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A History of Jantalar
Submitted from an archive by Marinzol Falcaste

Jantalar is Baron Lerep Hochstib's seat of power. Jantalar began as an imperial outpost. It was built to protect imperial settlers from attacks by giantmen and other "less human" races that dwelt in the mountains, forests, and wastelands to the north. Jantalar is a relatively large city, primarily due to the fertility of the plains that it guards to the south and east. Situated near the northwestern boundaries of the Human Empire, Jantalar has grown about as much as it can without an increase in its resources. It is this limitation that Baron Hochstib has sought to remedy by the expansion of his territory over the last decade. In the last twelve years the Baron of Jantalar has gone to war with his neighbors twice. Both conflicts have resulted in victories for Jantalar.

The first was over the small barony of Talador, grown from a Dwarven mining town and a silver mine that had been played out decades ago. Talador's rulership had passed to humans several decades before it gained Hochstib's notice, but its Dwarven heritage is strongly evident in its layout and buildings. Hochstib refused to believe that the mine could not produce more wealth. He also saw the town of Talador as a stronghold of Dwarven influence within imperial lands and viewed its neutralization as a secondary benefit of taking over the barony.

It was after the taking of Talador, and the baron's realization that the mine was worthless, that he became convinced he had been the victim of a nonhuman plot. In his mind, he had been drawn into expending his effort and resources on a worthless target by clever nonhuman agents bent on denying humans their rightful power in the area.

Over the next several years, as the baron set his sights on the Barony of Mestanir, he realized he would need outside help in order to neutralize the large number of magic users that dwelt there. To combat the wizards and sorcerers in Talador, Hochstib had employed witchhunters - mercenaries who specialize in countermagic and who train specifically to dispatch magic users. However, the magic using segment of Mestanir's populace was much larger than Talador's had been, and Hochstib knew that witchhunters could not provide the entire answer this time. Rumors were already afoot about the Empress' access to mana disruption crystals, huge "living" crystals of black stone that once brought to life would absorb all mana from the surrounding area. So, whether wholely of his own accord, or as a result of questionable counsel, Hochstib began to embrace the Empress' doctrine of human supremacy in order to gain her favor.

Soon nonhuman business owners in the city of Jantalar were being harassed by angry townsfolk, and "public outcry demanded" an edict that prohibited nonhumans from owning property or holding guild positions within the city. As sentiments against nonhumans grew, nonhumans were first invited and later forced to leave the city. Those who would not leave of their own accord were taken to the silver mine at Talador to labour until "their souls were purified in labor for the good of Jantalar". In truth, it was a death sentence for anyone sent to the mine at Talador.

Sufficient food was never provided for the numbers there. The only drinking water available was the water that flooded the mines' lower levels, and nothing was done to create even a semblance of safety in the ancient tunnels for those who were forced to scrape buckets of rock from its walls to earn their daily ration of food.

Five years ago, dissatisfied with the rate at which the nonhumans imprisoned in Talador's mine were dying, Baron Hochstib became aware that some of his soldiers assigned to guard duty there were providing food, water, and healing herbs to the prisoners. Recognizing that transferring them to other duty would simply spread their pro-nonhuman sentiments elsewhere, he began assigning any of his soldiers that evidenced pro-nonhuman behavior to duty at Talador. Within six months he had all of his bad apples in one basket, and after agents incited a riot within the mines, he sent the entire guard contingent in to quell the disturbance and collapsed the minehead behind them. He blamed the entire catastrophe on Dwarven elements within the ranks of the prisoners, and pointed to their collapsing of the mine as an indication that their hatred of humans could drive them to acts of self-destruction.

Current Jantalar Info:

Anyone who has visited Jantalar within the last two years has encountered a city where any nonhumans travelling openly are publicly ostricized and shunned. A visiting nonhuman would be refused service in all but the most wretched dives, and would be harassed by the guards at the city gates. They would also be warned that they had no business within the city's walls after sundown. Any nonhumans found within the city walls after sunset are imprisoned until they can be beaten enroute to the barony's northern border, and then are banished from Jantalar for the remainder of their unnatural lives.

The underlying reality involves the ignored acceptance of those nonhumans who are necessary for the city's ongoing functions and continued commerce. Those, at least, who have been careful to keep a very low profile. Nonhumans remaining in the city travel heavily-cloaked during daylight hours, and dart from building to building under cover of darkness, risking the penalties of the nonhuman curfew in order to remain in the city and pursue their livelihoods.

Not too surprisingly the unique talents of each of the different races is still utilized by the city and by the baron; Giantmen as warriors or for heavy labor, Elves for hunting and herbalist skills, Dwarves for their crafting and mining skills, but any nonhuman is painfully aware that their position is precarious and can be destroyed at the whim of any Human.

The baron's castle stands on the northern side of the city, it's outter walls forming part of the city's north wall. It has expanded outward and upward from the original imperial keep. Since the fertile farmlands that sustain Jantalar are to the south and east, and the outter threats always came from the north or west, the town has grown up with the more respectable homes and businesses in the quarter to the south and east of the castle. The less reputable or more mundane businesses reside in the northern and western quarters. The worst of Jantalar lies beyond the city's walls sprawled to the northwest.

Hushed references are still made to the almost legendary master of the thieves' guild in Jantalar (legendary because no one alive has seen his face within the last ten years), a Dark Elven rogue named Tolvin of Snek. Whether the last name is reference to a clan or a town of birth is unknown, since no one seems to have heard of it as either.

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