House Cadorna was an old textile merchant family from Phlan[1] with its roots in the Dragon Reach region.[2]
Possessions[]
The cold iron Cadorna family sword was a family heirloom passed along from one generation to the next.[2]
History[]
The Cadorna Textile House in Old Phlan.
The Cadorna family was brought to prominence by Magnus Cadorna some four generations before the mid-14th century DR. Back when the clan lived in obscurity, it was nothing but a small family of humble weavers from the Dragon Reach. The family business suffered greatly when their home and its surrounding lands became plagued by a red dragon. The family's eldest son, Magnus Cadorna, joined the local militia assembled to fight the winged wyrm, or at least to control and minimize the red menace's ransacking. Eventually, adventurers flocked to slay the dragon, and the militia waited in reserve. Unsurprisingly, the adventurers failed, but not before the dragon was wounded. Enraged, the wyrm decided to rain fire on the village that aided the adventurers. Most of the militia was slain by the dragon; Magnus Cadorna was the only man standing, desperate and badly hurt. The man managed to drive the dragon back and finished the dragon off with a fatal blow.[2]
The feat made Magnus Cadorna a hero of the Dragon Reach, and his family received money and accolades that elevated the Cadorna clan to a position of power. Soon enough, members of the now greatly respected Cadorna family spread across the Dragon Reach region, forming a profitable textile trading company.[2]
On the fifteenth anniversary of the dragon's death, the comparative Cadorna family sword was forged and presented to Magnus Cadorna, now an eighty-two years old man. Magnus was thankful but considered the gesture quite silly. The blade would remain with the Cadorna family, passed from father to son for four generations until it eventually left the "dragon killer" family's possession.[2]
Sometime before the Year of Thunder, 1306 DR, when the city of Phlan on the Moonsea fell to monstrous attacks, the Cadorna family were the masters of the leading cloth and textile guild that operated in the city.[3][4] Eugenia Cadorna, then young leader of the guild fled the falling city, taking his family and the wealth. Coin and valuables that the family was unable to take were stashed away in the Cadorna Textile House of Old Phlan.[1]
The sword's last Cadorna owner was Porphyrys Cadorna, a son of Eugenia Cadorna, the Cloth Merchant of Phlan, born in "exile" from Phlan. He was raised listening to his father's embittered stories of the family's lost grandeur and withered wealth, all caused by Eugenia's poor decisions and failures. When both his parents died, Porphyrys, guided by the dreams of his parents, joined the efforts of reclaiming and rebuilding Phlan.[1] The infamous man climbed the political ranks in New Phlan until he became a member of the Council of Ten sometime before the Year of the Lion, 1340 DR.[2] At the age of somewhere between 22 to 27 years,[1] Porphyrys' career ended in disgrace and after his betrayal of Phlan to the Possessing Spirit Tyranthraxus and the maligned Zhentil Keep became public. He was run out of town in 1340 DR[2], and his betrayal was commiserated by the city naming the Traitor's Gate after Porphyrys, later known simply as the Traitor or the lost scion of House Cadorna.[5]
In the Year of the Morningstar, 1350 DR, a group of adventurers known as the Heroes of Phlan ventured through one of the dreaded pools of darkness into a strange plane only known as the Dark Dimenson, allegedly created by Bane or an impostor of the deity. There, they entered the dark, otherworldly reflection of Phlan. Porphyrys Cadorna's dark echo, an undead creature, was ruling the city under the balor named Gothmenes.[6]
By the Year of the Crown, 1351 DR, Porphyrys lived in shame of his deeds and was responsible for his family's humiliation and almost complete ruination. In 1351 DR, he entrusted the family sword to the family's trusted bodyguard – Skullcrusher. Porphyrys never produced offspring, and that ended his branch of the family.[2]
By the late 15th century DR, the Cadorna family was once again in the position of power in Phlan. The merchant family, along with Houses Sokol, Jannarsk, and Bivauntm ruled Phlan alongside the Lord Protector Anivar Daoran.[5] Another affiliation of note for House Cadorna at the time, was its membership with the Lords' Alliance.[7]
Appendix[]
Appearances[]
Adventures
Curse of the Azure Bonds
Novels & Short Stories
Video Games
Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir
Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Mike Breault, David "Zeb" Cook, Jim Ward, Steve Winter (August 1988). Ruins of Adventure. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 3–4. ISBN 978-0880385886.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Obsidian Entertainment (November 2008). Designed by Tony Evans. Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir. Atari.
- ↑ Brian R. James, Ed Greenwood (September 2007). The Grand History of the Realms. Edited by Kim Mohan, Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 134. ISBN 978-0-7869-4731-7.
- ↑ Mike Breault, David "Zeb" Cook, Jim Ward, Steve Winter (August 1988). Ruins of Adventure. (TSR, Inc.), p. 2. ISBN 978-0880385886.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Brian R. James and Matt James (September 2009). “Monument of the Ancients”. In Chris Youngs ed. Dungeon #170 (Wizards of the Coast) (170)., pp. 54, 81.
- ↑ Strategic Simulations, Inc. (1991). Designed by Ken Humphries, David Shelley. Pools of Darkness. Strategic Simulations, Inc.
- ↑ Will Doyle (2014-11-07). Outlaws of the Iron Route (DDEX1-9) (PDF). D&D Adventurers League: Tyranny of Dragons (Wizards of the Coast), p. 8.