Queen Arhymeria Ithal was the wife of King Nishan Ithal II of Tethyr.[3]
Description[]
Arhymeria was an exquisitely beautiful Calishite woman[3] and also a loving and compassionate one.[2]
Abilities[]
She was a wizard, a student of Princess Rhynda Ithal and a better one than her grandfather ever was.[5] She was the creator of the royal artifact known as Arhymeria's Dagger, and she also developed several peaceful and fun spells.[2]
Family[]
Arhymeria was born Arhymeria yr Una el Shoon, the youngest daughter of Akkabar Shoon the Elder's oldest son[5] and Una el Shoon,[1] making her a granddaughter of Akkabar Shoon.[3][5][note 1] She had an older brother, Akkabar,[5][6] and a younger brother, Amahl.[3][5][4] Her nephew, through Akkabar the Younger, was Amahl Shoon II.[5][4]
She gave birth to three sons and two daughters.[7] Her third son and youngest child Clovis' descendants lived in exile until the fall of the Shoon Imperium.[4]
Relationships[]
Arhymeria was happily married to Nishan. She had little contact with her Calishite family, with the exception of her younger brother Amahl.[3]
History[]
When Arhymeria was only four-years-old, she was engaged to be married to Nishan Ithal II, grandson of Princess Rhynda Ithal, as part of a treaty orchestrated by Akkabar the Elder to support the regency of Rhynda, Akkabar's former tutor, until Nishan would come of age.[3] She grew up in the royal palace of Tethyr as a lady-in-waiting.[3][5]
Secretly, Akkabar the Elder intended to use his granddaughter to steal magic from his former tutor Rhynda, but Arhymeria grew close to Rhynda and was a better student of hers than Akkabar ever was. Akkabar soon gave up on his plan to use Arhymeria, considering her, in his own words, an "insolent and traitorous" granddaughter.[5]
Arhymeria and Nishan were married at the end of Kythorn in the Year of Gleaming Frost, −64 DR, when they each were fifteen-years-old, the age of majority in Tethyr, becoming queen.[3][8][7][1]
Nishan and Arhymeria had their five children over the next seven years, and the kingdom was at peace.[7]
During her husband's 73rd birthday celebration in the Year of Scarlet Scourges, Arhymeria, Nishan, and all but four members of the royal family were killed during a siege of the castle of Ithalyr by Clan Fyrson and their hired pirates.[3][8][2] These four survivors were spared because of the wise planning of Queen Arhymeria and the help of an elven woman named Ochyllyss Bormul. Arhymeria led the survivors to a secret room in the castle and placed two of her grandchildren and her great-grandson Yardane, heir to the throne, into the care of Ochyllus. She also gave Ochyllus the Shield of Silvam and a magic dagger she created that could only be wielded by someone of royal blood of House Ithal. The elven woman would raise Yardane among the Suldusk elves of the Forest of Tethir.[2]
Despite the fact that Arhymeria saved the royal line of Tethyr from extinction, because Tethyr soon after came under the control of the Shoon Imperium, her blood family, for centuries most Tethyrians believed that Arhymeria was a traitor who orchestrated her husband's death. Even though her innocence was proven when the Imperium fell, it was perpetuated by the inaccurate Chronicla Tethyria of Alemander III. This false belief earned her terrible nicknames, such as the Betrayer, the False Queen, and Tethyr's Bane. The true history of Arhymeria was written down by King Haedrak Rhindaun III in 1370 DR as part of his Historia Tethyra,[9] in an attempt to clear her name. Haedrak theorized that it was because she had prepared entertaining spells for her husband's birthday that she was unable to help defend the castle with her magic.[2]
Afterward, her brother Amahl took the throne, as orchestrated by the wicked Pasha Akkabar Shoon the Elder. Amahl refused to obey his grandfather's orders, however, because of his love for and in honor of the memory of his sister.[3]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ The timeline in Calimport calls Arhymeria Akkabar the Elder's daughter in one location; however, she is his granddaughter in another location in that same sourcebook, and Empires of the Shining Sea is very clear that she is his granddaughter, implying that the first reference in Calimport is an error.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Steven E. Schend (October 1998). Calimport. (TSR, Inc), p. 19. ISBN 0-7869-1238-3.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Steven E. Schend (August 1997). “Book One: Tethyr”. In Roger E. Moore ed. Lands of Intrigue (TSR, Inc.), p. 28. ISBN 0-7869-0697-9.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 Steven E. Schend, Dale Donovan (September 1998). Empires of the Shining Sea. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 22. ISBN 0-7869-1237-5.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Steven E. Schend (August 1997). “Book Three: Erlkazar & Folk of Intrigue”. In Roger E. Moore ed. Lands of Intrigue (TSR, Inc.), p. 28. ISBN 0-7869-0697-9.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 Steven E. Schend, Dale Donovan (September 1998). Empires of the Shining Sea. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 23–24. ISBN 0-7869-1237-5.
- ↑ Steven E. Schend (October 1998). Calimport. (TSR, Inc), p. 20. ISBN 0-7869-1238-3.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Steven E. Schend (August 1997). “Book One: Tethyr”. In Roger E. Moore ed. Lands of Intrigue (TSR, Inc.), p. 27. ISBN 0-7869-0697-9.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Steven E. Schend, Dale Donovan (September 1998). Empires of the Shining Sea. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 42. ISBN 0-7869-1237-5.
- ↑ Steven E. Schend (August 1997). “Book One: Tethyr”. In Roger E. Moore ed. Lands of Intrigue (TSR, Inc.), p. 19. ISBN 0-7869-0697-9.