Szass Tam

"Where others see misfortune, I see only opportunity."

- Zulkir Szass Tam

Szass Tam was a powerful lich and a member of a group of eight Zulkirs who ruled the country of Thay. He was the Zulkir of Necromancy and commanded the Legion of Bone, a huge legion of undead soldiers, led by his vampire and lich generals. Szass Tam was the ruler of Thaymount.

Description
Szass Tam was tall, his face had fine-boned, intellectual features with dark eyes and a wispy black beard. He wore a vermilion robe with voluminous sleeves trimmed with gems and gold. He was gaunt and pale, but only his withered hands and the hint of dry rot occasionaly wafting from his person truly attested to his lichdom. He often had an ebony staff with him. During the Spellplague, Szass' undead nature was apparent to every onlooker since the chaos rendered his magical powers close to useless thus hindering the lich from altering his burned and ruined appearance.

Personality
Like other Red Wizards, Szass Tam prefered to remain unseen, working through lackeys and servitor creatures (including vast armies of undead) while he plotted and schemed. His undeath gave him patience. He was quite prepared to abandon servants and attempts that fail, and simply try again later in a better way. Those who met him (or seemingly real magical images of himself that he creates and sends far across Faerûn) discovered Szass Tam to be calm, cultured, and even pleasant. Tam is polite but blunt, and he could be plunged instantly into cold, controlled rage by insolence or deliberate defiance. On the other hand, he seemed to admire those who cross or foil him by cleverness, as long as they treated him politely. He was always spinning more simultaneous intrigues than most Faerûnians have years in their lives, seemed content to view existence as a great game, with plots and schemes as the playing pieces-or, if you prefer, weapons. In The Crimson Gold, Tam shows a desire to find someone worthy of sharing lichdom with him.

Possessions

 * Death Moon Orb - Destroyed in 1385 DR
 * Thakorsil's Seat
 * The Tome of Blasphemous Magic - Loaned to Arvik Zaltos during the Second Sundering.
 * Various Staves of Magic

Activities
Szass Tam was the Zulkir of Necromancy in Thay, its most influential Red Wizard, and—observers said—the true ruler of Thay. A lich for the last two hundred-odd years, Szass Tam achieved his present power through great arrogance, the skills and preparation to back up his overwhelming ambitions, and the brilliant schemes of one of the most cunning and intelligent beings in all Faerûn.

Relationships
Szass Tam had a deal with Larloch, searching for ancient magic items and artifacts for him in exchange for some of Larloch's.

Even though Szaas Tam had dozens of attendants over the years, one - Charmaine served the lich for decades (by 1364 DR) in exchange for food and a promise of immortality later granted. Szass appreciated a loyal servant and was looking forward to making her his loyal servant forever.

History
Szass Tam was born in 1104 DR. In 1157 DR Szass Tam led a group of Red Wizards to slay Nyressa Flass, the Zulkir of necromancy. Afterward, Szass Tam was named the successor to the Zulkir of necromancy. In 1159 DR Szass Tam became a lich after an abortive invasion of Rashemen.

At some point, Tam inherited his favorite polished, enchanted, several hundred years old crystal ball that belonged to his mentor, after the litch killed him. Szass Tam increased his arcane powers after wresting all sorts of arcane devices, elixirs, and books from his dead teacher.

In 1201 DR Szass Tam slew the Zulkir of illusion, Nymor Thrul after a failed invasion of Aglarond. Szass Tam slew the Harper King, but was defeated himself by Elminster Aumar in 1222 DR. In 1359 DR Szass Tam allied Thay with the Tuigan horde. Working through Harper agents, Szass Tam defeated Maligor Zulkir of Alteration. In 1367 DR Szass Tam released the demon lord Eltab that destroys much of Eltabbar. Szass Tam unleashed a horde of undead to attack Aglarond, but failed to breach the Watchwall. In 1373 DR Szass Tam aided Thazienne Uskevren to release Eltab.

In 1375 DR, Szass caused the murders of the Zulkirs Druxus Rhym and Aznar Thrul and betrayed a Thayan army under the command of tharchions Azhir Kren and Homen Odesseiron to the Rashemi to create a climate of fear within the Thayan population. He hindered the proper investigation of the murders and solved these issues by himself. He thus tried to convince the nobles, legions and common people that he was the only one who can deal with these problems, in order to get him elected supreme ruler of Thay. When Dmitra Flass rallies the Zulkirs originally loyal to him to stand against his aspirations, Szass decided to achieve rulership by force and declared war to all opposing Zulkirs. When Dmitra's council achieved a great victory against his undead army at the Keep of Thazar, Szass called upon the united armies of Gauros and Surthay to march south toward the great city of Bezantur.

By 1377 DR Szass had established his seat of power at Thaymount by evicting his enemies from their estates on the plateau. Some of the zulkirs changed sides a couple times during the war and ended up as Szass Tam's allies. One of them was the diviner Yaphyll. After realizing that the lich's Thay would be comprised of the undead, she decided to switch sides again in favor of the council of Zulkirs. . As a result Szass took her prisoner in 1385 DR, binding her with the Death moon orb and Thakorsil's Seat, powerful artifacts of domination. He forced Yaphyll to perform the most powerful divination known to her order no matter the consequences to her own well-being, and to tell him how to arrange for a decisive victory over the other Zulkirs. She performed the task and told Szass to lay a trap at the Keep of Sorrows. Then she left him with another vision:

""The white queen is troubled but can't say why. The black queen hates the white and gives the assassin a black coat. The assassin steals upon the white queen. She can't see him gliding through the shadows. The sword screams. The white queen falls. Her city falls. Stones fall in the cavern to crush the soothsayer. The tree burns and thrashes in agony. Branches break. Branches twist and grow together...""

- Yaphyll's vision

At the end of the vision Yaphyll was surrounded by a blue flame and broke free of Szass Tam's power. The lich killed her with his poisonous touch trying to regain control over the diviner. Later it became apparent that Yaphyll saw what became known as the Spellplague, the blue flames being a result of the event. As Yaphyll predicted, the fight at the Keep of Sorrows turned into Szass Tam's favor. With the help of the Death Moon Orb, Szass tried to coerce his former ally Dmitra Flass into fighting for his side. But then the Spellplague hit. The Death Moon Orb exploded in Szass Tam's hand, freeing Dmitra of its power. Szass was hit by a wave of azure fire, a result of the Spellplague, rendering his magic close to useless and burning the flesh from his face and hands. The lich fled from the scene with the help of Xingax.

By revealing to Malark Springhill why he killed Druxus Rhym, the lich convinced the spymaster to switch sides and work for him and his greater cause henceforth.

In order to learn more about the ways of magic in the time of the spellplague Szass summoned Bane, sacrificing the tharchion Pyras Autorian in the ritual. Bane made a bargain with the lich: he would reveal to Szass his knowledge about the chaotic magic, grant the lich the ability to raise more dead for his cause and augment the lich's powers. Szass in turn agreed to surrender his soul after 1000 years had passed when his quest of conquering Thay was completed. Szass knew that the mystical strength lent to him by Bane would gradually fade so he choose to exploit it immediately.

When it came to another fight at the Keep of Sorrows, Szass summoned a dream vestige to turn the tide in his favor. He succeeded in beating the legions of the zulkirs, chasing them all the way to Bezantur. His undead legions and loyal priests of Bane further forced the zulkirs to leave the town aboard vessels. Szass summoned the bodies of drowned men and also undead aquatic beasts for a final and lethal victory over the zulkirs. Accompanied by a fleet of warships made from darkness, Szass followed the fleeing zulkirs, entangling them in a marine war. His enemies and Nevron's conjured denizens of the infernal oceans proved quite adept at sea fight, beating back his undead minions. Szass conjured the dream vestige again, finally exhausting his magical powers bestowed by Bane. When Bareris defeated the dream vestige and the zulkir's forces beat Szass Tam's minions, the lich and Malark withdrew to the Thaymount, the lich being content with his conquered lands.

Szass didn't bother chasing the remaining zulkirs any more, leaving Alaor and the Wizard's Reach to them not fearing any retribution by the depleted zulkir's forces. He revealed to Malark that he found a book once in possession of Fastrin the Delver.

Appearances

 * Red Magic (1991)
 * Crusade (1991), minor appearance
 * "Red Ambition", from Realms of Magic (1995)
 * The Crimson Gold (2003)
 * Unclean (2007)
 * Undead (2008)
 * Unholy (2009)
 * "Pieces", from Realms of the Dead (2010)
 * Gauntlgrym (2010)
 * Neverwinter (2011)
 * Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition (2013)
 * The Adversary (mentioned only) (2013)
 * Rise of Tiamat (mentioned only) (2014)
 * Tales from the Yawning Portal (mentioned only) (2017)

Externals links

 * Perilous Gateways: Portals of Thay - The Undeath Portal, a free web supplement by Robert Wiese (2002).