History of Shadowdale by Tamshan d'Harp
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History of Shadowdale
By Tamshan d'Harp
1367 Dale ReckoningShadowdale’s origins are relatively recent, at least as a home for humans and passing adventurers. Its first mention is as an evil place controlled by the drow communities who make the Depths Below, the Underdark, their home. The tunnels and caverns of these dark elves, and their evil allies, came close to the surface in the region of the Old Skull, an eruption of granite in the otherwise rounded and wooded hills of the region. Further, the river that flowed at the base of the Old Skull passed through the elven woods to the Dragon Reach and was navigable for its entire length. This made the region an excellent marshaling ground and jumping-off point for raids on the surface.
It was the drow who built the original Twisted Tower as a fortification to protect the major underground highways leading from the Moonsea region to the Storm Horns and beyond. It remains the oldest structure still in use in the area, though it has been expanded and sections have been rebuilt a number of times. With the Twisted Tower as a base of operations, the drow maintained a large surface occupation of small human (and other race) slave communities. The drow were fully driven underground only within living elven memory and still maintain extensive underground holdings. It was at this time that the drow-held region of the Dales was known as the Land Under Shadow, later shortened to Shadowdale.
The Fall of Azmaer, Last Drow Marshall of the Twisted Tower
The drow rule of Shadowdale lasted until the early 900s Dalereckoning, when the increased human population in the area brought the dark elves into conflict with their now more numerous human neighbors. These were the Dalesmen, who a millennium earlier had crossed the Dragon Reach and made peace with the elves of Myth Drannor, settling at the borders of the great woods that was the elven home. The drow soon found themselves under continual attack and most of those who held overground settlements retreated back below before the onslaught. The last powerful drow leader was Azmaer, the marshall of the Twisted Tower in its last drow-held days. Azmaer oversaw the last retreat of the drow holdings in the face of a human uprising, and held the citadel against a year-long siege. With supplies and slaves brought up from the Underdark directly into the tower, the drow could conceivably hold out for forever. However, a human slave (family histories in the Dales indicate a number of possible individuals) poisoned the well in the Tower, and the citadel was easily overrun by human forces. Azmaer’s body was not found among the dead, leading some to believe that he escaped back into the Depths Below to rejoin his people. Noting the fact that he would have to explain to his matriarch how he lost Shadowdale, it is much more likely that, should Azmaer have survived, he went into voluntary exile, hiding from both human and drow. Given that this occurred only 400 years ago, it is possible that Azmaer still lives.
Ashaba Becomes First Lord of Shadowdale
Upon taking the Tower and throwing off the drowish yoke upon the people, the Dalesmen fully established the Dale of Shadowdale, with its seat of power in the Twisted Tower. Its first lord was a water wizard who had aided in the final attack- one Ashaba, who was great in age when he ascended, and ruled peacefully for 40 years thereafter. It is said that Ashaba realized he was dying and turned himself to water, merging with the waters of the river. Since that time the river, the ford, and the Twisted Tower bear his name. Before passing on, Ashaba chose one of his trusted lieutenants as the new lord of Shadowdale. He was presented to the people of the Dale, who made him the new lord by acclamation.
Lords Accepted by AcclamationThis acclamation of the people has formed the basis for choosing the lord of Shadowdale since that time. Usually a predecessor will step down as opposed to dying in office, and his chosen successor will be approved by the populace at large. This system has had its drawbacks, as will be shown below, but in general, it has served the independent, self-willed people of the Dale very well. They have avoided the “genetic lottery of which good bureaucracies and bad kingships are madeâ€