Thallastam

Thallastam was a human man of the Vast, a famous expert in magical swords, a practitioner of the Sublime Way and a Jade Phoenix Mage.

History
Thallastam hailed from the city of Procampur in the Vast In his youth, he visited Kara-Tur and studied there for a while before returning to his homeland.

There he founded the Nine Swords Company, consisting of ten blade magicians: four crusaders; five warblades; and himself, a swordsage. They adventured through the Vast, performing good deeds and slaying dangerous monsters. When they eventually disbanded, Thallastam concealed his companions' nine swords in Swords Pool using a spell he'd cast, to protect and preserve them.

He returned to Procampur and became a famous sage, specializing in magical swords. He amassed a collection of blades. Therefore, a peddler from a neighboring town sold Thallastam a certain unidentified sword for 1500 gold pieces. In the Year of the Zealous, 550 DR, Thallastam set out and took the sword to a fellow sage and expert in swords, and the only person that he could trust with his find, Elminster of Shadowdale. Elminster identified the blade as Ilbratha, the "Mistress of Battles", the lost sword of King Azoun I of Cormyr.

Thallastam left Shadowdale to return to Procampur with Ilbratha, traveling via Tilver's Gap and Essembra in Battledale. But he disappeared on the way, never reaching Procampur and not seen alive again. Several years later, Battledale's Pool of Yeven was dragged and turned up Thallastam's skeleton, staff and ruined diary, though Ilbratha could not be found. Elminster believed that the sword fell into the hands of bandits or mercenaries, but it was in fact later in the possession of a merrow chieftain, Tarag, in 582 DR.


 * The background to the Jade Phoenix Mage prestige class in Tome of Battle describes them as endlessly reincarnated guardians. However, this does not appear in the Realms in Class Chronicles: Crusaders, Swordsages, Warblades, so Thallastam was likely not reincarnated.

Legacy
Several pieces from Thallastam's blade collection were never found, and by 1358 DR were rumored to still be hidden in Procampur. His spell at Swords Pool outlived him and his companions, and still preserved their nine swords by 1370 DR. His Nine Swords Company was later reformed in the 1370s DR at Swords Pool.

Skills
Thallastam was a wizard and a swordsage practitioner of the Sublime Way, who in his life attained the full powers of a Jade Phoenix Mage. He preferred unarmed combat but was also a sage and an expert in magical swords.