Mulmaster

Mulmaster, also known as the City of Danger, was an independent city-state found in the harsh Moonsea region of north Faerûn. While Mulmaster controlled no land beyond its city walls for much of its history, it remained an indominable fortress extolling imperialist ideals, standing among the greatest powers that imposed its will over the surrounding settlements and city-states.

"This is Mulmaster, a city of the Moonsea North. Look upon it, and know just how wretched human greed can be. This is a city driven by the lust for power and the greed for gold. Is it not splendid? Is it not matchless?"

- Excerpt from The View From Sember Heights.

Description
Mulmaster exemplified the worst consequences that arose when merciless commercial enterprise and unchecked greed took hold throughout a populace. It was a corrupt, crime-ridden place that was just as unpleasant to walk through – due to the sickening smell of rotting fish and molten slag – as it was to try and eke out a life for oneself.

Built within the depression formed by an arc of overbearing peaks, the city's buildings and winding streets to be built on a slant down towards the harbor. The buildings nearest the docks were the most dilapidated and dangerous, full of poverty and rife with crime. Further up towards the city's walls were the more affluent areas of the city, set along the mountainside, imposing their will over the rest of Mulmaster.

Even the seabed of the harbor was demonstrative of the corruption that gripped on Mulmaster, as it was literally an underwater boneyard for all those that dared cross the ruling High Blade.

Weather
Like other cities in the region, Mulmaster had to endure the harsh and unforgiving climate that permeated the Moonsea. It was a city besieged on all sides, by the freezing winds that came down from the surrounding mountain slopes and icy gale storms that buffeted its walls from the Moonsea lake.

Geography
The city of Mulmaster located in the rugged area west of the Earthspur and Galena Mountains in the eastern part of the Moonsea region, nestled within Mulmaster Bay in the southeast of the Moonsea lake. The lands surrounding Mulmaster were treacherous to cross and boasted many dangers to its inhabitants. The majority of the land traffic through Mulmaster came from the south, intersecting with Cormanthor, The Vast and the eastern region of the Dragon Reach.

With the exception of Ironfang Keep, there were few settlements near Mulmaster in the eastern Moonsea.

Geographical Features
Deep beneath Mulmaster were a series of dwarven-dug tunnels referred to as the Lost Ways, an area of the ancient realm of Sarphil.

Flora & Fauna
Mulmaster was surrounded by a barren, rocky landscape. There was no significant plant life around the city, nor parks or even trees within its walls.

Government
Governance of Mulmaster was carried out by a ruling council of sixteen individuals known as the Blades, also known as the Council of Blades, led by ruling High Blade. Throughout the city's history, the High Blade threatened or otherwise coerced the other members of the council, along with the Mulmasterite nobility into supporting the High Blades goals and wishes. Entrance into the Blades required a confirmation vote by a majority of the council's members.

Law & Order
As of the mid–14 century DR, theives' guilds were permitted to operate within the walls of Mulmaster. Those criminals that began to garner too much renown or accumulated wealth were readily hunted down by agents of the Blades. Despite this fact, or perhaps because of it, crime and lawlessness became pervasive throughout Mulmaster for much the 15 century. (AL1?)

Society
"Fear and loyalty are the same word."

- Common saying in Mulmaster's taverns.

Mulmasterites, or Mulman, as people from the city were known, could perhaps best be described as stubbornly willful, determined to accomplish that to which they set out or give up their life in the process. The were exceptionally competitive, opportunistic, and by and large exhibited one of the finest virtues of those that sought out commercial, industrial and political success in life: patience.

While they strived for success within in their own city, Mulmasterites were particularly antagonistic towards outsiders.

Nobility
Members of the 49 noble houses of Mulmaster were called Zor for men, and Zora for women. The head of a noble house, regardless of gender, was a referred to as Lord. While nobility was acquired through a combination of familial wealth and length of time spent living in the city, each conference had to be approved by a vote behind closed doors, taken by a select few members of the city's most elite citizens.

Politics
While city of Mulmaster was firmly entrenched in the politics of the Moonsea, they were widely distrusted for years due to their apparent unwillingness to hold true to their political treaties and constant expansionist mindset.

The city maintained an embassy in the city of Ravens Bluff.

Economy
"This is a city where everybody stiffs everybody else."

- A local tavernmaster on commerce in the city.

Mulmaster suffered from a tremendous gap in wealth inequality. The powerful nobles hoarded nearly all of the city's wealth offering little else to the city's commoners. Despite the disparity, the Mulmaster's nobility as well as its temples each had to a pay a tax of 100 gp. A 10 gp tax was imposed on each sponsored caravan, while ships were levied double that fee. The nearly 100,000 individuals employed by the 10,000 Mulmasterite merchants each paid a 6 sp "head tax" every year to continue to work, lest they no longer have a head with which to be taxed.

Religion
By the late 15 century DR, the church of Bane had become the dominant faith in the city, as its clergy offered their backing to Mulmasterite nobility.

While Mulmaster historically beat down and tormented devotees of the deity Ilmater, the city was one of only a handful in the Realms that tolerated the open worship of Shar.

Festivals & Holidays
In Mulmaster, the festival of Highharvestide was "celebrated" as "he Revel of the Reckoning, the day when each individual paid their taxes to the city. As an act of "gratitude", the High Blade hosted a grand feast for the citizenry, albeit using the funds that were just collected.

Fashion
Mulmasterites tended to wear leggings and breeches made of leather, along with heavy gauntlets, fur-lined cloaks and caps, to combat the frigid weather that permeated the city. On particularly cold winter days, they would wrap their bodies in fur aprons known as maliskers.

Food & Drink
Drinks that warmed the body and dulled the senses were each popular among the Mulmasterite populace, fares including blackbark tea, beer, heated spiced cider, along with fortified wines.

Trade
Considering the city was originally founded as a fortified trading post, commerce governed the lives of the Mulmasterite people. The city exported armor, weaponry, ships and interestingly enough jewelry to outsider towns and cities, whiling importing food, liquor, cloth and items of luxury for its own people.

Mulmaster fed its citizens by and large through the efforts of its large fishing fleet and were offered protection from its navy.

Defenses
The Blades commanded the armed forces, numbering about 6,000 well-trained soldiers circa the mid–14 century DR. These soldiers were recruited from among the Mulmaster's native population for service lasting at least six years, provided with excellent weaponry, training, and given exceptional pay compared to what could be earned by the city's commoners. Unlike those in some other cities, Mulmaster's citizens seldom if-ever grew lackadaisical or complacent.

All the branches of Mulmaster's armed forces were commanded by the city's eight Battlemasters. One each of these generals directed armed patrols outside the city, took command of the state's navy on the Moonsea lake, and oversaw protection of the city's trade caravans and dedicated bodyguards. The Watchmaster of the City served as the head of Mulmaster's city guard, while the Hawkmaster directed the activities of the city's information gathering organization. The final three Battlemasters served as seconds to the more senior of Mulmaster's generals.

When the goals of the High Blade or the rest of the council could not be achieved by means of force, they relied on the secret group known as the Hawks. This clandestine organization comprised a select group of spies, assassins, and saboteurs that traveled all across the Realms to help ascend Mulmaster's standing in the world.

Magic was heavily regulated within Mulmaster, as all native spellcasters of certain power were required to join the city's official mage's guild, the Brotherhood of the Cloak. These mages and other practitioners of the Art were pressed into service as social overseers, using invasive magic to look into the minds of every day citizens to ensure their devotion to the city's ruling powers. Each of the Cloaks, as they were individually known, reported to the Cloak Council, that comprised the Mulmaster's High Blade, two councilors of the Blades, and all members of the Brotherhood of the Cloak deemed to possess power enough to garner such responsibility.

Those that left the organization were named traitors of the state and deemed too much a threat to be allowed to live.

History
"Even when it's quite in Mulmaster, it's not really quiet–ye can hear the sound of everyone who's still awake, plotting. Always plotting."

- Elminster.

The settlement of Mulmaster was founded in the, as a secured trading fort linking the Moonsea region and the Dragon Reach via the River Lis.

Mulmaster was among the Moonsea powers to contribute men and resources to repair and retake the ruined Citadel of the Raven in the.

After scores of adventurers went missing in Ironfang Keep for years on end, an expedition was sent from Mulmaster to investigate in the. This act was ultimately futile, serving only to around and incense bands of local gnolls, causing them to direct raids and assaults on the city for the next 50 years.

In the, Mulmaster began a campaign of conquest across the Moonsea region, that came to be known as the Moonsea War. The city-state was soundly defeated by an alliance of other powers, including Phlan, Hillsfar, Melvaunt, Sembia, and Zhentil Keep.

Reign of the High Blades
Circa the, Mulmaster was ruled by the monarch Nesker, a sorcerer who died of old age with no apparent heir. The power vacuum created by his death led to The city's first High Blade ascending to power. He was a cold and calculating man named Amdrauth Telsnaer that went to rule for a mere seven years, before being poisoned by a political rival. The next thirty years would see six different High Blades each reign over Mulmaster for a period of time, before meeting a brutal and violent death, some times at the hands of their successor.

Selfaril Uoumdolphin rose to power either the, or the , when he destroyed the reputation of the previous High Blade Rualph Blackbuckler, challenged and slew the man in combat, and assumed the title of ruler for himself.

High Blade Selfaril faced a resounding military defeat in the, when its "New Fleet" was utterly destroyed in battle by the Zhent navy.

Some time before, Selfaril his quest to seek out a suitable bride, in part to form political alliances to strengthen Mulmaster's standings in the Moonsea. At first Selfaril directed his importuning towards the Simbul of Aglarond, but finally accepted her declination when she rained down fireballs upon the Towers of the Blade. After that abject failure, he began to pursue Dmitra Flass, Tharchioness of Eltabbar and First Princess of Thay.

The decade-long courtship proved fruitful for Mulmaster, as the two were finally set to wed in the. Some time before the ceremony, High Blade Selfaril was murdered by his twin brother Rassendyll Uoumdolphin, and his soul was place within the new ruler's sword. Rassendyl assumes rulership of Mulmaster under the guise of his brother's identity, and carries on with the marriage to Dmitra Flass, securing the alliance with Thay.

Unfortunately the public demonstration of love and coming together of different nationalities, not to mention the deft political maneuvering and fratricide, did not sit well among the Mulmasterite people, that resent growing Thayan influence within the city. The tension came to a head in Alturiak the following year when a crowd of native citizens assailed a Red Wizard delegate of Tharchioness Flass for committing some unknown transgression within the city. The Mulmasterite mob set the Thayan wizard on fire, chased down a number of other Thayan nationals, and nearly burnt down the local temple of Waukeen. A great magical battle erupted between the the city's Cloaks and the Red Wizards, with reported casualties in the hundreds.

Zhent Control
"Why are ye so happy that Zhentil Keep is undone? Now Mulmaster will rise to fill the vacancy. Believe me, that is scarcely cause for celebration!"

- Elminster.

After the destruction of Zhentil Keep in the, the Mulmasterite navy blockaded the ruined city at sea, preventing Zhent ships from brining over resources or extricating refugees, contributing to its considerable number of woes. The following year, Fzoul Chembryl formed an alliance with High Blade Rassendyll, while outwardly it appeared that "Selfaril" had actually been a long-time and high-ranking agent of the Zhentarim.

In a twist of fate, Fzoul Chembryl and Rassendyll expertly choreographed a second great defeat of the Mulmasterite navy, presenting to outsiders a decisive victory by the Zhents. After selectively slaughtering certain members of the city's Blades council, the Zhentarim had essentially taken over as masters of Mulmaster. This secret alliance consolidated power for the two city-states, with an edge given to the Zhents.

Rumors & Legends
There was an oft-shared tale about a foolish adventurer from Mulmaster that jumped on the back of a sleeping wyvern in order to slay the beast. As it took flight and twisted in the sky, the adventurer took his time to kill the beast, thinking he could glide down to the ground atop its slowly-descending serpentine corpse. Rather he was crushed by the carcass as it came plummeting down to the face of Toril.

Notable locations

 * Landmarks:
 * Lighthouse, a large stone-and-iron tower illuminated by continual light run by Dryn Stonewatch and his nephews.
 * South Road Keep, an ancient keep and prison that dated back to the city's founding.
 * Thayvian Embassy, a sandstone building decorated in the Thayan style, overseen by Ahryn Firefinger.
 * Tower of Arcane Might, a massive wizards' tower that house the Brotherhood of the Cloak.
 * Tower of the Blades, the seat of power of city and the personal residence for the Council of Blades and their families.
 * Tower of the Wyvern, the personal residence of the High Blade.


 * Inns, Festhalls, & Taverns:
 * Black Blade and Bloody Boar, a rather rowdy establishment with inexpensive but good-quality fare.
 * Flying Bed, the peaceful and tidy inn named after a peculiar prank played by a mage.
 * Leaning Boot, a drafty and poorly-cared for place in the city.
 * Oxpit Tavern, a popular alehouse that offered ample platters of food to its patrons.
 * Traveler's Cloak Inn, the most spacious and perhaps expensive inn found in Mulmaster.
 * Wave and Wink, the most well-known and perhaps rodiest dancehall in the city.
 * Windsnug Hearth


 * Residences:
 * Harpers' House, the residence of the Tymora-worshiping Harpers agent Chesslyn Onaubra.


 * Temples:
 * Black Lord's Altar, the orthodox Banite temple that was led by the faith's High Imperceptor, before it converted over to the faith of Cyric.
 * Gate of Good Fortune, the temple of Tymora and a lush casino run by Lady Naneetha Danchul, and by High Priest Niskal Rinaycirca 1374 DR.
 * High Hall of Swords, a local temple to Tempus, the Lord of Battles.
 * High House of Hurting, the Loviataran house of worship overseen by Whipmistress Milauteera Argauthiir.
 * House Built on Gold, the Mulmasterite temple of Waukeen.
 * House of the Black Lord, the temple of Bane constructed in the High Blade's deal of allegiance with Fzoul Chembryl, that became the premiere place of worship for the Dark Lord.
 * Tower of Mysteries, the city's holy house of Azuth.


 * Districts:
 * Imperial District, the heart of the city that housed Temple of Cyric, Traveller's Cloak Inn, the Red Wizards enclave embassy, and Gate of Good Fortune.
 * Zhent Quarter|Zhent Quarter, the slums of the city, filled with crime and poverty circa 1374 DR.

Notable Inhabitants

 * Arglauth Melroryrr, the Sage of Mulmaster.
 * Erethun Rivenstave, the Mulmasterite wizard responsible for casting the spell that slew High Blade Selfaril Uoumdolphin.
 * Grimnoth, a young black dragon that laired around the city.
 * Gulgath, an independent mage and planewalker that was never often found at home in the city.
 * Thiondred Calambar, the elder Hawkmaster.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * The Parched Sea
 * Video Games
 * Neverwinter Nights: Tyrants of the Moonsea
 * Neverwinter Nights: Tyrants of the Moonsea