Tome of the Unicorn

The Tome of the Unicorn is a large book. It is 2 feet broad, 3 feet high and more than 4 inches thick. The pages of the Tome are polished plates of electrum and a casual observer might think that they are blank. If the observer concentrates on the Tome, the contents will show, written in Thorass and they will be visible for some time.

History of the Tome
Legends claim that the Tome of the Unicorn was once made by the mage-king of Iltkazar. His Majesty, the most-Mighty Emperor Shoon VII of the Shoon Empire created the book. It is also said that the book contains many unique spells, including means to create a permanent gate between planes of existence, the means to construct golem armies, and necromantic spells that could animate and control whole graveyards of undead soldiers.

It gained its name from its gruel construction. To finish it and preserve its final enchantments, Shoon bathed the metal book plates in the blood of 12 slaughtered unicorns in the Year of Mourning Horns. He had to destroy an elven tribe, who guarded the unicorns, so that both evil acts bröught him the eternal enmity of elves and druids across Faerûn.

Twelve years later, in the Year of Shying Eyes, Shoon faked his own death. Without distractions of ruling his empire, he achieved lichdom three years later. He planned to rule his empire from behind the throne. To the blessing of the Realms, his attention to his magic and lack of attention to his empire during his lifetime, and his daughters and great-grandson s poor management skills, helped usher in the empires collapse only 33 years after his death. But Shoon had still his sectrets and safeholds of his empire and kept his Tome with him, to prevent losing it the Iryklathagra, the blue dragon, who stole his unicorn-horn Staff a century before.

It is not much known abput the wherabouts of the Tome during the next 700 years. Elven historians assumed that Shoon fled to safeholds in the ruins of Deep Shanatar or his dungeons beneath the Imperial Mount of Shoonach. At some point during that time his form degenerated into a demilich. His skull remained but was now imprisoned within the last page of the Tome of the Unicorn. Whether Shoon was the engineer of this fate or he was confined there by an enemy is unknown.

In the Year of the Skulk the Tome was seen in Baldur's Gate, where it was in the possession of Bhaernom Khreyt, an expert on the Shoon Empire. But his ship the Wave Wizardess, sank with the loss of all hands on its way to the Moonshaes later that year. The book turned up in royal hands of Ruathym in the Year of Azure Blood. It remained there, until it was stolen in the Year of the Prince by Shond Tharovin. He managed to speak with the demilich and made a pact with him. In exchange for the souls of seven people to be consumed by Shoon, the lich would tell him of the location fo the Living Gem. Shond arranged a waylaid for a caravan through the Cloud Peaks and the elf Zallanora Argentresses was with them. Shoon was released from the Tome and began to feed upon the souls. As he advanced on Zallanora, the Time of Troubles began warping magic in mysterious ways. The two beings switched spirits. Shoon got the body of the elf and was freed from imprisonement and Zallanora became the skull.