House Jaezred Origins

Long ago, the ancient Drow city of Chaulssin was conquered by dragons. The atrocities
committed in the city connected it to the shadowfell and warped the dragons into
shadow dragons. Many millennia later, and the Drow slaves of the city eventually
reached a level of equality with their Dragon overlords. By that time, every dragon
had some Drow blood and every Drow had some dragon ancestry. The underdark city
of Chaulssin, now the “City of Wyrmshadows” kept up trade between the material
plane and the Shadowfell, bringing a large number of Shadar-Kai into the society
seeking shadow magic to protect themselves from the curse on their souls.

Shadar-Kai Servants

The Shadar-Kai/Drow relationship in Chaulssin was impenetrably strange. The Shadar-

Kai were on the level of servants and slaves; wholly obedient since they relied on the
shadow magic of the Shadow-Dragon blooded Drow to protect their souls. A Shadar-
Kai servant would in theory do anything that was asked of them by their patron, but
for whatever reason abuse wasn’t rampant – overall the Shadar-Kai community seemed to have more
security and control than they let on. To the Zarithra (Shadow-dragon blooded Drow) nobility of the city,
the Shadar-Kai were easily overlooked - background figures that only facilitated the plans of the real
players. In the great dramatic lives of treachery, rebellion, and heroism of the Shadowblades and
Shadow Dragons, the Shadar-Kai acted almost like
stage-hands or a Chorus of a Greek play.

The followers of the Raven Queen put a lot of stakes on

mystery, memories, and an insular oral tradition of
storytelling, and the Shadar-Kai are very closely tied to
their goddess. Within the otherworldly, secretive, and
mysterious Monastery houses of Chaulssin, the Shadar-
kai community managed to be even more
otherworldly, secretive, and mysterious.

War against the Lolthites

The City of Wyrmshadows formed a religious sect around the son of Lolth,
Vhaeraun. Vhaeraun was the Dark Seldarine pantheon’s rebellious god of
shadows, thieves, and assassins. The Jaezred Shadowblades used his example
to espouse the idea of liberating the Drow from Lolth. To accomplish this end,
a cadre of sorcerer-knights called the Shadowblades was formed to fight
Lolth’s demons and other evils across the Underdark.

The ideological attachment to Vhaeraun spurned many societal problems.

Especially rampant corruption, treachery, and misogyny. Being skilled at
stealing and blackmail was considered a virtue, spurring distrust and antisocial behavior among many of
the communities in the city. In accordance with Vhaeraun’s misogynist ideology, females were
forbidden any forms of power due to a belief that all women were at risk of being a servant of Lolth.
Eugenics programs among some noble houses even had female children born of dragon blooded
couplings killed in the hopes that all dragonblood powers could be tied exclusively to the male line.
Magically gifted Shadowblades were encouraged to keep large harems of concubines in an attempt to
further the eugenics program of the Vhaeraun clergy.

Eventually the city was sacked by the Church of Lolth in 1136. The remaining ten thousand or so Drow
and Dragons of the City formed House Jaezred. They hid in the ruins of Chaulssin and organized terrorist
attacks against the Church of Lolth until 1378, culminating with the nuclear stoneflame destruction of
the city of Ched Nasad. In retaliation the Church of Lolth once again came to the City of Wyrmshadows
and finished the job, enslaving the remaining community and hunting down and destroying the
Shadowblades. The men, potentially capable of dangerous shadow magic, were exterminated to the
last, while the surviving women and Shadar-kai were enslaved.

Mauzzkyl Jaezred

The last remaining dragon from the era of

atrocities before the Drow of Chaulssin won
their freedom, Mauzzkyl was the shadow
dragon that founded the Shadowblades and
allied with the cult of Vhaeraun. When
Chaulssin was first sacked in 1136, it was his
house – House Jaezred that survived.

At the height of his power before Chaulssin

was sacked in 1378, Mauzzkyl was
considered one of the three greatest
Dragons of Faerun alongside Inferno and
Tchazzar. Mauzzkyl was an absolute master
of shadow magic as well as being a skilled
assassin. (Level 22 Shadow sorcerer, Level 3
Oath of Treachery Paladin, Level 5 Assassin,
Ancient Shadow Dragon, CR 40). During the
destruction of Chaulssin, Mauzzkyl fell to the
onslaught of the Inquisitor armies and the
pure weight of his own shadow.

The Red Dragon Inferno, the epic level

wizard, still lives. The Red Dragon Tchazzar,
the epic level cleric, recently died defending
Chessenta from the Slaad Entropy god.