Discord
Changelog
04-12-2012, 10:21 AM
The following text has been carefully edited and reviewed for posting, and is an excerpt from the sourcebook Lords of Darkness.
Long considered a threat to peace in eastern Faerûn, the RedWizards of Thay have a history of war and aggression toward their neighbors and even more distant lands. In recent years, they have also become the principal purveyors of magical goods to the powerful, wealthy, and the desperate throughout much of Faerûn.
Ensconced in secretive walled enclaves in dozens of cities, the Red Wizards command fear and respect far outside the borders of their native Thay. These mercantile enclaves have become so successful that many Red Wizards have abandoned their dreams of military conquest for a more insidious and pervasive form of power—the power of gold. The Red Wizards’ efforts to export their magical goods abroad have resulted in three main benefits for the Thayans. First, people of distant lands are beginning to view the Red Wizards as mysterious, perhaps intimidating, merchants, rather than as would-be conquerors. Second, the sale of magic
items, even at a discount, is a phenomenal source of revenue for the Red Wizards. Much of this wealth flows back to the coffers of the zulkirs (the leaders), who use the profits to fund magical research, espionage, and whatever terrible secret interests they may have. Finally, demand for Thayan goods is so high that the Red Wizards can exact significant concessions from local rulers anxious to bring some of the wealth generated by a Thayan enclave into their cities. The trade enclaves provide the Red Wizards with secure bases of operation, spy networks, and resources abroad.
The zulkirs may still be creating terrible battle spells and monstrous magical war machines in the secrecy
of their homeland, but the public facade of the Red Wizards has become that of reliable, if eerie, traders in magic.
Brief History
The history of the Red Wizards and Thay is fully covered in the FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting. In short, a group of Mulhorandi wizards seceded from their homeland to form a country where wizards ruled instead of godkings. These wizards eventually created the current governmental structure in Thay and warred against their neighbors intermittently for centuries, with their plans often thrown into chaos because of arguing factions within the upper levels of the organization. While the more aggressive factions still plot and scheme, other Red Wizards—notably the zulkirs of Abjuration, Illusion, and Transmutation—have turned their hand to a burgeoning trade in magic items, carried out in Thayan enclaves in cities throughout Faerûn.
The Organization
While the details of Thay are summarized in the FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting, the following statistics reflect the Red Wizards (characters with levels in the Red Wizard prestige class) and their apprentices of various levels (those without levels in the prestige class).
Headquarters: Thaymount, Thay.
Members: Approximately 1,000 actual Red Wizards, with
approximately 5,000 practicing wizards in their service.
Hierarchy: Militaristic.
Leaders: The zulkirs of Thay (loose council of eight Red
Wizards, each specialized in a different school of arcane
magic).
Religions: Kossuth, Bane, Shar, Loviatar.
Alignment: LE, NE, LN, CE.
Secrecy: None.
Symbol: A disk with a white star at the center and a red
spiral moving counterclockwise from the center, with eight red
spheres of increasing size on the spiral. The red represents the
Red Wizards, the eight spheres represent the eight primary
schools of magic, and the white star represents a fading fireball.
The Red Wizards rule Thay as the heads of a large quasi-military organization, the structure of which is more convoluted than it first appears.
Among Thayans, the terms “wizard” and “Red Wizard” have different meanings. A wizard is someone who wields arcane power in the form of spells. (While bards and sorcerers are known in Thay, the Red Wizards consider them inferior and treat them as such.) Although wizards may grow powerful, and that power deserves respect, only Red Wizards command true authority in Thay.
A Red Wizard is a practicing wizard who has been indoctrinated into the outermost circle of Thayan politics. In Thay, only Red Wizards are allowed to wear red robes, and those who violate this law are swiftly caught and slowly tortured, usually in a public manner. To avoid even the threat of such a punishment, most Thayans never wear anything red, and some refuse to don orange clothing as well. The only exceptions are the clerics of Kossuth, who stand outside the ban and are easily recognized by their holy symbols and their multicolored robes.
While most people outside Thay believe that all Thayan wizards are Red Wizards, this is not true. Only about one wizard in six is actually a Red Wizard. The rest are apprentices, low-level wizards, those unconcerned with politics, and those who have not yet proved their worth to Thay. Choosing to become a Red Wizard requires careful thought, for while that path holds great power, the Red Wizard loses some of a traditional
wizard’s versatility (by being obliged to select an additional prohibited school of spellcasting). Many wizards delay joining the Red Wizards for as long as possible, hoping that their wider variety of spells compensates for their shortcomings compared to those who donned the red robes earlier.
HIERARCHY
Thay is ruled by eight zulkirs, each a powerful Red Wizard specialized in one of the eight schools of magic. When an existing zulkir leaves office (usually through death, although zulkir Szass Tam has been a lich for hundreds of years), a new zulkir is selected by the Red Wizards, with powerful Red Wizards holding more sway in the choice and the remaining zulkirs having the final say.
The Bureaucracy
The zulkirs appoint eleven tharchions, one for each of the country’s tharchs (counties or provinces). The tharchions act as governors for their regions, dealing with local issues and obeying the orders of the zulkirs. The tharchions may be of any character class, and some Red Wizards see this duty as a means of acquiring political power and eventually a position as a zulkir. Currently, one of the tharchions is also a zulkir, although
this is a rare situation.
The tharchions appoint local bureaucrats, called autharchs, into positions at various levels. Autharchs function as mayors, military leaders, and ministers of various organizations such as trade guilds. Most autharchs have little authority and serve mainly as convenient scapegoats for occasions when a zulkir’s or
tharchion’s plans go awry. The autharchs suffer a high turnover rate, since incompetent ones vanish or are killed and competent ones are promoted. The leader of a trade enclave, called a khazark, technically has an equivalent rank to an autharch running avery profitable guild in an equivalent-sized city, although the khazark tends to have higher status because he or she is always a Red Wizard. In situations where a Red Wizard is accused of a crime, the local autharch usually defers to his or her tharchion to avoid the possibly fatal blunder of confronting a Red Wizard who is under the protection of a higher-level politician.
While this chain of command works in theory, in practice the zulkirs hand down orders to the tharchions, autharchs, military, khazarks, or commoners with impunity. The only people with any real independence are wizards, who endure long apprenticeships to their cruel masters before being able to strike out on their own and possibly enter the ranks of the Red Wizards.
The Zulkirs
See the FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting for basic information on the zulkirs. The following section includes notes on the zulkirs’ relationships with the enclaves and other significant observations.
Aznar Thrul, the zulkir of Evocation, enjoys using his mastery of elements archmage ability to surprise foes with variants of spells using different energies. He has little involvement in the enclaves because they rarely sell items with powers from his specialized school. Instead, he has ordered his underlings to prepare powerful magic items of the Evocation school (such as wands of fireball) in anticipation of a great demand
in black market items through the enclaves.
Druxus Rhym, the zulkir of Transmutation, maintains an alliance with Szass Tam. His enthusiasm helped persuade Tam to consider the enclaves as a viable option. Druxus was one of the earliest supporters of the enclaves and invested much of his personal fortune in the first three, which has been repaid fivefold. He is not averse to assassinating his political enemies, and one of his favorite methods is transforming his enemies’ equipment or food into poisonous vermin. One of his archmage
powers is the teleport spell-like ability.
Lallara, the zulkir of Abjuration, is an enthusiastic supporter of the enclaves, since abjurative items are common commodities there. She is the sole sponsor of the enclave in Procampur, which brings her a great return in both money and slaves. She rewards enclave abjurers who send her information, and the
khazark of the Procampur enclave is one of her favored former apprentices and staunchest supporters. She has the mastery of counterspelling archmage ability, which she has put to good use defeating rivals.
Lauzoril, the zulkir of Enchantment, is indifferent to the concept of enclaves, because they rarely sell his sort of magic. He has yet to sponsor an enclave and is considering sabotage and rumors to hamper the efficiency of the enclaves just to avoid any one faction from gaining too much power. He is fond of creating intelligent magic weapons loyal to him that sow discord among his enemies. He remains steadfastly opposed to Szass Tam and is looking for some magical means to wrest away control of the lich’s undead armies.
Mythrellaa, the zulkir of Illusion, has refused any involvement with the enclaves, although she has spies and informants in several large ones on the coast of the Inner Sea. She has the Greater Spell Penetration feat, making her illusions very difficult to disbelieve. Like Lallara, she pays close attention to what her agents in the enclaves have to say. After a falling-out with Szass Tam, she retreated to her tower and has professed neutrality in all dealings with the other zulkirs.
Nevron, the zulkir of Conjuration, has no interest in the success of the enclaves and has been focusing his attention on creating scrolls of demon-summoning spells. He is known to own a ring of wizardry and a robe of the archmagi, and many suspect he has demonic allies. Nevron opposes Szass Tam and is casually allied with Lauzoril, although he would betray the enchanter instantly if doing so would advance his own power.
Szass Tam, the feared zulkir of Necromancy, is hesitant to openly support the enclaves, but he is not working against them. He sponsors (through intermediaries) one enclave tomonitor how it functions and to keep the balance of power from shifting away from him. Like Aznar Thrul, he anticipates a demand for more dangerous items and has set plans in action to stockpile items of this nature. Szass Tam has created
hundreds of magic items during his lifetime, many of which are intentionally cursed so the wielder is eventually compelled to serve him. These are likely to make their way into the hands of greedy buyers in the near future.
Yaphyll, the zulkir of Divination, is an ally of Lallara and one of the few people who can focus the abjurer’s attention on important topics at critical times. She avoids danger by knowing about any plots against her before they come to fruition. She wears a magic amulet that protects her from penalties for aging and makes her appear to be thirty years of age. She has spies in every enclave, often giving the weaker ones strong protective items to ensure both their survival and their loyalty.
The Tharchions
The tharchions directly control the territories of Thay as
noted below.
Azhir Kren (NE female human Ftr15) is the aggressive tharchion of Gauros. She controls a strong army backed by Szass Tam’s legion of zombies. Her hatred of Rashemen may eventually lead her to cross the border with her forces, forcing the zulkirs to stop her.
Aznar Thrul is the tharchion of Priador as well as the zulkir of Evocation, as noted above.
Dimon (LN male human Clr5 of Waukeen) oversees the tharch of Tyraturos. Disillusioned with his faith, he retains his talents in finance and manipulation, which makes his tharch very profitable.
Dmitra Flass (LE female human Ill13) is the tharchion of Eltabbar. Beautiful, bald, and elaborately adorned with magic tattoos, she is known as the First Princess of Thay in other lands. She is married to the High Blade of Mulmaster, Selfaril Uoumdolphin. She is closely allied with Szass Tam and has an extensive spy network.
Hezass Nymar (NE male human Clr8 of Kossuth) rules the tharch of Lapendrar. Weak-willed and corrupt, he does whatever the zulkirs tell him. Those within his church believe that the Firelord will soon come to cleanse Nymar of his weakness, and his fellow clerics debate whether he will survive the cleansing. If he were removed from office, the church would push to have another cleric of Kossuth take his place.
Invarri Metron (LE male human Ftr11) is the tharchion of Delhumide. While this region used to be the capital of the Mulhorandi province of Thay, Invarri has little interest in picking over the ruins for treasure and instead has been working to increase his tharch’s farming output and strengthen its defenses against possible attacks by Rashemen.
Milsantos Daramos (LN male human F14) controls the tharch of Thazalhar. An aged patriot, he is pleased that Thay is finally being productive in the absence of ill-planned and disastrous wars, and he looks forward to Thay remaining prosperous until the day he dies.
Homen Odesseiron (LE male human Evo6/Red1/Ftr12) is the tharchion of Surthay and a “former” Red Wizard, having voluntarily removed himself from the ranks of his arcane peers to focus on the military might of his tharch. He used to lead raids against Rashemen and maintains a sizable army.
Nymia Focar (CE female human Ftr9) is the tharchion of Pyarados. Because her tharch is a haven for those seeking glory and loot in the eastern mountains, she overcharges adventurers for equipment and taxes the mines there, resulting in a very wealthy province.
Pyras Autorian (LE male human Ari2) is the young tharchion of Thaymount. Chosen by Szass Tam, he is a civil servant of minimal skill and little more than a puppet of the lich. Szass Tam keeps him protected with bodyguards, spells, and magic items.
Thessaloni Canos (LE female human Ftr17) is a skilled military commander and sailor, and has been tharchion of Alaor for over thirty years despite many attempts to slay or unseat her. She prefers to remain neutral in any conflicts between the zulkirs, and her ability to avoid offending them impresses as often as it infuriates.
The Red Wizards
While the zulkirs and tharchions may be the most prominent leaders of the country, the Red Wizards at all levels are seen as the epitome of the evil of Thay. Red Wizards hold the power of life and death over others in that land, and only other rival Red Wizards keep them from exerting that power at whim.
Standing laws in Thay prevent the Red Wizards from simply seizing whatever food they want from farmers and any item they desire from merchants. Their main power is political, and those who regard themselves as above such mortal and mundane concerns quickly find themselves exiled or killed by other Red Wizards intent on preserving the status quo.
In practice, a Red Wizard is likely to have many contacts, allies, and enemies among the wizards and the Red Wizards, with servants of varying types and various power levels. If a Red Wizard is slain or disappears, his allies investigate. Although they most often assume that the disappearance is due to a rival and leave it at that, occasionally the allies try to find and destroy those responsible for the death.
The wizards of Thay grow up and are educated in a cutthroat environment of intrigue, competition, and cruelty. They have survived dangerous masters and evil rivals, and have experienced and witnessed magic that is prohibited by more ethical wizards. They are not fools, although some are megalomaniacs and cannot see the flaws in their own plans. The environment in which they are raised and trained makes them dangerous opponents, and no one should take them lightly.
The Guild of Foreign Trade
Thay’s enclaves in foreign lands are administered through the offices of the Guild of Foreign Trade, based in Bezantur. Fifty years ago, the guild was a mere shell of an organization that existed only for the purpose of selling charters to Thayan merchants who wished to trade abroad. The success of the magic item trade has made the leading officers of the Guild of Foreign Trade some of the most powerful, wealthy, and influential
people in Thay.
The guild’s sprawling warehouses, buried vaults, and fortresslike buildings cover dozens of acres and employ hundreds of wizards, dozens of powerful magical guardians, and common guards, clerks, and laborers numbering in the thousands. From the guild wharves the yellow-sailed dromonds of Thay travel to all corners of the Inner Sea, carrying the output of Thay’s magical workshops under heavy guard. At
these same wharves, wealth in the form of gold, slaves, and valuable trade goods returns to Thay in payment.
The Guild of Foreign Trade is administered by Samas Kul (LE male human Tra7/Red8), a brilliant, ambitious man who stands high in the ranks of the Red Wizards. He is second only to the zulkir Druxus Rhym among those Red Wizards in the school of Transmutation, mostly due to the staggering wealth at his disposal. As the grand master of a government-sponsored guild, Samas Kul is nominally an autharch, but in truth his power and influence exceeds that of all but the strongest tharchions. Corpulent and cynical, Samas Kul goes about his business draped in gem-studded garments with rings worth thousands of gold pieces on each finger, flaunting the wealth that pours into Thay’s coffers (and his own) through the guild.
Several of the zulkirs are counted as members of the guild’s directing board, although in practice they leave Samas Kul to administer the operation while collecting bribes and payoffs of staggering amounts for their forbearance and continued good will. In theory the Guild of Foreign Trade passes on all profits to the state, but in practice the state receives much less than the zulkirs (or other highly placed Red Wizards) who happen to have their hands in the till.
Many lesser Red Wizards are nominally employed in the guild, answering to Samas Kul while they direct the revenues generated through their work back to the zulkirs who sponsored them. The Guild of Foreign Trade purchases items crafted by the wizards laboring in the zulkirs’ workshops and laboratories for sale abroad,
and a number of Red Wizards are involved in commandeering the necessary resources to keep up the flow of goods. Other Red Wizards serve in the enclaves as administrators, spies, and guardians, as well as crafters of magical goods at each location. The guild attracts a significant number of the best and brightest low-ranking Red Wizards, who scheme for an opportunity to become a master or grand master of the guild and reach the elite ranks of those who can divert its profits to their own pockets with impunity.
MOTIVATION AND GOALS
The zulkirs’ eventual goal is to rule the world. For centuries they tried to attain this goal with force of arms; now they are trying to do it with trade. Whether or not the enclave system allows them to slowly take over Faerûn, it provides them an incredible amount of resources for their other projects, which include raising armies, funding spell research, and paying spies and assassins in foreign countries.
The goal of the Thayan enclaves is to acquire information and wealth, which are funneled to the homeland. Contacts are also important, as is the patronage of individuals willing to make special deals for illicit goods or in exchange for favors. The leader of the enclave is responsible for tracking which items and services are selling well or poorly, and adjusting staff to accommodate productions of in-demand items.
While some individual Red Wizards are isolationists, seeking to close off their nation from others to protect their vast magical secrets, these are in the minority. To a Red Wizard, power is the fundamental currency, and magical power the most widely accepted and understood kind of force. Even those who have no intention of conquering the world wish to secure enough power to hold their little piece of it, destroy their old
master, defeat a hated rival, or find a lost artifact. A Red Wizard who gives something away (particularly magic) usually has an agenda and is profiting somehow from doing so, although that profit may not be apparent to the recipient and may not be in terms of tangible wealth.
RECRUITING
The Red Wizards have no interest in non-Thayans joining their ranks. Anyone who isn’t Thayan is worthy only of enslavement, and of the two races of humans living in Thay,
only the Mulan (descendants of the Mulhorandi noble class) deserve true power. The Red Wizards have no interest in recruiting others to join their ranks, particularly those of the “inferior” Rashemi race native to their country.
Non-Thayans can be valuable tools and allies, however, and the Red Wizards are always looking for people willing to work for them, whether as spies, scouts, fences, smugglers, slavers, or on other tasks that they find too cumbersome or with which they don’t want to be directly associated. Such individuals can be found in almost any part of the world, particularly near places that have a significant enclave. These agents are often
paid in magic items or magical services.
Just as they know that slaves are valuable property and should not be destroyed without good reason, the Red Wizards know that their contacts and servants outside Thay require some care and should not be abandoned simply when circumstances turn against them. They have a reputation to maintain as reliable merchants and employers, and they do not deliberately send skilled agents into circumstances where they are likely to be killed. In short, employees of the Red Wizards are not disposable, but can be sacrificed if
their deaths accomplish some greater goal (or if saving them requires the expenditure of more resources than they are worth).
ALLIES
The Red Wizards have few allies, given their history of betrayal and aggression. Their allies consist of their agents, the Thayan branch of the church of Kossuth, people who value their merchandise (a tenuous alliance at best), and local spellcasters interested in trading magic. Some may have agreements with powerful fiends as well. While they maintain their roles as peaceful merchants, the Red Wizards may be able to make alliances with certain mercantile groups such as the Iron Throne, the Shadow Thieves, and the Rundeen. If they tread carefully, the Red Wizards might be able to ally themselves with more aggressive groups such as the Zhentarim and the Cult of the Dragon, taking a secondary role in their plans but able to quickly gain power when they feel the time is right.
A Thayan wizard almost always has a familiar, for while such a creature does make the wizard vulnerable to someone who could capture it, it gives him an extra set of eyes and ears with which to spy upon his enemy or be alert for attackers.
The greatest ally of a traveling group of Red Wizards is the presence of an enclave. An enclave can function as a temporary base of operations, a safe house, and a place to acquire magic items in an emergency. Within an enclave, the Red Wizards are politically on their home soil. Standing on safer ground and bolstered by the presence of their fellow Thayans, they are not likely to suffer abuse at the hands of foreigners. From within an enclave, a Red Wizard can find lodging and even arrange to be disguised or teleported to another location. A group of Red Wizards traveling in a hurry toward a nearby city is probably seeking a temporary refuge.
ENEMIES
While the Guild of Foreign Trade may wear a peaceful face, the Red Wizards are still devoted to evil goals as a whole, and so they are opposed by organizations that fight evil in Faerûn. Primary enemies of this type are the Harpers, who rarely oppose them overtly, seeking instead to thwart and reveal evil deeds the Red Wizards commit in the guise of peddlers of magic. The Harpers locate and liberate slaves on their way to Thay and destroy caches and shipments of dangerous Thayan magic items when they can.
The Lords’ Alliance opposes groups that seek to control the North through trade or treachery. While the Alliance doesn’t oppose the Red Wizards outright, it views them with suspicion, for any collection of wizards from a nation known to be interested in dominating the world poses a potential threat to freedom in the North. The Alliance confines its activities to spying upon Thayan enclaves and agents, reporting any unusual activities to local authorities and other groups such as the Harpers.
The Zhentarim keep a watchful eye on any known Thayans within their territory, for while many Red Wizards
pay homage to Bane (the patron of the Black Network), the Zhentarim have their own plans for conquest of Faerûn and don’t want any interference from the red-robed wizards. Still, any invasion from Thay is likely to target Aglarond and Rashemen first, and Fzoul is sure that some accommodation could be reached if the two groups’ agendas came into active conflict.
Given their past conflicts, the people of Aglarond, Rashemen, and Mulhorand distrust the Red Wizards. While they make no concerted effort to confront the Red Wizards in normal situations, loyalists of these nations rarely hesitate to take advantage of an opportunity to foil a Thayan plot if it is within their power to do so.
While their nation as a whole is feared and disliked, individual Red Wizards rarely have personal enemies outside their own organization. As Red Wizards they may be generally mistrusted, but most have done nothing to offend anyone in particular. Of course, some make reputations for themselves as slavers, murderers, thieves, and oppressors, but these individual Red Wizards are either eliminated by adventurers or have sufficient resources to hold their attackers at bay, and their reputation usually sends potential victims scurrying for the hills.
Within the Red Wizards, intense rivalries flare. Wizards hate their former masters. Red Wizards distrust their former apprentices. Rival apprentices of the same master hate each other. Specialists of different schools feud over which path has the most power, and the lesser wizards envy those of greater power. These conflicts can escalate into small wars, particularly in Thay where bodyguard armies tend to be reflections of their masters’ power. In other lands, these skirmishes are loud and attract a lot of attention, and those who hate the Red Wizards often try to instigate such conflicts in the hope of wiping out Red Wizards with minimal risk on their part.
These battles over personal conflicts are rarely allowed to occur within an enclave or even a city containing an enclave, because the khazark has the authority to muster all the Thayan wizards within the enclave and destroy those responsible for the disruption, selling their personal effects within the enclave. As confident as some of the Red Wizards may be, none are so foolish as to invite attacks from dozens of wizards
at once.
As with the Red Wizards as a whole, good groups such as the Harpers keep a close eye on individual members, confronting them if they are engaged in evil or illegal activity. The Zhentarim, the Lords’ Alliance, and other agencies suspicious of the Red Wizards watch individual members but rarely attack unless provoked.
A Red Wizard almost never travels alone. Even exiles and those concealing their identities hire bodyguards to protect them. The only time a Red Wizard might be found traveling alone is if his escorts have all been slain. The primary members of an encounter with Red Wizards are of course characters with levels in the Red Wizard prestige class. A Red Wizard outranks all other characters in the group, including other wizards, and the one with the greatest number of Red Wizard levels is the leader of the group. Most Red Wizards travel with lesser wizards, usually referred to as apprentices regardless of the level of the wizard in question. Most apprentices are 4th level or lower and are oath-bound (and sometimes under a geas) to serve their Red
Wizard master.
A Red Wizard party is usually accompanied by a cleric of Kossuth, who nominally reports to the Red Wizard but is a paid employee rather than an oath-bound servant. Some of the more evil Red Wizards travel with clerics of darker deities such as Bane, Loviatar, or Shar, but these priests are less tolerated in most lands, and so the cleric of Kossuth is a safer bet. A lucky Red Wizard might travel with a cleric accompanied by
holy monks of Kossuth, although these monks tend to defend
the cleric in preference to the Red Wizard.
Bodyguards round out the remainder of the group. A typical Thayan bodyguard is a 2nd-level fighter, although poorer or more frugal Red Wizards sometimes make do with 1st-level fighters or warriors. Only in the wilder lands or within the boundaries of Thay do they employ evil humanoids such as orcs, gnolls, or goblins as bodyguards.
A Red Wizard at home in Thay or traveling within that country is likely to have more bodyguards. Some powerful wizards have small armies at their command, rivaling the armies of the tharchions or zulkirs. These paranoid wizards are rarely foolish enough to use their armies to attack governmental soldiers, which would result in their swift elimination.
COMBAT AND TACTICS
The Red Wizards dictate how their allies function in combat. Each type of ally has an assigned role, and deviating from that is likely to get the ally killed—not necessarily out of spite (although that is possible), but by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Experienced troops learn to obey orders explicitly, since they have seen what happens when a squadron moves left instead of right and ends up at the center of a fireball intended for the enemy.
Red Wizards consider themselves great tacticians, although the wiser ones study battle records and listen to their advisors, particularly any Thayan knights in their employ. They prefer large-scale aggressive magic, such as confusion, cloudkill, and fireball. They are not above sacrificing their own troops to destroy an enemy, although if it can be avoided they will do so. (If their bodyguards bungle their orders and ruin an excellent attack plan, such a sacrifice is more likely.)
Given their easy access to magic items, they prefer using scrolls and wands to their own spells unless truly powerful magic is needed. Some wizards (particularly abjurers) prefer to stay on the defensive, utilizing counterspelling and shielding magic. Many of these carry a wand of dispel magic just for this purpose.
Clerics are expected to take a support role in any combat encounter, enhancing the abilities and defenses of the Red Wizard and bodyguards, since their own attack magic is generally inferior to the powers available to a Red Wizard. They are expected to have prepared several cure spells of various levels, and they carry potions or scrolls with similar magic. When facing enemy spellcasters, they usually use hold person and silence spells to allow the Red Wizard to cast spells without
being interrupted.
Thayan knights coordinate the soldiers and make sure the Red Wizard’s orders are enacted properly. They anticipate what the Red Wizard needs and protect him or her against melee attacks. A Thayan knight rarely strays from the Red Wizard’s side unless directed into the fray. This aggressive stance is favored by Thayan knights with access to the evasion ability, and Red Wizards have been known to take advantage
of these skills by sending them into close combat with opponents and firing on them with area spells requiring Reflex saving throws. If suitably prepared or skilled, the knight is likely to emerge unscathed from the midst of a pile of enemy bodies.
Soldiers do most of the thankless work in combat. They are trained to use tactics that prevent enemies from spreading out, and they are particularly adept at forming lines that cannot be bypassed with a simple 5-foot step (in other words, their enemies must bull rush or overrun to get past them).
The soldiers’ main purpose is to keep enemies from entering melee range with their Red Wizard employer. Because they are likely to be punished if they fail in their duty, they sometimes
take great risks to prevent this from occurring—after all, an enemy fighter offers a quick, clean death compared to what an angry Red Wizard might do.
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
The greatest strength of the Red Wizards is their magical power. Red Wizards (and other Thayan wizards) have access to the best spells, the best items, and the best defenses for their money. Anyone planning to confront a Red Wizard in a magical combat should be more powerful than the wizard or prepared
with items to compensate for the Red Wizard’s skill. In addition to their magical strength, Red Wizards have
many allies (even if these allies aren’t truly friends of the Red Wizard in question) and travel in groups. Unlike many of the stranger monsters in Faerûn or creatures with magical abilities, clerics, bodyguards, and even other wizards support the Red Wizards, and they are as familiar with each other as any
adventuring party. These groups take advantage of terrain and each other’s skills as much as possible to defeat a foe.
The greatest weakness of the Red Wizards is their reliance on magic. If they can be forced into a dead magic area or an antimagic field (or if attacked from such a location), most of the Red Wizards’ magical might is useless, and they are forced to rely on their bodyguards and their own minimal combat
abilities to defend themselves. Similarly, a silence spell thwarts much of their spellcasting ability.
Long considered a threat to peace in eastern Faerûn, the RedWizards of Thay have a history of war and aggression toward their neighbors and even more distant lands. In recent years, they have also become the principal purveyors of magical goods to the powerful, wealthy, and the desperate throughout much of Faerûn.
Ensconced in secretive walled enclaves in dozens of cities, the Red Wizards command fear and respect far outside the borders of their native Thay. These mercantile enclaves have become so successful that many Red Wizards have abandoned their dreams of military conquest for a more insidious and pervasive form of power—the power of gold. The Red Wizards’ efforts to export their magical goods abroad have resulted in three main benefits for the Thayans. First, people of distant lands are beginning to view the Red Wizards as mysterious, perhaps intimidating, merchants, rather than as would-be conquerors. Second, the sale of magic
items, even at a discount, is a phenomenal source of revenue for the Red Wizards. Much of this wealth flows back to the coffers of the zulkirs (the leaders), who use the profits to fund magical research, espionage, and whatever terrible secret interests they may have. Finally, demand for Thayan goods is so high that the Red Wizards can exact significant concessions from local rulers anxious to bring some of the wealth generated by a Thayan enclave into their cities. The trade enclaves provide the Red Wizards with secure bases of operation, spy networks, and resources abroad.
The zulkirs may still be creating terrible battle spells and monstrous magical war machines in the secrecy
of their homeland, but the public facade of the Red Wizards has become that of reliable, if eerie, traders in magic.
Brief History
The history of the Red Wizards and Thay is fully covered in the FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting. In short, a group of Mulhorandi wizards seceded from their homeland to form a country where wizards ruled instead of godkings. These wizards eventually created the current governmental structure in Thay and warred against their neighbors intermittently for centuries, with their plans often thrown into chaos because of arguing factions within the upper levels of the organization. While the more aggressive factions still plot and scheme, other Red Wizards—notably the zulkirs of Abjuration, Illusion, and Transmutation—have turned their hand to a burgeoning trade in magic items, carried out in Thayan enclaves in cities throughout Faerûn.
The Organization
While the details of Thay are summarized in the FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting, the following statistics reflect the Red Wizards (characters with levels in the Red Wizard prestige class) and their apprentices of various levels (those without levels in the prestige class).
Headquarters: Thaymount, Thay.
Members: Approximately 1,000 actual Red Wizards, with
approximately 5,000 practicing wizards in their service.
Hierarchy: Militaristic.
Leaders: The zulkirs of Thay (loose council of eight Red
Wizards, each specialized in a different school of arcane
magic).
Religions: Kossuth, Bane, Shar, Loviatar.
Alignment: LE, NE, LN, CE.
Secrecy: None.
Symbol: A disk with a white star at the center and a red
spiral moving counterclockwise from the center, with eight red
spheres of increasing size on the spiral. The red represents the
Red Wizards, the eight spheres represent the eight primary
schools of magic, and the white star represents a fading fireball.
The Red Wizards rule Thay as the heads of a large quasi-military organization, the structure of which is more convoluted than it first appears.
Among Thayans, the terms “wizard” and “Red Wizard” have different meanings. A wizard is someone who wields arcane power in the form of spells. (While bards and sorcerers are known in Thay, the Red Wizards consider them inferior and treat them as such.) Although wizards may grow powerful, and that power deserves respect, only Red Wizards command true authority in Thay.
A Red Wizard is a practicing wizard who has been indoctrinated into the outermost circle of Thayan politics. In Thay, only Red Wizards are allowed to wear red robes, and those who violate this law are swiftly caught and slowly tortured, usually in a public manner. To avoid even the threat of such a punishment, most Thayans never wear anything red, and some refuse to don orange clothing as well. The only exceptions are the clerics of Kossuth, who stand outside the ban and are easily recognized by their holy symbols and their multicolored robes.
While most people outside Thay believe that all Thayan wizards are Red Wizards, this is not true. Only about one wizard in six is actually a Red Wizard. The rest are apprentices, low-level wizards, those unconcerned with politics, and those who have not yet proved their worth to Thay. Choosing to become a Red Wizard requires careful thought, for while that path holds great power, the Red Wizard loses some of a traditional
wizard’s versatility (by being obliged to select an additional prohibited school of spellcasting). Many wizards delay joining the Red Wizards for as long as possible, hoping that their wider variety of spells compensates for their shortcomings compared to those who donned the red robes earlier.
HIERARCHY
Thay is ruled by eight zulkirs, each a powerful Red Wizard specialized in one of the eight schools of magic. When an existing zulkir leaves office (usually through death, although zulkir Szass Tam has been a lich for hundreds of years), a new zulkir is selected by the Red Wizards, with powerful Red Wizards holding more sway in the choice and the remaining zulkirs having the final say.
The Bureaucracy
The zulkirs appoint eleven tharchions, one for each of the country’s tharchs (counties or provinces). The tharchions act as governors for their regions, dealing with local issues and obeying the orders of the zulkirs. The tharchions may be of any character class, and some Red Wizards see this duty as a means of acquiring political power and eventually a position as a zulkir. Currently, one of the tharchions is also a zulkir, although
this is a rare situation.
The tharchions appoint local bureaucrats, called autharchs, into positions at various levels. Autharchs function as mayors, military leaders, and ministers of various organizations such as trade guilds. Most autharchs have little authority and serve mainly as convenient scapegoats for occasions when a zulkir’s or
tharchion’s plans go awry. The autharchs suffer a high turnover rate, since incompetent ones vanish or are killed and competent ones are promoted. The leader of a trade enclave, called a khazark, technically has an equivalent rank to an autharch running avery profitable guild in an equivalent-sized city, although the khazark tends to have higher status because he or she is always a Red Wizard. In situations where a Red Wizard is accused of a crime, the local autharch usually defers to his or her tharchion to avoid the possibly fatal blunder of confronting a Red Wizard who is under the protection of a higher-level politician.
While this chain of command works in theory, in practice the zulkirs hand down orders to the tharchions, autharchs, military, khazarks, or commoners with impunity. The only people with any real independence are wizards, who endure long apprenticeships to their cruel masters before being able to strike out on their own and possibly enter the ranks of the Red Wizards.
The Zulkirs
See the FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting for basic information on the zulkirs. The following section includes notes on the zulkirs’ relationships with the enclaves and other significant observations.
Aznar Thrul, the zulkir of Evocation, enjoys using his mastery of elements archmage ability to surprise foes with variants of spells using different energies. He has little involvement in the enclaves because they rarely sell items with powers from his specialized school. Instead, he has ordered his underlings to prepare powerful magic items of the Evocation school (such as wands of fireball) in anticipation of a great demand
in black market items through the enclaves.
Druxus Rhym, the zulkir of Transmutation, maintains an alliance with Szass Tam. His enthusiasm helped persuade Tam to consider the enclaves as a viable option. Druxus was one of the earliest supporters of the enclaves and invested much of his personal fortune in the first three, which has been repaid fivefold. He is not averse to assassinating his political enemies, and one of his favorite methods is transforming his enemies’ equipment or food into poisonous vermin. One of his archmage
powers is the teleport spell-like ability.
Lallara, the zulkir of Abjuration, is an enthusiastic supporter of the enclaves, since abjurative items are common commodities there. She is the sole sponsor of the enclave in Procampur, which brings her a great return in both money and slaves. She rewards enclave abjurers who send her information, and the
khazark of the Procampur enclave is one of her favored former apprentices and staunchest supporters. She has the mastery of counterspelling archmage ability, which she has put to good use defeating rivals.
Lauzoril, the zulkir of Enchantment, is indifferent to the concept of enclaves, because they rarely sell his sort of magic. He has yet to sponsor an enclave and is considering sabotage and rumors to hamper the efficiency of the enclaves just to avoid any one faction from gaining too much power. He is fond of creating intelligent magic weapons loyal to him that sow discord among his enemies. He remains steadfastly opposed to Szass Tam and is looking for some magical means to wrest away control of the lich’s undead armies.
Mythrellaa, the zulkir of Illusion, has refused any involvement with the enclaves, although she has spies and informants in several large ones on the coast of the Inner Sea. She has the Greater Spell Penetration feat, making her illusions very difficult to disbelieve. Like Lallara, she pays close attention to what her agents in the enclaves have to say. After a falling-out with Szass Tam, she retreated to her tower and has professed neutrality in all dealings with the other zulkirs.
Nevron, the zulkir of Conjuration, has no interest in the success of the enclaves and has been focusing his attention on creating scrolls of demon-summoning spells. He is known to own a ring of wizardry and a robe of the archmagi, and many suspect he has demonic allies. Nevron opposes Szass Tam and is casually allied with Lauzoril, although he would betray the enchanter instantly if doing so would advance his own power.
Szass Tam, the feared zulkir of Necromancy, is hesitant to openly support the enclaves, but he is not working against them. He sponsors (through intermediaries) one enclave tomonitor how it functions and to keep the balance of power from shifting away from him. Like Aznar Thrul, he anticipates a demand for more dangerous items and has set plans in action to stockpile items of this nature. Szass Tam has created
hundreds of magic items during his lifetime, many of which are intentionally cursed so the wielder is eventually compelled to serve him. These are likely to make their way into the hands of greedy buyers in the near future.
Yaphyll, the zulkir of Divination, is an ally of Lallara and one of the few people who can focus the abjurer’s attention on important topics at critical times. She avoids danger by knowing about any plots against her before they come to fruition. She wears a magic amulet that protects her from penalties for aging and makes her appear to be thirty years of age. She has spies in every enclave, often giving the weaker ones strong protective items to ensure both their survival and their loyalty.
The Tharchions
The tharchions directly control the territories of Thay as
noted below.
Azhir Kren (NE female human Ftr15) is the aggressive tharchion of Gauros. She controls a strong army backed by Szass Tam’s legion of zombies. Her hatred of Rashemen may eventually lead her to cross the border with her forces, forcing the zulkirs to stop her.
Aznar Thrul is the tharchion of Priador as well as the zulkir of Evocation, as noted above.
Dimon (LN male human Clr5 of Waukeen) oversees the tharch of Tyraturos. Disillusioned with his faith, he retains his talents in finance and manipulation, which makes his tharch very profitable.
Dmitra Flass (LE female human Ill13) is the tharchion of Eltabbar. Beautiful, bald, and elaborately adorned with magic tattoos, she is known as the First Princess of Thay in other lands. She is married to the High Blade of Mulmaster, Selfaril Uoumdolphin. She is closely allied with Szass Tam and has an extensive spy network.
Hezass Nymar (NE male human Clr8 of Kossuth) rules the tharch of Lapendrar. Weak-willed and corrupt, he does whatever the zulkirs tell him. Those within his church believe that the Firelord will soon come to cleanse Nymar of his weakness, and his fellow clerics debate whether he will survive the cleansing. If he were removed from office, the church would push to have another cleric of Kossuth take his place.
Invarri Metron (LE male human Ftr11) is the tharchion of Delhumide. While this region used to be the capital of the Mulhorandi province of Thay, Invarri has little interest in picking over the ruins for treasure and instead has been working to increase his tharch’s farming output and strengthen its defenses against possible attacks by Rashemen.
Milsantos Daramos (LN male human F14) controls the tharch of Thazalhar. An aged patriot, he is pleased that Thay is finally being productive in the absence of ill-planned and disastrous wars, and he looks forward to Thay remaining prosperous until the day he dies.
Homen Odesseiron (LE male human Evo6/Red1/Ftr12) is the tharchion of Surthay and a “former” Red Wizard, having voluntarily removed himself from the ranks of his arcane peers to focus on the military might of his tharch. He used to lead raids against Rashemen and maintains a sizable army.
Nymia Focar (CE female human Ftr9) is the tharchion of Pyarados. Because her tharch is a haven for those seeking glory and loot in the eastern mountains, she overcharges adventurers for equipment and taxes the mines there, resulting in a very wealthy province.
Pyras Autorian (LE male human Ari2) is the young tharchion of Thaymount. Chosen by Szass Tam, he is a civil servant of minimal skill and little more than a puppet of the lich. Szass Tam keeps him protected with bodyguards, spells, and magic items.
Thessaloni Canos (LE female human Ftr17) is a skilled military commander and sailor, and has been tharchion of Alaor for over thirty years despite many attempts to slay or unseat her. She prefers to remain neutral in any conflicts between the zulkirs, and her ability to avoid offending them impresses as often as it infuriates.
The Red Wizards
While the zulkirs and tharchions may be the most prominent leaders of the country, the Red Wizards at all levels are seen as the epitome of the evil of Thay. Red Wizards hold the power of life and death over others in that land, and only other rival Red Wizards keep them from exerting that power at whim.
Standing laws in Thay prevent the Red Wizards from simply seizing whatever food they want from farmers and any item they desire from merchants. Their main power is political, and those who regard themselves as above such mortal and mundane concerns quickly find themselves exiled or killed by other Red Wizards intent on preserving the status quo.
In practice, a Red Wizard is likely to have many contacts, allies, and enemies among the wizards and the Red Wizards, with servants of varying types and various power levels. If a Red Wizard is slain or disappears, his allies investigate. Although they most often assume that the disappearance is due to a rival and leave it at that, occasionally the allies try to find and destroy those responsible for the death.
The wizards of Thay grow up and are educated in a cutthroat environment of intrigue, competition, and cruelty. They have survived dangerous masters and evil rivals, and have experienced and witnessed magic that is prohibited by more ethical wizards. They are not fools, although some are megalomaniacs and cannot see the flaws in their own plans. The environment in which they are raised and trained makes them dangerous opponents, and no one should take them lightly.
The Guild of Foreign Trade
Thay’s enclaves in foreign lands are administered through the offices of the Guild of Foreign Trade, based in Bezantur. Fifty years ago, the guild was a mere shell of an organization that existed only for the purpose of selling charters to Thayan merchants who wished to trade abroad. The success of the magic item trade has made the leading officers of the Guild of Foreign Trade some of the most powerful, wealthy, and influential
people in Thay.
The guild’s sprawling warehouses, buried vaults, and fortresslike buildings cover dozens of acres and employ hundreds of wizards, dozens of powerful magical guardians, and common guards, clerks, and laborers numbering in the thousands. From the guild wharves the yellow-sailed dromonds of Thay travel to all corners of the Inner Sea, carrying the output of Thay’s magical workshops under heavy guard. At
these same wharves, wealth in the form of gold, slaves, and valuable trade goods returns to Thay in payment.
The Guild of Foreign Trade is administered by Samas Kul (LE male human Tra7/Red8), a brilliant, ambitious man who stands high in the ranks of the Red Wizards. He is second only to the zulkir Druxus Rhym among those Red Wizards in the school of Transmutation, mostly due to the staggering wealth at his disposal. As the grand master of a government-sponsored guild, Samas Kul is nominally an autharch, but in truth his power and influence exceeds that of all but the strongest tharchions. Corpulent and cynical, Samas Kul goes about his business draped in gem-studded garments with rings worth thousands of gold pieces on each finger, flaunting the wealth that pours into Thay’s coffers (and his own) through the guild.
Several of the zulkirs are counted as members of the guild’s directing board, although in practice they leave Samas Kul to administer the operation while collecting bribes and payoffs of staggering amounts for their forbearance and continued good will. In theory the Guild of Foreign Trade passes on all profits to the state, but in practice the state receives much less than the zulkirs (or other highly placed Red Wizards) who happen to have their hands in the till.
Many lesser Red Wizards are nominally employed in the guild, answering to Samas Kul while they direct the revenues generated through their work back to the zulkirs who sponsored them. The Guild of Foreign Trade purchases items crafted by the wizards laboring in the zulkirs’ workshops and laboratories for sale abroad,
and a number of Red Wizards are involved in commandeering the necessary resources to keep up the flow of goods. Other Red Wizards serve in the enclaves as administrators, spies, and guardians, as well as crafters of magical goods at each location. The guild attracts a significant number of the best and brightest low-ranking Red Wizards, who scheme for an opportunity to become a master or grand master of the guild and reach the elite ranks of those who can divert its profits to their own pockets with impunity.
MOTIVATION AND GOALS
The zulkirs’ eventual goal is to rule the world. For centuries they tried to attain this goal with force of arms; now they are trying to do it with trade. Whether or not the enclave system allows them to slowly take over Faerûn, it provides them an incredible amount of resources for their other projects, which include raising armies, funding spell research, and paying spies and assassins in foreign countries.
The goal of the Thayan enclaves is to acquire information and wealth, which are funneled to the homeland. Contacts are also important, as is the patronage of individuals willing to make special deals for illicit goods or in exchange for favors. The leader of the enclave is responsible for tracking which items and services are selling well or poorly, and adjusting staff to accommodate productions of in-demand items.
While some individual Red Wizards are isolationists, seeking to close off their nation from others to protect their vast magical secrets, these are in the minority. To a Red Wizard, power is the fundamental currency, and magical power the most widely accepted and understood kind of force. Even those who have no intention of conquering the world wish to secure enough power to hold their little piece of it, destroy their old
master, defeat a hated rival, or find a lost artifact. A Red Wizard who gives something away (particularly magic) usually has an agenda and is profiting somehow from doing so, although that profit may not be apparent to the recipient and may not be in terms of tangible wealth.
RECRUITING
The Red Wizards have no interest in non-Thayans joining their ranks. Anyone who isn’t Thayan is worthy only of enslavement, and of the two races of humans living in Thay,
only the Mulan (descendants of the Mulhorandi noble class) deserve true power. The Red Wizards have no interest in recruiting others to join their ranks, particularly those of the “inferior” Rashemi race native to their country.
Non-Thayans can be valuable tools and allies, however, and the Red Wizards are always looking for people willing to work for them, whether as spies, scouts, fences, smugglers, slavers, or on other tasks that they find too cumbersome or with which they don’t want to be directly associated. Such individuals can be found in almost any part of the world, particularly near places that have a significant enclave. These agents are often
paid in magic items or magical services.
Just as they know that slaves are valuable property and should not be destroyed without good reason, the Red Wizards know that their contacts and servants outside Thay require some care and should not be abandoned simply when circumstances turn against them. They have a reputation to maintain as reliable merchants and employers, and they do not deliberately send skilled agents into circumstances where they are likely to be killed. In short, employees of the Red Wizards are not disposable, but can be sacrificed if
their deaths accomplish some greater goal (or if saving them requires the expenditure of more resources than they are worth).
ALLIES
The Red Wizards have few allies, given their history of betrayal and aggression. Their allies consist of their agents, the Thayan branch of the church of Kossuth, people who value their merchandise (a tenuous alliance at best), and local spellcasters interested in trading magic. Some may have agreements with powerful fiends as well. While they maintain their roles as peaceful merchants, the Red Wizards may be able to make alliances with certain mercantile groups such as the Iron Throne, the Shadow Thieves, and the Rundeen. If they tread carefully, the Red Wizards might be able to ally themselves with more aggressive groups such as the Zhentarim and the Cult of the Dragon, taking a secondary role in their plans but able to quickly gain power when they feel the time is right.
A Thayan wizard almost always has a familiar, for while such a creature does make the wizard vulnerable to someone who could capture it, it gives him an extra set of eyes and ears with which to spy upon his enemy or be alert for attackers.
The greatest ally of a traveling group of Red Wizards is the presence of an enclave. An enclave can function as a temporary base of operations, a safe house, and a place to acquire magic items in an emergency. Within an enclave, the Red Wizards are politically on their home soil. Standing on safer ground and bolstered by the presence of their fellow Thayans, they are not likely to suffer abuse at the hands of foreigners. From within an enclave, a Red Wizard can find lodging and even arrange to be disguised or teleported to another location. A group of Red Wizards traveling in a hurry toward a nearby city is probably seeking a temporary refuge.
ENEMIES
While the Guild of Foreign Trade may wear a peaceful face, the Red Wizards are still devoted to evil goals as a whole, and so they are opposed by organizations that fight evil in Faerûn. Primary enemies of this type are the Harpers, who rarely oppose them overtly, seeking instead to thwart and reveal evil deeds the Red Wizards commit in the guise of peddlers of magic. The Harpers locate and liberate slaves on their way to Thay and destroy caches and shipments of dangerous Thayan magic items when they can.
The Lords’ Alliance opposes groups that seek to control the North through trade or treachery. While the Alliance doesn’t oppose the Red Wizards outright, it views them with suspicion, for any collection of wizards from a nation known to be interested in dominating the world poses a potential threat to freedom in the North. The Alliance confines its activities to spying upon Thayan enclaves and agents, reporting any unusual activities to local authorities and other groups such as the Harpers.
The Zhentarim keep a watchful eye on any known Thayans within their territory, for while many Red Wizards
pay homage to Bane (the patron of the Black Network), the Zhentarim have their own plans for conquest of Faerûn and don’t want any interference from the red-robed wizards. Still, any invasion from Thay is likely to target Aglarond and Rashemen first, and Fzoul is sure that some accommodation could be reached if the two groups’ agendas came into active conflict.
Given their past conflicts, the people of Aglarond, Rashemen, and Mulhorand distrust the Red Wizards. While they make no concerted effort to confront the Red Wizards in normal situations, loyalists of these nations rarely hesitate to take advantage of an opportunity to foil a Thayan plot if it is within their power to do so.
While their nation as a whole is feared and disliked, individual Red Wizards rarely have personal enemies outside their own organization. As Red Wizards they may be generally mistrusted, but most have done nothing to offend anyone in particular. Of course, some make reputations for themselves as slavers, murderers, thieves, and oppressors, but these individual Red Wizards are either eliminated by adventurers or have sufficient resources to hold their attackers at bay, and their reputation usually sends potential victims scurrying for the hills.
Within the Red Wizards, intense rivalries flare. Wizards hate their former masters. Red Wizards distrust their former apprentices. Rival apprentices of the same master hate each other. Specialists of different schools feud over which path has the most power, and the lesser wizards envy those of greater power. These conflicts can escalate into small wars, particularly in Thay where bodyguard armies tend to be reflections of their masters’ power. In other lands, these skirmishes are loud and attract a lot of attention, and those who hate the Red Wizards often try to instigate such conflicts in the hope of wiping out Red Wizards with minimal risk on their part.
These battles over personal conflicts are rarely allowed to occur within an enclave or even a city containing an enclave, because the khazark has the authority to muster all the Thayan wizards within the enclave and destroy those responsible for the disruption, selling their personal effects within the enclave. As confident as some of the Red Wizards may be, none are so foolish as to invite attacks from dozens of wizards
at once.
As with the Red Wizards as a whole, good groups such as the Harpers keep a close eye on individual members, confronting them if they are engaged in evil or illegal activity. The Zhentarim, the Lords’ Alliance, and other agencies suspicious of the Red Wizards watch individual members but rarely attack unless provoked.
A Red Wizard almost never travels alone. Even exiles and those concealing their identities hire bodyguards to protect them. The only time a Red Wizard might be found traveling alone is if his escorts have all been slain. The primary members of an encounter with Red Wizards are of course characters with levels in the Red Wizard prestige class. A Red Wizard outranks all other characters in the group, including other wizards, and the one with the greatest number of Red Wizard levels is the leader of the group. Most Red Wizards travel with lesser wizards, usually referred to as apprentices regardless of the level of the wizard in question. Most apprentices are 4th level or lower and are oath-bound (and sometimes under a geas) to serve their Red
Wizard master.
A Red Wizard party is usually accompanied by a cleric of Kossuth, who nominally reports to the Red Wizard but is a paid employee rather than an oath-bound servant. Some of the more evil Red Wizards travel with clerics of darker deities such as Bane, Loviatar, or Shar, but these priests are less tolerated in most lands, and so the cleric of Kossuth is a safer bet. A lucky Red Wizard might travel with a cleric accompanied by
holy monks of Kossuth, although these monks tend to defend
the cleric in preference to the Red Wizard.
Bodyguards round out the remainder of the group. A typical Thayan bodyguard is a 2nd-level fighter, although poorer or more frugal Red Wizards sometimes make do with 1st-level fighters or warriors. Only in the wilder lands or within the boundaries of Thay do they employ evil humanoids such as orcs, gnolls, or goblins as bodyguards.
A Red Wizard at home in Thay or traveling within that country is likely to have more bodyguards. Some powerful wizards have small armies at their command, rivaling the armies of the tharchions or zulkirs. These paranoid wizards are rarely foolish enough to use their armies to attack governmental soldiers, which would result in their swift elimination.
COMBAT AND TACTICS
The Red Wizards dictate how their allies function in combat. Each type of ally has an assigned role, and deviating from that is likely to get the ally killed—not necessarily out of spite (although that is possible), but by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Experienced troops learn to obey orders explicitly, since they have seen what happens when a squadron moves left instead of right and ends up at the center of a fireball intended for the enemy.
Red Wizards consider themselves great tacticians, although the wiser ones study battle records and listen to their advisors, particularly any Thayan knights in their employ. They prefer large-scale aggressive magic, such as confusion, cloudkill, and fireball. They are not above sacrificing their own troops to destroy an enemy, although if it can be avoided they will do so. (If their bodyguards bungle their orders and ruin an excellent attack plan, such a sacrifice is more likely.)
Given their easy access to magic items, they prefer using scrolls and wands to their own spells unless truly powerful magic is needed. Some wizards (particularly abjurers) prefer to stay on the defensive, utilizing counterspelling and shielding magic. Many of these carry a wand of dispel magic just for this purpose.
Clerics are expected to take a support role in any combat encounter, enhancing the abilities and defenses of the Red Wizard and bodyguards, since their own attack magic is generally inferior to the powers available to a Red Wizard. They are expected to have prepared several cure spells of various levels, and they carry potions or scrolls with similar magic. When facing enemy spellcasters, they usually use hold person and silence spells to allow the Red Wizard to cast spells without
being interrupted.
Thayan knights coordinate the soldiers and make sure the Red Wizard’s orders are enacted properly. They anticipate what the Red Wizard needs and protect him or her against melee attacks. A Thayan knight rarely strays from the Red Wizard’s side unless directed into the fray. This aggressive stance is favored by Thayan knights with access to the evasion ability, and Red Wizards have been known to take advantage
of these skills by sending them into close combat with opponents and firing on them with area spells requiring Reflex saving throws. If suitably prepared or skilled, the knight is likely to emerge unscathed from the midst of a pile of enemy bodies.
Soldiers do most of the thankless work in combat. They are trained to use tactics that prevent enemies from spreading out, and they are particularly adept at forming lines that cannot be bypassed with a simple 5-foot step (in other words, their enemies must bull rush or overrun to get past them).
The soldiers’ main purpose is to keep enemies from entering melee range with their Red Wizard employer. Because they are likely to be punished if they fail in their duty, they sometimes
take great risks to prevent this from occurring—after all, an enemy fighter offers a quick, clean death compared to what an angry Red Wizard might do.
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
The greatest strength of the Red Wizards is their magical power. Red Wizards (and other Thayan wizards) have access to the best spells, the best items, and the best defenses for their money. Anyone planning to confront a Red Wizard in a magical combat should be more powerful than the wizard or prepared
with items to compensate for the Red Wizard’s skill. In addition to their magical strength, Red Wizards have
many allies (even if these allies aren’t truly friends of the Red Wizard in question) and travel in groups. Unlike many of the stranger monsters in Faerûn or creatures with magical abilities, clerics, bodyguards, and even other wizards support the Red Wizards, and they are as familiar with each other as any
adventuring party. These groups take advantage of terrain and each other’s skills as much as possible to defeat a foe.
The greatest weakness of the Red Wizards is their reliance on magic. If they can be forced into a dead magic area or an antimagic field (or if attacked from such a location), most of the Red Wizards’ magical might is useless, and they are forced to rely on their bodyguards and their own minimal combat
abilities to defend themselves. Similarly, a silence spell thwarts much of their spellcasting ability.