The Calishar Emirates was a vast expanse of land that made up the northern territories of the Calimshan Empire.[1]
Geography[]
The Emirates encompassed the various vassal realms and frontier regions of the Empire as it expanded north, including the Purple Marches, Mir, Tethyr, Valashar, Iltkazar, Amin, Meiritin, Minsorran, and the Ralamnish Ridings, reaching as far north as the Greenfields.[1][2][3]
History[]
The Emirates came about from the wide-ranging conquests and settlement that the Calimshan Empire undertook in the Third Age (−1900 DR to −900 DR).[1][3]
The vast region was ostensibly under Calimshan's control, but faced repeated internal uprisings and resistance from the many enemies that Calimshan had made over the centuries. Tethyrian human tribes and rebellious slaves, dwarves of Shanatar, elves of Tethir, and drow raiders all picked away at the stability and control that Calimshan sought over its northern frontier.[4]
In the Year of Clutching Dusk, −375 DR, a great plague struck the cities of Calimshan and caused a collapse of central authority. Although some generals and nobles maintained power, the Empire largely lost control of the Calishar Emirates. The native Tethyrians took to open and unified rebellion and managed to capture Zazesspur in −315 DR, and the people and their lands were formally given independence in −288 DR. After another attempt at reconquest between −230 DR and −212 DR, Tethyr was solidified as an independent and unified monarchy outside of Calishite control.[5]
Tethyr effectively lost its independence after most of the royal family and many nobles were killed by rebels and pirates in the Year of Scarlet Scourges, −6 DR, leading to the installation of Amahl Shoon I by Calimshan and the reclamation of much of the empire's lands via the Shoon Imperium.[6]
The Mad Mage Ilhundyl set about terrorizing the region in 231 DR, conquering the largest settlement in Meiritin and declaring himself the ruler of all the Emirates. His cruelty went largely unchecked due to internal unrest in the Imperium that delayed a response, and only ended in 238 DR when he was slain by the aspiring wizard Elminster and his mistress Myrjala.[7]
The vassal kingdom of Valashar was founded in the Ralamnish Ridings in the Year of the Fearless King, 361 DR[note 1] by Ashar Tornamn of Tethyr, who led a campaign of overly-ambitious expansionism that briefly extended the Emirates as far as the distant High Moor. This resulted in provoking a disastrous war with Cormyr in 376 DR that led to his own execution, and the abandonment of Valashar until the later settlement of Cortryn.[8]
Around 650 DR, the city of Myth Drannor had a collection of rare and exotic plants in the Glim-Gardens, including flame lilies taken from the Calishar.[9]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ The chronology around the founding of Valashar, Ashar's March, the war with Cormyr, the forging of Ilbratha, and associated events is rather confused, with various sources giving no less than three different dates, twenty to forty years apart. That is, Lands of Intrigue places these events over 321–336 DR; Empires of the Shining Sea and Sea of Fallen Stars choose 361–376 DR. The Grand History of the Realms uses a mixture of both dating schemes and also introduces 356 DR as another key date. These errors have been attributed by author Steven E. Schend as confusion between Cormyr Reckoning and Dale Reckoning in his works, and by George Krashos as a missed editorial deadline for the fix in the Grand History, and Brian R. James says the 356 date in Grand History is an unexplained error, all as discussed here. This article adopts the agreed 361–376 DR date, which is supported by all associated lore.
Appearances[]
Novels & Short Stories
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Steven E. Schend (August 1997). “Book One: Tethyr”. In Roger E. Moore ed. Lands of Intrigue (TSR, Inc.), p. 22. ISBN 0-7869-0697-9.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Steven E. Schend (August 1997). “Book Two: Amn”. In Roger E. Moore ed. Lands of Intrigue (TSR, Inc.), p. 17. ISBN 0-7869-0697-9.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Reynolds, Forbeck, Jacobs, Boyd (March 2003). Races of Faerûn. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 103. ISBN 0-7869-2875-1.
- ↑ Steven E. Schend (August 1997). “Book One: Tethyr”. In Roger E. Moore ed. Lands of Intrigue (TSR, Inc.), p. 23. ISBN 0-7869-0697-9.
- ↑ Steven E. Schend (August 1997). “Book One: Tethyr”. In Roger E. Moore ed. Lands of Intrigue (TSR, Inc.), pp. 24, 25. ISBN 0-7869-0697-9.
- ↑ Steven E. Schend (August 1997). “Book One: Tethyr”. In Roger E. Moore ed. Lands of Intrigue (TSR, Inc.), pp. 28, 29. ISBN 0-7869-0697-9.
- ↑ Steven E. Schend (August 1997). “Book Two: Amn”. In Roger E. Moore ed. Lands of Intrigue (TSR, Inc.), p. 19. ISBN 0-7869-0697-9.
- ↑ Steven E. Schend (August 1997). “Book Two: Amn”. In Roger E. Moore ed. Lands of Intrigue (TSR, Inc.), p. 30. ISBN 0-7869-0697-9.
- ↑ Steven E. Schend and Kevin Melka (1998). Cormanthyr: Empire of the Elves. (TSR, Inc), p. 71. ISBN 0-7069-0761-4.