Thay

Overview

Thay was a mysterious and terribly powerful magocratic nation in east Faerûn, that was long-governed by the Zulkirs of the Red Wizards. During the late 15th century DR, it was ruled by the necromancer lich Szass Tam, along with the Council of Zulkirs, who were supported by a near-endless chain of bureaucrats and local tharchions. The true nature of Thay laid in the endless pursuit of arcane knowledge and power by the country's elite, a dynamic that was fueled by rampant slavery. This driving force permeated the country's dark history.
As of 1589 DR, Thay has been reduced to a lifeless wasteland full of roaming undead. No one knows if Szass Tam still lives within Thaymount, but the Thaycreep continues to grow every year.

Society

For most of Thay's history, the country operated under a strict social hierarchy. The Red Wizards were considered the upper echelon of Thayan society, a magocratic noble class that was followed by Mulan bureaucrats, priests, merchants, soldiers, and mixed Mulan-Rashemi artisans and craftspeople. Semi-skilled workers and common laborers were a mere step above the nation's great many slaves of nearly every race, that had been accumulated from across the Realms.
In the years following Szass Tam's seizure of power in 1385 DR, leading up to the Second Sundering, the Thayan people led hard, destitute lives. It was a land whose governing philosophy held that undeath was a preferred state of being for its people, full of boundless possibilities and immeasurable power. During most of the 15th century the living had no means to achieve prominence within Thay, as their mere existence was an affront to the beliefs of the High Regent.
To briefly escape the misery of life in the city, many Thayans sought more brutal forms of entertainment. Gladiatorial matches were common in larger cities like Eltabbar and Surthay, perhaps the only events that allowed commoners to succumb to their primal nature without fear of retribution from the upper class. The more ferocious and deadly combatants were celebrated by the throngs of spectators. The brutal gladiators from Thay were considered the finest and most savage in all the Realms.

Culture

The Mulani of Thay maintained their people's tradition of shaving their heads and what little body hair they had. They were indoctrinated during their youth to revere the traditions of their people, obey the laws of Thay and honor those who served within the Red Wizards. Unlike the ethnic Mulani of Mulhorand, Thayans maintained a strong connection to the Art and were proud to send their children to apprenticeship under experienced Red Wizards.
The Rashemi commoners identified less with their cultural origins and saw themselves as citizens of Thay, first and foremost. They shaved their heads in imitation of the aristocratic Mulani, though their darker complexion gave away their ethnic background.
All Thayans believed that fortune was given to the strong-willed rather than those who demonstrated compassion and care. As a people they sought personal power, primal fulfillment and the procurement of wealth. Relations
Thayans were considerably prejudiced towards non-human races, particularly dwarves and gnomes, who were regularly the subject of racial epithets and provocations to violence. Elves were also held in low regard, though typically avoided and shunned rather than provoked. Orcs and half-orcs were well-tolerated within the badlands, as they were commonly found as enforcers and soldiers within Thayan legions. Centaurs were often kept as guards on Thayan slave plantations.

Undead

Beginning in the 10th century, Thay maintained a vast "population" of undead zombies, who were enthralled as laborers and porters, moving goods between ships docked in Thay's numerous waterways. The number of undead grew exponentially during the decades under Szass Tam's rule, following the nation's civil war that ended in 1385 DR and, by 1479 DR, Thay had the greatest concentration of undead in all of Faerûn.

Origins

The nation of Thay came about when a sect, calling itself the Red Wizards, led by the archmage Thayd, declared its freedom from the god-kings of Mulhorand. The sect's center of strength was in the northern provinces where the natives did not have the inbred reverence for the god-kings. After razing the city of Delhumide they declared themselves the free nation of Thay in 922 DR, under the leadership of the Red Wizard Ythazz Buvaar. Since then, Mulhorand has defended itself, quite successfully, against two invasions from Thay.
The small upstart nation quickly prospered with their vast slave-driven economy. With a lust for greater power, a group of renegade Red Wizards attempted their first march on Rashemen in 934 DR, and faced a costly defeat in the Gorge of Gauros by the Witches of Rashemen. Despite the temporary economic setback, Thay grew rapidly and ranks of the greedy, imperialistic Red Wizards swelled too large for them to effectively govern their own people. After years of bickering during the 10th century DR, the Red Wizards decided upon their system of rule and formed the Council of Zulkirs. One master of each of the eight schools of magic had a seat on the council, who in turn collectively appointed the tharchions who ruled over their given tharch.

Conflict and conquest

A few dissident Red Wizards disagreed with this system of rule and attempted to seize the nation for themselves during the 11th century. Their forces were put down by the Zulkirs in 1074 DR.
The armies of Thay marched on Aglarond and Rashemen many times and folk feared that the time would soon come when the zulkirs mobilized again. One such undertaking occurred in the year 1201 DR, when the newly-appointed zulkir of evocation, Narvonna Kren, formed a tenuous alliance with the established zulkir of illusion Nymor Thrul and infamous lich and zulkir of necromancy, Szass Tam, in an attempted invasion of Aglarond. The assault was ultimately unsuccessful and the Gray Sisters repelled the Thayan forces in the Yuirwood and Zulkir Thrul was blamed for the failure by Tam. The dark lich suffocated the master illusionist, which left a power vacuum within the Council of Zulkirs. Chaos ensued as a number of lesser wizards competed for the high seat of office and Szass Tam withdrew his forces to his private estate, disgusted with the behavior of his colleagues.

Salamander War

In 1357 DR, the tharchion of Lapendrar Hargrid Tenslayer joined forces with the zulkirs of evocation and conjuration in what was the then-most-ambitious plan of conquest ever undertaken in Thay. By means of powerful magic, the trio appealed to Fyzzar, Lord of the Salamanders, and Grand Sultan Marrake of the efreeti within the City of Brass, to aid Thay in a ruthless campaign against the independent coastal cities of the Alamber Sea and Sea of Fallen Stars. In return, the Red Wizards and tharchion promised then to maintain a permanent portal on Toril, that connected the Prime Material plane to the Elemental Plane of Fire. However, this agreement was struck without the approval or favor of Kossuth, the primordial Lord of Flame.
While the Thayans originally intended to simply banish the elemental forces once the zulkirs seized the lands they desired, the Red Wizards were only able to send the efreeti back to their other-planar domain and the voracious salamanders ran rampant across Priador. Having brought their nation to the brink of annihilation, the outmatched triumvirate reached out to the rest of the Council of Zulkirs and began fighting back against the elemental reptiles with the combined forces Thay's standing army, monstrous humanoids such as gnolls and goblin-kin, and the vast undead forces of Szass Tam which had been reluctantly withdrawn from an offensive in Rashemen. The Salamander War, as it came to be known, lasted for over a year until Aznar Thrul made a grand appeal to Kossuth. The Lord of Flame sent his own elementals to Faerûn and drove the salamanders horde out from Thay. Worship of Kossuth grew exponentially in Thay and its political landscape was permanently changed for decades to come.

Civil War

In 1375 DR, a rift had been growing within Council of Zulkirs and opposing factions were forming under the leadership of Aznar Thrul and the necromantic lich Szass Tam. In Mirtul of that year, Tam arranged a series of events that would divide the nation and place himself in a position to ascend as its savior. First, he assassinated his strongest ally, Druxus Rhym, which was blamed on his rival Thrul, and supplanted the transmuter as zulkir with the easily-controllable Samas Kul, aided by his confidant Dmitra Flass. Second, he orchestrated a Rashemi counter-attack on an unsanctioned invasion of Rashemen in the Gorge of Gauros, led by the tharchs Azhir Kren and Homen Odesseiron, proceeded to rescue their forces at precisely the right moment and rewrote the narrative in their favor, Lastly he manufactured the menace of an undead horde that threatened all of eastern Thay.
By Kythorn 5 of that year, Tam had Aznar Thrul killed by an undead abomination, in preparation for his appeal to the Council of Zulkirs. On Mirtul 11, Szass Tam appealed the council that he be named regent, for a temporary time, so that he may rid the nation of its threats and return Thay to prosperity. Unfortunately for the lich, Dmitra Flass had uncovered his scheme with the assistance of her spymaster, Malark Springhill, and approached the council about her misgivings beforehand. After entire council voted against Tam's proposal, riots broke out in the capital of Eltabbar, clamoring for Szass Tam's ascension as Thay's supreme ruler. While the zulkir of necromancy soothed the anger of the Thayan people, he withdrew from the council, marshaled his undead army and attempted to take Thay by force.
The first battle occurred on on Mirtul 14, when the combined armies of the Council of Zulkirs assaulted the Keep of Thazar, Szass Tam's fortress that had been supplied with undead from a manufactory hidden within the Sunrise Mountains. The council managed to win the battle, destroying the nighthaunt Ysval who commanded Tam's forces at the keep, and their Griffon Legion slowed the movement of the lich's remaining undead army in the following tenday.
Szass tam appeared before a small conclave of Thayan officers on Mirtul 27 and ensured them their actions would result in a long, drawn-out war that would engulf their entire nation. In fact the two warring factions would battle throughout the next decade, and Tam's forces slaughtered Thayan peasants, poisoned their lands and caused massive floods and other natural disasters. Along with the horrors of war, famine ravaged the previously abundant lands of Thay.
By 1385 DR the warring factions of Thay arrived at a stalemate. Szass Tam held the northern tharchs of Gauros, Lapendrar, Surthay, Delhumide and Thaymount, while the other zulkirs maintained a hold over Priador, Eltabbar, Tyraturos, Thazalhar, Pyarados, and the islands of Alaor. In Ches, Hezass Nymar, the tharchion of Lapendrar warned the council that Szass Tam was planning an assault on the Keep of Sorrows.
On Tarsakh 29, the legions of northern Thay marched upon the Keep of Sorrows. While the council attempted to pincer Tam's forces against the keep's walls, the atropal Xingax created an artificial darkness over the battlefield, summoned undead horrors and turned the time of the battle in Tam's favor. Just before the lich could claim victory, the goddess of magic, Mystra was killed, and the blue flames of the Spellplague ravaged Thay and all of Toril. Arcane magic ceased to function properly and pure chaos broke out on the battlefield. Tam's legions took the keep and the council forces withdrew to the isolated town of Zolum.
As a result of the Spellplague, the Thayan plateau rose thousands of feet in height and altered its place on the face of Toril. Rivers took new courses across the lands and the volcanoes of Thaymount erupted in violent explosions. These geological events began to reshape the previously-controlled Thayan landscape. Some cities were destroyed while others were unrecognizable. The icy glaciers of High Thay began to melt, which sent boulders and debris tumbling down the Second Escarpment down to the greater plateau. Volcanic ash filled the sky and the magically-protected climate of Thay was no more.
After a few more skirmishes fought in confusion, Szass Tam made a pact with the dark god Bane. In exchange for insight into the changed function and form of arcane magic, along with powers to rule over Thay for the next 1000 years, he offered forth his soul, and promised that divine worship in his kingdom would be solely dedicated to the Black Lord.
Tam's greatest victory came at Thralgard Keep on Eleint 15. The lich's legions rebuked the attack of the council's legions, aided by the dream vestige summoned forth by the powers lent by the god Bane. The council fled south and briefly regrouped in Bezantur, before sailing off for Escalant in the Wizards' Reach to the west. Szass Tam was greeted in Bezantur to cheers and adulation. He summoned a magical storm to slow the fleet of the Red Wizards, and sent his own forces after them. As the council ships gained the upper hand in the sea battle, Szass Tam withdrew his forces and allowed the Council of Zulkirs to leave Thay.
On the eve of his coronation as High Regent, Szass Tam gained great magical insight in the form of an ancient tome that described the Ritual of the unmaking. He begun construction on several Dread Rings, great fortresses that served as markers for the arcane power that coursed through all of Thay that, upon completion of the ritual, could potentially erase all of existence as it was known throughout the Realms.

15th century

While the lands, waters and skies of Thay had been ravaged by war and magic during the end of the 14th century, the following decades saw a great transformation among the nation's people. The living people of Thay were increasingly disregarded as the Red Wizards fully embraced a new existence as vampires, liches and other servitors of undeath. Seats within the reformed Zulkir Council were filled by the most powerful of these undead arcanists.
On Midwinter 1478 DR, Bareris Anskuld uncovered a book from the former house of Druxus Rhym that illuminated the grand scheme that Szass Tam had been working on over the past 90 years. After reuniting with the leader of the Brotherhood of the Griffon, Aoth Fezim, Bareris brought his discovery to the remaining zulkirs of old Thay that lived in exile within the Wizards' Reach.
In the late 15th century, a band of mercenaries known as the brotherhood of the griffon attempted to overthrow the lich Szass Tam and his council of undead zulkirs. The mercenaries were supported by the former living Zulkirs of Thay, each a master of one of the schools of magic. The coup failed despite slaying the council of Zulkirs, and Szass Tam responded by unleashing a curse across all of Thay that turned every living creature into mindless undead. The kingdom was transformed into a wasteland of undeath known as the Thaycreep, and the lich Regent of Thay retreated into his tower on Thaymount never to be seen again. Occasionally, adventurers and thrill-seekers venture into the land of the dead to prove themselves. Others seek ancient treasures and magical items in the ruins of the former mageocracy. Knights in training from the kingdom of Cormyr are known to sail across the sea of fallen stars to the ruins of Thay as part of their quests of knighthood. As of 1587 DR, the thaycreep had spread to the golden way in the north and the southern coast of Thay.
As of 1589 DR, the Thaycreep has spread into the sea of fallen stars. Cormyr has been sending knights to cull the dead for the last 100 years, but trouble at home has prevented them from truly dealing with Szass Tam and the Thaycreep. King Reman Obarskyr has hired the hellraisers to put an end to it.

Maps

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  1. The Thaycreep

Type: Nation
Region: Unapproachable East, East Faerûn
Capital: Thaymount
Largest city: Bezantur
Ruler: Szass Tam
Inhabitants: Undead