The Magelords of Mintar were a cabal of wizards in the city of Mintar[1][2][5] that came to rule over the city-state as a magocracy from the early 1st to early 2nd century DR.[2]
Activities[]
The primary interest of the Magelords was the creation magical hybrid creatures,[1][5] often by means of breeding monsters with their domestic servants and livestock, so that they could produce ever-more-powerful guards and beasts of burden.[1]
History[]
Over the course of their existence the Magelords of Mintar vied for power within the shadows of the Mintaran government. This all changed in the Year of the Dracorage, 1018 DR, when a Rage of Dragons brought the blue great wyrm Iryklathagra to attack the city-state. She battled with its defenders for nearly a month before returning to her lair, leaving the city in ruins and many local ships sunk.[2] This would kick off the Eighth Age of Calimshan.[6] Many of the Magelords died in the conflict, but those who remained arose among the devastation left by Iryklathagra to install themselves as Mintar's new leaders, promising to protect the populace against any further attacks by dragons. Over the course of the next century, the Magelords would work towards exacting vengeance against Iryklathagra. Eventually, in the early 2nd century DR, they would manage to ascertain the site of the blue dragon's lair through the use of magical divinations, but their organization would perish before they could make use of the intel.[2]
Around the early 2nd century DR, time a number of Calishite merchants hired the Magelords of Mintar to eliminate the Harpers from south Faerûn, as that group's efforts to improve the safety of overland trade-routes were harming rich interests in the nation of Calimshan. At that time the only safe method of getting goods from the Sea of Fallen Stars to the Sword Coast was by traveling through the Vilhon Reach to the Golden Road, thence to ports on the Lake of Steam where the ships that sailed out belonged to Calishite interests. Additionally, some of the brigands that the Harpers were slaying had been sponsored by Calishites, as part of an effort to make competing overland travel perilous. The brigands would often destroy or steal items, which in turn would benefit the Calishites as the only method of replacing said items would be to conduct further trade with the South.[1]
In need of some extra funds for the stock in their hybrid experiments, as well as viewing the Harpers as an attractive source of subjects to experiment on, the Magelords of Mintar agreed to the contract. They sporadically worked to capture or slay Harpers, though on ocassion mistook hired agents of Nathglaryst for members.[1] Nathglaryst, queen of the drow city of Undraeth beneath Turmish, was at the time in a heated conflict with the Harpers over their repeated efforts to free the slaves that were being traded to her. Eventually things heated to the point where the Harpers raised a mercenary army to invade Undraeth[1][3][4] circa 1150 DR.[3][4][note 1]
Anticipating that the Magelords of Mintar would use their conflict with Undraeth as an opportunity to strike at them, Khelben Arunsun and his compatriot Elminster made sure that all of the wizard members of the Harpers would be present for the invasion. On the day of attack, the assembled wizards used explosive spells to collapse Undraeth's mineshaft surface-link as the drow were scrambling up from the Underdark to confront them.[1][4]
The Magelords of Mintar, overconfidently viewing the amassed army as fodder for the taking and having no inkling of how powerful Elminster and Khelben truly were, launched an attack upon them. Prepared for them, the Harpers engaged the Magelords directly in a spell-battle that ravaged miles of the Turmish coast. Many members of the Harpers would perish in the conflict, however,[1] the Magelords would ultimately be the ones to lose the conflict.[1][2][5] Only two members of the organization would manage to escape with their lives,[1][5] Gloran Galleos[5] and Sardukh.[7]
With the Magelords of Mintar defeated, their city-state would fall into chaos. Admist the panic, the information the Magelords had amassed about Iryklathagra would be stolen by a thieves' guild known as the Skeletal Finger.[2]
In the 14th century DR, the lingering memory of the Magelords acted as a namesake to the inn of Magelords' Rest in the city-state they had once ruled.[8]
Members[]
- Gloran Galleos, a lich and one of the two surviving members of the Magelords of Mintar. After their defeat at the hands of the Harpers he fled to a secret laboratory he constructed beneath Mintar's harbor.[5]
- Sardukh, another lich and the other surviving member of the Magelords. After their defeat at the hands of the Harpers he fled to the isolated island of Talagath in the Straits of Suldophur.[7]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Code of the Harpers (1993) notes that the "conflict" between the Harpers and the Magelords of Mintar came to ahead in the midst of the Harpers invading the drow city of Undraeth. Powers & Pantheons (1997), which makes no mention of the Magelords, dates this conflict to circa 1150 DR. Later, Dragons of Faerûn (2006) would instead date the defeat of the Magelords at the hands of the Harpers to 1128 DR. As there are no other sources that corroborate the date given by Dragons of Faerûn, this can be considered an instance of misdating and thence the true downfall of the Magelords of Mintar was in 1150 DR.
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Ed Greenwood (September 1993). The Code of the Harpers. Edited by Mike Breault. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 29–30. ISBN 1-56076-644-1.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Eric L. Boyd, Eytan Bernstein (August 2006). Dragons of Faerûn. Edited by Beth Griese, Cindi Rice, Kim Mohan. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 23. ISBN 0-7869-3923-0.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Eric L. Boyd (September 1997). Powers & Pantheons. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 139. ISBN 978-0786906574.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Eric L. Boyd (January 2000). “Llurth Dreier: City of Ooze”. In Erik Mona ed. Polyhedron #140 (TSR, Inc.), p. 21.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Steven E. Schend, Dale Donovan (September 1998). Empires of the Shining Sea. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 155. ISBN 0-7869-1237-5.
- ↑ Steven E. Schend, Dale Donovan (September 1998). Empires of the Shining Sea. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 34. ISBN 0-7869-1237-5.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Steven E. Schend, Dale Donovan (September 1998). Empires of the Shining Sea. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 141. ISBN 0-7869-1237-5.
- ↑ Steven E. Schend, Dale Donovan (September 1998). Empires of the Shining Sea. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 154. ISBN 0-7869-1237-5.