Shadukar

Historically, Shadukar was not without its troubles—its large temple to Kol Korran became a shrine to innumerable depravities during the Year of Blood and Fire—but its prime place on the Traelyn peninsula made it an integral part of the network of trade connected through Scions Sound. Shadukar’s glassblowers were second to none and are responsible for many of the designs now popular throughout Thrane. The city had also become a financial hub, with Zil and Mroran investors inspiring locals to create their own companies and offer their own stocks.

The city’s proximity to but distinction from Flamekeep also gave it a more secular bent. For those who were less interested in the worship of the Silver Flame but still wanted to be near the center of power, this made Shadukar a more comfortable home for their practices. Even after the theocratic takeover, worshippers of the Host found Shadukar a friendly city with well-attended churches throughout the war. 

While the city had been subject to attacks over the course of the war, the successful assault in 986 YK was unprecedented in scope. After being permitted by the Cyrans to cut across the northwestern tip of Cyre, the Karrnathi army used soarwood skiffs to blitz across the Brey River, catching the Crown Knights of Thrane unprepared in the early hours of the morning. By midday the Karrnathi army, led by General Breyse Horacht (he/him), had fully captured the city and were staffing the walls with its own soldiers.

The occupied city’s proximity to Flamekeep made it an immediate priority for the Thranish military to recapture, but after three hard years of siege the Thranish army was unable to best the defensive genius of Horacht. However, Thranish blockades had run the occupying forces out of supplies, even after various negotiations had occasionally provided the residents with food to prevent mass starvation. Ordering the city to be put to the torch, Horacht sealed the gates, unleashed ghouls, started fires, and then escaped with his remaining forces back across the water. The Thranish military immediately launched into a rescue mission, but it was too late—between the fires and the undead, little of the Jewel of the Sound remained.

Political Fallout

Horacht’s “strategic retreat” has been widely condemned as a war crime, but Kaius has pleaded ignorance to the general’s current location. One of the professors at Rekkenmark has been accused of being the general in disguise, but the Karrnathi ambassador to Thrane has only met those allegations with laughter.

Within Thrane, Queen Diani’s reputation as the then-new Blood Regent took an immediate hit when Shadukar was captured. While the Crown Knights of Thrane are technically led by the Blood Regent, the scope and scale of their operations are set by the Diet of Cardinals, a fact which Captain Malik Otherro was quick to remind the public of in the aftermath of his battlefield promotion. The first day of the siege had left Malik the highest-ranking surviving officer, putting him directly in contact with Diani. Malik’s involvement with the rescue effort helped restore some of the dignity of the Crown Knights, although court insiders question whether the paladin’s relationship with the queen is more than professional.

King Jaron of Karrnath was barely six months in power when a Karrnathi army gathered for the promised Thrane assault. After staging maneuvers around Rekkenmark to draw Thrane’s attention, the bulk of the Karrns headed south, crossed through northwestern Cyre (with little opposition), then traversed Scions Sound, landing north of Shadukar. The forced march and soarwood skiff water crossing took the city completely by surprise. General Horacht and the Karrnathi troops looted and pillaged at will. Hundreds of citizens were massacred and hundreds more died of famine while the Karrns ran rampant. As usual, the corpses of the dead were animated to reinforce the Karrnathi ranks.

The Church of the Silver Flame sent soldiers and knights from Flamekeep to liberate the city, and the siege of Shadukar began. Thrane pressed the Karrns hard, but General Horacht proved himself a master of defensive strategy, making Thrane pay dearly for each assault, counter attacking with sallies against Thrane camps and positions, and using powerful wands and artillery forces to keep the muddy ground between besiegers and city walls a deadly quagmire.

In the end, Karrnathi forces retreated by water when supplies and troops finally grew short in 962. Still, the withdrawal was anything but quiet—General Horacht ordered Shadukar be “put to the torch,” after sealing the city gates shut.

Although horrific, Horacht’s tactics worked. The Karrn line of withdrawal was mostly unhindered as the Thrane army, by direct order of Keeper Tagor, focused on the trapped citizens. A spearhead under the command of Captain Malik Otherro saved many people, but the city fires were too well entrenched—the city was largely destroyed.

In the weeks after the fire, the Knights of Thrane and their cleric allies struggled to destroy the remaining undead and rid the city of its Karrnathi stench, but the damage and loss of life were staggering. The city never recovered, and most today believe it is haunted by the ghosts of its burned residents.

Thrane now found itself at war with all four of its neighbors. Even the most fanatical realized that situation would prove their undoing. Unwilling to seek peace with Aundair and unable to make headway with Cyre’s despairing queen, the Diet ordered an end to raids and other operations in the south. Diplomats approached the new King Boranel. The Cardinals promised to withdraw Thrane’s soldiers from most of eastern Breland, and quickly implemented that redeployment. The new king and the old priests seemed to put their nation’s rocky relations behind them

Source: The Forge of War