History of Turmish

The history of Turmish dated back thousands of years before the Era of Upheaval, from the fall of ancient Imaskar, to the great Jhaamdath empire, to the formation of the far-reaching Emerald Enclave. The region endured great plague, many years of war, and even a supernatural disaster that saw many of its cities fall to near-ruin.

Prehistory
The Turami people hailed from far to the east of their future homeland, having their ancestral lands around the Alamber Sea and in the foothills of the Akanal. Their tribes subsisted by hunting and gathering and their pantheon of gods, if any, is unknown.

Eventually, the Turami tribes of the Akanal were incorporated into the empire of Jhaamdath during its eastward expansion after, when it began to settle colonies all around the Vilhon Reach and beyond. The Akanal Turami tribes were absorbed as an underclass of field hands and manual laborers; slavery was forbidden in the empire, at least. They dwelled within the Eastern Province of Thirty Anvils, while the land that would become Turmish was the Northern Province of Granite Grates circa.

Then, after the fall of Imaskar in, their former slaves the Mulan pushed westward, settling around the Alamber Sea and establishing the nation of Unther, and displaced the native Turami there. These Turami migrated westward along the southern coast of the Sea of Fallen Stars and settled in the fertile coastal basin of the Granite Grates.

Jhaamdath was ultimately destroyed by the elves of Nikerymath in the ,

In the, Tyr, god of justice and war, emerged from a portal at Beansidhe Hill near what would later be Alaghôn in Turmish. He was in command of an army of two hundred celestial archons. In a highly targeted campaign known as the Procession of Justice, Tyr's host crossed the Vilhon Reach to pacify the remnants of Jhaamdath.

The coast of what became Turmish was once home to the nation of Scarbarla, a country of fisherfolk and pirates. When Scarbarla tried to expand inland and was met with raids from angry satyrs, concurrent attacks from vengeful victims of their piracy and several years of harsh winters destroyed the nation. The coast was also subject to attacks from koalinth and ixitxachitls.

Founding
First recorded in a trader's journal, the earliest known settlement in the Vilhon Reach, the port city of Alaghôn was founded in. By that time, it was a flourishing port and became a major trading hub of the Sea of Fallen Stars. Seafarers on their way to southern lands, nomadic tribes from the Shining Plains, and dwarven gold from the Orsraun Mountains converged upon the young city to exchange wares. The population grew along these inland trade routes, with many villages forming in the land that would later become Turmish. The success of Alaghôn inspired other trade centers to be established within the Vilhon Reach, first Iljak and then Hlondeth and others, thus opening trade with the Chondalwood elves and later south Faerûn. The Turmway was built to link Alaghôn and Hlondeth.

But the burgeoning population in the Reach became a problem. In the, the first great plague struck Turmish, along with the wider Vilhon Reach, Westgate, Calimshan, Chessenta, the cities on the Lake of Steam, and the Shaar. The origins of the plague were unknown, but everyone had a theory—priests called it divine retribution for people's love of gold, fisherman thought the water was bad, and sages theorized that vermin such as rats carried disease. Over the following decade, more than half the population of the Vilhon Reach and Westgate, including Westgate's king Kergaard Twinblade, perished. In Alaghôn, the number of dead was so great that many were buried in mass graves. In order for humanity to survive in the Reach, changes in practice were demanded, and instituted. Rubbish and waste were removed from the cities. Druids of Eldath played an important role in reducing the severity of the "clinging death" by cleaning the water supply in cities in the Vilhon, and in Westgate a priest of Ilmater led efforts to combat the plague and was made king in gratitude. After the plague subsided, the peoples of the Reach happily returned to trade as usual, but many wars followed shortly thereafter, both among nations and with pirates.

Dempster Turmish and the War with Hlondeth
By 125 DR, with the founding of Ormath in the Shining Plains, Hlondeth grew to rival Alaghôn, which had once helped to create it.

In the, a young nobleman of Alaghôn and mercenary commander named Dempster Turmish declared himself mayor of Alaghôn. This precipitated a brief but bloody civil war between himself and two other Alaghôn nobles that Dempster's mercenaries swiftly won for him. Now the undisputed ruler, Dempster expanded the lands that he controlled, conquering all of the towns and villages that surrounded his city for thirteen years, forging a strong confederation of militant and mercantile city-states and claiming the territory of latter-day Turmish. Eventually, Turmish's aggressive expansion had brought it to the lowlands outside of Hlondeth and brought the two nations to war. Dempster drove his army down the Turmway, and laid siege to Hlondeth in the. He also sent a small force up Lilit Pass to seize the village of Daroush without a fight. But Gestin, warlord of Hlondeth, was prepared. Confident of surviving a siege if Churning Bay could be kept open, and unwilling to lose lives in a pointless battle, Gestin had contacted many of the pirate captains of the Inner Sea, telling them the Alaghôn navy was sailing for Hlondeth and offering safe harbor if they came to his aid. They did, with over sixty pirate ships showing up. The allied pirates and Hlondeth ships attacked Alaghôn's navy in the narrow Farshore Strait, and won, but at the cost of the fleet itself. Historians theorized Gestin expected to lose his fleet in any engagement with Dempster's, and so secured the pirates' aid in order to sacrifice it. Yet the action gave Hlondeth a chance to smuggle in supplies and withstand the siege. After over a month, having been unable to block the port and neglected to bring his siege engines, Dempster gave up and took his army back to Alaghôn, while Gestin's star rose higher. It was rumored that one of Dempster's ships, The Starcross, had carried gold to establish a treasury in conquered Hlondeth; many would try to recover it in the years after.

The following year, Dempster once again besieged Hlondeth. This time, the city's walls proved too high and the invoker Riliton Mandleweave unleashed a barrage of devastating magic on the Turmishan forces. The mercenary Company of the Howling Harpoon then struck their flank, destroying siege engines, supplies, and food. This broke the siege and defeated Dempster's army.

Planning a third assault on Hlondeth, Dempster Turmish rebuilt his navy. However, just as the army mustered and readied to match, Dempster died peacefully in his sleep in the and his wife Florentine took over from him. Florentine was far more interested in mercantile ventures than continued expansion and ordered a halt to the wars of conquest and sued for peace. But Florentine was assassinated after only four years in power, leading to a leadership contest between the merchant houses and the noble families that lasted 116 years. There were no strong leaders in this time, and political power flowed from one contender to the next, with none able to establish effective control. Regardless, they never let this interfere with business, and Turmish stayed a prosperous commercial power. The villages flourished and continued to pay their taxes to whoever was in power at the time.

War with Chondath
The humans of Turmish only became aware of the dwarves in the neighboring Alaoreum Mountains after their great battle against the red dragon named Stormcrossing in the, when the smoke of the burning dwarven city of Deepgate was sighted from Swordslake Creek.

An attempt from Chondath to conquer Turmish united the country behind Alesam Mischwin in the. This war, known as the Stalemate, ended in one as a result of changing alliances and internecine fighting and both sides being unable to get an advantage. However, the stability caused by a leader finally being chosen remained. Chondath would try to take Turmish on two further occasions over the next few decades, failing both times. Alexander Illistine proposed a mock war every Shieldmeet between Turmish and Chondath, the winner of which would gain a reward of slaves, resources, and trading privileges, while ensuring that the two nations would remain at peace. The first of these was fought in the, and would continue into at least the mid-to-late 1300s DR. That same year, the Academia Vilhonus in Arrabar, Chondath, popularized the custom of marking dots on one's forehead to indicate learning, which Turmish would adopt. The Free Cities of Amah, Nleeth, and Reth were established as training centers for the mock wars in the.

Disasters & Druids
In the, a fire in Alaghôn crippled Turmish's navy and destroyed its food stores, causing a rise in piracy and widespread famine. Turmish's noble houses, rather than working to help solve the issue, bickered with each other over who was liable for the damage. It therefore took over a decade of reconstruction to repair the damage. The saw the establishment of the House of Silvanus on the Isle of Ilighôn where powerful druids kept close watch on the ships traveling off the coast of Turmish.

Over a century of small incursions from orc and goblin tribes culminated in the War of 512 when the Candlekairn clan destroyed three Turmishan cities and carried off all of their accumulated wealth before they were routed in the summer of the. When Mount Andrus erupted five years later, all hope of recovering that wealth was lost.

In the, druids from Gulthmere Forest and elves from Xorhun appealed to Arton Githsberry, the then ruler of Turmish, to stop logging in the forest in order to let the trees grow back. Arton appeased them with a show of consideration, but had no intention to stop collecting timber. The druids continued to pressure Turmish, becoming quite the thorn in Turmish's side by the.

Magocracy & Merchants
In the, the rulers of Turmish, a conclave of wizards calling themselves the Windlass, decided that they had enough of the druids in the region and launched an attack on Cedarsproke. The attack was halted before they could do any damage by the magic of the druids and their giant allies. The Windlass tried again in the, this time with the last two wizards leading an attack on Ilighôn. To their dismay, they found their magic did not work there, while the druids remained as mighty as ever. The surviving Windlass were executed and were replaced by Alaghôn's merchant families. The druids of Ilighôn, now a formal organization known as the Emerald Enclave, had established themselves as a force to be reckoned with.

The saw the merchant families of Turmish lose their temporal power to a dynasty of warlords, the first of whom established Turmish as a powerful military nation. Lord Saros went to work rebuilding Turmish's navy, establishing it as among the strongest in the Reach. Their martial strength saw them through the Rage of Dragons in the, quite safely, but the ever-increasing population was feeling the pressure of running out of space so, in the , the warlord Sjorn Sendreth initiated a war against the dwarves of Alaoreum at Ironfang Deep. It was a protracted war that diminished Turmish's wealth to an unexpected level. Sendreth sent people out to bring back treasure that could fund the war effort—a tactic that worked spectacularly. Turmish was wealthy once more. Ultimately, the dwarves themselves dropped the mountain on Ironfang Deep, effectively ending the war.

Wyrm and the Stars
Unfortunately, one such group of treasure hunters was tracked back home by the ancient blue dragon Anaglathos in the, who slew Sendreth and claimed Turmish for himself in a coup, killing or charming any who opposed him. The next five years were known as the Time of the Wyrm in Turmishan histories,  a period of terrible decline that almost ruined the realm.

Anaglathos's reign was brought to an end by a paladin by the name of Corwin Freas, one of a group of adventurers who led a popular rebellion against Anaglathos and personally slew the dragon in. He was then acclaimed Turmish's king by a grateful populace. However, Corwin was not comfortable in ruling and after a reign of only one year, Lord Freas dissolved his own monarchy and established a council of free citizens called the Assembly of Stars to rule Turmish instead in.

While still considered a national hero, Corwin lived a quiet and sheltered life in retirement for six years. In the there was a coup attempt in Turmish, and as part of the coup, Corwin was assassinated. The assassins were suspected to be members of the Cult of the Dragon. Regardless, the coup was unsuccessful and the republic endured.

14 & 15 Centuries
With a few small exceptions, such as the Plague of Dragons in the for example, Turmish grew to become a democratic nation that was peaceful, safe, and content, if occasionally a little overcrowded.

In the, the terrible mohrg Borran Klosk escaped his centuries-long captivity beneath the Temple of the Trembling Flower in Alaghôn, having been released by unwitting street urchin at the direction of Malar. Borran Klosk set about trying to activate an artifact known as Taraketh's Hive to devastate Turmish's ecology for centuries to come, and summoned an army of drowned ones from the Whamite Isles to overrun Alaghôn. Borran Klosk was defeated by Haarn Brightoak of the Emerald Enclave.

The Spellplague of the, changed Turmish's fortunes for the worse, as the Sea of Fallen Stars drained away, leaving Alaghôn's port miles from the new shoreline. Turmishans became xenophobic as bandit raids from Erlkazar terrorized them and they were cut off from their neighbors. Nonthal took over as Turmish's most prosperous city as Alaghôn became increasingly dilapidated, while Sapra became the nation's only port. In the, the city of Gildenglade was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Kolimnis.

After the Great Rain, the Sea of Fallen Stars rose to water levels not seen since before the Spellplague. Turmish's great cities were once again connected to the Inner Sea and its trading opportunities. This, along with a great agricultural boom aided by the Emerald Enclave, brought an upturn in the country's fortunes.