Skelkor

Skelkor was the most powerful dragon empire of Laerakond as of 1479 DR. Many people considered it to be the evil empire of the continent.

Inhabitants

Skelkor was a land dominated by Dragons. However, slaves of many humanoid races, mainly dragonborn, humans, halflings and a minority of genasi, composed the bulk of empire's population.

Government

Skelkor was ruled by Gauwervyndhal the Empress Dragon, one of the most powerful and feared Dragons of Laerakond. She was served by her "suzerains", Dragons directly related to her—most of them her own children—, tasked with day-to-day ruling and the protection of the empire, as well as by lesser Dragons who tended herds of the preferred dragon food, meat.

Geography

Skelkor was composed by a landscape dominated by open rolling plains of lush grass and ribbon-like forests that encircled small marshes, roamed by various herd beasts, such as the Abeiran-endemic scathebeasts.

Locations

• Crippled Mountain: The mountain where the Battle of the Crippled Mountain took place.
• Hollowbold: An ancient dwarven ruin.
• Marangor: Gauwervyndhal's seat of power and the capital of Skelkor.
• Mount Cormanda: An active volcano were the demon lord Cormanda was trapped in 1479 DR.
• Tymanchebar: Formerly a province of free dragonborn, it was destroyed during the Spellplague.
• Wandering Stones: A town of free slaves built on the remains of the Primordial Arambar.

History

After the sundering of Abeir-Toril, the corpse of Arambar was left in the lands that eventually would become Skelkor. Slaves who fled from their dragon masters founded the town of Wandering Stones in the rocks that composed the remains of the Primordial.

In the 13th century DR, clans of slave dragonborn started a revolt that ended with their victory in the Battle of the Crippled Mountain. The rebels managed to seize a province and free themselves from the rule of the Empress Dragon. Renaming that province Tymanchebar, they fought bravely against flights of Dragons to maintain their freedom for two centuries.

When the Spellplague hit Abeir, in 1385 DR, a portion of Tymanchebar, where Djerad Thymar was located, was separated from Skelkor and fell in the Faerûnian land of Unther. With their capital city lost, the remaining dragonborn in Tymanchebar lost their fighting spirit and Gauwervyndhal was able to defeat them and reconquer what was left of the province.

Small quantities of Dragonbane amber were uncovered after the Spellplague transported Laerakond to Toril. Dragonborn slaves across the lands were able to get enough Dragonbane amber to start a rebellion during the Wailing Years, killing many Dragons and even destroying a few dragon empires. Among the fiercest rebellions were those of Skelkor and Djerad Kusold in Melabrauth, regions where Dragonbane amber was more common. Eventually, however, the reserves of Dragonbane amber were depleted and Dragons retaliated and destroyed the rebels.

In 1479 DR, Gauwervyndhal empowered a few of her human and dragonborn slaves and sent them as envoys to the free lands of Laerakond, in hopes to create commercial treaties with those nations. Many Abeirans suspected that those "envoys" were in fact spies, trying to put into motion whatever evil plot Gauwervyndhal had devised.

Notable Inhabitants

• Gauwervyndhal the Empress Dragon.
• Cormanda, a demon lord.
• Hael Darandar, Skelkor's main diplomat in 1479 DR.
• Arambar, a slumbering Primordial.
• Olothon, a dragonborn shaman and the elder of Wandering Stones in 1479 DR.
• Esham-Ana, a dragonborn slave and the ancestor of Clan Yrjixtilex