King Amahl el Shoon I was the first ruler of the Shoon Dynasty of Tethyr and the period of time known as the Shoon Traitorum.[4]
Description
It was the intent of Akkabar Shoon the Elder that Amahl I be only a puppet king; however, Amahl refused to follow his grandfather's wishes. In fact, he was good ruler to the people of Tethyr during his brief reign.[1][2]
Personality
Amahl never wanted to be king; indeed, letters to his sister discovered by Haedrak Rhindaun III revealed that all he ever wanted in life was to be a druid.[1]
Relationships
Amahl was the grandson of Akkabar the Elder and the younger brother of Queen Arhymeria, wife of Nishan Ithal II. He was very fond of his sister.[1][2] He also had an older brother named Akkabar.[7]
Amahl preferred his sister's family to his Calishite relatives.[1] He never married and had no children.[2]
Activities
Since the former palace of Tethyr at Ithalyr was in ruins, Amahl had the former Fort Karlag converted into the site of his new palace, renaming the fortress Zazesspur.[1][2]
Instead of sending tax money to his grandfather in Calimshan as fealty, he spent a good deal of effort trying to restore the formal capital of the old kingdom of Mir, the site that would later become Shoonach, intending it as a new garrison for visiting Calishite troops. That way, he could have these foreign troops moved there from Zazesspur, lessening the control his grandfather could wield on Amahl's country.[2]
History
During his brother-in-law's birthday celebration at the end of the Year of Scarlet Scourges, −6 DR, Amahl was traveling as part of a trade delegation to some foreign country. Afterward, he planned to stop and visit his sister Arhymeria. He arrived at Tethyr early in the next year, unaware that she and nearly all of her family had been slaughtered. Secretly and magically, he had been tracked by Akkabar the Elder, and Amahl was strangely greeted in Tethyr by a full garrison of Calishite soldiers and five advisors sent "to help restore stability to the clans and the country of Tethyr, and to protect [Akkabar's] grandson Amahl."[1][2]
Fraudulent evidence appeared that Agaryn Ithal, one of King Nishan's only surviving family members, was responsible for orchestrating the death of the royal family, and a false document was circulated, called the Confessions of King Nishan, that claimed that Nishan always intended to pass the crown to his brother-in-law.[1][2]
Neither Amahl nor the clans of Tethyr could stop Akkabar's machinations, even though it was obvious to them what was occurring.[2] Within only a month, the Calishite vizars had made Amahl the new king.[1][2][3][5]
Once Akkabar realized that Amahl would not be his puppet, he orchestrated a back-up plan. He soon sent Amahl's nephew, Amahl Shoon II, to Amahl I's court to be his heir, since Amahl had no children of his own.[2]
In the Year of Ruins, −3 DR, Amahl I was found dead, slain by poison[3] from his own nephew,[7] who succeeded him as king of Tethyr.[4][3]
Appendix
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lands of Intrigue Book Three: Erlkazar & Folk of Intrigue has his death as −2 DR, but as Empires of the Shining Sea is a newer sourcebook and goes into specific details, the latter source is trusted here.
- ↑ Lands of Intrigue Book Three: Erlkazar & Folk of Intrigue has the start of his reign as −6 DR, but both Lands of Intrigue Book One: Tethyr and Empires of the Shining Sea go into specific details and list −5 DR.
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Steven E. Schend (August 1997). “Book One: Tethyr”. In Roger E. Moore ed. Lands of Intrigue (TSR, Inc.), pp. 28–29. ISBN 0-7869-0697-9.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 Steven E. Schend, Dale Donovan (September 1998). Empires of the Shining Sea. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 22. ISBN 0-7869-1237-5.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Steven E. Schend, Dale Donovan (September 1998). Empires of the Shining Sea. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 42. ISBN 0-7869-1237-5.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Steven E. Schend (August 1997). “Book Three: Erlkazar & Folk of Intrigue”. In Roger E. Moore ed. Lands of Intrigue (TSR, Inc.), p. 28. ISBN 0-7869-0697-9.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Steven E. Schend (October 1998). Calimport. (TSR, Inc), p. 20. ISBN 0-7869-1238-3.
- ↑ Steven E. Schend (October 1998). Calimport. (TSR, Inc), p. 19. ISBN 0-7869-1238-3.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Steven E. Schend, Dale Donovan (September 1998). Empires of the Shining Sea. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), p. 23. ISBN 0-7869-1237-5.