was openly opposed by the zulkir of evocation, Aznar Thrul and his fellow councilors Nevron and Lauzoril.

Rather than get bogged down in a lengthy political struggle, Szass Tam manufactured a series of conflicts in the in an attempt to ascend as the elected High Regent of Thay. When all of the zulkirs, including his former allies, refused this proposition, the lich withdrew from the council. He then ravaged the nation with undead hordes, that began a civil war that divided his northern tharchs, from those in the south held by the council. The war raged on for a decade, and finally came to an end in the, the year the Spellplague struck Toril. Szass Tam emerged as the victor, and the remaining former zulkirs fled Thay for the lands of the Wizards' Reach.

During his rule, Szass Tam appointed a number of powerful liches as the new Zulkir Council of Thay. While they all practiced some form of necromantic magic, they kept their role as supreme authority over the respective schools of magic within the Red Wizards. Even though they were superior to nearly all within the Thayan bureaucracy, they all remained subservient to the High Regent.

All the remaining zulkirs-in-exile were killed in the while stopping Szass Tam's ultimate plan to perform the ritual of the Unmaking. By the late 15 century DR, Szass Tam had reestablished the zulkirate by elevating powerful arcanists loyal to his rule. Tharchions and autharchs were allowed to run the territories of Thay under his control.