The Great Fires was an immense set of urban fires across the Shoon Imperium, set at the command of Qsar Shoon VII in an attempt to fight crime.[1][2]
History[]
In the appropriately named Year of the Unforgotten Fire, 319 DR, Qsar Shoon VII set about resolving the growing issue of organized crime by targeting their typical base of operations: the sewers and underground spaces beneath the great cities of the Imperium. He had massive amounts of oil poured into the sewers, and then lit with magical fire, with the goal of cleanly destroying the underground denizens that corrupted his empire. The resultant blazes were intended to be carefully controlled but this part of the plan utterly failed, and the fires engulfed not just the sewers but the cities too. This killed over 3,000,000 residents and functionally destroyed the cities of Calimport, Innarlith, Memnon, Ithmong, and Ankhapur while severely damaging all the other major settlements of the realm. This killed 43% of the urban population of Shoon, reaching 87% mortality for the undercity dwellers. This killed 57% of Calimport's population and razed its Five Fountains of the Bakkals, and destroyed the original Guild Arcane tower of Almraiven.[1][2]
While an utter disaster for the Imperium, the Great Fires still fulfilled the goals of the Qsar. With the destruction and scattering of the underworld organizations, the Qsar and his minions were able to assert control over the criminal underworld themselves, making it an arm of the Imperium. This style of rulership was typical for the Qsar Shoon VII, who committed many foul atrocities in the name of pragmatism.[2]
Appendix[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Steven E. Schend (October 1998). Calimport. (TSR, Inc), p. 21. ISBN 0-7869-1238-3.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 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.