In this series I will be looking at each of the individual nations of Faerûn in turn, in alphabetical order. This series is based around the status of each nation as of 1371-72 Dalereckoning (at the end of D&D 2nd Edition and the start of 3rd Edition). The maps are drawn from The Forgotten Realms Interactive Atlas CD-ROM and their respective 1st and 2nd Edition sources. They are not necessarily current for the 5th Edition of the setting (which is set c. 1496 DR).

A map of the nation of Calimshan and the surrounding area. Please click for a larger version.

Calimshan

  • Ruler: Syl-Pasha Ralan el Pesarkhal
  • Capital: Calimport (pop. 2,000,000 inc. surrounds & slaves; 192,795 citizens)
  • Settlements: Almraiven (43,652), Keltar (24,000), Manshaka (37,000), Memnon (29,101), Schamedar (20,000), Suldolphor (143,687), Teshburl (21,800), Volothamp (36,640) (note, this figure does not include slaves)
  • Population: 5,339,520 (approx., population counts of slaves are highly unreliable)
  • Population Density: 23.87 people per mile², 9.22 people per km²
  • Area: 223,690 miles² (579,354.44 kilometres²)
  • Languages: Alzhedo, Common
  • Religion: Anachtyr (Tyr), Azuth, Bhaelros (Talos), Ibrandul (Shar), Ilmater, Shar, Sharess
  • Exports: Armour, books, gems, jewellery, leather goods, mercenaries, minor magic items, pearls, pottery, rare herbs, rope, ships, silk, spices, weapons, wine
  • Imports: Food, slaves, magic
  • Sources: Empires of the Sands (Scott Haring, 1988), Empires of the Shining Sea (Steven E. Schend, 1998), Calimport (Steven E. Schend, 1998)
A map showing the location of Calimshan (in red) on the continent of Faerûn.

Overview

Calimshan is an ancient, powerful and rich nation located in the south-west of Faerûn. It extends from the River Agis and the Marching Mountains to the Shining Sea, with the Trackless Sea forming its western boundary. To the east its borders are more debatable, but are most often held to be the Lake of Steam. Several city-states located along the western shores of the Lake of Steam are nominally independent, but pay tribute to Calimshan to maintain its goodwill and are sometimes included in its borders.

Calimshan consists mainly of a large, rolling plain that extends from the Marching Mountains to the Shining Sea, watered by the Calim, Ice, Volomir and Quag rivers and bordered to the east by the southwards extension of the Forest of Mir. East of the Calim River, this plan is fertile and covered in a patchwork of villages, hamlets and estates. Distastefully, to most Faerûnians, these lands are worked by slaves in vast numbers.

West of the Calim River, the land abruptly turns barren and sere, quickly transforming into a desert wasteland. The Calim Desert extends from the Calim River to the Agis, and west and south to the ocean. Like most of the deserts of Faerûn, the Calim is unnatural, formed by the ancient wars between the efreet and djinn lords Memnon and Calim. The desert is home to at least three major family groups of travelling nomads, although only the Jhannivvar are well-known. There are magical wayposts dating from the Shoon Imperium which keep the two major roads of the desert at least semi-intact, and caravan waystops and small oases which tend to dry up annually, only for new ones to appear elsewhere. Ancient ruins dot the landscape, some connecting to the Underdark below Calimshan, where the subterranean Lake of Radiant Mists lies deep under the northern Calim Desert. Deep in the heart of the desert lies the Spinning Keep of Siri’wadjen, the prison of Memnon and Calim. The prison failing and the otherplanar entities being released would be a catastrophe of major proportions, for both Calimshan and the wider region, and the keep is fortified by measures mundane and arcane.

In the centre of the nation, the Marching Mountains, the Spine of Empires, forms a natural boundary between Calimshan and Tethyr to the north. The mountains are neither tall or extensive, but they are dotted with ruins stretching back to the Shoon Imperium and even earlier, to the days of the dwarf-realm of Shanatar and the elven kingdom of Keltormir. Wrapped around the mountains is the extensive Forest of Mir, which the elves call the Sarnestar and was once Dathiir Wood. The northern half of the forest is in Tethyr and is known as the Great Highland Glade, whilst the southern half is in Calimshan and known as the Khalahmjiri, the Place of Deadly Teeth, for its unrelenting hostility. The southern-most part  of the forest descends into the Shining Sea in a morass of marshland known as the Spider Swamp, infested with foul creatures.

Spider Swamp and the Forest of Mir form a natural eastwards boundary to Calimshan, but the nation has pushed its borders further east to at least the Alimir Mountains. The cities to the east of the Alimirs, on the Lake of Steam, vary in their relations with Calimshan. Currently Yeshpek and Tulmon enjoy full autonomy from the rule of Calimport, but Suldolphor on the Strait of Storms pays tribute to Calimshan and respects its authority in most matters (whilst sometimes ignoring it in others).

Calimshan is a heavily urbanised country. Memnon, Suldolphor, Keltar, Almraiven, Volothamp, Manshaka and Schamedar are all bustling cities with tens of thousands of inhabitants and as many again slaves. Trade is Calimshan’s life blood, with its great trade galleys ploughing the Shining Sea, Lake of Steam and the Great Sea, rounding the Horn of Chult to reach the distant lands beyond the Shaar. Calimshan counts Lantan, the Arnaden (as it calls the Lake of Steam) city-states and the Cities of the Seabreeze (the Calishite term for Lapaliiya and Tashalar) as trade partners. Trade to the north is more hotly contested, as Calimshan counts the nation of Amn and the city-states of Baldur’s Gate and Waterdeep as trading rivals. Calimshan has mixed relations with its larger but less-populous northern neighbour Tethyr, but in recent times has tried to cultivate a more positive relationship and has encouraged overland trade.

The capital city of Calimport is known as the Jewel of Calimshan and the City of Glory, although outsiders give it a darker name: the City of Slaves. Calimport is the largest city on the continent of Faerûn, with its total population (including seasonal visitors, slaves and the immediately surrounding countryside) exceeding 2 million, more than a third of the population of the entire country. Even during the fiercest winter storms, when nobles may take refuge for country estates and seasonal trade dries up, the population rarely drops below 900,000. However, only around 200,000 people are accounted as true citizens of Calimport for official census purposes. This makes Calimport the easiest city in Faerûn to “disappear” into. It also makes it one of the most lawless cities in the Realms, with the City Watch taking little interest in anyone below the social rank of a noble or merchant. Calimport claims the title of oldest city in Faerûn, as Calimshan claims the title of the oldest country, although both are disputed by Mulhorand and its capital, Skuld.

The city sprawls for miles along the Shining Sea, its port a veritable forest of ship masts and dockyards. It is divided into seventeen wards, some larger by themselves than the capital cities of other nations. The Syl-Pasha’s Palace sits in the west of the city, by an odd geographic quirk directly overlooking the Shackles Ward, where slaves are bought and sold in their thousands.

A map showing the changing borders of the Shoon Imperium from 27 to 450 DR. Please click for a larger version.

History

Calishite historians will extoll, at length, on a history stretching back nine thousand years, making Calimshan the oldest human nation in Faerûn. Although the recorded history of the region is indeed as old (and for the elves, far older still), it is questionable for modern Calimshan to claim to be the same nation as those ancient lands, instead of merely their successor. Modern Calimshan was only founded in 450 Dalereckoning, not even nine centuries ago, emerging from the wreckage of the once-mighty Shoon Imperium.

The modern territory of Calimshan was first claimed by the elves, who established the mighty empire of Keltormir circa 17,800 BDR (Before Dalereckoning), primarily based in the great forests of the south-west. During the Crown Wars, the great civil wars of the elven empires, Keltormir skirmished with the dark elves of Ilythiir and the northern empire of Aryvandaar but successfully manipulated the two empires into fighting one another directly. The destruction of Ilythiir in the Descent of the Drow and the subsequent defeat of Aryvandaar left Keltormir as the largest and most powerful of the surviving empires. However, the elves of Keltormir had no interest in conquest or glory, and were content to live in peace, trading with the dwarven empire of Shanatar which lay deep beneath their feet. In time, Keltormir dissolved into two successor kingdoms, Tethir and Darthiir.

In 7800 BDR, the great djinn Lord Calim arrived on Toril from the Elemental Plan of Air, keen to establish a domain on the Prime Material Plane. Calim, not noted for his imagination in naming tings, soon established the Calim Empire, with its capital as the city of Calim at the mouth of the Calim River. This ancient Calim is often called Calimport by boastful Calishite historians, although this is a dubious claim: modern Calimport is several dozen miles to the west and was founded some millennia later. I refer to this ancient city as Port Calim to differentiate it from its successor city. The Calim Empire soon spread to encompass the lands between the sea, the Marching Mountains, the River Agis and the Marching Mountains. Ten years later, Port Calim was destroyed by a flight of dragons, triggering fierce retribution as Calim marched into the mountains to root the dragons out of their lairs and destroy them. In his absence, the marid Lord Ajhuu founded a breakaway nation south-east of Port Calim. Returning from campaign, Calim destroyed the rebel kingdom in short order. By 7684 BDR, Port Calim had been rebuilt and Calim was again the undisputed ruler of the Calim Empire. Adopting a more peaceable tone, he reached accords with the neighbouring elven and dwarven kingdoms, established firm borders for his domain, and established trade. Calim also welcomed immigrants to his land, the primitive race of humans which was slowly spreading from the Shaar and other lands to the east. The humans quickly found themselves indentured workers, effectively slaves, aside from a few favourites who were given positions of responsibility over their fellows.

A millennium of peace for Lord Calim was interrupted by the arrival of the efreet Lord Memnon in the lands to the north of his domain in 6800 BDR. Memnon and Calim were enemies of many millennia’s standing and Memnon had pursued his nemesis to Toril to conclude their ancient battle. The kingdom of Memnonnar took shape north of the River Memnon, with its capital at Memnon (Memnon having as much imagination as Calim when it came to naming things). Memnon was less inclined to diplomacy and peace than Calim, destroying the dwarven city of Iltakar outright when it complained about territorial violations. In 6500 BDR, Calim and Memnon declared war, beginning the Skyfire Wars. Over the next four centuries Port Calim was razed twice, Memnon thrice, and Darthiir Wood was reduced by massive fires originating from the conflict, to the fury of the local elves.  Finally, in 6100 BDR Calim and Memnon met in personal combat at the Battle of Teshyllal Fields. The battle had no victor, as the elven High Mage Pharos led a cadre of elven High Mages from both Tethir and Darthiir in imprisoning both Calim and Memnon in a massive magical trap. This ended the conflict, although the unforeseen magical consequences resulted in the creation of the Calim Desert.

The realm of Memnonnar collapsed almost instantly, the efreeti returning to the Elemental Plane of Fire. The Calim Empire proved somewhat more durable, with djinn and marid lords seizing control of each city, but refusing to recognise a mutual ruler. As a result, the Calim Empire collapsed into the Calim Caliphates, but this polity was short-lived. In 6060 BDR, the human gladiator Coram led a mass uprising of human and halfling slaves, allied with the dwarves of Shanatar. Within eighteen months Port Calim had been destroyed for the fourth and final time and most of the djinni had fled back to the Plane of Air. Coram was proclaimed King and he renamed the nation Coramshan in his own honour. It was Coram who founded the city of Calimport on its modern site, 7,000 years ago (although no modern structure in the city has survived for all that time). However, after Coram’s death his kingdom was split between his seven sons, leading to a bloody civil war that lasted around 250 years.

By 5790 Coramshan had fallen under the control of the bakkals, priestly rulers who served the dark gods Shar and Bhaelros. Although the bakkals united Coramshan in peace, their rule was harsh and unyielding, leading to non-infrequent internal rebellions and strained relations with their former dwarven allies in Shanatar. War between Shanatar and Coramshan erupted in 5330 BDR, with Murabir Mir of Coramshan defeating the dwarves and forging the vassal kingdom of Mir out of the dwarven surface kingdom of High Shanatar. By 5005 BDR, Mir had established cities on the north coast of the Lake of Steam, but had also entered in to a border war with the powerful nation of Jhaamdath, which had expanded south and westwards from what is now the Vilhon region. Bakkal Ukhar IV of Coramshan defeated Jhaamdath and forced them to terms. He then formally united Mir and Coramshan into the Calimshan Empire.

After a protracted period of isolationism and peace, Calimshan renewed its military campaign against Shanatar in 3200 BDR, destroying High Shanatar’s capital at Iltakar and sealing the last surface entrance to Deep Shanatar some six centuries later. The Calimshan Empire’s borders expanded to the Sulduskoon River and the Starspire Mountains, although the bakkals avoided warfare with the powerful elven rulers of Tethir. In 2381 BDR Calimshan was beset by a new crisis when three beholder spelljammers crash-landed in the Alimir Mountains. The beholders immediately raised an army of monsters and invaded Calimshan, but were driven back into the mountains with great losses. The Caltazar Hills, the foothills of the Alimir Mountains, became a near-permanent warzone between Calimshan and the beholders.

By 1900 BDR, the Calimshan Empire stretched as far north as the Snowflake Mountains and had established new vassal kingdoms at Tethyr (between the Forest of Tethir and the River Wurlur), Mir (between the Marching Mountains and River Ith) and Iltkazar (between the Forest of Mir and Snowflake Mountains, east of Tethyr and Mir). In 1838 the Empire was rocked when the great red dragon Ylveraasahlisar the Red Rose invaded Calimport and slew the bakkals of the Raor Dynasty, taking control of the city for more than a century. The Red Rose proved an oddly efficient ruler, inflicting devastating reversals on the beholders, but also had an insatiable appetite for human flesh and gold. Having impoverished Calimport and killed many thousands of citizens, the Red Rose was finally slain in 1726 by adventurers of the noble house of Cajaan. After eighteen years of additional civil conflict, the first Pasha of Calimport emerged becoming undisputed ruler of Calimshan in 1708 BDR.

In 1428 BDR the beholders of the Alimir Hive defeated the armies of Calimshan in battle and surged westwards, taking Calimport after a brief siege. Pasha Violir IX stood defiant on the steps of the Temple of Amauntor (a Netherese god whose worship in Calimshan had become popular in recent centuries), hoping for his god’s intervention, but he was petrified and then shattered on those steps by the beholders. The beholders then took control of Calimshan, ruling it brutally for twenty-six years before they were defeated by a mass uprising. A resurgent beholder invasion began in 1280 BDR, but eventually this was defeated when Calimshan used a huge fleet to outflank the beholders, conquered most of the Lake of Steam and attacked their hives from several directions. By 1050 BDR Calimshan had seized control of most of the Lake of Steam region.

In 790 BDR, a large force of drow from the Underdark far below Calimshan surfaced in the Forest of Mir. They destroyed the last vestiges of the kingdom of Darthiir and made war on Calimshan, which was hard-pressed to deal with this new threat in its very backyard whilst also trying to control an empire extending for more than a thousand miles to the east and hundreds of miles northwards. The Night Wars ravaged Calimshan more than two centuries before it defeated the drow in 530 BDR. By 450 BDR Calimshan had lost control of the Lake of Steam as various subject cities declared independence and then formed an alliance to resist Calishite control.

In 387 BDR, various escaped slaves living on the fringes of the empire, many in the Forest of Tethir and on the Dragon’s Neck Peninsula, allied with the elves of Tethir and launched a daring campaign to seize control of the entire caliphate of Tethyr. In 387 they sacked Zazesspur and took Myratma in 307. In 293 they took Calimaronn, renaming it Ithmong.

In 288, the Pasha Kalil granted independence to Tethyr, to the shock of many observers. However, Kalil had expanded Calimshan’s influence south along the Shining Sea and was pushing to retake the Lake of Steam. He did not have the spare manpower to retake Tethyr as well. Instead, he decided to wait for an opportune moment. This presented itself in 255 BDR when the great empire of Jhaamdath was destroyed by the elves. This freed up the garrisons Calimshan kept in the north-east for redeployment. In 230 BDR, with Tethyr deep in the grip of a civil war for the throne, Kalil sent his troops into Tethyr on a “peacekeeping mission” and seized control of the nation. However, the Tethyrians rallied and by 221 had retaken Ithmong and in 212 conquered Myratma. Calimshan against retreated and, surprisingly, has never since invaded Tethyr by force of arms.

Although Calimshan never invaded Tethyr again, it did ensnare Tethyr in a deep web of political intrigue. The Pashas of Calimshan married their sons and daughters into the royal houses of Tethyr, as well as securing trade agreements and providing mutual military support against the drow of the Forest of Mir. Calimshan dissolved the ancient Emirate of Mir and ceded its territory to Tethyr, bar only the ancient, ruined city of Iltakar on the River Agis.

In 170 BDR the beholders of the Alimir Hive renewed their war against Calimshan, this time in concert with several of the city-states of the Lake of Steam, who feared and despised Calimshan more than the beholders. The Arnaden cities and the beholders invaded Iltkazar, but Iltkazar allied with the dwarven clans of the Omlarandin Mountains and Kuldin Peaks to hold off the beholder raids. The beholders then surged westwards to seize first Almraiven and then the entire eastern half of Calimshan, but they were driven back by Calimshan’s armies, now joined in alliance by the armies of Tethyr. In 166 the armies of Calimshan, Iltkazar and Tethyr destroyed the Alimir Hive itself, forcing the beholders to flee deep into the Underdark.

In 75 BDR, King Garynor Ithal of Tethyr died suddenly whilst his son and heir, Nishan II, was only four years old. Garynor’s mother, Princess Rhynda, became Queen Regent but her political support was shaky. Pasha Akkabar Shoon of Calimshan strengthened her position by arranging Nishan to be married to his granddaughter Arhymeria when they came of age. Nishan II and Arhymeria ruled well together, and to Akkabar Shoon’s annoyance they resisted his attempts to manipulate and control Tethyr using them as puppets. In 6 BDR the outlaw Tethyrian Clan Fyrson, allied to the pirates of the Nelanther, invaded Tethyr and killed King Nishan and Queen Arhymeria and their own son and heir, Prince Tarsax. The only survivor of the royal lineage was Yardane, Tarsax’s daughter, who was taken secretly to safety in the Forest of Tethir by elven delegates.

Amahl Shoon, Arhymeria’s brother, found himself as the closest surviving relative to the slain queen and was crowned King of Tethyr. He ignored his grandfather’s ongoing attempts at manipulation so was killed three years later, being replaced by Akkabar’s grand-nephew Amahl II. In 2 BDR Amahl II, on Akkabar’s orders, burned Ithmong to the ground, declared the Clan Ithal outlaw and swore fealty to Calimshan, making Tethyr a vassal once again.

By 8 DR, a new city had taken shape on the banks of the Agis, on the former site of Iltakar. The vast new city became known as Shoonach. Akkabar moved his court here to better rule both Tethyr and Calimshan from this one location. In 27 DR Akkabar died under murky circumstances and Amahl Shoon III became the simultaneous King of Tethyr and Pasha of Calimshan. He announced the founding of the Shoon Imperium with himself as its first Qysar (“Emperor”).

A detailed history of the Shoon Imperium is a remarkably bloody, brutal and at times disturbing affair, and best-suited for another, more in-depth, study of the Imperium itself. More briefly, at its height, the Shoon Imperium was the largest nation in Faerun and one of the largest nations to have ever existed. It stretched from the Shaar to the High Moor and from the Sword Coast almost to the Lake of Dragons. It did some good things, sponsoring grand public works and founding new cities, but it also embarked on brutal wars of conquest, engaged in constant political intrigue and experimented with dark, dangerous magic. In the end the Imperium was brought down by the hubris of is rulers, the qysars (emperors), who provoked a bloody, long-running battle with the blue dragon Iryklathagra “Sharpfangs,” and took their subjects for granted. A massive rebellion led by Tethyr culminated in the Shoon Imperium’s collapse in 450 DR, with the utter destruction of the Imperium’s gigantic capital city of Shoonach on the Agis.

After a period of civil strife, the ruling Pasha of Calimport established themselves as the ruler of Calimshan. The old imperial title of qysar was abandoned but the title of Pasha was deemed insufficient; after a time, the title of “Syl-Pasha” was adopted. The “new” Calimshan was, compared to its predecessor nations, non-expansionist, preferring to dominate trade on the Shining Sea and ensuring peace and stable borders its neighbours.

Calimshan’s extended period of peace ended abruptly in 1018 DR when Calimport and Keltar were destroyed by Sapphiraktar the Blue Wyrm, the infamous scourge of the Calim Desert, in the Dracorage. Both cities were quickly rebuilt. In 1235 DR Calimshan faced an even greater threat when the largest orc horde in recorded history swept out of the Spine of the World and other northern mountains and rampaged down the west coast of Faerûn. The Black Horde, as it became known, inflicted massive loss of life and damage as it attacked dozens of cities and destroyed hundreds of villages. In turn, tens of thousands of orcs were slain. Eventually, the Horde reached Calimport. Calimshan was not used to dealing with orcs, but they had had some forewarning of the attack (despite scepticism that such a horde could ever reach Calimshan). Calimshan’s armies blunted the orc incursion and the Caleph Arcane (the wizards’ guild of Calimport) shattered the remnants of the horde outside of the city and drove them into the mountains.

In 1347 DR, Tethyr fell into civil war. Calimshan surprisingly did not take advantage of its northern neighbour to seize territory. Instead, Calimshan cashed in by sending mercenaries to fight for the highest bidder.

In 1358, the Time of Troubles rocked the Realms. Calimshan was not directly involved, although the disappearance of the popular goddess Waukeen did cause some disruption in the country. Calimshan declared the Godswar to mark the beginning of the Tenth Age of Calimshan. Shortly afterwards, Syl-Pasha Rashid yn Kamal el Djenispool was slain and Ralan el Pesarkhal of Manshaka became Syl-Pasha of the nation.

In 1367, Calimshan experienced the largest military conflict within its borders since the fall of Shoon. The mage Shond Tharovin gained possession of a powerful artifact, the Living Gem, and used it to conquer his home city of Schamedar on the Shining Sea. Whilst Calimshan tried to rally troops to liberate the city, a local adventuring band, the Seven Satraps, managed to defeat Tharovin early in 1368. A local mage, Yoond Shalshymmyr, cursed Tharovin and transformed him into a gibbering mouther of gigantic proportions, which resulted in Tharovin’s own followers driving him into the Shining Sea in disgust. The Cult of the Living Gem retained control of the city for several months before being driven out by Calimshan’s army.

In early 1369 the civil war in Tethyr came to an end. Although the war had been good for business, it had also been a destabilising event on Calimshan’s northern border. Syl-Pasha Ralan el Pesarkhal moved quickly to cement good relations with Queen Zaranda Star and King Consort Haedrak III, securing trade rights to continue enriching both nations. In early 1370 DR, however, the reunited kingdom was tested when the Knights of the Black Gauntlet, an army of Banites who had seized control of Mintar on the Lake of Steam a decade earlier, invaded Tethyr’s far south-eastern border and seized the town of Kzelter. Tethyr began a military buildup at nearby Ithal Pass. In a surprising move of support, the Syl-Pasha moved several thousand troops to the Alimir Mountains, positioning them south of Kzelter. Although Calimshan directly intervening in the war is seen as unlikely, it has forced Mintar to split its army and keep some troops south of the city rather than advancing on Ithal Pass.

Government

In its current incarnation, Calimshan is a coalition of cities, nobles and merchant lords who pay respects to the Syl-Pasha in Calimport. The exact power of the Syl-Pasha varies immensely from individual to individual, with some exerting little authority over the realm. The current Syl-Pasha, Ralan el Pesarkhal, enjoys greater power and respect than most of his forebears and has been praised for his canny policies towards Tethyr and Mintar, although hardliners would prefer that he take a more militant and aggressive role in retaking ancient and ancestral Calishite territories along the Lake of Steam and Shining Sea coasts. For the most part, however, the pashas and sultans of Calimshan’s major cities and towns are happier with a policy of peace and a focus on trade.

Calimshan does not have a standing army as such, instead employing mercenary companies to undertake foreign adventures and recruiting a militia for each city to defend the walls and serve as a City Watch. However, law enforcement is taken seriously, with keeping track of escaped slaves consuming a lot of resources.

Religion

Calimshan is a religiously tolerant land whose people worship a number of deities. Notable is the worship of local aspects of more powerful gods, such as Anachtyr (an aspect of Tyr), Bhaelros (an aspect of Talos) and Ibrandul (an aspect of Shar). Azuth and Sharess also enjoy large followings and a tiny cult continues to follow Amauntor, the Netherese sun god who enjoyed a brief burst of popularity in Calimshan before the Fall of Netheril.

Probably the most popular god in Calimshan in terms of sheer number of worshippers, because they mainly hail from the enormous slave population, is Ilmater, the Lord of Martyrdom, Suffering and Endurance. The Crying God’s popularity in Calimshan and Tethyr boomed during the early years of the Shoon Imperium, resulting in Qysar Shoon II persecuting followers of the religion. Amahl Shoon V, the Artist Qysar, reversed the proscriptions on worship of Ilmater after an Ilmateri priest saved his daughter from a severe head injury. Amahl cast a great spell in thanks, similar to a geas or even a Mythal, that prevented harm coming to any servant of Ilmater that walked within the boundaries of the Shoon Imperium. This spell seems to be intermittently still effective even today. Amahl also granted special licences to the Ilmateri to build abbeys and temples within the borders of Shoon. The result is an enormous number of houses of worship to Ilmater located across Calimshan, including the House of St. Liwan’s Blessings, the Friary of St. Amahl, St. Noradnar’s Hermitage, St. Dobla’s Abbey, St. Faelar’s Cloisters and St. Wityn’s Hospice (among many, many others).

Historical Polities of the Calimshan Region

  • Keltormir (elven empire): c. 17,800 – c. 9000 BDR
    • Darthiir (elven kingdom): c. 9000 – 790 BDR
  • Shanatar, or Deep Shanatar (dwarven empire): c. 10,800 – 1900 BDR
    • High Shanatar (dwarven surface kingdom): 5960 – 2600 BDR
  • Calim Empire (djinni empire): 7800 – 6100 BDR
  • Calim Caliphates (djinni city-states): 6100 – 6059 BDR
  • Coramshan (human kingdom): 6059 – 5005 BDR
    • Under bakkal (theocratic) rule from 5790 BDR
    • Founding of the vassal First Kingdom of Mir in 5300 BDR marks the start of the First Age of Calimshan
  • Calimshan Empire (union of Coramshan and Mir): 5005 BDR – 27 DR
    • Bakkal rule until 1838 BDR
    • Rule of the dragon Ylveraasahlisar the Red Rose 1838 – 1726 BDR
    • Rule of House Cajaan 1726 – 1708 BDR
    • Rule of the Pashas of Calimshan 1708 BDR – 1428 BDR
    • Rule of the beholders of the Alimir Hive 1428 – 1406 BDR
    • Rule of the Pashas of Calimshan 1406 BDR – 27 DR
  • Shoon Imperium (union of Tethyr and Calimshan): 27 – 450 DR
    • Amahl Shoon III: 27 – 50 DR
    • Shoon I (Aleph el Shoon): 50 – 75 DR
    • Shoon II (Aleph yn Aleph el Shoon): 75 – 107 DR
    • Hazamir al Aktorral (regency): 107 – 123 DR
    • Shoon III (Aleph yn Jadhar el Shoon): 123 – 130 DR
    • Amahl Shoon IV: 130 – 142 DR
    • Amahl Shoon V: 142 – 204 DR
    • Amahl Shoon VI: 204 – 205 DR
    • Shoon IV (Aleph yn Amahl el Shoon): 205 – 281 DR
    • Shoon V (Munaa yr Oma el Shoon): 281 – 300 DR
    • Shoon VI (Kahlar yn Jahar el Tavarn): 300 – 309 DR
    • Shoon VII (Kodos yn Nadim el Jhotos): 309 – 370 DR
    • Shaani Shoon: 370 – 427 DR
    • Amahl Shoon VII: 427 – 450 DR
  • Pashaphate of Calimshan: 450 DR – present
    • Syl-Pasha Fahd el Daosiin: 450 – 457 DR
    • Syl-Pasha Saban el Djenispool: 1178 – 1235 DR
    • Syl-Pasha Kamar el Djenispool: 1235 – 1282 DR
    • Syl-Pasha Teladh el Djenispool: 1282 – 1338 DR
    • Syl-Pasha Rashid el Djenispool: 1338 – 1359 DR
    • Syl-Pasha Ralan el Pesarkhal: 1359 DR – present

Ages of Calimshan History

  • First Age: 5300 – 3200 BDR (2,100 years)
  • Second Age: 3200 – 1900 BDR (1,300 years)
  • Third Age: 1900 – 900 BDR (1,000 years)
  • Fourth Age: 900 – 200 BDR (700 years)
  • Fifth Age: 200 BDR – 27 DR (227 years)
  • Sixth Age (Age of Shoon): 27 – 450 DR (423 years)
  • Seventh Age (The Decadent Era): 450 – 1018 DR (568 years)
  • Eighth Age (The City-State Era): 1018 – 1235 DR (217 years)
  • Ninth Age (The Recovery Age): 1235 – 1358 DR (123 years)
  • Tenth Age: 1358 DR – present

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