Games, all sorts

In the 195th year of reborn Phlan (907 DR), the golden age ended in rust. A plant rust, which affected most of the farmlands around Phlan, destroyed harvests for the next three years. Suddenly the Moonsea reaches were in the grip of a powerful famine, relieved at great cost with shipments from the south. There was great suffering, and other cities, once so enamored of Phlan's gentle power, grew resentful that it had failed.

The native Phlaners were resentful as well. Their once good rulers had fallen into a sloth in the centuries since the re-establishment of the city. The Valjevo blood was said to run thin in the Princes and Princesses of Phlan. They reacted to the blight infesting the grain by first ignoring it, then setting up committees, and finally legislating it out of existence. Only when the magnitude of the problem became clear, did they act. Even then they failed their people, overreacting to the point of placing a ban on all shipments out of the city, seeking to keep what supplies were left for the native population.

The other cities, already angry with Phlan for its rising prices in the face of the blight, rebelled against this new measure. Fleets from Mulmaster and Hillsfar began to raid cargoes destined for the city. Smugglers operated out of the Twilight Marsh to the east, and Stormy Bay to the west, despite official attempts to enforce the ban on shipments. A large land force equipped with siege weaponry set out from Zhentil Keep towards Phlan. The force encamped at Stormy Bay while the ruling heads of Phlan negotiated to spare the city. In the end, the Keeper force was turned back through a massive payment to their leaders. These leaders were the first appearance in Phlan record of the Zhentarim, which would increase in power over the next 300 years.

During this activity, Rimon, now old well beyond the lifespans of men, disappeared from his rocky abode. What became of him is unknown, for the rulers of Phlan had not sought his council for a generation. Some say he became a lich himself, using the methods recovered from Zanakar. Others say that he sacrificed himself in battle on some far-distant plane in order to save the lands of Phlan. Still others state that he had found the Pool of Radiance and became a great and powerful being in some other part of the Realms. Most likely Rimon merely fell prey to the effects of old age as all mortals do. Whatever the cause, Rimon was never seen again in the Realms, and his citadel became a haunted, abandoned ruin within a decade.

The Famine of the Red Plants passed after three seasons, and an abundant harvest returned to Phlan. But the harvests were never to be as great as before, nor the fruit from the orchards as sweet. Whatever magic, true or imagined, that had re-established Phlan had passed. The city began to become gray and ordinary, losing power to Zhentil Keep and Mulmaster. The golden age was over.

The Valjevo Princes, their blood thin indeed, continued for another century filled with petty wars between the various city-states. Piracy, or rather privateering, was on the rise, a situation that continues to this day among the city-states. Phlan was wracked by interior torments as well. The people of the city were well aware of their loss of power and prestige. Farms north of Phlan were being abandoned. Dark shadows lurked between the massive trunks of the Quivering Forest, and an attempt to clear a path through it in 1023 DR resulted in the death of the last surviving Great Prince of the Valjevo family. His death resulted in a three-year succession war within the city for the mantle of Great Prince. All candidates' claims upon the royal blood were questionable and every faction sought to control Phlan's future through placing their choice on the throne. During this time, the great Temple of Tyr was looted and burned, leaving only a great blackened shell. Many of the leading merchant families fled to other climes.

In the end, the last survivor was a young noble supported by a group of powerful merchants. They created the first Council of Phlan to act as regents for the youth. The Council spoiled the child, who grew into a spoiled man who was unable and unwilling to take the reins of power. He died without issue forty years later, and the Council has ruled ever since.