Tulmon

Tulmon was a small independent city-state in the Arnaden region.
==Geography==
This city-state stood on a long and low-lying rocky plateau known as the Shoulder of Lehreng, dominating the shallow and muddy Bay of Balefires. It was connected by the Narrows Trail and the Dragon Turtle Trail to the city-states of Yeshpek and Suldolphor respectively. Southwest of the city, the Tulmonites had quarries amid several squat, bare hills.
==Description==
The buildings of Tulmon were almost entirely constructed of stone, with tile roofs, along cobbled streets. Accommodations tended to be rather spartan, but handsomely designed and outfitted, showcasing the skills of Tulmon's local craftsmen. Like many Calishite cities, Tulmon was divided into drudachs and sabbans, numbering 46 and 11 respectively.
==Government==
The city was first significantly ruled over by a cruel archmage named Calavarr, who ruled his city through fear and his magical might. Following the end of his rule, the rulers of Tulmon went by the title of Sultan. Going back as far as the 11 century DR, Tulmon was ruled by the mage Arkanuirr Tchallem, who had used magic to extend his lifespan.
The judiciary body of Tulmon was known as the Manticore Court. Unlike proper Calishite cities, the division of drudachs and sabbans played little role in Tulmon governance.
==Defenses==
In 1370 DR, Tumon boasted a 4,000 strong militia, commanded and minimally trained by its standing army, the Stone Spears. Numbering over 800 members, it was composed of foot lancers. In addition to policing the city, the Stone Spears patrolled and monitored activity in the Crypt City, undead-haunted ruins to the west of Tulmon that were used by certain merchant cabals and smuggling societies. In 1370 DR, the Stone Spears were led by Grymmon Borlethgar.
The quarries of Tulmonite were watched over by expert watchmen, who could identify the most minute changes in their surroundings, from atop rickety wooden towers. Though some rumors spoke of disguises and monsters being additionally used as defenses.
Under the reign of Calvarr, Tulmon's defenses included the Anglatha of Tulmon, dread deepspawn that the archmage had magically held captive and altered to solely produce small beholders.
===Crime===
The city lacked any overt criminal organizations or thieves' guilds, as well as any prominent, colorful rogues. Most criminal activity in the city was conducted behind closed doors by merchant cabals, directing open activities. By 1370 DR, forgery was seeing a rise in both skill and popularity in the city, to the point that some of the Brightest of Sudulphor would send agents out to Tulmon to take advantange of the services.
==Trade==
Around the 1350's DR, Tulmon's economy was largely based around agriculture, storing and selling the produce of the fertile Arnaden peninsula. A good deal of this produce was traded to the eastern cities of Calimshan. Some Calishite merchant ships would take the risk of sailing the Lake of Steam directly to Tulmon, rather than making a stop at the city of Suldolphor along the way, though most chose not to take the risk even if it meant produce of a higher quality and cheaper value.
Overtime the Tulmon economy shifted to exporting sheepskin, dyed wool, and metalwork. Fruit, mutton, and the stone it quarried from camps in the nearby countryside shifted to being reserved for internal use. Its quarries produced a hard, yet durable, black stone, as well as occasionally veins of pure copper, and most rarely clusters of gemstones.
The city was also an industrious center of art, learning, book publication, and craftsmen, including carpenters, lampmakers, and windowmakers. The city was particularly well-known for the black stone of its quarries, its stamped and rolled bookbindings, book corners, surrounds (of locks and handles affixed to furniture elsewhere), and flexible metal sheets that were made for use in the pages of books meant to last (such as spellbooks).
Equipment stores in the city were quite robust, boasting some metalwork goods that were rare in other parts of the Realms. However, copies and forgeries were also more likely to be found in Tulmon than anywhere else in Faerûn, even compared to some of the continent's largest cities.
The Manticore Court received a majority of its funds from the mercantile factors of Suldolphor, otherwise known as the Brightest. Its hired tradesmen were largely beholden to the whims of the Brightest, however, Suldolphor's leader Daeranatha Dorluu and her Flame Guard kept the varied ambitions and plans of her city's merchants in-check, thus ensuring that open struggles or mercantile warfare would not breakout in the streets of neighboring Tulmon.
==History==
Tulmon began as a humble settlement of fisherfolk and shepherd huts.
Over the centuries, the city was on many occasions claimed by the nation of Calimshan as belonging to them or at risk of becoming of a satellite town of Sudolphor.
One of its first significant rulers, the cruel archmage Calavarr, was eventually overthrown by Anganather Tchallem, who began the tradition of Tulmon's rulers being referred to as Sultans. Over the years that followed, Tulmon became engaged in a series of wars with rival cities that they ultimately lost, leading to the destruction of its western districts. Sometime around the 11 century DR, Anganather's great-grandson, Arkanuirr Tchallem, became the new sultan of Tulmon.
At some point, an ambitious Loviatan priestess tried to magically enslave the Sultan, and by extension the city, but he managed to overcome and slay her. On another occasion, an unscrupulous Calishite Pasha attempted to install a slave-breeding operation in the Sultan's Citadel with the intent of replacing Arkanuirr with a doppelganger, but this potential usurper too was slain by the magical Sultan.
Sometime prior to the , as part of experimentsAn exact date for when these "initiation rituals" were occurring is not stated in Empires of the Shining Sea (p. 164), but since they are Myrkulyte rituals they were likely occurring before the Skullspire clergy converted to the Church of Cyric. and initiation rituals, the Myrkulytes of Tulmon animated strange assemblages of skeletons and zombies from various monsters, leaving them to wander off into subterannean tunnels and later emerge topside in the western ruins of the city. The presence of these undead would lead to the rebuilding of the city's western walls, excluding the area that came to be known as Crypt City.
During his rise to power, Calimshan's Syl-pasha Ralan el Pesarkhal negotiated with the governments of Tulmon, Suldolphor, and Yeshpek to arrange a solid alliance. In exchange for political support of these cities and the issuing of token taxes, the syl-pasha agreed to leave them to their own devices. With this new deal in place, the three city-states would gradually surge in both political and mercantile power in the years following the Time of Troubles.
==Notable Locations==
===Shops & Businesses===
* Dashalam Winery, a significant winery business.
* House of Golada, a factory that produced Golada's Fish Spread.
* Moonthumb Necessities, a general goods shop.
* Tullamas Sales, a general goods shop.
===Inns & Taverns===
* Garmuth's Golden Gauntlet, a luxurious inn & tavern.
* Havalanker's Tavern
* The Wemic and Wineskin, a tavern that was exceedingly popular among the Tulmonite youth, counter-culture types, and those who embraced Suldolphan fashion.
===Residences===
* Citadel of the Sultan, the stone keep palace of the sultan.
* The Peacock House, the sultan's summer home.
===Streets & Alleys===
* Arblood Street
* Ooloolar Street
* Shandlas Street
* Street of Balk
===Temples===
* House of Cogs and Hammers, a temple of Gond that was established sometime in 1370 DR. It was quite popular among the city's many craftsmen.
* Skullspire, a towering black temple of Kelemvor that was previously dedicated to Myrkul (and for a brief period Cyruk). Locals disparagingly referred to it as "the Bonethrone".
* Small chapels dedicated to Chauntea, Lathander, and Oghma could be found along the Street of Balk.
* Small shrines dedicated to Tempus, Umberlee, and Waukeen.
===Towers===
* Bloodarch Gate, one of the city's two gate towers.
* Lehrengate, the city's other gate tower.
* Spearpoint Tower, a defensive tower that stood at the end of the longest wharf in Tulmon's harbor.
===Others===
* The Peacock Gardens, a walled-in garden that housed the Peacock House.
* Where Crypt City stood was formerly the site of the Gardens Quarter and Sunset Quarter. Both were reduced to ruins over the course of Tulmon's several failed wars.
==Inhabitants==
In 1357 DR, the population of Tulmon was numbered around 123,000. By 1370 DR, the population of the city-state had dropped to around 26,000 or 25,000, not counting the 3,400 Tulmonites that lived outside its walls at fruit farms, sheep ranches, and quarry camps. At the height of the summer trade season, the population in the city could rise as high as 44,600, though for most years it went no higher than around 37,000 to 38,000. The vast majority of the city's permanent residents, as well those who worked outside its walls in the countryside, were humans.
Tulmonites didn't value excessive revelry or eccentricity. They also generally had low opinions of wizards and sorcerers, viewing them as craftworkers whose work was overly expensive and far too dangerous to be of practical, everyday use. They also felt that these arcane spellcasters were all too often arrogant, above having to follow the law and trade rules. Whilst local mages were tolerated, foreign wizards and sorcerers were distrusted and unwelcomed.
The citizenry of some of the larger and brasher settlements in the Arnaden region dismissed Tulmonites as dull-witted peasants.
==Rumors & Legends==
* Around 1370 DR, the Tulmonite quarries were rumored to be guarded by monsters, such as mimics or even dopplegangers.
==Appendix==
===Notes===
===Gallery===
AlimirMtns.JPG|2e map
===References===
FR:Tulmon
Category:City-states
Category:Metropolises
Category:Settlements
Category:Locations on the Narrows Trail
Category:Locations on the Dragon Turtle Trail
Category:Locations on the Bay of Balefires
Category:Locations on the Lake of Steam
Category:Locations on the Shoulder of Lehreng
Category:Locations in the Land of the Lions
Category:Locations in South Faerûn
Category:Locations in Faerûn
Category:Locations on Toril
Category:Locations
Category:Exports fruit
Category:Exports grain
Category:Exports metalwork
Category:Exports vegetables
Category:Exports wool
Category:Year of Metropolises