Amahl Shoon VII

Qysar Amahl Shoon VII was the last emperor of the Shoon Imperium.

Personality
Amahl VII was a man remembered for his treacherousness and double-dealing. He had no sense of honor. Despite this, during his reign, he was believed to be sincere, so great was his talent for public speaking, a gift he inherited from his great-grandfather, Shoon VII.

Amahl was also a genius of military strategy; however, he had no magical talents and was both fearful and jealous of arcane power.

Activities
Amahl VII's entire reign was filled with military campaigns that were intended to reunify the fragmented empire that his grandmother had left him.

Amahl heavily taxed his empire, especially the churches, to such an extent that it was said that even the Church of Bane and the Church of Helm in the region of the Cloud Peaks were allied for a time against him.

Relationships
Born in 398 DR as Amahl yn Shaan yn Shoon, Amahl VII was the seventh grandson of Empress Shaani, the son of her last male child.

Amahl VII had many allies within the Qysaghanni, the Empire's imperial guard, and in the army, who assisted him in his rise to power.

History
Amahl yn Shaan yn Shoon was hidden away at Ankhapur from the time of his birth in 398 DR, and in that city, he grew to adulthood.

When his grandmother died in the Year of Violet Fungi, 427 DR, a bloody power struggle began in Shoonach, Calimport, and other major cities of the Imperium. Amahl, who by this time was a skilled military tactician, roused a fleet of war vessels from the cities of the Lake of Steam region and began a campaign of conquest. His "Arnaden Fleet" first removed the beholders from power in the region. He stopped at every port on the way to Calimshan and slaughtered all beholders and their cultists he could find. Because of these actions, beholder rule in the area ended by 430 DR.

After that, he sailed to Calimport and in the month of Mirtul took control of the city, which had been in disarray after numerous failed coups and conflagrations in under two months had left the city in shambles. Finally, he marched on Shoonach, and by Highharvestide, he had conquered the Shoonite capital and set himself up as the new emperor.

In the first year of his reign, Amahl Shoon VII began what would become known as the Mage Purges, a concerted effort to annihilate all users of arcane magic from his empire. Within two years, over 60,000 mages had been either executed or forced into exile. Every school of magic or arcane guildhouse was burned to the ground. More than 38,000 suspected wizards were slain, and over 44,000 people fled far to the north or east because of the purges.

During Amahl's reign, the region of the Shaar was under Shoonite control. In 436 and 437 DR, a series of uprisings against Shoon rule in that region led the qysar to send one of his most ruthless generals, Hakam el Sallah, along with seventeen ships full of troops, to reestablish control. This devastating campaign was later called the Seven Burnings, because seven cities in the region, including Sheirtalar and Kormul, were put to the torch.

Despite Amahl's best efforts, he simply could not hold the empire together. His extreme violence in ending revolts only led the people to greater rebellion. In the Year of Killin Ice Silvyr Ithal and his army of Tethyrian rebels marched on Ithmong and was offered the crown of Tethyr in surrender from puppet king Priam Tornamn. Silvyr next marched south to Shoonach. Amahl saw that the army of rebel Tethyrians was large enough to overcome the capital city, so he arranged a truce and an offer of single combat to decide the battle. Silvyr agreed to the terms.

On the Feast of the Moon, their duel took place in the Taraqin Arena. During the fight, Amahl cheated and poisoned his weapon, and Silvyr was slain. Immediately, the emperor ordered his troops to break the truce, and they devastated the unprepared Tethyrian army.

Silvyr's son, Prince Strohm vowed to avenge the traitorous death of his father. Despite being born with only his left arm, Strohm was a valiant fighter. He came up with a plan to bring an end to Amahl VII and the Imperium. During the celebrations in Shoonach over the victory over Tethyr, Strohm's troops secretly stole into the city and hid, while he remained outside the gates to guide the rest of his troops. On Hammer 30, Strohm's army surrounded the city from all four sides, while his hidden troops and freed slaves within emerged from the sewers. Strohm himself and his elven and human bodyguards, magically attacked the Imperial Mount. Just after midnight, on Midwinter, Amahl Shoon VI was slain in combat by Strohm, and the Shoonite Imperium was ended forever.