The First Kingdom of Mir (called Monrativi Teshy Mir in Alzhedo), or just Mir, was an ancient kingdom in west Faerûn that served as the foundation for the Calimshan Empire, Shoon Imperium, and Calimshan.[3][4] The formation of Mir was considered the start of the First Age of Calimshan.[2]
Geography[]
The kingdom was centered on the former dwarven city of Iltakar, which eventually became the site of Shoonach. At its furthest extents the realm stretched west to the Trackless Sea along the River Agis, and as far east to Saelmur and the Lake of Steam.[4][2]
History[]
Following the Era of Skyfire and the disappearance of Memnon and Calim around −6100 DR, their former domains fell to destruction and dissolution. The last vestiges of genie rule were eventually destroyed by -6060 DR thanks to the collaboration of Coram the Warrior and the dwarves of Shanatar, creating the new realm of Coramshan atop the ruins of the Calim Empire and Memnonnar. Taking advantage of the lands left behind by the genies' wars, the dwarves founded the realm of High Shanatar around −5600 DR, building settlements across what was later western and southern Tethyr. At the same time, the western Darthiir Wood and northern Marching Mountains gradually became inhabited by exiles and refugees from Coramshan, who wandered and became nomadic families and clans in the region.[5] The pleasant relations between Coramshan and Shanatar ended at −5400 DR, when the dwarves killed tomb robbers on Mount Kellarak that included the eldest heir to the bakkal of Coramshan, starting what would become known as the Shanatar Wars.[6]
The kingdom originated with Murabir Mir, warlord and military leader of Coramshan. Around −5330 DR he marched with an army from Keltar, traveled around the Calim Desert and the Marching Mountains, and killed or press-ganged the nomadic peoples he encountered. Crossing the River Memnon on rafts, they fell upon the dwarves of High Shanatar while they fought the giants of Nedeheim and conquered their city of Iltakar. By −5300 DR, Murabir Mir had conquered the area around Iltakar up to the Wurlur (the dwarven defense made further northern conquest unappetizing) and west of the Darthiir Wood, founding the Kingdom of Mir as a separate but closely allied entity to Coramshan. Over the next century the Mirrans skirmished with the dwarves of Shanatar and gradually annihilated the local Darthiir Wood elves, forcing them to flee to Nikerymath and the Forest of Tethir.[2][6]
The Kingdom of Mir's extents corresponded to Duchy Ankaram's Calimmon and Monteshi.
Despite the constant fighting the realm never lost ground, and Murabir Mir embarked on another ambitious campaign of conquest to the east circa −5270 DR. Thanks to a strong alliance with Coramshan that defended their homeland, Mir was able to devote its full forces to the campaign. By −5100 DR, the kingdom had conquered all of the lands south of the Wurlur in a generations-long invasion of High Shanatar, taking the dwarven lands around the Omlarandin Mountains and extending the frontier east. This territory of Mir remained an uninhabited wilderness for a long time, though it was recorded as the land of Iltkazar. The armies of Mir then approached the Lake of Steam, founding Saradush, Mintar, and Saelmur as military camps as they went. This brought them into conflict with the nascent empire of Jhaamdath as they expanded from the Vilhon Reach and colonized the Lake, finally leading to open war in −5032 DR. The first battle of the Mir–Jhaamdath War was on the plains north of Ankhport, resulting in a painful defeat for Mir. Sensing weakness, Jhaamdath pursued the war through to −5007 DR, grinding the armies of Mir down and pushing them back to Fort Saradush.[2][7]
With the ascendant army of Jhaamdath on their own border, Coramshan actively joined the war after "the negotiations which deemed unification a necessary gambit to ensure the survival of either realm" (possibly involving the Murabir and his three generals being murdered), leaving Bakkal Ukhar IV of Coramshan also serving as Murabir of Mir. After a year of preparation, the combined forces of Mir and Coramshan counterattacked, using Coramshan's priests and wizards to great effect. The Jhaamdathan forces were shocked by the turnaround and in only two months they were forced back to Saelmur, and after another year they signed a truce. The peace of −5005 DR led to the mutual dropping of any claims on the Lake of Steam, satisfying both sides.[2]
Having won an incredible victory, Ukhar IV returned home amid the celebration of his people. He announced that he would rule both Mir and Coramshan, and named the new realm Calimshan to evoke the power and terror of the genie from ages past. While Coramshan and Mir continued to exist as political entities, they were suborned to the rule of the Calimshan Empire, and the capital moved to Calimport.[2] By the Third Age of Calimshan (−1900 DR) Mir was one of the core kingdoms of the empire, alongside Coramshan, Tethyr, and Iltkazar (the early Mir territories around the Omlarandin Mountains were granted to Iltkazar[8]), each ruled by the pasha in Calimport while more distant lands such as the Calishar Emirates were governed locally.[9][7]
All that was left of the kingdom in later years.
The Fourth Age of Calimshan (−900 DR to −200 DR) saw a period of internal focus as Tethyr was colonized and Mir became a center of urban development. Iltakar became the second largest city in the Empire and grew a web of satellite towns and fortresses about it to feed and defend it, one of which was Ithmong. Although Mir survived the subsequent drow attacks, rebellions of Iltkazar and Tethyr, and Empire Plague, it did not long remain part of Calimshan.[1] In thanks for Tethyr's participation in the Eye Tyrant Wars, the Pasha of Calimshan granted King Silvam Ithal the lands of Mir wholesale in −150 DR, also titling him the Raj of Ankaram (this also disarmed the disloyal Raj of Mir who was planning rebellion).[10][11]
The ancient lands of Mir once again took primacy in the Year of Glittering Glory, 15 DR, when Amahl Shoon II constructed the sprawling urban complexes of Shoonach on the site of Iltakar and made it the capital of the Shoon Imperium.[12] Following the fall of the Imperium, Mir remained broadly associated with southwestern Tethyr and its Duchy Ankaram. The area directly around Shoonach became a desolate realm of ruins called Monrativi Teshy Mir, the subject of nostalgic longings and occasional fighting for revanchism-addled Calishites for centuries to come.[3][12][13]
Appendix[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 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.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Steven E. Schend, Dale Donovan (September 1998). Empires of the Shining Sea. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 14, 15. ISBN 0-7869-1237-5.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Scott Haring (1988). Empires of the Sands. (TSR, Inc), pp. 59, 60. ISBN 0-8803-8539-1.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Brian R. James, Ed Greenwood (September 2007). The Grand History of the Realms. Edited by Kim Mohan, Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 23. ISBN 978-0-7869-4731-7.
- ↑ Steven E. Schend, Dale Donovan (September 1998). Empires of the Shining Sea. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 13, 14. ISBN 0-7869-1237-5.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Richard Baker, Ed Bonny, Travis Stout (February 2005). Lost Empires of Faerûn. Edited by Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 114. ISBN 0-7869-3654-1.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 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.
- ↑ Steven E. Schend, Dale Donovan (September 1998). Empires of the Shining Sea. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 15, 16. ISBN 0-7869-1237-5.
- ↑ Steven E. Schend (October 1998). Calimport. (TSR, Inc), p. 14. ISBN 0-7869-1238-3.
- ↑ Steven E. Schend, Dale Donovan (September 1998). Empires of the Shining Sea. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 21. ISBN 0-7869-1237-5.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Steven E. Schend, Dale Donovan (September 1998). Empires of the Shining Sea. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 92. ISBN 0-7869-1237-5.
- ↑ Steven E. Schend (August 1997). “Book One: Tethyr”. In Roger E. Moore ed. Lands of Intrigue (TSR, Inc.), p. 78. ISBN 0-7869-0697-9.