1374

## Stonehearth expands jurisdiction beyond Baldur's Gate

In 1364 DR, Everett Stonehearth, heir to the House Stonehearth, had married Salestra Impresk, the heir to the Impresk Barony in what used to be the Kingdom of Tethyr to the south.

After the Tethyrian Interregnum (1347-1368) and the rise and revolt of the Kingdom of Erlkazar (a former eastern duchy of Tethyr), Salestra had been incognito in her noble role at the time due to being hidden at the Edificant Library by her father, Baron Haubern Impresk. There, she was trained as a cleric of Deneir – and still suffered the misfortune of enduring the fall of the Library.

After six centuries with Tethyr, including a four-century long stretch of stability with the Lions' Dynasty, the Impresk family wasn't ready to follow Duke Morkann into his own kingdom. Instead, Impresk maintained neutrality and maneuvered some close diplomacy between Tethyr and Erlkazar.

Impresk itself was the poor mountain neighbor of the rebelling city of Riatavin, who themselves were breaking away from Amn and their restrictive magic policies. Even as Impresk was pressured to join Erlkazar during the Tethyrian chaos, the merchant power of Riatavin was specifically joining Tethyr, which would still represent a major power to the south of Amn (and another reason to dissuade Amn from attempting to reclaim the city).

Salestra's secret identity was made known before the wedding and the baron approved of her union to what had to be the most famous non-ducal nobles of Baldur's Gate. Her identity remained a secret until the end of the Tethyr civil war. While Stonehearth had a background role as supporters of the Baldur's Gate arm of the Lords' Alliance, the House itself maintained the public policy of non-interventionism. That made Tehtyr neutrality easy.

Impresks' major baronial task had been to keep the trade route open to Riatavin, but the land of intrigues was making that a supreme challenge. With Salestra now in House Stonehearth for a decade, Impresk was making some intrigues of his own and they centered around an autonomous Barony of Impresk, with ties to both Tethyr and Erlkazar.

### Beginning the Stonehearth Transition

In **1374 DR**, Baron Haubern passed and his daughter assumed the mantle of baroness . The barony encompassed the entirety of the substantial Snowflake Mountains , the Shilmista Forest to the immediate west, and Lake Impresk to the southeast.

Initially, the Stonehearth imprint on the barony was minimal, an extension of the non-interventionism, maintaining the status quo of local defense in the area and calming the local fears that outsiders were invading.

The House, through Salestra, maintained excellent relations with Tethyr Queen Zaranda Star . The minimal footprint of the high profile Stonehearth was a wise choice for the highly suspicious locals, though that did little to calm the area.

The former site of the Edificant Library, in the southern range, was site of Spirit Soaring Cathedral erected afterward as a memorial. The cathedra was subsequently destroyed during the time of the Spellplague, though the cause was actually a major battle.

Further, on the northern end was the Castle Trinity, until recently a semi-hidden hideout dedicated to Talona – and directly related to the downfall of Edificant Library. In short, the majority of the barony was a mess.

The barony's most public charge was keeping the road to Riatavin open. That, and general law and order in the otherwise frontier mountains, was barony direction until just after the disaster at Castle Trinity and the events of the greater Spellplague.