Shoon II (pronounced: /ˈʃuːn/ SHOON[3]) was the third emperor of the Shoon Imperium. He was remembered as the Atheist Qysar for his hatred of religion.[2]
Activities[]
Little was remembered about Shoon II's reign except for his active attempt to remove all religion from his realm.[1]
Relationships[]
Shoon II was a son of Shoon I. He was the third child. His older twin brother was named Ksan, and the oldest son was named Qamar. They also had a younger sister, whose name was lost to history.[1]
Shoon II and Ksan were very close and would join together against their older brother Qamar. Shoon also adored his little sister.[1]
Shoon II had six sons, all of whom were ultimately killed by the magic of the artifact known as Saarkanlyth's Antaglass. Shoon II had commissioned the magical mirror as a test to humble his proud sons and chose an heir, but all of them failed the test.[4][note 1]
Shoon II's niece gave birth to a son named Aleph yn Jadhar el Shoon, whom Shoon II adopted as his own son.[1]
One of the most trusted servants of Shoon II was a man named Sulak yn Khamas el Adnan. Saref Adnan was considered the qysar's rare antiques and magic "collector".[5]
History[]
Born in 34 DR with the same given name as his father, Aleph yn Aleph el Shoon was not thought to be an important child. However, his two older brothers died before they had even come of age. Qamar drowned in a water fountain while drunk, and Ksan died shortly thereafter from a mysterious fever, all the while claiming that he was being haunted by the ghost of his older brother.[1]
It was Ksan's death that drove him to hate all priests and their gods, because he was at his twin brother's side when he died and saw that none of the clerics were able to heal him.[1]
Upon his father's death in 75 DR, Aleph yn Aleph took the throne as Shoon II. Shoon II wasted no time in persecuting the faiths within his empire. Initially, his persecution only resulted in the exile of a few religions from the Imperium and the prevention of new temples being built. However, when priests were unable to rescue his younger sister from dying while giving birth, he went on a rampage against all faiths, ordering the pillaging and destruction of all shrines and temples.[1]
In 99 DR, Shoon II send his henchman Saref Adnan to dispose "of some trouble" among the Tethyrian clan lords. Adnan then murdered a number of the lords, restoring control to the Imperium. Shoon II rewarded Adnan by giving him a magical item later known as the Endless Bag of Saref Adnan.[5]
After his own six sons were killed indirectly by the magic of Saarkanlyth's Antaglass, he selected his nephew, Vymar el Shoon, as his heir. Vymar was the second son of his older brother Qamar. Vymar found the Antaglass and slew the nemesis it created, passing his uncle's test. However, Vymar opposed his uncle's persecution of religions, and so Shoon II had him poisoned.[4][note 2]
In 107 DR, while Shoon II was on his deathbed, his grandnephew, Aleph yn Jadhar el Shoon, was born. Moments before he died, Shoon II officially adopted the infant as his son and heir. As he died, Shoon II cursed the gods and all their servants.[1][note 3]
For the next sixteen years, the Empire was ruled by Shoon III's regent, Hazamir al Aktorral.[1]
Reputation[]
Even though his campaign against the gods left their own temples and shrines destroyed, the Church of Bane considered Shoon II a great hero simply for his despotic nature.[1]
In 194 DR, a statue of Shoon II was erected in the Bakkal Sabban of Calimport as part of the Fountain of the Qysars, a monument to the first seven rulers of the Shoon, which was commissioned by Qysar Amahl Shoon V. Shoon II's statue was the one on the southwest side of the octagonal palisade.[6]
Appendix[]
Notes[]
- ↑ There are several inconsistencies in the story given for Saarkanlyth's Antaglass and the six sons of Shoon II in the Calimport sourcebook. First, it erroneously refers to a Qysar Amahl Shoon II, who never existed. It is assumed that Qysar Shoon II was meant, because it refers to him later as Shoon II in the same story and to his grandnephew as Shoon III. The tale claims that the mirror was completed in 68 DR, yet Shoon II did not begin his rule until 75 DR. Shoon II also would have been 34 years old at that time, which seems too young—though not impossible with sixteen being the year of one's coming to age in Calimshan—to have six sons with one old enough to marry.
- ↑ This tale from Calimport also has inconsistencies with what is told in Empires of the Shining Sea. Qamar is spelled "Kamar" in Calimport, but this is an excusable difference in spelling. However, Empires says that Kamar died while still a youth, while Calimport claims Vymar as his second son. Perhaps, as a drunkard, he managed to father two children before he turned sixteen.
- ↑ The final inconsistency presented in Calimport in the section on Saarkanlyth's Antaglass is that Shoon III was the son of Vymar el Shoon. This conflicts with Empires of the Shining Sea, which gives Shoon III's full name as Aleph yn Jadhar el Shoon and calls him the son of Shoon II's niece, not the son of his nephew.
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 1.12 1.13 Steven E. Schend, Dale Donovan (September 1998). Empires of the Shining Sea. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 24–25. ISBN 0-7869-1237-5.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Steven E. Schend (August 1997). “Book Three: Erlkazar & Folk of Intrigue”. In Roger E. Moore ed. Lands of Intrigue (TSR, Inc.), p. 29. ISBN 0-7869-0697-9.
- ↑ Ginny Loveday (2018-11-06). A Wrinkle in the Weave (DDAL08-04) (PDF). D&D Adventurers League: Waterdeep (Wizards of the Coast), p. 12.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Steven E. Schend (October 1998). Calimport. (TSR, Inc), pp. 89–90. ISBN 0-7869-1238-3.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Steven E. Schend (October 1998). Calimport. (TSR, Inc), p. 87. ISBN 0-7869-1238-3.
- ↑ Steven E. Schend (October 1998). Calimport. (TSR, Inc), p. 33. ISBN 0-7869-1238-3.
Connections[]
Shoon III • Amahl Shoon IV • Amahl Shoon V • Amahl Shoon VI • Shoon IV • Shoon V • Shoon VI • Shoon VII • Shaani • Amahl Shoon VII