Nesmé and the Jewel of the Silver Marches
Nesmé was an unfortunate casualty of the war with the kingdom of many-arrows. By 1489, the town had been nearly destroyed entirely following an attack by orcs, drow and the white dragon Arauthator. The remaining riders of Nesmé led its people north to Mithral hall, where they sheltered for the next 50 years.
During that time, the riders grew into a much stronger force than they had ever been and rode alongside the Dwarven armies against the orcs. In 1536, during the battle of Dark Arrow Keep, Gaeron Alondo (leader of the riders of Nesmé) slew the dragon Arauthator and avenged the innocent of Nesmé slain nearly 50 years before. He returned from the assault on Dark Arrow keep a hero to the people of Nesmé, but the weary king Dagna of Mithral Hall took offense to the nesmians’ jubilation and expelled the lot of them. The people of Nesmé returned to the ruins of their town and began rebuilding.
The young and charismatic Gaeron Alondo, already an established adventurer before slaying the Dragon Arauthator, was an easy choice for First Speaker of Nesmé. As its leader, he led the reconstruction and took advantage of the increasing seclusion of its neighbors Silverymoon and Mithral Hall. Within 10 years, Nesmé outgrew its original bounds and began building new districts outside its original walls (with the original boundaries of the city acting as the seat of government).
The town of Nesmé became the City of Nesmé, and saw trade coming through it from across the anauroch desert, as far north as ten-towns and south as Amn. Over the following 50 years, the city only grew richer while maintaining an egalitarian government (especially following the discriminatory new laws of Silverymoon). The city saw exiles from Mithrall Hall setting up shop in its craftsmen’s district, and soon produced metalworks rivaling the Dwarven Hold. With trade came an influx of adventurers crowding every tavern, eagerly looking for work in the troubled region. The elderly Gaeron Alondo still rules as First Speaker, with Halder Firth leading the riders of Nesmé in its defense (especially against the encroachment of the trolls returning to the trollmoors).
Alondo, once an adventurer himself, maintains a policy of acceptance for adventurers in the city. It was following his example that the three city-states of the Silver Marches (Mithral Hall, Silverymoon and Nesmé) now employ minor criminals as adventurers for hire (given that they use their gains to repay the cities in which they fell from grace).
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