Shoon V

Shoon V was the first empress of the Shoon Imperium and the first woman to directly rule over either Calimshan or Tethyr.

Description
Shoon V was a skilled and capable ruler, despite how the nobles looked down on her for being a woman.

She had an intense fear of undead.

Possessions
Because of her phobia of undead, Shoon V commissioned the creation of the Dual Ring of Velsharoon's Bindings. This was two rings&mdash;one worn on the index finger, the other on the little finger&mdash;connected by a fine chain. It protected her against undead and spells from the school of necromancy.

Activities
Shoon V lessened the role of wizards in the Empire from the status they held during the reign of her great-grandfather, Shoon IV. She enhanced the power and size of the military, especially the Farisans and the Sadimmin. She also increased the size of the Qysaghanni, the royal guard.

Her efforts expanding the Imperium to include the lands of the Shaar as far as the Landrise, and she took control of lands on the Chultan Peninsula as well, taking the lands of the Tashalar and Thindol. She had demanded that each of the Cities of the Seabreeze garrison a legion of her troops. When the Lapaliiyan city of Untisczer refused in an uprising, her troops, in a terrifying display of power, destroyed the city in 285 DR. This was the start of her Tashalar Campaigns, which she had been planning all along.

She attempted to colonize the Nelanther Isles as well, but this project failed for no fault of her own; her leaders simply did not like the climate of the islands.

Relationships
Shoon V was the first great-granddaughter and only surviving heir of Shoon IV.

She bore seven children, four sons and three daughters. Only three of her children survived to adulthood; the rest were slain by either disease or assassination.

Her fourth son was named Kahlar. He was born in 273 DR and was the son of Jahar el Tavarn. Kahlar would go on to become Shoon VI after her death. He was very sick as a child, and fearing for his life, she sent him into the north to be raised by friends and trained as a wizard.

Her second daughter and sixth child was named Nada. Nada was married off to King Karaj Tiiraklar II of Tethyr. She never bore any children.

Shoon V's last child was a daughter named Selara. Selara married Nadim el Jhotos, who was the Caleph Arcane of Almraiven. They gave Shoon V twelve grandchildren together. Their son Kodos would later become the infamous Shoon VII.

History
Shoon V was born in 250 DR with the name Munaa yr Oma el Shoon. Lady Munaa was named sole heir of Shoon IV, against the complaints of his vizars, who were offended by the idea of a woman as ruler of the Imperium. Shoon IV, however, did not select her out of respect for her talents but rather as a formality, for he planned to enter lichdom and live and rule forever.

His plan failed. He died in 281 DR, when he attempted the transformation to undeath, and Lady Munaa became empress, taking on the name Shoon V.

In 290 DR, a plague fell upon the city of Almraiven. The Empress blamed the peaceful aranea of the Spider Swamp and sent her military to destroy them. Some of the survivors, with few options left, summoned a demon lord Zanassu from the Abyss to aid them. Within two years, Zanassu led his new followers to attack Shoonach itself. Shoon V, however, was protected by her guards and a supply of magical defenses, and Zanassu was banished again to the Abyss. While Zanassu had been defeated, the remaining aranea managed to hide themselves away deeper in the Swamp, and the racial cleansing against them was eventually abandoned.

When she was 50 years old, Shoon V came down with a deadly fever. She immediately summoned her son from the northern lands, and Kahlar was escorted by the Qysaghanni to be by her side when she died.