Present Day Athas and the City of Tyr (Current Events)

[Joseph Barros]

Check here for news events relevant to the city-state of Tyr and the rest of Athas.

[Joseph Barros]

STARTING AGE AND LOCATION

I'm running our campaign beginning in the 190th King's Age. The year of Desert's Slumber has just ended. The Sorceror-King Kalak rules the city-state of Tyr. Tyr is where the campaign will begin;

Tyr is ruled by the sorcerer-king Kalak, who calls himself simply King Kalak or, as he sometimes prefers to be addressed, the Tyrant of Tyr. A pragmatic and ruthless man, Kalak is perhaps the most honest of all sorcerer-kings. He rules by the might of his magic and tremendous psionic powers, placing his own security and the stability of Tyr above all other considerations.

If Kalak’s attitude seems unjust or inequitable, it is at least predictable. The residents of his city understand that the best way to insure their own survival is to do what benefits Kalak. The surest way to
find themselves working in the slave pits is to oppose Kalak'’s will. As a consequence, Tyrian society has
functioned very efficiently for the thousand years that Kalak has ruled the city.

The Tyrant of Tyr has always made his home in a magnificent palace adjacent to the gladiatorial stadium.
The eastern wall of this palace overlooks the arena itself. During the games, Kalak himself can often be seen sitting on one of the hundred balconies that overlook the arena, accompanied by a handful of templars and other favorites. Of late, old King Kalak seems to have become senile. For the past twenty years, he has diverted much of the city’s slave labor to building a mighty ziggurat (directly across the arena from his palace), claiming that it will protect Tyr from attacks by the dragon. At first, the nobles were tolerant of his folly, for the burden it placed on them was not great.

Over the last year, however, Kalak has grown frantic to finish the massive structure, appropriating so
many slaves that there is almost nobody left to work the fields. Kalak has also taken the slaves out of the mines, completely shutting down iron production. This has caused the city'’s economy to crash, leaving merchant and noble alike destitute. The slaves are starving, and even free craftsmen receive only meager
grain rations in return for their services-and then only if their work contributes directly to the construction of the ziggurat.

To make matters worse, other cities that depend upon imports of Tyr’s raw iron to supplement their economies are up in arms. Many of them, most notably Urik and Raam, have sent emissaries to King Kalak with rave warnings concerning the consequences of failing to resume iron production. Can it be any wonder that in their private gatherings, nobles are whispering plans of rebellion and that merchants are fleeing the city in droves? Surely, even the iron grip of the templars cannot keep the city from erupting into a violent inferno for much longer. When the final battle comes, it will be a terrible thing. The Royal Guard consists of two thousand mercenaries led by five hundred half-giants and Kalak'’s loyal templars. In fact, the latter are all armed with steel swords. Against them will be arrayed the varied armies of the nobles-who are far superior in number, if not armament. Considering the advantages of Kalak'’s magic, the contest will be a close one.