Breland

Distance allowed Breland to develop in ways that were distinctly different from the other human nations. While each of the human settlements that eventually became the Five NAtions took root in the rich land surrounding the Scions Sound, the ancesters of the Brelish nation felt confined along the shore of the Brey River. The original settlement, built where Aruldusk stands today, was quickly abandoned and its people moved south, following the river until they found a site that pleased them. The original nation of Wroat grew up around what is today Vathirond.

The frontier nation didn't stop there, however, and soon those within the settlement who wanted more open space and more freedom continued to move south and west. It was about 2,400 years ago that Breggor Firstking led most of the pre-Brelish settlers to fertile fields where the Howling and Dagger Rivers converged and established the nation of Wroat.

Meanwhile, as the humans of the Lhazaar expeditions landed on Khorvaire's eastern shores and migrated inland, one of Lhazaar's most powerful lieutenant's struck out to map the southern shores of the new land. With four mighty warships and more than a thousand warriors, Malleon explored the coast of southern Khorvaire. Along the way, Malleon earned the name "The Reaver" as he plundered the settlements of goblins, gnomes and lizardfolk he discovered. Then, about twenty-five years after Lhazaar first led them to this new continent, Malleon sailed into the Hilt of the Dagger River.

When Malleon first set eyes upon the ancient city on the bluff, a city that would eventually grow to become the greatest in the land, he knew that his days as an explorer and pirate had come to and end. Malleon and his loyal warriors conquered and enslaved the goblins and erected a fortress atop their ancient ruins. What was once Duur'shaarat and would one day be Sharn now belonged to Malleon. He named the place Shaarat.

For six hundred years, Malleon, his warriors, and their descendants built Shaarat into a powerful and wealthy city on the bluff overlooking the Hilt. By this point, Breggor Firstking had established the nation of Wroat some five hundred miles north along the Dagger River. It was inevitable that the two settlements would come into conflict. Breffor wanted Shaarat for his own, but Malleon's descendants refused to yield. The siege of Shaarat lasted for almost a year before Breggor ordered his wizards to destroy the city. Shaarat fell, but Breggor claimed the ruins and renamed the city Sharn. Over the next eight-hundred years, the towers rose and the city grew, become the second jewel in the nation of Wroat's crown.

The glory of Sharn was lost during the War of the Mark, when the remnants of the aberrant mark forces took refuge in the City of Towers. Rather than fall before the onslaught of the armies of the pure dragonmarked houses, the leaders of the aberrant mark forces destroyed themselves and their followers in a display of arcane power that left Sharn in ruins. The city remained abandoned for more than five hundred years.

It was Galifar I, king of the newly united kingdom, who came to the City of Towers' rescue. In 35 YK, Galifar ordered Sharn to be rebuilt so that it could serve as the southern bastion of his kingdom. It took more than five years to make a portion of the city habitable, then another fifty years for the towers to rise over the rubble, but by 150YK, Sharn was well on its way to becoming the largest and most powerful city not only in Breland but in the entire kingdom.