Ajhuutal was a city built by the marid Ajhuu and his followers when they rebelled against the djinni Calim and founded the Maridlands.[1][2]
Geography[]
The city was built on a coastal promontory west of the Alimir Mountains, in what was then the eastern extent of the Calim Empire. Following its destruction it sat in 300 feet (91 meters) of water in the Shining Sea, 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Almraiven at the underwater edge of the bay.[1][2]
History[]
The city as it rose closer to the surface.
When Calim's empire building paused in −7690 DR to appease the Shanatar dwarves and the elves of Tethir and Darthiir, his marid vassal Ajhuu took it as a sign of weakness and seized the eastern frontier of the Calim Empire, founding the Maridlands. The Steam Clashes that followed were highly destructive, culminating in the Shattering in −7684 DR. With a great genie-crafted ritual, Calim created an earthquake that smashed the city and the surrounding area, causing it to fall into the sea. The power of the magic was grossly excessive, however, and it caused thousands of square miles of land to break up, collapse, and be replaced by rushing waters as the coastline was reshaped.[1][2]
While Ajhuu and his realm was destroyed, the city itself remained mostly intact under more than 300 feet of water. Encrusted with corals and seaweeds, it came to be inhabited by merfolk and some sea elves who took control of the remaining marid magics of the city, creating a mythal-like field over the city that let them control the waters around it. When the Curse of Irphong sank the Pasha's Palace in the Year of the Turret, 1360 DR, the residents of Ajhuutal and the undersea Dragon's Neck Peninsula thoroughly looted the wreck, carrying off valuable rust-resistant magical tools and weapons while the kraken and sahuagin focused on gold and other treasures.[1][2]
Over time, the story of Ajhuutal became conflated with the unrelated ruined settlement of Lost Ajhuutal in the Spider Swamp.[3]
In the 1370s DR, the city became visible and accessible to the surface. This prompted a great deal of excitement for treasure hunters and explorers, but wiser heads worried that Ajhuu or his kin had returned and could present a threat.[4]
Appendix[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Steven E. Schend, Dale Donovan (September 1998). Empires of the Shining Sea. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 11, 12, 88. ISBN 0-7869-1237-5.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Travis Stout (February 2005). Lost Empires of Faerûn. Edited by Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 114. ISBN 0-7869-3654-1.
- ↑ Steven E. Schend, Dale Donovan (September 1998). Empires of the Shining Sea. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 90. ISBN 0-7869-1237-5.
- ↑ Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Travis Stout (February 2005). Lost Empires of Faerûn. Edited by Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 123. ISBN 0-7869-3654-1.