Cordell Cordell was a great general who conquered much of Maztica for Amn . He formed the Golden Legion as a consolidation of his previous adventuring companies . He slowly trained these remnants into a single military unit . Corell ' s lover was the albino drow mage Darien who was disguised as an elf . She accompanied him on his Maztica n voyage . History . Pirate war . Cordell ' s Golden Legion defeated a pirate army led by Akbet - Khrul in a great battle within Amn . The victory re - opened trade routes between Amn and other cities on the Sword Coast . Maztican Expedition . Cordell ' s legion won the gratitude of the Council of Six and sponsorship for their now legendary expedition to Maztica . Cordell ' s original goal was to reach Kara - Tur by sailing westward across the Trackless Sea . The barbarian Horde blocked the overland route to Kara - Tur and Amn needed to find an alternative trade route . Cordell ' s fleet set sail for Kara - Tur in 1361 DR with 15 ships and 500 legionnaires . After approximately forty days at sea they made landfall on the outer islands of Maztica where they encountered primative natives . Several days later , they landed on the Maztican mainland in Payit and began exploring the jungle . Payit Campaign . Relations with the natives were peaceful until a misunderstanding resulted in a brief war between the Legion and Payit . One of the shore parties led by a young cavalry officer named Halloran was attacked by the mentally disturbed high priest of Zaltec ( Mixtal ) . Halloran and the daughter of a Helm ite bishop ( Domincus ) were captured by the natives . Mixtal , who had been ensorcelled by a couatl , believed the bishop ' s daughter was an escaped priestess intended for sacrifice to Zaltec . Mixtal cut out the woman ' s heart and offered it to Zaltec at a pyramid on top of the Twin Visages . A larger party of legionnaires stumbled upon the sacrifice and attempted to rescue Halloran but were driven off after killing a large number of native warriors . Halloran and the dwarf officer in charge of the second party were rescued by the couatl that had enspelled Mixtal . When news of his daughter ' s death reached Domincus , he demanded that Cordell punish the natives . Cordell was unable to restrain his bishop ' s desire for vengence so he landed the Legion on the shore a short distance from Ulatos . The five hundred strong Legion was met on a grassy plain by nearly 20 , 000 native warriors from Ulatos and surrounding villages . Although the natives had superior numbers , Amnian steel , Darien ' s magic and a well timed calvalry charge routed the native army and many thousands of warriors were slain by the Legion . Numerous native bystanders who had come out to watch the battle were also killed by overly zealous Legionnaires . After the battle , Cordell marched the Legion into Ulatos and demanded all the gold in the city as tribute . The total haul was equivalent to over 1 million pieces of gold . Cordell banned the practice of human sacrifice and branded the most troublesome Jaguar Knights on the cheek with the eye of Helm . Cordell immediately put the Legion to work constructing a fort on the shore known as Helmsport to use as a base of operations . In order to head off a mutiny encouraged by the Council of Six ' s representative , Cordell ordered all ships in the fleet scuttled so that the expedition would be forced to remain in Maztica . Kultakan Campaign . The natives of Ulatos told Cordell of the riches of Nexala and Cordell decided to make that city his next target . Shortly after subduing Ulatos the Golden Legion set out for Nexala with most of the Legion ' s men and 5 , 000 allied Payit warriors . Their march took them through the land of Kultaka which was the only major kingdom in Maztica never conquered by the Nexalans . The ruler of Kultaka had heard of Ulatos ' defeat at the hand of the Legion and decided he would fight Cordell ' s force on uneven , forested ground rather than in the open as Ulatos had . The two armies met on a hillside outside the capital and , despite having the advantage of superior numbers and the high ground , the Kultakans were defeated with minimal losses to the Golden Legion . Kultaka had little wealth and thus was not of much interest to Cordell . The proud Kultakan warriors were shamed by their defeat but Cordell offered them redemption with the chance to attack their old enemy Nexala . Nexalan Campaign . Cordell left Kultaka with his Legion , Payit allies and 20 , 000 Kultakan warriors . The most direct route to Nexala led through the village of Palul . The Nexalan ruler , Naltecona , decided that the only way to defeat the Golden Legion was through trickery so he decided to ambush the Legion during a feast in their honor in Palul . The entire Nexalan army marched to Palul before Cordell arrived and hid in houses and the surrounding forest . Several Nexalan generals who had been sent by Naltecona met Cordell in Palul and informed him of the feast . The Kultakans were not allowed to entire the town on the pretense that they were the ancient enemies of Nexala and that their presence would lead to conflict . The mage Darien scouted around the town and was able to uncover the Nexalan plot by charming a Nexalan warrior . After her warning the Legion attacked the Nexalans pre - emptively with Cordell personally killed both Nexalan generals and Darien slaughtering hundreds of Nexalans in the town square in the opening minutes of the battle . The Kultakan warriors pounced on the Nexalan forces hidden in the hills above the town and routed them . Cordell quickly marched his Legion and native allies to Nexal where they were greated as honored guests by Naltecona . Cordell took Naltecona hostage inside his own palace and demanded all the gold in Nexal . One of the members of the expedition stumbled upon the hidden treasure room of Naltecona ' s predecesor and Cordell began to make plans to move the gold out of Nexal . Meanwhile , thousands of Viperhands gathered in the central plaza of the city until they easily outnumbered the Kultakan and Payit warriors camped outside the palace complex . Cordell became concerned with the large number of native warriors gathering in the plaza so he ordered Naltecona to address the native warriors from the roof of his palace . At sunset , Darien blasted Naltecona with magic on top of the roof , revealing her true nature as a Drow . The thousands of Viperhands attacked Cordell ' s native allies in the square and the battle raged through the night . The hundreds of Legionnaires trapped in the palace were finally able to break out of the central plaza and ran for the causeway leading out of the city . While they were fighting their way out of Nexal the Bishop Nexal was taken captive and sacrificed to Zaltec . The sacrifice of the Bishop resulted in a direct clash bewteen Helm and Zaltec ' s power which caused Mt . Zatal to explode . The resulting cataclysm destroyed much of Nexal . Post - Night of Wailing . After Nexal was destroyed in the Night of Wailing , Cordell and some of his Legion escaped into the House of Tezca desert along with Erixitl and Halloran . The refugees were pursued by the monsters of Nextal , lead by Hoxitl . They found a large oasis and made a stand against the monstrous horde . Cordell ' s forces won the battle and the monsters retreated back to Nexal . The oasis later became the city of Tukan . Cordell sent Eagle Warriors in eagle form to scout over the landscape . One returned and informed Cordell that Don Vaez had landed at Helmsport and imprisoned members of the Golden Legion . Cordell set off for Helmsport with a small , mixed force of Legionnaires and natives . After several months he arrived at the port and confronted Don Vaez who had Cordell imprisioned in the fort . Some time afterwards , a force of Desert Dwarves , Wild halfling s and natives led by Halloran arrived in the vicinity of Helmsport . Golden Legion members in Vaez ' s expedition rescued Cordell from prison and , at the sight of thousands of warriors camped outside the fort , Vaez ' s soldiers switched alligience to Cordell ' s side . Cordell sent Vaez ' s fleet to the Sea of Azul to bring back the native troops he had left behind in the House of Tezca . Second Battle of Ulatos . Not long after Halloran ' s army arrived at Helmsport , Hoxitl ' s monstrous army , along with Zaltec ' s avatar arrived at Ulatos . Zaltec was uninterested in the humans and continued on to the Twin Visages . Cordell met Hoxitl ' s army in the field outside of Helmsport . Despite being outnumbered 3 - to - 1 , Cordell ' s troops fought bravely and inflicted huge casualties on Hoxitl ' s orcs and ogres . Cordell was eventually forced inside the fort with his remaining soldiers who were able to resist several waves of attacks against the fort . The fleet and 20 , 000 native warriors sailed into port while Cordell was trapped in the fort . The arrival of reinforcements and the banishment of Zaltec ' s avatar back to the planes caused Hoxitl ' s army to return to Nexal . As of 1362 DR Cordell is governor of Ulatos and lives on a large estate near Helmsport . Later Years . In time around Cordell ' s estate grew in 1364 DR a new city , called Qoral . At same time Cordell faced challenges from the new settlement of New Waterdeep and from his newest " assistant " from Amn , the Council ' s Third Grand Assessor Darius Bormul VI . In 1370 DR a Jaguar Knight wielding forged - metal claws like a Malar - priest attacked Cordell in his bedroom trying to kill him . The assassin failed but managed to escape without traces . Appearance . Cordell was described as having dark hair and a black beard .