City of the Werecrocodiles

The City of the Werecrocodiles was a half-sunken settlement in the Adder Swamp of Chessenta. It was, unsurprisingly, populated mostly by werecrocodiles.

Description
It was constructed out of mud bricks, but was never fully completed. In the western part of the city, many structures lay half-built, surrounded by the remains additional building materials, and towers, pillars, and archways leaned precariously. Many of the buildings and walls were half-submerged and crumbling. Meanwhile, the eastern portion of the city was more complete, with short square buildings huddled together in a semblance of city blocks connected by muddy canals rather than streets. This area contained a great pyramid, from which the High Priest of Sebek ruled the city and where the werecrocodiles kept their treasures.

The city was large and sprawling, so much so that as of the mid–1370s DR, it was far larger than necessary to accommodate the werecrocodile and wererat communities living in it. The werecrocodiles lived in the northeast, mostly in the neighborhood surrounding the pyramid, while the wererats lived in the squalid south.

Geography
The city sat on a large island in the middle of the western fork of the Adder River where it met the coast of the Bay of Chessenta.

Government
The city was ruled by the High Priest of Sebek, the patron deity of crocodiles and werecrocodiles.

Defenses
The city's troops was better organized, wore heavier armor, and wielded better weapons than was common for werecrocodiles.

History
Werecrocodiles first arrived on the island after they were expelled from Sekras in Mulhorand during the, and they set about trying to recreate their home. To do so, they used the power of their god Sebek, as well as several potent magic items and spellbooks to expand the Adder Swamp and enslave a population of wererats who already lived in the area. The City of the Werecrocodiles was constantly in conflict with these wererats, and this escalated during the Time of Troubles in the, when Sebek went silent and the werecrocodiles' magic items failed. Seizing the opportunity, the wererats freed themselves from captivity, assassinated the High Priest of Sebek who ruled the city, and began a war that saw territory shifting back and forth between the werecrocodiles in the city's north and the wererats in the city's south.

After the end of the Time of Troubles and the return of Sebek's power to his priests, relations between the two groups of lycanthropes improved when an alliance was struck between the werecrocodile priests of Sebek and the wererat priests of Malar. This peace allowed the City to look outward, and by the late 1360s DR, it was trying to lay claim over not only the Adder Swamp but the whole Bay of Chessenta as well. The werecrocodiles went so far as to attempt to tax merchant vessels on the Bay, and to attack mercenary companies from Airspur, Soorenar, and Akanax.

As of the, the alliance between the werecrocodiles and wererats had fallen apart, and the two were once again at war. Soon, the city stood mostly empty, and the wererats were on the verge of starvation thanks to werecrocodile patrols in the river making it near impossible for the wererats to go forage or trade for supplies.

By the, the city's High Priest of Sebek, Lord Mulkammu, was desperate to figure out how to once again use the magic items and artifacts brought from Mulhorand by his ancestors, which the werecrocodiles had been unable to reactivate since the Time of Troubles. To assist them, Mulkammu sent his Royal Sorcerer, Kohtakah, to capture spellcasters, and he returned with a pair of wizards, Kestus Aentius and Muctos Dapritus, as well as a priestess of Loviatar, Ythnel Duumin. However, these humans managed to escape captivity when they sparked a battle between the werecrocodiles and wererats, allowing them to flee out to sea along with Kohtakah, who knew he would be killed in punishment for failing to stop them.

Following the Spellplague of the, and the expansion of the Adder Swamp, the werecrocodiles expanded their influence to create their own nation, called Sebakar. By the late 15 century DR, they had moved their capital to flooded and forgotten ruins which dated back to the time when Unther ruled Chessenta. Sebakar began trading with nearby human civilizations, and had finally subdued the wererats, over whom the werecrocodiles ruled like nobility.

Inhabitants
The werecrocodiles used skiffs to fish in the Bay of Chessenta, but also ate humans. The Cult of Sebek was prominent within the city.

Notable Inhabitants

 * Lord Mulkammu, the werecrocodile High Priest of Sebek as of 1374 DR.
 * Royal Sorcerer Kohtakah, a werecrocodile sorcerer who served Lord Mulkammu.
 * Shamshur, a werecrocodile patrol leader who served Lord Mulkammu.
 * Hanat, a werecrocodile soldier serving under Shamshur.
 * Torgyn, leader of the wererat resistance as of 1374 DR.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Maiden of Pain