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The work contained on this page has been provided by Ed Bonny, one of the authors of the Lost Empires of Faerûn sourcebook. Candlekeep claims no rights to ownership of this material and it is provided here with permission from the author.
The Jhaamdathan Timeline
By Ed Bonny
LEOF provides much more about the mysterious Jhaamdathan empire than ever known before. The names of the 12 cities are provided. It is learned that psionics were a key part of the empire in both religious belief and in their government. And a few Jhaamdathan legacies were left behind mainly the ghost city of Dhinnilith, the nimblestep blades, and drowned swordwraiths emerging occasionally from the depths of Vilhon Reach. This barely scratches the surface of an empire that existed for many millenia.
Simply put, Jhaamdath was an empire whose citizenry rallied around two competing forces. One force pushed for imperial expansion, the other was for a balanced society. By necessity, compromise was required on both sides to keep Jhaamdathan society going forward. Expansion occurred but at a much slower rate. For centuries, neither side truly dominated the empire until just prior to Jhaamdath's fall when the forces desiring expanion began their disastrous attempt to dominate all of Faerun.
The Jhaamdathan Timeline
-5800 DR The Jhaamdathan Empire begins when the psychic warrior, Jhaam, unites regional human tribes under his family, the Dath Dynasty.
-5750 DR Dhinnilith is founded.
-5730 DR The great psionic mystic, Laszik Silvermind of Dhinnilith, emerges from deep meditation claiming to have received visions from Auppenser that provide a great plan for Jhaamdath along three precepts:
1) Jhaamdath shall have but six cities.
2) Each city shall be a focused center for psionic learning.
3) No Jhaamdathan shall enslave any being.
Laszik retires to Auppenser 's main temple in Dhinnilith.
-5729 DR Jhaamdath emancipates its slave population despite protest from its slaveowners. The city's psiarchs (priests of Auppenser ) call for Dhinnilith to become "balanced" in the name of Auppenser . City streets are now planned, and the city's white marble building share equal space with nature.
-5725 DR Laszik creates the first udoxias announcing that all and any with the power of psionics can harness the udoxias' abilities. People from throughout the region learn of the Invisible Art and flock to Dhinnilith to acquire this mysterious mind magic. The first order of monastic servants is formed.
-5710 DR Psionic learning blooms in Dhinnilith. Laszik founds the Psiondus (Udoclian in Jhaamdathan), a university promoting the Invisible Art. All udoxias for later cities are created in the Psiondus by the school's highest masters.
-5700 DR Under mounting pressure from the church of Auppenser and the psionic community, the ruling oligarchies submit to a psiocratic form of government government. The mastery over psionic power and its just use become the means to political power. Over the years, the former ruling families direct much of their vast resources into acquiring psionic power to ensure that their families remain in control of Jhaamdath.
-5690 DR An aged Laszik mysteriously vanishes and is believed to have ascended whole to serve at Auppenser 's side.
The families of the empire's former oligarchy call Dhinnilith "the First City of the Sword" to honor the warrior aspect of Jhaam. As a further sign of their honor, many members of the psiocracy wear symbolic swords at their sides and call themselves "bladelords." The city's psiarchs view their actions as a defiant albeit futile effort to influence the new government.
The name "city of the sword" is then traditionally attached to all later Jhaamdathan cities.
-5600 DR Porrenath is founded. The city is a well-planned, beautiful balance of white stone buildings, wide boulevards, tree-filled plazas and parks. A temple at the center of the city houses the second udoxias. Future Jhaamdathan cities are all modeled around "the Porrenath ideal."
-5500 DR Amid much fanfare, the great port city of Jhouram is founded. It is the Third City of the Sword and the halfway mark of the 6 cities as ordered by Auppenser . The first Jhaamdathan navy is commissioned by the ruling psiocracy. The psiarchs decree in conjunction with the psiocracy that the fourth city shall be unveiled in 200 years.
-5450 DR The psiocracy unexpectedly announces bold plans to build the next two cities sooner than expected. This move is greeted with hostility and suspicion by the church of Auppenser . With much reservation and much heated discourse, the psiarchs agree to aid in this endeavor.
-5425 DR The Jhaamdathan cities of Gharrent and Golmuth are founded, each with a temple to Auppenser and a udoxias at their center.
-5330 DR The war between Coramshan and High Shanatar to Jhaamdath's east is used by the psiocracy to justify the founding of the 6th city, Lirremar. Unlike previous cities, Lirremar is layed out primarily with military defense in mind. Lirremar's udoxias is placed not in a temple but in a keep and guarded by the Imperial Army - a move which infuriates the church. Psiarchs decree that Auppenser 's precepts have been fulfilled with the founding of Lirremar.
-5270 DR In alliance with Coramshan, Mir begins wars of conquest to the east.
-5250 DR Partly in response to the growing threat from the east, the twin cities of Tuoxent and Hollinth are founded in the empire's west becoming Jhaamdath's 7th and 8th Cities of the Sword. Like Lirremar, these are also military cities. The psiocracy at first calls the cities military outposts hoping to allay church concerns about the precepts of Auppenser .
Both cities receive udoxias, each one specializing in a subdiscipline of psionics (which was seen by the psiocracy and the Psiondus as a justifiable means of circumventing Auppenser 's precepts).
With aggression from Mir and Coramshan looming, the psiarchs acquiese and bless the "towns." Privately, the psiarchs are dismayed, dreading divine punishment from Auppenser for the sins of Jhaamdath.
Over the coming decades, the psiocracy toutes the lack of any military conflict between Jhaamdath and Mir as a sign that the twin cities were a wise move. Powerful members of the psiocracy begin to openly disparage some church policies.
-5032 DR The armies of Mir and Jhaamdath clash for the first time in the Mir-Jhaamdath War. The Jhaamdathan general, Graim Rondhith, allows the Mir army to approach within a mile of Tuoxent's city gates, placing them well-within the psionic radius of the city's udoxian. Rondhith's legions of psychic warriors access the udoxias gaining greater combat skills (feat) that allow them to tear through the armies of Mir. Mir is dealt a crushing blow.
Emboldened by their military success at Tuoxent, the Jhaamdathan army begins to expand the empire's holdings in the west for the next 27 years.
-5007 DR Dealt successive blows by the psionic armies of Jhaamdath, Coramshan and Mir unite.
-5005 DR Truce declared between Jhaamdath and Calimshan (Coramshan and Mir), with both sides relinquishing their claims on the land surrounding the Lake of Steam.
-4850 DR The 9th City of the Sword, Jhirrent, is founded in the north of the empire. Notably, few psiarchs attend what has historically been a cause of great celebration throughout the empire. The city's udoxias is once again placed at the heart of a military keep.
Psiarchs begin for the first time to work towards positions within the psiocracy.
-4620 DR The 10th City of the Sword, Inixrien, is founded. As a result of the psiarchs greater influence in the psiocracy, Inixrien's udoxias is placed within a temple at the city's center. There is a return to the empire's original interests for balance and Inixrien adopts a city plan similar to Porrenath. The same philosophy carries through for the last two cities of the Sword.
-4470 DR The 11th City of the Sword, Corrant, is founded.
-4620 DR The 12th and Last City of the Sword, Mirrindith, is founded.
For the next 4,000 years Jhaamdath enters a golden age of peace and prosperity although the specter of imperialism brought about by Jhaamdath's old families and military must constantly be checked by the vigilant psiarchs. Minor skirmishes with neighboring states account for little of the empire's history here, most of these being brought about by the action of monastic servants of Auppenser freeing slaves in other nations.
-2381 DR Beholders plague Jhaamdathan colonies around the Alamir Mountains. Tensions rise between Jhaamdath's old families and the psiarchs over how to deal with this threat.
-670 DR For three hundred years, increasing numbers of slaves escape Calimshan and Tethyr with aid from psiarchs and monastic servants of Auppenser .
-339 DR Netheril Falls. From atop the deck of the Seamind in the Inner Sea, Jhaamdathan Admiral Jhoren Mhulth witnesses the floating Netherse city, Nhalloth, plunge into the sea. Horrified by this sight and learning later of Netheril's destruction, the admiral schemes for ways to ensure that Jhaamdath never suffers from such devastation.
-276 DR Jhoren Mhulth's grandson, the great metamind Dharien, seizes control of Jhaamdath with a bloody coup. He fulfills his grandfather's plans to secure Jhaamdath's place as the eternal empire over all of Faerun
To begin Jhaamdath's conquest of the Inner Sea and all lands surrounding the sea, Dharien commands the building of a great armada. Jhaamdathan loggers seeking wood for this army come into conflict with the elves of the Chondalwood. Over the next twenty years, the Jhaamdathan armies hunt down and slaughter the elves.
Hundreds of dissenters among the church of Auppenser are imprisoned. Some are publicly executed for treason but most are released after being altered with mind-affecting psionics that instill loyalty to Dharien. Church protest over the new regime declines and many members go into hiding.
-273 DR Dharien orders the military to seize those udoxias still in possession of the church. Hundreds of Jhaamdathans in cities loyal to the church bar the military from entering the temples. After a short standoff, Dharien surprisingly concedes defeat ordering his troops to stand down.
-269 DR High masters at the Psiondus are secretly employed by Dhorien to develop defensive measures to prevent a disaster like the one that befell Netheril. Many ideas are put forth including the use of arcane and divine magic as alternatives to Jhaamdath's dependence on psionics. Dhorien encourages the high masters to complete their work in this area.
-264 DR The city of Gharrent, led by church members, attempts to secede from the empire. It is denounced as rebellious by Dhorien who immediately invades the city to crush the rebellion. All suspected rebels and all psiarchs and monastic servants are tried for treason and summarily executed publicly. Gharrent's udoxias is removed by Dhorien's forces and hidden.
-255 DR Jhaamdath destroyed by a tidal wave created by high elven magic. Vannin Dindriex, a high master at the Psiondus, taps into the city's udoxias to enact an epic-level psychoportive power designed to save the city. The untried power was supposed to transport both city and populace to the Astral Plane to avoid catastrophe. Instead, the ill-conceived power failed spectacularly, instantly slaughtering the entire population of Dhinnilith. The bond created by the udoxias, which was aligned to the discipline of telepathy, transformed the city's people into an undead psionic horror - a caller in the darkness. The city and a sizeable chunk of surrounding land were ripped from the surface of Faerun and shifted to the Astral Plane where they remain to this day.
Vannin, who was also slain by his psionic power, was incorporated into the caller in the darkness. At irregular intervals of years or decades, the high master's psyche rises above the undead cacophony of minds inside the caller in the darkness, where the high master's consciousness is temporarily freed. Quite mad after years of becoming a caller, Vanin instinctively uses his epic psychoportive abilities to return the city to Faerun where it silently appears and floats over the Vilhon Reach. These return visits last at most 12 hours or so before either Vannin's psychoportive power ends or his psyche is subsumed back into the caller. The city then returns to the Astral Plane.
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