Cormyr

Cormyr – Current Events, 1496 DR

Cormyr

's royal court still projects the image of a kingdom in order, but in 1496 DR, cracks have begun to show beneath the purple banners. Queen Raedra Obarskyr

's health has become the subject of hushed speculation—her appearances in Suzail

are rare, and when she does emerge, her voice carries the faint rasp of someone struggling against an unseen weight. In her stead, the Steel Regent Alusair has been handling day-to-day governance, yet the War Wizards’ patrols have doubled, and entire roads leading into Suzail

are now under “temporary” martial law. This increase in military presence coincides with an alarming development in Wheloon

Prison—Cormyr

's most notorious walled city of the condemned.

Once a straightforward containment zone for criminals and exiles, Wheloon

has become the stage for a silent war. Prisoners and guards alike have begun vanishing into an underground labyrinth of tunnels recently uncovered beneath the cobblestone streets—passages dating back to an unknown civilization. Reports from surviving guards speak of the Chainwraiths, spectral figures shackled in rusted manacles who drag captives into the tunnels. These apparitions are not mindless; they speak in perfect Cormyrean courtly dialect, offering their victims a “pardon” in exchange for swearing an oath to an unseen sovereign. The War Wizards are deeply unsettled—not only because these ghosts seem immune to magic, but because those returned from the Chainwraiths’ service have reappeared in Suzail

wearing fine purple sashes and claiming to be loyal emissaries of the crown.

Meanwhile, the noble houses are split over a recent proposal: converting Wheloon

into a “self-governing mercantile district” where the condemned can buy their freedom through trade. House Illance and House Rowanmantle back the plan, citing economic opportunity, while House Bleth and House Cormaeril openly oppose it, claiming it will only turn Wheloon

into a haven for smuggling and espionage. The truth may already be in motion—observers have noted an influx of foreign gold flowing into the prison through black-market channels, much of it traced to merchant families in Sembia and the Vilhon Reach.

Cormyr

's borders remain under pressure as well. Caravan raids along the East Way have increased, and witnesses claim the raiders bear both Cormyrean and Sembian heraldry, further blurring the lines between banditry and political maneuver. In taverns from Suzail

to Arabel

, the theory is spreading that Wheloon

Prison has become more than a containment zone—it’s becoming a recruitment hub for a new kind of army, one that can walk through walls, claim royal legitimacy, and wage war without ever showing its true banner.