War of the Zulkirs The War of the Zulkirs took place in 1375 - 1478 DR between the self - proclaimed regent of Thay , the lich Szass Tam , and the combined forces of the other zulkirs Lallara Mediocros , Nevron , Yaphyll , Lauzoril , Kumed Hahpret , Mythrellan and Samas Kul under the guidance of Dmitra Flass . The war took place at various locations in Thay . Participants . Szass Tam and the Undead . The necromancer and lich , Szass Tam , and his armies , consisting of loyal Red Wizards from the necromantic order and uncountable undead minions . The Council of Zulkirs . Lallara Mediocros , Nevron , Yaphyll , Lauzoril , Kumed Hahpret , Mythrellan and Samas Kul under the guidance of Dmitra Flass , along with representatives of the Church of Kossuth and armies led by Nymia Focar . The War . The Beginnings . In 1375 DR , Szass Tam caused the murders of the zulkirs Druxus Rhym and Aznar Thrul and betrayed a Thayan army under the command of tharchions Azhir Kren and Homen Odesseiron to the Rashemi to create a climate of fear within the Thayan population . He further hindered proper investigation of the murders solving these issues by himself . Szass thus tried to convince the nobles , legions and common people that he was the only one able to deal with these problems , in order to get him elected supreme ruler of Thay . His former ally Dmitra Flass discerned Szass Tam ' s plan and rallied the zulkirs originally loyal to the lich to stand against his aspirations . Szass then chose to achieve rulership by force and declared war to all opposing zulkirs . The Progress of War . When Dmitra ' s council achieved a great victory against Szass Tam ' s undead army at the Keep of Thazar , Szass called upon the united armies of Gauros and Surthay to march south towards the great city of Bezantur . By 1377 DR Szass had established his seat of power at Thaymount by evicting his enemies from their estates on the plateau . In 1385 DR , during ten years of warfare , some of the zulkirs changed sides a couple times during the war and ended up as Szass Tam ' s allies , such as the diviner Yaphyll who ended up as prisoner of Szass in 1385 DR and died during a divination performed for Szass Tam . As Yaphyll predicted , the fight at the Keep of Sorrows turns into Szass Tam ' s favor . But then the Spellplague hits and renders Szass Tam ' s magical powers useless forcing him to flee from the scene with his ally Xingax . By revealing to Malark Springhill , Dmitra ' s former trusted ally , why he killed Druxus Rhym , the lich convinced the spymaster to switch sides and work for him and his greater cause henceforth . In order to learn more about the ways of magic in the time of the spellplague Szass summoned Bane making a bargain with the evil god : Bane would reveal to Szass his knowledge about the chaotic magic , grand the lich the ability to raise more dead for his cause and augmenting the lich ' s powers . Szass in turn surrendered his soul after 1000 years had passed when his quest of conquering Thay was completed . When it came to another fight at the Keep of Sorrows , Szass used his god - bestowed powers and summoned a dream vestige to turn the tide in his favor . He succeeded in beating the legions of the zulkirs , chasing them all the way to Bezantur and even out of the town itself forcing the zulkirs to flee aboard vessels . Szass followed the fleeing zulkirs , entangling them in a marine war between his enemies and Nevron ' s conjured denizens of the infernal oceans and the lich ' s own undead aquatic minions . When the zulkirs seemed to gain the upper hand Szass conjured the dream vestige again , finally exhausting his magical powers bestowed by Bane . The bard Bareris defeated the dream vestige and the zulkirs ' s forces beat Szass Tam ' s minions , forcing the lich and Malark to withdraw to the Thaymount . Szass didn ' t bother chasing the remaining zulkirs any more , leaving Aloar and the Wizard ' s Reach to them not fearing any retribution by the depleted zulkir ' s forces .