Page 132 - Serpent Kingdoms

REALMS

host of minor ones vie for control of the streets, and war- DR), the isolated Thinguth of the Guthland were the only
fare between them is a nightly occurrence. During the day, a Chultans not wholly absorbed into the Tabaxi and ruled from
handful of open-air markets operate after a fashion, offering the capitol city of Mezro.
any and all items that are outlawed in the rest of Thindol for In the Year of Shattered Havens (–289 DR), the Thinguth
sale. Those who dare visit such bazaars, however, must be well were enslaved by the yuan-ti of the Sseradess and Sauringar
prepared to defend themselves. tribes and dispersed across all of greater Thindol, which at that
Thindar (Metropolis, 98,662): This sprawling, unwalled time included lands now claimed by Samarach. Their liberation
city was built on the site of a filled-in marsh. The surround- came in the Year of Hounds (293 DR), when soldiers of the
ing grasslands and neighboring waters meld together beneath Shoon Empire defeated the lizardfolk tribes that had battled
the shimmering sun, resembling one giant, enveloping sea. the Thinguth during the Lizard Wars at the tail end of the
This phenomenon, combined with its low-lying construction, Tashalar Campaigns. The Sseradess tribe remained untouched in
earned Thindar its nickname—City in the Waves. Domi- the depths of the Thingulph, and the Sauringar retained their
nated by wealthy Thindolese of Tashlutan heritage, Thindar holdings in the depths of the Samarlogh. Without their armies
is the main trading center of the Thindol Basin and often of lizardfolk, however, neither yuan-ti tribe dared continue to
the last port of call for ships sailing westward around the rule openly.
Horn of Chult. In the decades that followed, a succession of Shoon satraps
Each major storm eats away a little more of the city’s port brought civilization to the Thinguth, and many natives found
district, and most new construction is on the north side. Thus, employment denuding the Thindol Basin’s of its prized ma-
most of “Old Thindar” now lies beneath the waves. Although hogany and teak trees and shipping them back to the heart of
adventurers attempt to plunder the submerged ruins from time the Imperium. During this period, many Tashalans migrated
to time, most do not return. The majority of such disappear- southward from the Tashtan Coast to settle the unclaimed ter-
ances are attributable to the yuan-ti, who scour the ruins for ritories west of the Thingulph. They took control of the lumber
any advantage they can fi nd in their covert battle to reclaim trade, while the Chultans retained their primacy in the eastern
the Thindol Basin. region known as the Guthland.
After the Shoon Imperium collapsed in the Year of the
Regional History Corrie Fist (450 DR), the Thindolese achieved independence
for the fi rst time in centuries, albeit under the subtle infl uence
Once considered part of Mhairshaulk, the central jungles of of the yuan-ti agents who had infi ltrated the ruling corridors
the areas now claimed by Samarach and Thindol were largely of power. By chance, in the Year of Many Serpents (605 DR),
abandoned by the yuan-ti about –24,000 DR, during their a minor scandal in Thindol’s royal court led to the unmask-
centuries-long war with the couatls (see Serpentes, above). ing of hundreds of yuan-ti infi ltrators, including none other
For millennia thereafter, the jungles of the central penin- than the reigning monarch and his family. All of Thindol de-
sula remained the preserve of savage wildlife and individual scended into near anarchy, and for months after the incident,
serpentfolk (either yuan-ti or couatls) who forged their own anyone even suspected of possessing serpentine blood was sum-
short-lived domains. marily executed by roving bands of ophiophobes. This civil
At the end of the great couatl-led migration of human war ended the monarchy and slaughtered thousands of inno-
tribes from the continent far to the southwest in –2809 DR, cents, but it also greatly reduced the infl uence of the yuan-ti.
the central jungles of the Sanrach and Thindol Basins were By the time it was over, Western Thindol had declared itself
settled by the Thinguth tribe (see Serpentes, above). Centuries the independent realm of Samarach, and all the mountain
later, the Lapal tribes living alongside the Lapal Sea fi nally passes and roads in that new realm had been cloaked in a veil
escaped their yuan-ti masters, and the serpentfolk were forced of illusion.
to import tribes of lizardfolk slaves from the Great Swamp of In the centuries since the War of Unmasking (605 DR to
Rethgild to the east. Upon reaching the shores of the Lapal Sea, 606 DR), a Council of Cities has ruled Thindol and vigilantly
many of these lizardfolk either escaped or were released into the guarded its borders against serpentine interlopers, never suspect-
territory claimed by the Thinguth. This event led to centuries ing that the Sseradess tribe lurks beneath the waters in the heart
of skirmishing between humans and lizardfolk that eventually of the realm. Ophiophobia still results in periodic purges of sus-
reduced both groups to barbaric tribal enclaves. pected serpentfolk, although most are now expelled rather than
Over time, the Thinguth were forced to withdraw from executed. Thindolese merchants make a good living trading with
their western territories, conceding much of what is now Halruaa, Dambrath, the Tashalar, and (to a much lesser extent)
Samarach and western Thindol to the lizardfolk, who later Samarach. However, the century-old decline in cross-peninsula
expanded into the Jungles of Chult as well. This division of trade from Thindar to Narubel has reduced the fl ow of coins
territory geographically isolated the inhabitants of the Guth- into the realm’s coffers, and Samarach is a part of the realm
land from the rest of the migrant tribes that had settled in only in name.
the Jungles of Chult. Thus, when the great war broke out
between the Tabaxi and Eshowe tribes (–438 DR to –122

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