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Cul'sir Empire

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May contain AI-generated text & false information. Please help improve this by checking the sources and fixing any errors, or removing this tag it it all checks out. This article has been tagged since 00:47, 25 January 2025 (UTC). If you are using this information for your own research, campaign, or general interest, you should not rely on its accuracy.
The information in this may not be accurate.
May contain AI-generated text & false information. Please help improve this by checking the sources and fixing any errors, or removing this tag it it all checks out. This article has been tagged since 00:47, 25 January 2025 (UTC). If you are using this information for your own research, campaign, or general interest, you should not rely on its accuracy.
The information in this may not be accurate.
May contain AI-generated text & false information. Please help improve this by checking the sources and fixing any errors, or removing this tag it it all checks out. This article has been tagged since 00:47, 25 January 2025 (UTC). If you are using this information for your own research, campaign, or general interest, you should not rely on its accuracy.


The Cul'sir Empire, sometimes the Cul'sir Dominion, was the preeminent giant civilization of the content of Xen'drik during the Age of Giants.[3]

Geography[]

The Cul'sir Empire was organized around the capital city in the north of Xen'drik, and the ruins of their civilization lie under the city of Stormreach.[7] The titan Emperor Cul'sir made the region surrounding Stormreach the center of his empire.[1]

Government[]

Before the coming of the quori, the Cul'sir Empire decided to break with giant tradition and unify under an emperor, though it is unknown if this was the same titan king as Emperor Cul'sir.[7]

Emperor Cul'sir was the leader of the Cul'sir Empire.[7] According to the tales of the phiarlan elves of House Phiarlan and House Thuranni, Emperor Cul'sir was the same Titan King who faced the host of elves during the time of their rebellion.[3]

Trade[]

The Cul'sir were the preeminent society in Xen'drik for thousands of years.[7] The Cul'sir giants were master artificers and wizards who could produce artifacts and eldritch machines.[1]

The Cul'sir Empire kept elven slaves, and their capital city played a major role in the Quori Invasion.[1] Cul'sir acknowledged the unmatched potential in the blood of elves, and cultivated magical potential within the elf slaves in his dominion.[3]

The Cul'sir cooperated with other giant civilizations against the quori, including the Group of Eleven, the Sul'at League,[1][5] and cabals of the Eshtarn Empire.[4]

Ancient giants harvested the branches of the eldritch whorlwood tree to craft staffs and wands, and other items.[8]

Defenses[]

The Cul'sir Empire developed mighty works of magic and artifice to combat the quori.[1] The Cul'sir giants had no qualms going against the traditional teachings of the dragons, and pursued the forbidden study of blood magic and other dark arts against Ourelonastrix's teachings.[9]

The Cul'sir fought against the quori alongside the Group of Eleven and the Sul'at League.[5] They were joined in their battle by lightning-wield cabals of storm giants from the Eshtarn Empire.[4]

The Cul'sir giants favored adamantine armor with the fortification special abilities, and the mindarmor and vanishing abilities. They employed admantine weapons, some of which had the evil outsider bane, keen, and ghost touch special abilities, and the mindcrusher ability. Giant arcanists made extensive uses of staffs and wands, usually made of eldritch whorlwood.[8]

History[]

From -80,000 years ago until -40,000 years, the giant civilizations of Xen'drik enjoyed relative peace.[8]

War with the Eladrin[]

80,000 years ago in the Age of Giants, the City of Song and Silence[10][11] slipped from Thelanis to the Material Plane in Xen'drik. The giants pillaged the village and claimed both its people and its treasures for themselves, leaving the feyspire as a ruin, remembered as Shae Tirias Tolai, the City of Silver and Bone. The lords of Shae Doresh, the Spire of Dreams demanded vengeance beyond what the other eladrin lords of the feyspires were willing to do.

Before the coming of the quori, the Cul'sir Empire decided to break with giant tradition and unify under an emperor, though it is unknown if this was the same titan king as Emperor Cul'sir.[7]

The next time the plane of Thelanis was coterminous with the Material Planes, the lords of the Spire of Dreams, challenged the emperor of the giants. The Titan King cast a powerful ritual of exile on Shae Doresh, which banished the feyspire and its inhabitants into Dal Quor, the Region of Dreams. The feyspire remained trapped in there until the cycle of the plane eventually returned it to Thelanis, where they were corrupted into nightmare fey known as wyrds.[10][12][13]

Quori Invasion[]

40,000 years ago, the Cul'sir Empire called the city that is now Stormreach the academic center of their empire.[7]

The Cul'sir Empire, the Group of Eleven, and the Sul'at League are said to have brought war upon the quori of that age in Dal Quor.[5]

Once the campaign against the quori ended through the use of the Sul'at League's Moon Breaker doomsday weapon, the elves and other slave races to the Cul'sir giants seized the opportunity created by the devastation to the land to revolt.[1][7]

Elf-Giant Wars[]

When the elves rebelled, Emperor Cul'sir called on his spellcasters to craft a curse to match the mighty Moon Breaker weapon constructed by the Sul'at League to sever the connection to Dal Quor and end the quori invasion.[7]

The Tairnadal tell stories of the elf hero Dyrael Morain, who launched an effort to destroy Stormreach, calling to "destroy the greatest evil in the dark land." Dyrael assembled the largest elf army ever seen, and his forces were annihilated when he lead the assault on Stormreach.[1]

An elf hero born among the free elves named Vadallia rallied the elves to fight against Emperor Cul'sir, knowing her people would not know peace while he still lived. Vadallia united the Taeri, Elorrenthi, Shol, and Thuranni clans to clash with Cul'sir and his forces many times.[3]

After receiving a vision in her crystal eye, Vadallia convinced the elf wizard Cardaen within the Cul'sir Dominion to join her cause. Cardaen, who carried for naught but magic for its own sake, stopped supplying magic weapons in support of the giants' war effort and was brought to fight by her side. Cul'sir used Cardaen as a means to scry on Vadallia's host, and brought a united force of drow and giants to face her host in a massive battle. Cul'sir then unleashed a mighty curse on the elves crafted by Cardaen that rotted the bones inside the body.[3]

Vadallia was not able to sway Cardaen before her own death, but Cardaen was able to counter the curse and the spells of the giants. Cul'sir fled the battle, and his host was scattered.[3]

Emperor Cul'sir secretly crafted a doomsday weapon that would release a contagion, a magical plague that would only effect the slave races while leaving the land and buildings undamaged. This weapon drew on an ancient source of power beneath their capital city. Antaegus, a Cul'sir giant sorcerer working on part of the project, discovered the plot and sabotaged the plan by destroying his team's work. This delayed the project by over a year. Emperor Cul'sir learned of Antaegus's actions, and ordered that the sorcerer be executed, but his advisors convinced the emperor to delay his sentencing until the end of the war. Antaegus was imprisoned by his former associates within an object to await a sentence that would never come.[7]

Emperor Cul'sir's Fate[]

As Aeren led the elves on their long exodus to Aerenal, Cardaen chose to remain behind to finally end the threat of Emperor Cul'sir. It is unknown if Cul'sir still lives, but he is thought to have fallen.[3]

Razing of Xen'drik[]

The Cul'sir giants were slaughtered by the dragons in a hail of epic magic and dragonfire that brought an end to the Age of Giants.[1] The descendants of the Cul'sir giants became the cloud giants, storm giants, and others who now call the Skyfall Peninsula and the area surrounding Xen'drik home.[7]

Inhabitants[]

The Cul'sir Empire was a sophisticated and integrated culture primarily of progenitors to the modern cloud giants and storm giants, known as "Cul'sir giants."[7] The Cul'sir Empire maintained elf slaves to harness the magic in their blood.[3]

The ancient giants had a caste-based society including giants ranging in size from Large to Huge.[8]

Many ancient giants preferred to dress elaborately in clothes rich with symbolic meaning. This included robes, vestments, and wondrous item clothing.[8]

Notable Inhabitants[]

  • Cardaen was an elf magician who studied magic within a tower in the Cul'sir Empire. He was liberated by the elf warrior and leader Vadallia, and began a campaign of vengeance against Emperor Cul'sir after the emperor used a magical curse he had developed against Vadallia and the elves on the field of battle.[3]
  • Emperor Cul'sir was the emperor and ruler of the Cul'sir Empire.[7] He battled the elves with mighty magic and is presumed deceased.[3]
  • The Cul'sir giant sorcerer Antaegus is the sole known surviving Cul'sir giant, and views the giants of the Tents of Rushemé as a devolved mockery of his people. Antaegus assisted in the building of a doomsday weapon commissioned by Emperor Cul'sir that would unleash a devastating plague against the elves and drow, harnessing lost power beneath Stormreach, but sabotaged the effort and was imprisoned by the emperor until the present day within the city.[7]

Rumors & Legends[]

Historical records show that the wizards of the Cul'sir giants were researching a power beneath the city. Some sages believe that the dragons were afraid of unleashing devastation on the city, and held back from destroying Stormreach as a result.[1]

Most inhabitants of Stormreach are unfamiliar with who Cul'sir was, though they refer to the statues of him in the harbor as "the Emperor," which gives off an overwhelming magical aura and has unknown purpose despite the efforts of wizards studying it.[14]

In Stormreach, the yearly festival on Therendor 1 known as The Burning Titan commemorates when the ancient titan kings of Xen'drik were cast down and burned by dragonfire in the devastation of Xen'drik.[15]

The Shrouds criminal organization in Stormreach are rumored to be descended from elf slaves that remained loyal to the Cul'sir Empire.[16]

Appendix[]

See Also[]

Notes[]

  1. ↑ Based off of the language for the one known Cul'sir giant who survived to the modern age, the sorcerer Antaegus.
  2. ↑ Keith Baker has said that he personally would have the Cor'dran Empire be the previous name for the Cul'sir Empire, before the titan Cul'sir claimed it and became emperor and titan king.

References[]

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 Keith Baker, Nicolas Logue, James Desborough, C.A. Suleiman (2008). City of Stormreach. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 8–9. ISBN 0-7869-4803-5.
  2. ↑ >Keith Baker, Nicolas Logue, James Desborough, C.A. Suleiman (2008). City of Stormreach. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 33. ISBN 0-7869-4803-5.
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 Keith Baker (January 2021). “Eye on Eberron: Vadallia and Cardaen” (PDF). Dragon #407 (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 1–2.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 David Noonan, Rich Burlew, & Frank Brunner (2005). Explorer's Handbook. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 59, 65, 90. ISBN 0-7869-3691-6.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Keith Baker, Jason Bulmahn, & Amber Scott (2006). Secrets of Xen'drik. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 154. ISBN 0-7869-3916-8.
  6. ↑ Keith Baker (09/09/2021). Discord post from Keith Baker on the Cor'dran Empire. "Just dropping by and skimming random things: this is the danger of a shared universe with no line editor. I didn't work on Explorer's Handbook and I literally have never heard of the Cor'dran Empire up until this point. Personally, I'd just say that the Cor'dran Empire is what it was called until the titan Cul'sir took over, at which point it became the Cul'sir Dominion."
  7. ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 7.12 Keith Baker, Nicolas Logue, James Desborough, C.A. Suleiman (2008). City of Stormreach. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 158–159. ISBN 0-7869-4803-5.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 David Noonan, Rich Burlew, & Frank Brunner (2005). Explorer's Handbook. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 149–151. ISBN 0-7869-3691-6.
  9. ↑ Keith Baker, Scott Fitzgerald Gray, Nicolas Logue, & Amber Scott (2007). Dragons of Eberron. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 10. ISBN 0-7869-4154-5.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Jeff LaSala (November 2010). “Explore Taer Lian Doresh: Villains and Vendettas” (PDF). Dungeon #184 (Wizards of the Coast) (184)., p. 50.
  11. ↑ Keith Baker (October 2010). The Fading Dream. (Wizards of the Coast). ISBN 0-7869-5624-0.
  12. ↑ James Wyatt and Keith Baker (2009). Eberron Campaign Guide. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 143. ISBN 0-7869-5099-4.
  13. ↑ Jeff LaSala (May 2010). “Explore Taer Lian Doresh: Fortress of Fading Dreams” (PDF). Dungeon #178 (Wizards of the Coast) (178)., p. 79.
  14. ↑ Keith Baker, Nicolas Logue, James Desborough, C.A. Suleiman (2008). City of Stormreach. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 33. ISBN 0-7869-4803-5.
  15. ↑ Keith Baker, Nicolas Logue, James Desborough, C.A. Suleiman (2008). City of Stormreach. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 26. ISBN 0-7869-4803-5.
  16. ↑ Keith Baker, Nicolas Logue, James Desborough, C.A. Suleiman (2008). City of Stormreach. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 72–73. ISBN 0-7869-4803-5.
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