Shoon Imperium The Shoon Imperium was the dominant government of much of south and western Faerûn during the sixth age of Calimshan ( 27 – 450 DR ) . It was the most well - documented of all of Calimshan ' s royal dynasties . History . Founding . The Imperium started as the idea of Akkabar Shoon the Elder , the scion of a minor branch of a fairly insignificant noble family with a history of breeding talented wizard s . At the age of 16 , Akkabar had the privilege of being made the apprentice of the Vizera Wizard - princess Rhynda Ithal of Tethyr . He lived and studied in Myratma with the queen for more than six years until his apprenticeship was over . He then moved to Calimport and , after four years of selling his prestigious magical abilities to the highest bidder , he became a major figure in the city ' s social elite . After another six years of work , he managed to ingratiate himself into the royal court of syl - pasha Kadar el Tarsaj , quickly earning the right to marry the syl - pasha ' s fifth daughter and , as a wedding gift , was granted the position of syl - vizar of his home city Memnon . Akkabar erected magical defenses around himself , his wife and his home while political strife ( some of which he secretly instigated ) resulted in the murder of his rivals . Within six months he ' d gained the throne of Calimshan . Three years later Akkabar ' s former tutor , Princess Rhynda , arranged to marry her grandson Nishan to Akkabar ' s granddaughter Arhymeria in order to stabilize relations between Tethyr and Calimshan . Despite objections from nobles on both sides of the border , the deal was made and 4 - year - old Arhymeria was sent to Ithmong to be fostered at court as a lady - in - waiting . After she was wed to the king , Akkabar wanted to use the girl to steal Rhynda ' s magical secrets but , over the past ten years , Arhymeria had grown distant from her family . She refused her grandfather , becoming Rhynda ' s apprentice instead . Arhymeria and her husband were both in their early 70s when Akkabar managed to arrange for pirates to murder almost the entire Tethyrian royal family , including his granddaughter . He arranged for his grandson Amahl to take the Tethyrian throne but Amahl proved just as reluctant to be a puppet king as his sister was to being a thief . Unfortunately , he also never married nor sired an heir so Akkabar had Amahl poisoned and placed Amahl ' s nephew , also named Amahl on the throne of Tethyr . Amahl II didn ' t last more than 13 years before he died and his son became Amahl Shoon III . To ensure that his progeny lasted long enough , Akkabar spent the next dozen years at Amahl IIIs side , ensuring that he was protected and that he shared his vision . The precautions worked , though Akkabar was killed in mysterious magical circumstances . Due to Akkabar ' s magical extension of his life and frequent deaths among his family , Amahl III was his closest living heir and so inherited the throne of Calimshan . Now the king of both countries , Amahl crowned himself " Qysar " or ' overlord of kings ' over the ' Shoon Imperium ' . Amahl granted his youngest sisters husband governorship of Tethyr and moved his throne and the court to Shoonach . Birth of an Empire . Five years after his reign as Qysar had begun , a coup was planned by three powerful Calishite noble families who were upset at the change in the status quo . They staged two ' hunting accidents ' that resulted in the deaths of three of Amahls four sons . Paranoia and cruelty became the watchword for the rest of Amahls reign . He became a recluse , emerging from the palace at Shoonach only once , to announce his plan to dominate the lands around him . Amahls son Aleph , upon his ascension to his fathers throne began the royal lines tradition of being known only by their family name . He was an ineffectual leader and so not much is remembered of him . However , during his reign the construction of several major roads was begun . Intended to be used by the Imperiums armies , they would instead become major trade routes . Shoon Is reign was also marked for the five massive tidal waves that struck Calimport , Memnon , Almraiven , Manshaka , and Teshburl at the same time which led to the building of at least two temples to Umberlee in every coastal settlement . The Imperium Rises . Shoon II was noted for his persecution of priests stemming from grievous personal losses that divine magic failed to prevent . He died without an heir so adopted his newborn nephew on his deathbed . He also named his friend Hazamir al Aktorral as riqysar ( regent ) until his adopted son came of age . Hazamir wasn ' t particularly interested in ruling the Imperium , preferring to concentrate on his own magical studies . The army gained a lot of power from Hazamirs negligence but they also conquered a lot of territory in the Lake of Steam region and the Shaar . Shoon III was a spoiled boy but he was also paranoid of losing the opulence he surrounded himself with . He ordered Hazamirs execution after deciding that he didn ' t trust him and spent his entire reign guarding himself against outside influences . So focused was he on those he didn ' t know that he failed to see the assassination attempt of his own brother . Amahl Shoon IV was known mostly for having people killed . Over 200 nobles as well as countless others died at his command . He descended into madness after only a decade on the throne and was justly killed by his younger brother two years later . In 236 DR Amahl IV seized control of the hoard of Rhimnasarl and instigated a period of intense magical research and experimentation among the mages of the Shoon Imperial Court . Many of the artifact s and spell s of the Shoon Empire can be dated to this time , one such example is the " Fanged Shield of Shyk Korort " . Amahl Shoon V was the younger brother of Amahl III & IV and so had spent his life learning The Art and adventuring , thinking himself safe from responsibility . When he returned home he found the qysar mad and , unable to stage a coup , confronted his brother . When Amahl IV attacked him , he was forced to slay him with his magic . He was immediately coronated by a grateful populace . Amahl V was an enlightened leader , restoring the rights of the clergy that were taken away by his uncle Shoon II , sponsoring many impressive artistic works as well as the building of the Edificant Library and an impressive Selûnite cathedral . His was a reign of peace , order and prosperity . Amahl Shoon VI , third grandson of the last qysar , was a warrior with a reputation for tough but fair leadership . A huge contrast to his predecessor , he only lasted for fifteen months and is only remembered for one thing – putting down the slave rebellion known as the Harakhti Uprisings . He was killed by a scorpion sting two days after returning to Shoonach from his campaign . Shoon IV was a political genius , but he was also a necromancer . These facts made him respected but also despised . The Calishar Emirates grew exponentially under his reign and trade prospered in the Imperium as a result . Also , by allowing the demihuman realms of Tathtar and Meiritin to grow without his influence , they provided new , nonhuman ways of thinking that , once copied , benefited the empire greatly . Also , his insistence of using undead monsters in his armies greatly angered his generals , however the use of undead , in an event known as the Death Parade , did effectively put down the Tethyrian unrest that occurred in the lands between Ithmong and Shoonach . The Imperium was shocked when Shoon IV didn ' t survive the transformation into a lich and his great - granddaughter ( whom he had named as his heir merely as a formality ) became the first unwed female ruler of Calimshan . Qysara Shoon V surprised her court by being almost as good a ruler as her predecessor . She limited the influence of spellcasters that had grown over the last qysars reign and tirelessly sponsored the Imperiums armed forces . As a result , her armies managed to conquer a full half of the Shaar , the Nelanther Isles and some territory on the Chultan Peninsula . No one knew exactly how Shoon VI came to be such a powerful wizard , but when he replaced his mother on the throne after she died of a fever , he quickly began diverting resources to developing the Imperium ' s magical power . He allowed his mothers armies to act almost autonomously and left the rulership of the Imperium itself to several hand - picked , highly skilled vizars . He managed to greatly improve the Imperium ' s intelligence network before being betrayed by his own personal guard after only 9 years on the throne . Shoon VII killed his uncles slayers to win the throne , though it was he himself who ' d paid them to murder him in the first place . He quickly centralized the entire Imperium ' s power on himself , controlling nearly everything and delegating little . It would have been disastrous if he ' d died but he was such a demagogue that everyone who listened to him speak was inspired to loyalty and so he avoided the assassins blade . He was a harsh , blunt qysar who demanded loyalty through force from anyone who could be a threat to his power and believed that the ends always justified the means . When the merchant class complained about a recent drastic increase in crime , the qysar dumped oil into the sewers of every city in the Imperium , set it on fire with magic and burned the thieves out of their holes . However , the fires grew out of control and more than three million of his subjects were killed as the foundations and buildings of his cities were burned away . Before the criminals could possibly recover , Shoon had installed his own loyalists to run most illegal enterprises for him . Shoon VIIs reign saw the rise and fall of Vashalar wherein a nazir of the Imperium , in an effort to impress his qysar , exponentially increased the size of the Imperiums borders all the way north to the High Moor . Unfortunately , this drew the attention of Cormyr , who invaded Vashalar , defeated the nazir and sent the Imperiums northern border all the way back to the Giant ' s Run Mountains . After sustaining injuries fighting with Iryklathagra , Shoon VII decided to embark upon the path to lichdom . He named his daughter as his heir , moved most of his magical research to Debukkher , cloaked himself in illusions that made him appear much weaker than he actually was and waited for his daughter to try and assassinate him . Fall . Qysara Shaani was a vapid pawn who always picked spending time in her harem over time with matters of rulership . Those who manipulated her gladly allowed her to continue her lifestyle while they got on with making the Imperium suit their desires . Regional nobles bought the loyalty of the Imperiums generals out from under those in Shoonach and after 60 years of Shaanis ' rulership ' the Imperium was on the brink of collapse . Amahl Shoon VII was Shaanis youngest grandchild . Sequestered in secret near the Lake of Steam , he managed to eradicate the beholder influence on the region and then gathered an army and a fleet to attack Calimport upon the Qysaras death . After 4 weeks of fighting , he took back control of the Imperium from the various nobles and advisors who had initiated a bloodbath trying to gain as much power for themselves as they could . He declared himself qysar but ruled over a burned shell of an Imperium . He initiated campaign after campaign to bring the Imperium under his total control but he hated and feared magic and so made it illegal . He initiated a genocide of magic users and overtaxed the priesthood . Although he had his great - grandfathers way with words ( and his lack of ethics ) there were just too many problems besetting the Imperium . When Tethyr rebelled against Shoon Rule , Strohm I planted the final nail in the Imperiums coffin , killing Amahl VII and allowing Iryklathagra to destroy Shoonach , thus ending one of the largest human empires that Faerûn had ever seen .