The Imaskar Empire

The earliest of all known records describe the great empire of Imaskar. Ruled by powerful godless human wizards, this empire was centered in what is now the Raurin Desert. Its borders were vast: by the end of its Early Dynastic Period, in -6422 DR, they reached from the Golden Water to the Great Ice Sea and from the Alamber Sea to the Katakoro Plateau.

Nemrut Period

In the year −8350 DR an ancient tribe of unknown origin began to settle the then-fertile basin of the Raurin Plateau. This started the Nemrut period of the civilization, named after the civilization's first warlord. Early Imaskari lived in tribal communities ruled by chiefs and the warrior aristocracy, which expanded as agriculture spread among them. About 230 years later the Imaskari Artificers created the first permanent extradimensional space. Their fascination with such magics soon transformed Imaskari city design. The years after −8130 DR saw the rise of many grand cities.

Early Dynastic Period

The capital city of Inupras was founded in −7975 DR. The first Emperor, Umyatin, rose to assume the title of Lord Artificer on that year, ending the Nemrut period. Bukhara Spires were constructed during this period; circles of bronze spires which held two-way portals, allowing for rapid transportation of whole legions across vast distances. Those portals allowed Imaskar to rapidly expand across East Faerûn.

In −7891 DR, the Imaskari annexed and enslaved the kobold kingdom of Zexthandrim in the Mountains of Copper, demanding tribute from the subjugated people in gold and gems. The kobolds tried to game the required tribute by withholding the choicest gemstones. In −7403 DR, the Empire became determined to punish the demihumans' treachery, and expelled them from their tunnels using two new kinds of golems: slow-moving portal golems, carrying a portal in their chest, and smaller, shepherd golems, which would force the kobolds through those portals. The fate of the kobolds after this point was unknown. The korobokuru dwarves of Shan Nala were also subjugated during this time.

The empire also subjugated the Taangan, ancestors of the Tuigan and other tribes, in −7100 DR, demanding semi-annual tribute from these nomads. Durpar, Ulgarth and Khati were also annexed at around that time. The Empire remained undefeated until −6788 DR, when its western outpost in Aerilpar was besieged by forest landwyrms. In −6779 DR, there was a peasant rebellion in Raudor, which was soon put down.

Middle Kingdoms Period

In −6422 DR, rampaging krakentua razed the capital, Inupras. The anarchy that followed caused a split between the territories of Upper and Lower Imaskar, beginning the Middle Kingdoms period. The natives of Lower Imaskar founded the city of Solon to serve as their capital, east of the Raurinshield Mountains. Upper Imaskar's capital became Thakos, later Saikhoi.

In −4370 DR a suspicious plague known as the Silent Death decimated Lower Imaskari cities. Mysteriously, a blight destroyed their crops at about the same time. Fifteen to twenty out of each hundred Imaskari citizens perished to the plague even in the most lightly affected areas, and the survivors were then subject to a famine. Lower Imaskar only survived this period because their enemies failed to capitalize on their weakness. Due to the empires rise, the increased prominence if religion in the population of subjugated citizens was provided as the cause, and so the Lower Imaskari turned against their priests in response to their inability to cure the plague and their suspicion in being the source of it. Most priests were either slain or driven into exile. The Silent Death did spread north into the later Endless Wastes, but Upper Imaskar remained safe and untouched. This started the "Shartra", or "darkness", period of Imaskari history, which would last until the reunification of Imaskar.

Four years later, desperate to rebuild but with a devastated population, Lord Artificer Khotan commissioned two more Bukhara spires, which would form a portal to a world with no knowledge of the Art. Through those portals, the Imaskari brought hundreds of thousands of people to be enslaved. The prisoners in turn brought their faith—the Mulhorandi and Untheric pantheons—with them. Although they came from the same plane, the prisoners came from different regions as well as different times. They soon intermarried with each other and the surviving Imaskari citizens to form the race now known as Mulan humans. The slaves prayed hard for salvation, but the prayers went unheard since the wizards had closed all portals and created a barrier cutting the slaves off from their gods.

Late Period and Destruction

Lord Artificer Omanond reunified Upper and Lower Imaskar in −3920 DR, once more placing the capital in Inupras, ending the Shartra and beginning the Late Period of the Imaskari empire. Under orders from Lord Artificer Omanond in -3891 DR, Imaskari artificers created the Imaskarcana – seven items in which the empire's immense magical lore is recorded for all eternity. Also under his reign, in −3234 DR, the Imaskari created the outpost known as Metos in Methwood as its westernmost outpost. At some point after this, the wizard Madryoch attempted to overthrow Omanond, only to be thwarted by the artificer Hilather, who banished him to the Demiplane of Imprisonment.

In -2489 DR, the manifestations of the Untheric and Mulhorandi pantheons landed on the highest peaks in a range of mountains on the northeastern edge of the Imaskar Empire known today as the Teyla Shan, or Godswatch Mountains. There they split into more divine forms, such as mortal forms of avatars, known as incarnations. These descended into the fertile plain below amongst their long-lost people. The most talented they made into priests; the truly faithful were transformed into divine minions. Thus bolstered, the slaves soon rebelled throughout the Imaskar empire.

Many of the greatest wizard-lords of the realm battled to the last. The situation was truly desperate for Imaskar; in Jorhat Citadel, the artificer Mardava employed a spell that slew not only the slaves besieging it, but all of the defenders and herself as well. Facing imminent defeat, the Elder Evil Pandorym was summoned and imprisoned in the Palace of the Purple Emperor while attempts were made to control it, so as to use it as a deterrent; they would not succeed in time to prevent the destruction of the Empire.

The Imaskar Empire was completely destroyed in −2488 DR, when the emperor, Lord Yuvaraj, fell in battle with Horus in Inupras. The energies unleashed during their ultimate fight leveled the city, and turned the fertile Raurin basin into a desert. The rest of its armies were defeated by the incarnate gods of the rebellious Mulhorandi and Untheric slaves. When the ancient wizard rulers were defeated by the manifestations who would later become the god-kings of Mulhorand and Unther, the manifestations summoned spirits of retribution that destroyed all that had not been slain in the war. When the god-kings fled Raurin, these spirits took the land as their own domain, with each pack stirring from slumber every century to wreak havoc on all that oppose them.

Successors

While the western Imaskari Empire was leveled by the Mulhorandi rebellion, the eastern holdings of the Empire endured. In −2487 DR, an artificer by the name of Kujawa, bearing Dhonas' Shroud, one of the seven False Imaskarcana, claimed the Dragon Throne at Thakos, founding thusly the Empire of Anok-Imaskar and declaring himself Emperor. Likewise, a smaller empire sprang up around the city of Solon.

The most direct, recorded descendant of the Imaskari Empire was the city of Deep Imaskar in the Underdark, founded by Lord Ilphemon.

Bakar was a survivor state of Imaskar in the valley of the River Athis which followed the Mulhorandi pantheon, though by around 300 DR the river had dried up and the kingdom collapsed.

Most of the languages of the Hordelands were Imaskari languages, suggesting that the people of the Hordelands were descendants of the ancient empire.

The High Imaskar Empire

High Imaskar was an empire that stood on the shattered ruins of Mulhorand on the eastern shore of the Sea of Fallen Stars, after the Spellplague of 1385 DR. It represented one of two nations of Imaskari survivors in the 15th century DR, until its eventual destruction in 1487 DR, during the final events of the Second Sundering.

Geography

High Imaskar claimed the ravaged lands that remained of the Mulhorandi kingdom after the Spellplague. The Spellplague scoured the lands, reducing them to a blasted range of mountains, chasms, rivers of lava, and earthmotes. The terrain made transportation all but impossible by anything but by air. Transportation in High Imaskar was usually accomplished via the huge redwing insects, bred by the Imaskari to carry passengers and cargo through the harsh lands.

To the east, across the Dragonsword Mountains, lay the Plains of Purple Dust, a new extension of the Raurin Desert beyond. The highly inhospitable region was plagued by large purple worms and dust devils.

Society

High Imaskar was divided into the cities of Skyclave and Gheldaneth. Skyclave was a miracle of magic and the seat of the empire. Gheldaneth was the last remnant of the Mulhorandi kingdom but existed as a vassal to the revived Imaskar. Skyclave attempted to recapture the grandeur and glory of the original Imaskar Empire with two significant changes. Empress Ususi's first imperial decree abolished the Imaskari tradition of slave-holding and outlawed slavery on pain of death. Skyclave itself was a huge single tower, enchanted to be larger on the inside than the outside. It was a symbol of the former might of the Imaskari wizards and it housed the revived Academy of Imaskar.

Gheldaneth, in contrast, was a failing metropolis where the remnants of the Mulan people, including a large number of tieflings that claimed to be descendants of the gods of the Mulhorandi pantheon, found themselves unable to resist the renewed might of High Imaskar. While the edict banning slavery also applied to the vassal city of Imaskar, a second edict was enforced in Gheldaneth prohibiting the worship of the old Mulhorandi pantheon. The local detachment of vengeance-takers had to put down several revolts led by priests of the illegal religion. The majority of palaces, temples, and academies of old Gheldaneth were submerged in the devastation of the Spellplague, and a large number of treasure hunters occupied the city, hoping to plunder the sunken quarter of the city.

Government

High Imaskar was ruled by its founder, Empress Ususi Manaallin, for almost 90 years. To avoid the same problems that toppled the old Imaskari Empire, she established the Body of Artificers, Planners, and Apprehenders as a foil to her power. In 1479 DR, Empress Ususi was about to retire, and decided that her successor should be someone unrelated to her.

Foreign Relations

High Imaskar maintained trade relations with Deep Imaskar, but the backward and introspective sister city grew jealous of its brighter sibling and that resent was festering.

High Imaskar also recognized the need to have allies in a world that didn't quite recognize it as a full kingdom yet. To that end, they gave favorable trade deals to the dragonborn and genasi kingdoms of Tymanther and Akanûl, despite the enmity between these two nations.

Because of their history with the old empire of Imaskar, Chessenta was an enemy of High Imaskar. Even when there was no open war between them, Chessentan war parties usually attacked High Imaskari outposts and vessels. Because of this, in 1478 DR High Imaskar gave the dragon principalities of Murghôm favorable trade deals in exchange for Murghômi pirates to retaliate against Chessenta.

History

The original great empire of Imaskar was destroyed around −2488 DR, when the gods of their slaves, the Mulan, rose up and shattered the empire. Some of the Imaskari retreated to Deep Imaskar in the Underdark beneath the Hordelands.

After the Spellplague of 1385 DR, explorers from Deep Imaskar set out to see if the Mulhorandi persisted, and many of the younger Imaskari of Deep Imaskar left with Ususi when she decided to create a nation in the now desolated Mulhorandi lands. Under her guidance, they relocated the old Palace of the Purple Emperor to the barren lands and founded the city of Skyclave. Ususi was crowned Empress, the first Imaskari ruler since the destruction of the old Imaskar Empire, nearly 4000 years before.

In 1479 DR, the blue dragon Gestaniius used an army of dragonspawn, purple worms and other minions to try to conquer High Imaskar, as part of her plot to gain more points in Brimstone's xorvintaal. This threat was ended thanks to aid from irregular Tymantheran forces in the form of the Platinum Cadre and the Lance Defenders envoys Daardendrien Medrash, Daardendrien Balasar and Kanjentellequor Biri. This, however, damaged the relationship between Tymanther and High Imaskar, as the latter didn't help the dragonborn during their political crisis with Chessenta, as they had promised.

The empire of High Imaskar came to an end during the Second Sundering, when the Mulhorandi gods returned to Faerûn and incited the Mulhorandi rebellion. When the war was over, in early 1487 DR, High Imaskar was no more, and the survivors were forced to flee to the Plains of Purple Dust or to other planes.