Rundeen The Rundeen were a slaving and mercantile consortium that operated in the southern Sword Coast and the Chultan Peninsula . History . They were originally a Tashalaran merchant company that operated during the Shoon Imperium . When the Knights of the Shield tried to expand their influence to the Chultan peninsula , they were rebuffed by a group calling themselves the Rulnadeen . Upon investigating their new opponents , the Knights realized that it would be much simpler to agree to the merchants ' demands and join them as members of their group rather than get rid of them . Being more experienced in trading with foreign powers , several Knights quickly became high - ranking members of the Rulnadeen while they themselves achieved a foothold in Calimshan . When the Shoon Imperium finally fell in 450 DR , both the Knights and the Rulnadeen saw an opportunity to fill the power vacuum left behind . The Knights tried to take over their southern partners but were prevented from doing so . Angry , the Rulnadeen gave an ultimatum to the Knights who had joined them : sever all ties to the Knights or leave forever . Most chose to leave but it was the Rulnadeen who had the upper hand in Calimshan . Affiliated memberships in exchange for dues were offered to various merchant houses and a protection racket was set up for trading ships . Soon , only ships protected by the Rulnadeen were safe to travel in Calishite waters and without imperial soldiers only the affiliated mercantile groups were safe from the political turmoil on land . Almost all traders not affiliated in some way found themselves unable to trade at all and it wasn ' t long until the Rulnadeen had a monopoly on all trade into and out of Calimshan and the Chultan Peninsula . Of course , this drew the attention of meddlesome outsiders and , in 1349 DR , Harper assassin s killed three of the five Grand Yrshalem as well as fifty of the group ' s agents and representatives . The monopoly in Chult had been broken and their activities in Calimshan had been disrupted . In retaliation , the Rundeen captured , interrogated , and executed any and all Harpers they could find , vowing to never offer quarter to a Harper again . Organization . The leaders of the Rundeen were known as the Yrshelem , an Alzhedo word meaning " coin - collector ( s ) " . There were five " Grand Yrshelem " , and under them were fifteen " First Yrshelem " . Serving the First Yrshelem was a group known as the Mitalibbar . Each " mitalib " — a word meaning " watcher " — was an agent tasked with observing Rundeen operations in his or her city . The Mitalibbar had ranks , in order of importance matching the value of the old coins from the Shoon Imperium — the highest ranking Mitalibbar were called " nirdeen " ( platinum coins ) , those of the next rank were " tardeen " ( electrum coins ) , and the those of the lowest " cardeen " ( copper coins ) . Goals . The Rundeen desired profit above all else . Pretty much every avenue of making money was explored , though legitimate trading and slaving seemed to be the most profitable of these options . They had contacts throughout Faerûn and made most of their profits sending local goods to far - off lands . Rival mercantile groups could expect to find themselves victim to piracy and banditry while the most promising merchants were offered affiliate memberships which brought great benefits in exchange for a portion of their profits . Although eliminating Harpers was a secondary goal , it was always the highest of priorities when they were discovered .