History of Sharn

History of Sharn

History of the City

Duur'Shaarat

Over the course of ten thousand years, the city by the Dagger River has risen and fallen time and again. The many scars of history can be seen everywhere, each representing a score of dangers to threaten the present-day inhabitants.
Thousands of years before humans came to Khorvaire, the land belonged to the hobgoblins.

One of the greatest cities of the Dhakaani Empire

The hobgoblin metropolis of Ja'shaarat ("Bright Blade") was nestled by the edge of the Dagger River. The early Dhakaani architects carved their city into the stone instead of raising towers above the ground, and the halls of Ja'shaarat extended beneath the surface of the land. The goblin miners pushed into Khyber, discovering a vast lake of fire that burned with a supernatural heat. The blades and armor of the greatest Dhakaani warriors were forged here and tempered in khaar draguus, the blood of the dragon. Later, they raised great monolithic buildings that covered each of the plateaus and would later serve as the foundation for the City of Towers. When the alignment of the planes brought the daelkyr and their armies of horrors to Eberron, the Dhakaani empire fell before them, and Ja'shaarat was devastated. The empire never recovered from the conflict, and the great city was never restored. The goblin tribes that hid in the ruins renamed their home Duur'shaarat, "Blade of Sorrows."

Shaarat

In time, the humans of Sarlona began to explore across the ocean. A wave of humans followed the famed explorer Lhazaar to Khorvaire's eastern shores. The humans didn't stop there, however. They pushed inland and explored the northern and southern coasts seeking land to settle and kingdoms to erect. As a result, Malleon the Reaver discovered the inlet of the Dagger River twenty-five years after Lhazaar's historic undertaking. Malleon enslaved the goblins and built a fortress within the ruins on the bluff above the river. Malleon, a superstitious man, hoped to make peace with whatever spirits remained in the ruins. He sealed off the deeper levels of the goblin-made mountain-monoliths that had been home to the majority of the hobgoblins, and he named the city Shaarat, deriving the name from the stories told by his goblin slaves. Over the next six hundred years, Shaarat grew into a powerful and wealthy city. Breggor, the first ruler of the nation that would eventually bear the name of Breland, demanded that Shaarat bow to his authority. Malleon's descendants refused. A long siege followed, ending when Breggor ordered his wizards to rain destruction on Shaarat.

Malleon the Reaver

One of the most feared of Lhazaar's lieutenants, Malleon the Reaver plundered the southern coast of the continent of Khorvaire some 3,000 years ago. With his warships, he traveled from what is now the Lhazaar Principalities all the way to modern-day Sharn, sacking the coastal villages of the sahuagin, gnomes, humans, and what remained of the goblin Dhakaani Empire. Malleon's legacy is one of conquest and ruthlessness, and his impact on the region's history cannot be understated.