Shoon IV

Shoon IV was the first necromancer emperor of the Shoon Imperium and the second-most evil and infamous of all its emperors.

Personality
Shoon IV was arrogant, bold, and manipulative and had a famous bad temper. In his favor, he was also a master of domestic and foreign policy, because of his impressive foresight into such matters.

Activities
Shoon IV was a wizard of ever-growing power. He amassed a vast amount of magical knowledge and artifacts in his thirst for power.

He surrounded the entire palace in Shoonach with a magical field that only permitted necromantic spells to work, and he cast similar fields around the necropolis of Debukkher within that city as well. He used undead in his armies, which greatly disturbed most of his nobles, who feared his reckless powers.

He gained his largest collection of magical artifacts when he slew the silver dragon Rhimnasarl and carried off the great treasures from her lair.

Politically, it was his reign that saw the Calishar Emirates evolve into what would soon become Amn. He made a treaty with Dalagar of Andlath&mdash;or perhaps magically coerced him&mdash;to build a trade route from Ormath to Athkatla. He was also influential in the rise of the demihuman realms of Tathtar and Meiritin, which he sought to exploit to his own ends.

Relationships
Shoon IV was the grandson of Amahl Shoon V and the brother of Amahl Shoon VI. He had a single son, but that son married three separate times and produced many grandchildren for Shoon IV.

Shoon IV had a close relationship with the young Emyr, child heir of Tethyr, and the latter saw Shoon IV as a mentor.

History
Shoon IV was born in the Year of the Murmuring Dead, 183 DR. Only fifteen months after his brother became qysar, Shoon IV assassinated him by arranging for a poisonous scorpion to find its way into Amahl's bed. In this way, Shoon IV became the next emperor in the Year of the Greengrass, 205 DR.

For nearly twelve years, Shoon IV had attempted to dispel Tethyrian riots and terrorist activities in Ithmong and the villages between it and Shoonach. In 231 DR, the emperor finally lost his patience and unleashed a horde of zombies, skeletons, and wights upon the rebels, created from dead slaves and villagers of Tethyr. This Death Parade attacked on the night of Marpenoth 30 and decimated all known rebels. In the morning, the undead were returned to death, but the fear of incident lived on among the populace of Ithmong and its vicinity.

It was Shoon IV's intent to become a lich and rule in perpetuam. He sustained himself with magic until he had almost reached one hundred years of age. All of his heirs had mysteriously died off, with the exception of his great-grandaughter Muanaa yr Oma el Shoon. Shoon formally named her as his heir, even though she was a woman and this angered his advisers, but he never expected her to actually rule. She in fact did, however, because, despite his great magical power, his transformation to a lich failed, and he died in 281 DR. Muanaa took the name Shoon V and became the first empress of the Imperium.