Calimport

"&hellip;I care about Calimport as much as I care not to step on a viper. It is vile place of tangled intrigues miles thick that end up in the few profiting over the many.&hellip;"

- Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun, Archmage of Waterdeep

Calimport was the sprawling capital city of the country of Calimshan. For most of its existence, it was by far the largest city in all of Faerûn. It was the long-time home of the assassin Artemis Entreri, known for his longstanding feud with Drizzt Do'Urden.

Geography
Calimport was between the Calim Desert to the north and the Shining Sea to the south. It rested at the mouth of the Calim River at the very southern end of the Trade Way.

The metropolis was a huge place, measuring almost six miles from east to west and three miles from the coastline to the northern border.

Organization
Calimport was built using the "drudach system", an interlocking series of small brick-walled neighborhoods. All drudachs were organized into groups of two to five, called sabbans, which in turn were grouped into wards. Calimport was subdivided into 17 wards, 53 sabbans, and 166 drudachs.

Daunting as it may seem for a foreigner, most locals rarely abandoned their home sabbans. Each sabban was a walled zone averaging 215 acres and 3,600 inhabitants, and worked as an self-sufficient town&mdash;it has its own water supplies, guards, markets, residences, and so on.

Government
Calimshan was ruled by Syl-Pasha Ralan el Pesarkhal, who resided in Calimport. The Syl-Pasha responded to no religion or council; he was the supreme ruler. Immediately below the Syl-Pasha were the Sultans, the princes who ruled over the wards. The ruler of a sabban was called a Sabbalad, and each drudach was directed by a Druzir, the bottom of Calimport's pyramidal administration.

Calimport's domestic security forces were the amlakkar, the city watch, who were entitled to arrest any individual who breaks the law or to interrogate suspects. A typical amlak carried a scimitar and a buckler and wore studded leather armor. Given the rich local tradition in arcane magic, it was not surprising to find wizards among the ranks of the amlakkar. Most wielded scimitars as well as standard guards and used scrolls of dispel magic and web, sleep bolts, and even wands of ray of enfeeblement.

Justice
The city owed its legal system to the church of Tyr and its judges. There were two levels in the legal system: Viziers, whose jurisdictions cover entire wards, and the Magistrates, who worked inside the sabbans. Tyr's influence was obvious, given the presence of at least one acolyte of the Just God in each courthouse.

Trade
Memnon and Manshaka were close trading partners; Manshaka by sea and Memnon by caravan. Sometimes the local traders made runs that went as far as Luskan.

History
Calimshan was an ancient empire with a history that spanned more than nine millennia and was categorized by sages into 15 periods.

The First Era of Skyfire
In -7800 DR, the noble Djinni Lord, Calim, and his human and halfling slaves arrived in Calimshan, in the area where Calimport would later be founded, and formed the Calim Empire. The slaves built Calimport and were the first inhabitants of the city, forming the culture of Lord Calim. After a flight of dragons leveled Calimport for the first time in its history, Calim went to war by sending them north of the Marching Mountains. After rebuilding Calimport, Calim began a second war against the Marid rogues who had entered the Calim Empire. Calim ultimately sank the Marid city of Ajhuutal into the sea. After claiming the land south of the River Agis, Calim negotiated the borders of his kingdom with elves and dwarves.

Calim led the Calim Empire into conflict once again upon the arrival of Lord Memnon, an Efreeti who founded Memnonnar north of the River Agis. This era was known as the First Era of Skyfire, beginning in -6500 DR, as Calim represented the sky and Lord Memnon represented fire. During this time, various cities were formed in the Calim Empire and decimated, though many survived the war. The magic of the elves living in Calimshan brought the First Era to an end by using their magic to disembody Calim and Lord Memnon and have their elemental essences bonded to air and earth. It was at this time that the essences of both Calim and Memnon formed the Calim Desert.

Hostile Takeovers
With Calim gone, the humans and the dwarves rebelled against the last of the Djinn in Calimshan and in -6060 DR ousted the last of the djinn from Calim's realm. While the dwarves founded High Shanatar, the humans once again rebuilt Calimport. In -1839 DR, the Red Dragon Ylveraasahilisar conquered the human Calim Empire, and the dwarven presence was later wiped out by Duergar. The humans rebelled once again by slaying the dragon in -1726 DR. Human nobles then began hunting elves 26 years later. Relative peace lasted for about three hundred years when another hostile takeover of Calimshan was staged by Beholder kin, who went on to successfully conquer it. By -1050 DR, the Beholder troubled the Calim Empire no longer, but Drow from the Underdark invaded, resulting in The Night Wars. The drow battled against the human clerics ruling the city until the ruler of Calimport, the Syl-Pasha, signed a truce with a Matron Mother following the destruction of the Caliph's Palace. This led to Calimport being known as the City of Rogues during the following Imperial Plague.

The Shoon Empire saw the peak of Calishite civilization, more than a thousand years ago. The capital was moved to Shoonach, and Calimport became an almost-deserted city. The undercity (nicknamed Muzad) generated by dozens of fires and collapses, became more powerful than ever during this time. After three centuries, the Qysar burned most of the Muzad before moving back to Calimport.

During this time, the Syl-Pashas of Calimport were the Shoon family. The Shoons were cruel Pashas who cared little for the people and were far worse than the Djinn led by Calim. The Murabirs led a revolution against the Shoon Family, abolished slavery and changed the capitol of the Calim Empire to Manshaka. Various tragedies happened following the Murabirs' takeover, including the Moon Plague, which in turn allowed for a group of liches who founded the Twisted Rune to manipulate the Murabirs.

Pre-Spellplague
Following the various hostile takeovers by dragons, beholders and liches, a larger threat presented itself, the Black Horde. In 1018 DR, Calimport was weakened by Sapphiraktar the Blue who weakened the Calishite Army, allowing it to succumb to the invasion of the Black Horde in 1235 DR. The Black Horde conquered Calimshan, as well as most of the western realms, before the combined forces of Waterdeep, Silverymoon and Baldur's Gate drove off the horde. This event was responsible for the disintegration of the Calim Empire, as Calimport, Memnon and Almraiven became independent city-states. Although Calimport encountered one last goblin war, the time of hostile take-overs was over, and the only threats to the city were invading drow from the Forest of Mir. In the time leading up to the Spellplague, Calimport was ruled by various Thieves' Guilds, the two most prominent being those of Pasha Pook and Pasha Basadoni, both of whom had employed Artemis Entreri.

Second Era of Skyfire
When Calim was freed from his imprisonment, so too was Lord Memnon. This led to Calim retaking Calimport, while Lord Memnon would take the self-titled Memnon. In Calimport, the windsoul genasi took over and made all other races&mdash;including humans&mdash;slaves, forcing them to participate in gladiatorial games. Led by Marod el Arhapan, the windsoul genasi pledged themselves to the djinn. This led the djinn to view the genasi as children; the earthsoul genasi formed the low caste of the genasi hierarchy, and the firesoul genasi became outlaws for pledging themselves to Lord Memnon.

Rise of the Genasi
In 1450 DR the Second Era of Skyfire came to a close with both Calim and Lord Memnon disappearing, but the Djinn of Calimport wished to bring Calim back to Calimport in order to invade both Memnon and Almraiven. The Djinni Shahrokh took over as the vizier to Pasha Marod el Araphan. Marod began looking for his son, Cephas, in a plan hatched by Shahrokh to bring Calim back to the Prime Material Plane to start the Third Era of Skyfire. Cephas killed Marod, bringing an end to Shahrokh's plans. Shahrokh, however, began looking for a book that would free Calim. Sharokh's search for the book is currently ongoing, and it is unclear as of now if he has succeeded, failed or is still looking.

People
"Calimport? It&rsquo;s like a grand card game in which everyone holds aces in their sleeves, everyone knows everyone else&rsquo;s hand, and yet the final throw-down&rsquo;s always up for grabs. In a lot of ways, it&rsquo;s not who wins but how you play the game. Heckuva place it is, guv&rsquo;nor, but only go there if you&rsquo;ve got a golem watching your back."

- Foxilon Cardluck, first mate of the Realmsmaster

Nine out of ten inhabitants of the capital were humans. Other common races were halflings and half-orcs. The remaining 2% of the populace was a mixture of dwarves, elves, gnomes, and exotic races.

Most humans had Calishite blood, descendants of the slaves brought from another realm by the Djinni Lord Calim during the foundation of the empire. A typical Calishite human was shorter and slimmer than Northerners, with darker skin, hair, and eyes. Corrupt and lazy to the eyes of Northerners people, the Calishites strive for only a luxurious life. Other ethnicities included Tethyrian and Chultan humans. The Tethyrians were more open to other groups than Calishites. Regrettably, most Chultans were cheap slaves kidnapped from the jungles of the south.

Local halflings were worldly and prone to laziness, gathering in like-minded groups and absorbing some of the local Calishite values. The highest concentration of halflings could be found in the Dock Ward surrounding the Copper Ante gaming house and inn.

Half-orcs enjoyed a better treatment here than in other realms -- they were considered low class, nothing more, nothing less. Few half-orcs adopted the Calishite way of life, instead focusing on physical jobs or criminal activities.

Religion
Calimport was truly a polytheistic society. There were temples to gods of light and darkness, life and murder, freedom and tyranny, magic and war -- just ask directions from the right people. The most prominent religions were those of Azuth, Bhaelros (Talos), Ilmater, Savras, Shar, Sharess, Siamorphe, Tyr, Umberlee, and Waukeen.

Notable places
"&hellip;Now, as I&rsquo;m sure Khelben pedantically represented Calimport as a vile place, I&rsquo;ll shock him and agree to that. That said, it is a better place for business [than Waterdeep] if one is more inclined to fear lost coin over a little danger or a few limiting scruples.&hellip;"

- Sammereza Sulphontis, secret Lord of Waterdeep and former Calimpanni

Bead stands, harems and taverns lined the streets, but as usual there was always a top provider of both.

Quarters

 * Temple and Learning Quarter: Located in the western part of the city and containing the Plaza of Divine Truth.
 * Market Quarter: Located in the center of the city.
 * Dock Quarter: Located south of the Market Quarter and comprising the southern part of the city.
 * Craft Quarter: Located east of the Market Quarter.

Taverns and inns

 * Mystic Tavern: This establishment had an opium den in the back.
 * Glistening Harem: The place had a wondrous bath house.
 * Tomnoddy's Inn: An inn located along the Trade Way in northern Calimport.
 * Coiled Snake : An inexpensive inn located in the north of the Dock Quarter. Like many other Calimport inns, the rooms were hot, tiny, noisy, and infected with insects and rodents.
 * Spitting Camel : Located off of Rogue's Circle near Pasha Pook's Palace. This inn was safe and reasonably priced and was run by a nervous man.
 * Copper Ante: An gambling hall, festhall, and pipeweed den catering mainly to halflings and run by Dwahvel Tiggerwillies. The establishment was particularly known for its Thayan brown pipeweed and beautiful halfling ladies. Dwahvel prided herself on keeping her place as private as possible, using magical wards to prevent unwanted audiences.

Temples

 * Temple of Old Night: Located beneath eastern Calimport, this subterranean complex was the oldest and proudest Sharran temple in Faerûn.

Streets

 * Rogues' Circle: A cul-de-sac north of Pasha Pook's palace in the Market Quarter. Many iron grates that led into the sewers lined the street.
 * Avenue Paradiso: A street in the Dock Ward near the Copper Ante known for its black market, which specialized in pipeweed, stolen goods, and temporary companionship.
 * Trade Way: The end of the the trade road running from Calimport all the way to Waterdeep. The road made it's way through the middle of the city and ended at the harbor.

Guildhouses

 * Pasha Pook's Palace: Home to Pasha Pook, located near the Spitting Camel. This residence appeared to be a plain brown storehouse guarded by men dressed as beggars, but the interior reveals the great wealth of Pasha Pook. A harem and the "Cells of Nine" torture chamber (eight cells housing hungry, wild lions and tigers around a single prison cell with just enough room for a prisoner to stand without being mauled) were some of the excesses of the palace.
 * Pasha Basadoni's House: Located in the northern Market Quarter. Later used as a front for Bregan D'aerthe.

Other

 * Harbor: The harbor formed the city's southern border and was cut off from the Shining Sea by several sea walls and was cut off from the city by wall. The shipyard was located on the eastern edge of the docks. The armada and armada barracks were located on the western edge of the docks.
 * Pasha's Palace: Located at the western edge of the city between the armada and Plaza of Divine Truth in the Temple and Learning Quarter.

Notable inhabitants

 * Artemis Entreri, master assassin
 * Pasha Pook, head of a thieves' guild
 * Pasha Basadoni, head of House Basadoni
 * Dwahvel Tiggerwillies, proprieter of the Copper Ante
 * Dondon Tiggerwillies, wererat locked in the Copper Ante
 * Rassiter, leader of the wererats
 * Sharlotta Vespers, former lieutenant of House Basadoni and lieutenant of Bregan D'aerthe in Calimport

Novels

 * Sandstorm
 * The Halfling's Gem
 * The Silent Blade
 * Servant of the Shard
 * Road of the Patriarch