Page 122 - Serpent Kingdoms

REALMS

from the Delphin Mountains to Talath Pass. Most of the city Regional History
has fallen into ruin, but the remaining structures house the
The southernmost empire of the sarrukh was Mhairshaulk,
bulk of the Eselemas tribe. The builders of Ss’dath’in’ssatath
which was founded about –34,800 DR and extended westward
favored wall carvings over statues, so the façades that have not
from the Lhairghal to the Jungles of Chult. The Mhairshaulkans
yet crumbled are adorned with bas-reliefs depicting writhing
are believed to have created nagas, pterafolk, and troglodytes, as
serpents and nagalike faces.
well as numerous other races long since lost. The yuan-ti were
Ss’inthee’ssaree: The sprawling, ruined city of Ss’inthee’ssaree
the results of experiments that joined primitive humans with
lies on the northwestern shore of the Lapal Sea. Once the capitol
the sarrukh of Mhairshaulk, with varying amounts of serpent
of Serpentes, Ss’inthee’ssaree fell into ruin after the disappear-
blood added to the mix.
ance of Sseth’s avatar in the Year of Dreams (10 DR) and the
Unlike such contemporaries as Isstosseffi fi l and Okoth, sar-
subsequent feuding among yuan-ti tribes over who would succeed
rukh-ruled Mhairshaulk declined gradually, sinking slowly into
him as emperor. After centuries of intertribal skirmishing, the
somnolence circa –33,500 DR. The sarrukh slowly dwindled in
Se’Sehen tribe fi nally cemented its control over Ss’inthee’ssaree
number, and one by one, the remaining individuals entered a
in the sixth century Dalereckoning. Since then, members of this
cycle of extended hibernation alternating with brief periods
tribe have used their slaves to clear the ruins of debris and re-
of activity. As the great clans of the sarrukh withdrew from
build wherever possible. Without the support of the other tribes,
the daily governance of their realm, Mhairshaulk increasingly
however, the Se’Sehen can hope for little more than to keep the
became the preserve of the yuan-ti. Although the theocratic
jungle from reclaiming more of the ruins.
vrael olo ruled the heart of Mhairshaulk for millennia, the
A central area known as the Pit of Vipers still forms the
rising empires of the batrachi and aearee ensured that the
center of yuan-ti power in the Black and Mhair Jungles. Priests
yuan-ti would never achieve the dominance that their creators
of Sseth—and most other yuan-ti, regardless of tribe—consider
had enjoyed.
the Pit of Vipers the most holy location on the face of Faerûn.
By the close of the Time of Dragons (circa –24,000 DR),
A vast egg chamber, tended by broodguards, lies under its cen-
yuan-ti-ruled Mhairshaulk had all but collapsed, thanks
tral altar. Deep in the bowels of the temple, a portal links the
to repeated assaults on its cities by the great wyrms of the
priests of the Se’Sehen with their greatest allies, the yuan-ti of
south. Around this time, an army of winged serpents known
Hlondeth. Before the holiest altar of Sseth, where the avatar
as couatls appeared in the Jungles of Chult from lands to the
himself coiled while he ruled Serpentes, lies a shallow pit full
west, called into service by the god Ubtao. In the centuries
of writhing snakes. In the center of this pit stands a raised dais
that followed, these rival creations of the sarrukh battled
on which no snakes crawl. Inscribed with a mystical pattern
each other for control of the peninsula. Time and again the
formed of snakelike shapes, the dais serves as a keyless portal
yuan-ti were forced to concede their westernmost holdings to
that activates 5 rounds after any creature sets foot on its surface.
the couatls, until the war ended in a stalemate with the Hazur
Yuan-ti accessing the portal use that time to assume postures of
Mountains as the dividing line.
reverence and respect. The portal transports all creatures stand-
For millennia thereafter, the Chultan Peninsula remained
ing on the dais at the instant it activates to an identical temple
the preserve of powerful individual serpentfolk, but no orga-
in Hlondeth called the Scaled Halls of Varae. Because the two
nized empires existed there. Around the time of Netheril’s
temples are exact images of each other, users are often unaware
founding, the couatls began to decline precipitously in number,
that they have gone anywhere at all.
so they decided to seek out another race to keep the western end
Ss’yin’tia’saminass: Situated midway between the head of the
of the Chultan Peninsula free of yuan-ti infl uence. Eventually,
River Chun and Dolsel Pass, Ss’yin’tia’saminass was once the
they settled on the human tribes of a distant continent to the
provincial capitol of the southern Black Jungles and the Thindol
southwest and preached to them the teachings of Ubtao. The
Basin. The yuan-ti who dwelled in this city experimented upon
Eshowe, the Tabaxi, and the Thinguth tribes, as well as several
the various primate species native to the region in hopes of cre-
others that accepted Ubtao’s message, followed the winged ser-
ating a perfect slave race, but that effort was abandoned after
pents in a great pilgrimage across the seas to the Jungles of
the fall of Serpentes. Today, the surrounding region is overrun
Chult in –2809 DR.
with the progeny of those experimental primates. Thus, in a
The tribes landed on the Wild Coast and marched inland to
sense, Ss’yin’tia’saminass is the legendary “City of Apes” that
the Peaks of Flame, where the avatar of Ubtao welcomed them.
most Thindolese tales incorrectly place in the Guth Mountains.
After all but a handful of winged serpents had withdrawn from
In recent centuries, the Jennestas tribe has claimed the ruins
southwestern Faerûn, the Father of Chult’s avatar founded the
of Ss’yin’tia’saminass as its base, seeking to recover the ancient
great city of Mezro in –2637 DR. He dwelt there for a time
beast-shaping magics that their creators once employed. Rather
among the Tabaxi, the greatest of the tribes, while the other
than repeat the failures of their ancestors, however, the Jen-
tribes scattered throughout the jungles. Eventually the Father
nestas have begun experimenting on human and halfl ing slaves.
of Dinosaurs withdrew, but not before imbuing Chult itself with
The latter were abducted from the borders of the Southern
a portion of his essence. As an unintended consequence of this
Lluirwood and brought back to the Black Jungles by way of a
action, a shadow of Ubtao was released into the ground.
two-way portal.
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