Thayan Resurrection
Beneath skies of ash and cinder lies the broken landscape of Thay. A forbidding place, much of Thay consists of badlands, deserts, rugged mountains, cinder cones, and active volcanoes that belch forth plumes of toxic steam and rain flaming debris on the lands below. Thay is a nation dedicated to magic and death—a land where undead are not only common, they hold great power. As long as there has been a Thay, it has been a ruthless magocracy, ruled by the sinister Red Wizards. But only in the years since the Spellplague have the Red Wizards been dominated by the dead.
The regent Szass Tam and his Council of Zulkirs—liches all—rule this warring, slaving nation with fists of bone and iron, and under their tyrannical dominion, the undead are the masters of Thay. They roam the land, twitching legions of rotten flesh that wait for the day when the lich-lord sends them forth in the name of conquest. Where life exists, it suffers terribly in the form of slaves, playthings, and chattel to be sacrificed, sold, or remade into undead thralls. Slavers prowl ruined cities, searching for fresh meat to sell on the auction blocks, while roaming bands of gnolls scour the rugged countryside for sacrifices to offer up to their masters.
Most of those who grow up under this regime don't realize there is another way to live. They may live in fear or servitude, but they don't find life in Thay abnormal. Those who have the proper magical skills and mindset can
even carve out their own place within the necromantic order. Yet not all accept the hellish landscape this country has become.
Many Red Wizards chafe under the rule of Szass Tam, remembering that Thay was once a land of learning and power. Now, death scours Thay while the lich lord ignores all concerns other than his quest to become a god. If his mad plans are left to run their course, no one in the country will be left alive to worship him.
In response to this threat, wizards of all schools of magic except necromancy founded the Thayan Resurrection, a secret rebel organization whose goal is the overthrow of Szass Tam and the necromancers from their rule of Thay. For all the power that the lich lord has accumulated, he has yet to fully stamp out these rebels. who occasionally stage uprisings to oppose him.
The sinister order of ambitious spellcasters known as the Red Wizards of Thay is so infamous, I have not bothered to include further description of them— you can learn much of their actions from any sage, or from any purveyor of lurid tales of treachery and deceit. Yet I can well say that as detestable as the Red Wizards were before the Spellplague, they were much preferable to what they are today. As long as there has been a Thay, it has been a ruthless magocracy, ruled by the sinister Red Wizards, yet only in recent years has their obsession with magic been matched by their dedication to death itself.
Today, Thay is land where undead are not only common, they hold great power. The regent Szass Tam and his Council of Zulkirs rule this warring, slaving nation with fists of bone and iron. Under their tyranny, the undead are the masters of Thay. Rotting legions roam a broken landscape beneath skies of ash and cinder, waiting for the day when the lich-lord sends them forth in the name of conquest.
Where life exists, it suffers terribly in the form of slaves, playthings, and chattel to be sacrificed, sold, or remade into undead thralls. Slavers prowl ruined cities, searching for fresh meat to sell on the auction blocks, while roaming bands of gnolls scour the rugged countryside for sacrifices to offer up to their masters. Always a forbidding place, Thay is now almost entirely dominated by badlands, deserts, rugged mountains, cinder cones, and active volcanoes that belch forth plumes of toxic steam and rain flaming debris on the lands below.
Most of those who grow up under this regime never knew another way of life. They may live in fear or servitude, but they don’t find life in Thay abnormal. Those who have the proper magical skills and mindset can even carve out their own place within the necromantic order. Yet not all accept the hellish landscape this country has become.
Many Red Wizards chafe under Szass Tam’s rule, remembering that Thay was once a land of learning and power. Now, death scours Thay while the lich lord ignores all concerns other than his quest to become a god. If his mad plans run their course, no one in the country will be left alive to worship him.
In response to this threat, wizards of all schools of magic except necromancy founded the Thayan Resurrection, a secret rebel organization whose goal is the overthrow of Szass Tam and his followers. For all the power that the lich lord has accumulated, he has yet to fully stamp out these rebels. who occasionally stage uprisings to oppose him.
Of Spellfire and Spellscars
Spellfire is refined, controlled, raw magic. In beneficient manifestations, it appears as a font of silver light and healing energy. In battle, it is a searing blue-white jet of all-consuming raidance. Some people are born with a natural ability to wield spellfire in all its natural power, whereas others can manipulate less potent expressions of it. Persons gifted with the ability to wield spellfire can do amazing things with it, dependent on their skill, talent, and the amount of magical energy they have within them at the time. In general, spellfire can be used to heal, create blasts of destructive fire, or absorb magical effects it contacts, although the exact effects vary by circumstance and user. Talented wielders can release multiple blasts at once or even fly using the ability. The damage from spellfire is a mix of flame and raw magical power (half fire damage, half force damage) and therefore difficult to resist. Right or wrong, legends hold that only one person in all Faerun is gifted with true spellfire at one time. Prior to the Spellplague, that person was identified as the lass Shandril Shessair, an orphaned kitchen-maid from a tavern in Highmoon of Deepingdale. As a result, Shandril was hounded by hundreds of mages, including many Zhentarim, Red Wizards of Thay, mages of the Cult of the Dragon, and others. They slaughtered each other and innocents who got in their way in pursuit of Shandril's power, and the girl's fate is unknown. The legends lie, however. Multiple true spellfire wielders hide in the world, keeping their existence a secret to avoid the endless pursuit Shandril endured. The lesser form of spellfire was once known as silver fire, and was once considered unique to the Chosen of Mystra. It could be used for a variety of more subtle effects, and its use could be taught. The Simbul, perhaps the most powerful Chosen of Mystra of the last century, taught its use to her apprentices. Other Chosen tutored powerful clergy of Mystra in mastering it. Recently, larger institutions of wizardly training have made inroads in the use of silver fire, gaining greater understanding of the raw stuff of magic and channeling it in limited uses. With the tearing of the Weave during the Spellplague, spellfire was unleashed in raw, uncontrolled fury, rolling over the world and transforming it. Thus, a new wrinkle was added to the scholarly understanding of spellfire: spellscars, marks left upon mortals by the magical disaster and its aftereffects. Many saw spellscars as the corroded echo of spellfire, twisted by the disaster that was the Spellplague. Yet the wielders of true spellfire secretly retained their gifts alongside these newly scarred. Most creatures gained their spellscars not during the Spellplague, but afterwards, when they were exposed to areas still roiling with raw spellfire. Spellscarred individuals often developed unique abilities to use spellfire, but never without a price. Sometimes a spellscar was a physical abnormality, but more often it was an intangible mark that appeared only when its power was activated. An active spellscar might appear as jagged cracks of blue light racing across the forearms and hands, a corona of cerulean flame, a blazing blue glyph on the forehead, or perhaps even wings of cobalt flame. In all instances, blue fire is a sure indicator of a spellscar. As with spellfire, creatures could learn to master their spellscars. In fact, some beings even traveled to lands still burning with the Spellplague in hopes of gaining a spellscar; such "scar pilgrimages" were encouraged by a mysterious organization called the Order of Blue Flame.Структура
Membership
The group's membership ranges from sincere revolutionaries, hoping for a land more adapted to human life. to power-hungry individuals who want to replace one ruler with another. Many upstarts cause trouble on a small scale in their own bids to attain power, but small pockets of freedom fighters hope to break from Thay's inglorious past and guide the nation to a new future. Members of the Thayan Resurrection are structured in autonomous cells composed of just a few members, in order to make it difficult for Tam's followers to destroy them with a single blow. The folk of Thay have always believed that the gods sent luck to the strong and resolute, not to the gentle and compassionate, and these rebels make strength and resolution their watchwords in their struggle. The Thayan Resurrection can be divided into two groups on the basis of geography. Those in the most danger dwell in Thay itself, covertly waging their hidden war against the hated lich lord from within. These are primarily members of the Mulan ruling class, with their shaved heads and elaborate tattoos, but occasionally their operations require the aid of the Rashemi save class as well. Since they know their lives could end at any time, most domestic Thayan Resurrection members are careful and cautious, but they also seek to make every moment count. They avoid most risks, but when a risk stands to strike a real blow against Tam's tyranny, they take it. When death is inevitable, to seek to end their lives in ways that will prevent their transformation into servants of the necromancers. The second group consists of the many Thayan exiles who fled the rule of Szass Tam for other parts of the Realms. Until the end of the Tyranny of Dragons, Rath Modar was the most well-known leader of this group. So great is the lich lord's wrath that every single one of these exiles is under an immediate sentence of death if they should ever fall into the clutches of the Red Wizards or their agents. These exiles have recently become aware of agents of Thay seeking wielders of spellfire of various kinds as subjects for yet another series of experiments designed to vault Szass Tam into godhood, and they seek to stop these agents at every turn, though often the rare and secretive wielders of spellfire are loathe to trust anyone related to Thay, even if they claim to be rebels. Unfortunately for the Thayan Resurrection, the rare and secretive wielders of spellfire are loathe to trust anyone related to Thay, even if they claim to be rebels—and I certainly can't blame them. Both the exiles and the rebels remaining in Thay have recently gained some strange allies. The first group is an order of druids, the Circle of the Solstice, who have rallied against the complete transformation of the lands of Thay into desolate wastes. This formed years ago to stop an alchemist with an army of constructs from destroying a forest. In recent years, wandering packs of these druids have appeared in wild places threatened by unnatural incursions or reckless depletion of their resources. They bear a special animosity for constructs and undead which unnaturally mimic the true forms of nature. When iron abominations or skeletal hordes intrude on sacred places, or when the logging of trees becomes too greedy to ever be replenished, members of the Circle of the Solstice sometimes appear, unbidden and unheralded. They seek to free nature to express itself unmarred by such threats, and visit terrible fury on those who oppose them. These druids are not much for structured cooperation, but their surprise guerrilla strikes against places where Thay's undead soldiers gather have created many opportunities. Lately, the druids have even begun sending messages of warning to Thayan Resurrection before their attacks, allowing the rebels to make the most of these events to advance their own covert operations. A more collaborative—and yet, in some ways, more disturbing—group of new allies is an extraplanar sect of "anti-clerics" called the Athar. United more by their fringe belief system than any political aim, the Athar have adopted the defeat of Szass Tam as a goal in service of their ideals. These cynical philosophers believe things that make even many Thayan wizards uncomfortable, as their central tenet is that the gods themselves are frauds unworthy of worship. They cite Faerunian events like the Time of Troubles and the Spellplague—in which some gods have died and new ones ascended—as evidence that the beings worshipped as gods are merely mortals who have attained great power. While the Athar believe there may be a truly great omnipotent entity responsible for making and tending reality, but if so, they believe that power must be incomprehensible to the minds of mere mortals, and above the petty concerns and squabbles between so-called deities that have marked Faerun's history. Athar members refer to this theoretical true god as “the Great Unknown.” It was Szass Tam's ambition to achieve godhood that brought him to the attention of the Athar. They see stopping the ascension of a new god as a worthy mission, but also see the possibility of the lich succeeding as further proof of their core beliefs. If an entity as foul as Szass Tam, can become a god, how could such beings deserve worship? If the Athar can ally with the Thayan Resurrection to stop him, that will be a victory, but even if they can't, observing the what occurs will give them more insight into how the undeniable power of false godhood is obtained. Also, if Szass Tam does become a god, the Athar will have eyewitness accounts to puncture any mythological propaganda and dissuade potential worshippers. For their part, members of the Thayan Resurrection are often uncertain what to make of their god-hating new allies. Thus far, however, this tension doesn't seem to have had a detrimental effect. The Athar and Thayan Resurrection have collaborated on more than one occasion, sometimes to noteworthy success. Despite this unexpected aid, the odds are still well and truly against these rebels. Szass Tam is the most ruthless zulkir ever to rule Thay, his constant experiments to achieve godhood increase his considerable powers even more, and the undead armies that maintain his control are massive. Returning the nation to the rule of the living is a laudable goal, but even a return to the status quo of a century ago would not create the more enlightened society many members of Thayan Resurrection are envisioning. Still, they remain a formidable force.Публичное заявление
A Hidden Route to Thay
By necessity, the Thayan Resurrection avoids concentrating their activities or membership in any one location, but the Red Wizard rebels maintain control of a magical “Gatehouse” containing several permanent teleportation circles, within sight of the shore of Lake Thaylambar, not far from Thay's former capital of Eltabbar. Syranna, the Overseer of the Gatehouse, can link these circles to many strategic locations for the rebels and their allies. Rumors say Syranna and Mennek Ariz, a Red Wizard enchanter, seek help from adventurers to foil Szass Tam's plans to attain godhood.История
Part of the steadfastness of the group's members arises from the horrors that led to the current tyranny. Amid the chaos leading up to the Spellplague, Szass Tam set in motion a series of events which would make him the one true power in Thay. Prior to his elevation to supreme ruler, the land was a slave-state ruled by a council of eight powerful mages known as zulkirs, each of whom specialized in a different school of magic. In those days, the lich Szass Tam was the zulkir of necromancy. He arranged the murders of the zulkirs of transmutation and evocation, crafted an army of undead from the bodies of slaves and prisoners of war, and falsified an invasion attempt by Rashemen, which he took credit for stopping.
By creating a climate of fear and demonstrating his own power, Tam made the people of the Thay believe only he could save the nation. When his attempt to make himself "temporary regent" was denied by his fellow zulkirs, he fomented riots which he himself put down, taking control over garrison commanders and summoning demons to kill the rioters while blaming the zulkir of conjuration for their presence. Eventually, Szass named himself regent, removing the existing zulkirs from power and replacing them with liches in his service. As a result, Thay is now ruled by necromancers rather than wizards of all kinds, and many those who were loyal to the other zulkirs yearn for their return to rule.
Recent Status
The movement was disorganized for much of its existence, but during the Second Sundering it was reinvigorated by some new leaders, including the former Red Wizard Umara Ankhlab and her ally, the Turmish corsair Anton Marivaldi. Some dissatisfaction with the regime has been quelled in the last decade. For nearly a century, Szass Tam's promoted undeath as the ultimate path to power, and held back those who disagreed, but recent battles with the demon Eltab prompted him to loosen this stricture. The living now have a hope of ascending within the Red Wizards, even if that hope is merely to advance to a high station within the cadre of Tam's servants. Nevertheless, necromancers are still highly favored, and many who follow other arcane traditions seek the equal opportunities of the past. Wizards are not the only rebels. Smugglers and pirates recruited by Anton Marivaldi see an opportunity to create a land where non-wizards can wield real power, and many of those who know the truth behind Thay's demonic invasion seek revenge for the deaths of loved ones at the hands of fiends. By necessity, the Thayan Resurrection avoids concentrating their activities or membership in any one location, but the Red Wizard rebels maintain control of a magical “Gatehouse” containing several permanent teleportation circles, within sight of the shore of Lake Thaylambar, not far from Thay's former capital of Eltabbar. Syranna, the Overseer of the Gatehouse, can these circles to many strategic locations for the rebels and their allies. Rumors say Syranna and Mennek Ariz, a Red Wizard enchanter, seek help from adventurers to foil Szass Tam's plans to attain godhood. One of the first places outside Thay that members of this movement attracted notice was Neverwinter, where exiled Thayan Resurrection members—led by an exiled Red Wizard illusionist called Rath Modar—fed information to Lord Neverember about the plans of Valindra Snowmantle, an Overwizard of the Arcane Brotherhood who was also an aspiring ally of Szass Tam. In response, Lord Neverember led his armed forces to war against Valindra and her forces. During the events known as the Tyranny of Dragons, Rath Modar led exiled members of the Thayan Resurrection living on the Sword Coast to ally with the Cult of the Dragon. In fact, their aid was key to the cult's plans to open a gate from Avernus and allow Tiamat to return to the Realms. Modar's plan was to ask the Dragon Queen's aid in overthrowing Tam after performing this deed for her, but interfering adventurers and an alliance of the Harpers, Zhentarim, Lords Alliance, Order of the Gauntlet, and Emerald Enclave defeated the cult's ambitions. It is unknown whether Rath Modar survived, and whether rumors that Szass Tam's own forces aided in the cult's final defeat are true.Если вы хотите что то добавить или присоединится к команде редакторов - пишите комментарии
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