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Hello everybody Jorphdan here the PH is silent.
This is my Eleventy First video!
Today we’re discussing Jhaamdath, an ancient empire of the Forgotten Realms.
Jhaamdath was a large human settlement in ancient Faerun.
It originated north of the Nikerymath Forest which is now Chondalwood.
Twelve powerful cities banded together in a common interest of military expansion and
trade.
Let’s go back… way back to -5800 DR where twelve cities banded together and formed Jhaamdath.
They were Narrkolyth the capital and first city, Porrenath, Jhouram, Gharrent, Golmuth,
Lirremar, Tuoxent, Hollinth, Jhirrent, Inixrien, Corrant, and Mirrindith….
yeah.
Human tribes, warriors, settled in these lands.
Their leader was a warrior-king named Jhaam.
This tiny tribe soon conquered other villages.
This was done to secure their surroundings.
The people wanted protection, and taking over other villages to then fortify their defenses
aided the people.
Banding together was beneficial for most.
Jhaam died before finishing his vision of taking over the whole area.
But his heirs completed it and successfully founded the country of Jhaamdath with Naarkolyth
as the captial.
Now what makes Jhaamdath interesting is its peoples devotion to Psionics.
The people of Jhaamdath over the course of about 30 years developed the ability to use
psionics.
Which is the innate magic of the mind.
This ability appeared in all of the people, from peasants to nobles and the people who
honed it became known as the practitioners of the Invisible Art.
They were said to be blessed by the god Auppenser.
Who is the god of reason, and the Invisible Art.
The god of psionics.
I couldn’t find too much information on Auppenser other than he reached his height
of power during the Jhaamdath period and fell away into obscurity after that.
Could be a fun deity to bring back, perhaps a blessed of Auppenser brings Psionics into
your Dungeons and Dragons game.
Psionics became so powerful that Jhaamdath was soon governed by a ruling body of powerful
psions and psychic warriors known as bladelords.
These bladelords were drawn from noble families to keep some semblance of power for the nobility.
Psions were more like mages, focusing their mind powers, and Bladelords were more like
a Gish.
Combining melee attacks with their psychic abilities.
Over the next five and a half centuries Jhaamdath expanded.
The people became well known between the southern reaches of the Sea of Fallen Stars and The
Shining Sea.
Their mastery over swords nicknamed them the Twelve Cities of the Sword.
But life was not perfect in Jhaamdath under these Psionic overlords.
In -267 DR a coup d’etat dissolved the bladelords and the powerful metamind that had claimed
himself to be emperor.
Now run by an imperial army, Jhaamdath expanded and built a navy.
They heavily deforested the area which was ultimately their downfall.
The elves nearby fought the humans of Jhaamdath to protect their woodland home.
Jhaamdath slaughtered them which pushed the elves to use dangerous Elven High Magic to
deal with this human infestation.
A giant tidal wave was summoned from the Sea of Fallen Stars that overtook the country
of Jhaamdath; its twelve cities were destroyed all at once.
Drowning most of the inhabitants those that were left fled and in an instant Jhaamdath
was no more.
The wave reshaped and expanded Jhaamdath Bay into the Vilhon Reach of today.
What towers and keeps survived the wave eventually sank into the water and muck.
The only thing that really survived the high magic spell was the graveyards and outposts
that were far outside of the major cities.
Today the sea floor of Vilhon Reach is littered with the relics of Jhaamdath’s twelve cities.
Psionic energy leaks here from the dozens of psionic swords and artifacts.
This energy is altering the nearby animals creating Phrenic Monsters.
Which are creatures that appear as normal turtles or fish, or other types of creatures.
But actually harbor powerful psychic energy, and can use this skill to terrifying ends.
Imagine fighting an evil psychic jellyfish while sailing across Vilhon Reach.
The Structures that sank now harbor sea hags, sea hobgoblins, and scrags.
As well as other evil creatures that lurk in the depths of the water.
The Spellplague drained much of the water in Vilhon Reach.
This opened up the ruins of Jhaamdath to be explored.
There are monsters in this area, as well as the nearby Plaguewrought Land which was a
cursed place created by the Spellplague.
However by 5th edition and the second sundering the spellplagues effects vanished and Vilhon
Reach became submerged in water once again.
How fun would it be to find a psychic blade under the waters of Vilhon Reach.
Some magical item that could read minds, or do extra psychic damage to a target.
We really need some rules for psionics in D&D 5e, maybe someday we will.
Thanks for watching everybody and thanks to my sponsors on Patreon that keep these videos
going.
I recently started recording my RPG games and posting them as podcasts on patreon which
you can access by pledging at any level.
I’m currently playing a Dungeon Crawl Classics game with some other one-shot RPGs to follow.
Check it out, the first episode our DCC zeo level funnel is open for anyone to listen
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And!
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