Akanûl

Akanûl was a land that once belonged to the world of Abeir as part of the realm of Shyr, but was transposed onto the plane of Toril during the ravages of the Spellplague. The land carried with it a large population of Abeiran genasi who, as of 1479 DR, controlled the region that used to be Chondath and western Chessenta.

Geography
Akanûl resembled Abeir much more than Toril. The vast majority of land was a hodgepodge of spectacular spires and erratic ravines. It boasted the largest number of earthmotes and watermotes in all of Faerûn. The southern edge of the region was bordered by a large finger of the Underchasm. One of the land's more unusual features was an enormous piece of translucent quartz known as the Glass Mesa, which citizens were forbidden to approach.

Climate
Akanûl was primarily temperate, but, owing to the large amount of wild elemental energy lingering from the separation from Abeir, wind patterns were erratic, as was weather. The climate in Akanûl was largely humid, because of the constant drift of mist and rain from the watermotes that floated over the countryside.

Regions

 * Akanapeaks: These mountains lay to the north of Akanûl, along the coast of the Sea of Fallen Stars. They were believed to be the home of a powerful gray dragon, Vairshekellabex.
 * Chondalwood: One of the few original features of Toril remaining in Akanûl, the Chondalwood was not officially claimed by the Akanûl government, though it frequently sent foresters into the haunted forest. Once the home of the ghostwise halflings, the Chondalwood was sharply changed by the Spellplague into a landscape of floating junglemotes and cavernous ravines overrun by plaguechanged vegetation.
 * Mere-That-Was: Formerly a lake known as the Akanamere, the Spellplague dried up most of the water and only a small remnant of the lake remained. Parts of the region were lush grasslands but the southern region contained a wasteland that was lashed by strange elemental storms. Strange rock and crystal formations were found throughout the region. The Mere-That-Was was almost completely uninhabited by humans or genasi.
 * Spur Forest: This small forest nestled next to the Akanapeaks contained strange, plaguechanged vegetation. It was the home of the Kaia, a huge, nocturnal wormlike beast.

Cities & Towns

 * Airspur, capital of Akanûl. Airspur was built upon the ruins of a previous city of the same name, Airspur.
 * Brassune: Though Airspur was Akanûl's most prominent city, Brassune was its oldest and it was the first settlement established in Akanûl by the genasi. The city proper was, by 1479 DR, abandoned although the Firestorm Cabal, a renegade nationalist group that believed the government incompetent or negligent, maintained a large stronghold on a forestmote overlooking the ruins of the old city. There, the Firestorm Cabal stood vigilant against the threat posed by the Abolethic Sovereignty.
 * Deepspur
 * New Breen
 * Tohrepur: This ruined city sat on the shore of the Akanamere before it dried up during the Spellplague. The city was destroyed by the Abolethic Sovereignty in 1473 DR.

Government
As a genasi-dominated nation, Akanûl's social structure, while largely authoritarian, was highly meritocratic in nature and most genasi could aspire to great heights if they were talented and worked hard enough. Circa 1479 DR, the ruler of the kingdom was Queen Arathane, who ruled from an enormous floating spire. Queen Arathane played a large part in Akanûl's society and was responsible for the ultimate well-being of her citizens, which she took very seriously.

Though the queen was an important and powerful figure, she was legally required to delegate many of her responsibilities to the Four Stewards of Earth, Fire, Sea and Sky, each a minister representing one of four elements — fire, earth, water, and wind — and who were responsible for a portion of the kingdom's affairs, ruling from their own private fiefdom, known as a thronemote. Although the Four Stewards primarily existed as administrative assistants and advisers, ruling over specialized sections of government, they also held a considerable amount of power over Akanûl's monarch. By royal decree of Arathane's mother, the previous queen, the Four Stewards were legally empowered to override the king or queen's authority through a unanimous vote. However, should there be any split in the ranks, the monarch's word remained law.

Military
Akanûl's army had as small number of professional soldiers, and in times of war, the monarch could assemble a militia force from all able-bodied genasi in the kingdom. Around 1479 DR, Queen Arathane was encouraging the idea of forming small militia groups made out by citizens of other races. The Steward of Fire was responsible for the management of Akanûl's military defenses and was the realm's commander-in-chief. In times of peace, the army of Akanûl acted more like a police force, however.

Akanûl's navy was known as the Wave Riders.

Relations
Akanûl was on friendly terms with the risen empire of High Imaskar and their neighbors in Aglarond. The shadovar of Netheril also had an embassy in Airspur, a fact which damaged relations with the western nations surrounding the Sea of Fallen Stars, such as Cormyr. Akanûl was, however, hostile towards the other major Abeiran exclave in Faerûn, Tymanther, owing to a longstanding grudge with the dragonborn of that land and engaged in brief skirmishes with Tymanther's military forces in Chessenta. Likewise, despite their common blood, the Akanûl genasi despised the slave-keeping genasi that ruled large portions of Calimshan, regarding them as depraved and decadent.

Demographics
Akanûl was mostly composed of the descendants of the genasi refugees of the land of Shyr in Abeir. Status in Airspur was primarily racial. Genasi made up the bulk of the population and were given preferential treatment by both the government and local merchants. The refugees of Shyr and their descendants were guaranteed their basic needs by the decree of Queen Arathane. Most of Akanûl's population was made up by merchants who acted as go-betweens for traders on the Sea of Fallen Stars, resulting in a large middle class.

Other races in the city were mostly mercenaries, explorers, or specialized crafters and tradesmen. They were never allowed to hold office. This was mostly due to the political traditions from Shyr, althought there was also a factor of prejudice, particularly against dragonborn.

History
Historically, Akanûl was originally a part of the realm named Shyr, a nation-state located in the continent of Shyr on Abeir, Toril's long-forgotten twin world. The realm of Shyr was ruled over by the tyrannical primordial Karshimis, who reigned from a fortress of burning ice. During the Spellplague, however, a large portion of Shyr was transferred from Abeir to Toril, in the location of Chondath and Chessenta. Upon discovering that Karshimis had failed to make the transfer, the Shyran genasi celebrated their new-found independence and set about forming their own realm, which they called Akanûl.

After an initial period of peace, a civil war started between the noble families of Akanûl and was only resolved by the "Covenant of Kingship", by which the nobles elected a line of royal succession. The first king of Akanûl was Zavon. Roughly half a century after this, Akanûl faced its first major threat as a nation from the Abolethic Sovereignty. During the ensuing war, the capital city of Brassune was laid to waste, King Zavon was killed, and the genasi fled to the south, building the city of Airspur on the ruins of a city of the same name, destroyed by their arrival in the Spellplague. The daughter of King Zavon, Cyndra, was elected queen, and led her people through a renaissance of sorts, reforming the laws of the kingdom and creating the "Covenant of Stewardship", creating the office of the Four Stewards to balance the power of the ruling monarch.

In 1469 DR, Queen Cyndra died and was succeeded by her daughter, Queen Arathane. As of 1479 DR, Akanûl was at peace, though many of its citizens remained concerned about the growing power of their northern neighbor. This state of peace was threatened due to the plans of the taaldaraxi of Brimstone's xorvintaal, as the dragons decieved the Four Stewards into believing Tymanther was attacking their lands, to make them go to war with dragonborn realm. To aggravate the situation, House Xorlarrin's raids on Ithimir Isle's mine of arambarium was also blamed on the dragonborn. The war was avoided thanks to the intervention of the Brotherhood of the Griffon.

When the cataclysm known as the Second Sundering occurred during the 1480s DR, Akanûl was among the lands that were transported from Toril back to Abeir, being gone by 1486 DR and still missing as of 1491 DR. This caused shortages of products as silkroot back in Faerûn. However, apparently in the later years of the 1490s DR decade, it has been reported that the flying city of Xxiphu has been hovering in the Sea of Fallen Stars, in the coasts of Akanûl.