Signing of the Treaty of Thronehold
  1. Events

Signing of the Treaty of Thronehold

Military
996-9-11

Despite the escalation of hostilities after the destruction of Cyre, it was clear that the participants in the Last War had become willing to find a way to end a century of hostilities. Even before the Day of Mourning, King Kaius III began searching for a place that could be considered neutral ground to host the peace talks. He finally settled on Thronehold, the castle from which the kings and queens of Galifar had ruled. Perched on an island in the middle of Scions Sound, it was a prize coveted by all the combatants but which none had been able to claim.

During all the years of the Last War, Thronehold was guarded and maintained by an elite group of warriors from House Deneith known as the Throne Wardens. They acknowledged no legitimate heir to the throne, and protected the castle and all its belongings from usurpers.

The peace talks included the leaders of the original Five Nations plus representatives from Darguun, Zilargo, the Mror Holds, the Eldeen Reaches, Q’barra, Valenar, the Lhazaar Principalities, and even a halfling empowered to speak for all the tribes of the Talenta Plains. Other groups petitioned to be included in the Thronehold Accords, but were refused. The deliberations merely to settle the question of who would participate occupied the initial period of the conferences. The groups that were not granted recognition and the right to participate included a delegation from Droaam as well as representatives from a number of ethnic or religious minorities who hoped to carve their own sliver of land out of the wreckage of postwar Khorvaire.

Each group that did participate in the treaty process had its own agenda and demands. At first, some refused to even sit across from each other, but the desire for peace soon overcame mutual distrust.

Over the course of several weeks, this group hammered out the accords that defined the borders as they are seen on current maps. Sovereignty was granted to several groups, nominal independence to others, and a binding peace agreement was signed by all.

Two other items of business, aside from the overarching question of national boundaries and reparations, occupied the delegates to Thronehold. The first was a philosophical dilemma with profound implications for society. The chronicles ran articles for months about “the warforged question,” and how the nations would treat this new race that had come to exist as a direct result of the war. Never before had a political body spent so much time in the consideration of such metaphysical questions. (It should be noted that no warforged was allowed to participate in any of these discussions.) In the end, the new race was given a twoedged sword. On one hand, House Cannith was ordered to halt production of warforged and dismantle its creation forges. On the other, all existing warforged were granted the full rights of citizenship in the nations of Khorvaire, rather than being deemed objects to be possessed by other citizens. (Interestingly, the delegates also neglected to address the question of whether elementals that had been bound to service should receive the same rights.)

As a final accord, and at the insistence of the Throne Wardens, the thriving city of Throneport was declared neutral ground, accessible to all nations but belonging to none. The castle and its grounds, on the other hand, remain off limits and under the protection of the Throne Wardens.

Keith

http://keith-baker.com/ifaq-treaty/