Forgon was the only son of Targon, King of Rallu. As a boy he was a noted student of lore
and an excellent debater. He was the apple of his father's eye and Targon would often
remark that his son would prove a better ruler than him when he ascended the throne. Few
indeed foresaw what would
befall Forgon's Kingship.Some said had he had more time to mature as a man he might well
after all have been a successful King. Targon, however, died in a freak accident and his son
became
King barely into his twenties.
Forgon main fault lay in his inability to take advice from others. Seeing himself as a
reformer he quickly announced that Rallu would no longer keep its location secret, having
established sufficient naval power to be afraid of nobody. This was an unpopular move and
is often cited as the reason for his subsequent assassination. It is unlikely that it would
have happened, however, without the events which followed this. Forgon sent invitations
to all the courts in the known world to attend a grand celebration to mark
Rallu's new openess. Now Forgon was little at ease with people and also by habit not a man
who drunk much. The wine flowed freely at the celebration and it so happened that the city
of Tula had chosen for a diplomats a man similar to Forgon in temperament. The ambassador
from Tula remarked
(probably quite accurately) that
his city could have easily discovered the location of Rallu but had no reason to as it did
not consider Rallu a threat. Forgon somehow took this as a slight and demanded an apology and
the ambassador responded by walking out of the celebration.
Events quickly escalated from there to the horror of the King's advisors. Forgon threatened
war unless
Tula apologised. He then sent the entire fleet to blockade Tula thinking that such a show
of might would quickly make them rethink their attitude. Tula, however, is home to some
of the most powerful mages in the Wilderlands. These mages rarely take an interest in affairs
outside the city but take exception to being disturbed from their studies. They considered
the blockade a disturbance and Rallu lost a third of its fleet before their admiral signalled
his ships to flee homewards. Forgon sacked his admiral but could not find an adequate
replacement i.e. someone who would agree to attack Tula again. He ordered his captains to
attack
all Tula ships where they could find them on the high seas but after some initial successes
Tula intensified the magical defenses of their ships which countered the Rallu fleet's superior
seamanship. The city lost some popular captains and nearly everyone in the city endured some
losses of friends
or relatives.
The king's advisors were confounded by Forgon's behaviour and he
became more withdrawn and more erratic in his behaviour. He neglected the rule of the city
in a vain bid to construct a grand alliance against Tula. After three years of Forgon's rule
the Temple of Harmakhis calculated that removing Forgon
would be a popular move and sent assassins to murder him in his bed (his guards having been
distracted by a fire elsewhere in the palace). His death ushered in the
Shadow Years.