Failed Coup

Revolution

Attempted coup of Baldur's Gate by Grand Duke Valarken and the Band of the Red Moon lycanthropes.

A few decades ago Grand Duke Valarken and his Band of the Red Moon lycanthrope supporters led a coup to establish Valarken as the city’s sole leader. They succeeding in killing two dukes and nearly slew Grand Duke Dillard Portyr. But the Flaming Fist and the Watch banded together to save the young duke and drive Valarken and the surviving lycanthropes out of the city. They disappeared into the Wood of Sharp Teeth, which many now avoid and justly call “the Werewoods.”

With the unprecedented simultaneous election of three dukes in the offing and the knowledge that many Valarken loyalists were still at large in the city, the patriars pressed Duke Portyr to form a parliament of “trusted people” to pick the next rulers. Of course, until the new dukes were elected, the new Parliament of Peers would help carry the burden of decision-making and maintaining the rule of law. The patriars also suggested to the young leader that he should serve in the role of grand duke, in effect relegating the other three dukes to advisory roles unless all of them united to oppose him. New dukes were chosen to once more fill out the Council of Four, but the Parliament of Peers has yet to relinquish its extraordinary powers.