Page 13 - D&D - Player's Handbook

vessels have spread out from their home once again, REGIONS OF THE REALMS
seeking to establish trading routes and political connec- Just as "the North" describes an area that includes a num-
tions, as well as to learn what has changed of the world ber of nations and governments, a number of collective
in their century of absence. terms exist for other regions across FaerOn. Not all such
The Lake of Steam. Far to the south and east of the names are used universally, and opinions vary as to which
Sword Coast, the Lake of Steam is more accurately lands qualify in which groups. Here are some currently
recognized regional groupings:
an inland sea, its waters tainted by volcanism and un-
drinkable. Around its perimeter is a conglomeration of The Cold Lands: Damara, Narfell, Sossal, and Vaasa
city-states and minor baronies typified by the shifting The Heartlands: Cormyr, the Dalelands, the Moonsea,
domains known as the Border Kingdoms. Here, along and Sembia
the southern shore of the lake, explorers and fortune The Lands of Intrigue: Arnn, Calimshan, and Tethyr, also
seekers squander their amassed wealth building cas- known as the Empires of the Sands
The Old Empires: Chessenta, Mulhorand, and Unther
tles, founding communities, and drawing loyal vassals
to them- only to have all those good works disappear
within a generation or two. In some cases, one of these sort of place Aglarond will be in a generation's time, ex-
realms is fortunate to be saved from its inevitable de- cept that its potential for great change will be realized.
cline by another group of successful adventurers, who Chessenta. A collection of city-states bound by com-
inject enough wealth and wisdom to keep the enterprise mon culture and mutual defense, Chessenta isn't truly
going a few more decades. a nation. Each city boasts its own heroes, worships its
Luiren. Long the homeland of halflings and thought own gladiatorial champions, and spends as much time
to be the place where their race had its genesis, Luiren insulting and competing with the other cities as it does
was lost during the Spellplague to a great inundation on any other activity. The city of Luthcheq is dominated
of the sea. In the century since that great disaster, the by worship of the bizarre deity known as Entropy, while
waters receded, and now stories told by travelers from Erebos is ruled by the latest incarnation of the red
the south tell of halfling communities that survived as dragon known as Tchazzar the Undying. Heptios con-
island redoubts. tains the largest library in Chessenta, a center of learn-
Tethyr. Tethyr is a feudal realm ruled by Queen Anais ing where all nobles aspire to send their children for tu-
from its capital of Darromar. The queen commands toring. That city is looked on with disdain by the people
her dukes, who in turn receive homage from the counts of Akanax, whose militant contempt for the "fat philos-
and countesses of the realm, appoint sheriffs over their ophers" of Heptios is widely known. Toreus welcomes
counties, and generally maintain order. The farmlands all visitors, even those from lands that are despised or
of Tethyr are abundant, and its markets flow freely with mistrusted, and foreign coin can buy nearly anything
trade from the Western Heartlands. there. The floating city of Airspur still flies somehow, its
Tethyr has seen more than its share of noble intrigue earthmotes unaffected by the fall of its fellows when the
and royal murder, and adventurers who are native to Sundering came to a close.
Tethyr or merely passing through that land are often Cormyr. For most folk in central Faen1n, the notion
drawn into such plots, either as unwitting accomplices of a human kingdom is inextricably linked to Cormyr.
or as easy scapegoats. A strong realm bolstered by its loyal army (the Purple
Dragons), a cadre of magical defenders and investiga-
LANDS TO THE EAST tors (the War Wizards), and numerous wealthy and in-
To the east lie many of the older nations of the Realms, fluential nobles, Cormyr is recovering from its war with
including the Western Heartlands of Faen1n- those civ- Sembia and Netheril- a conflict that cost the nation
ilizations centrally located on the continent, and thereby much, but left the kingdom standing, and which, in the
best able to take advantage of trade routes and access to end, Netheril didn't survive. The pride of that victory re-
the Sea of Fallen Stars. As in the North, there are cold mains strong in Cormyr's collective consciousness, even
lands to the east, as well as more temperate regions. As as Queen Raedra draws back from plans to permanently
one travels farther from the Sword Coast, one moves welcome into the realm towns that lie beyond Cormyr's
from lands not so different from one's own to places so traditional borders.
foreign they might as well exist on other continents or Cormyreans are justly proud of their homeland, and go
worlds- which a few of them actually have done. to great lengths to guard it and its honor. Still, there is no
Aglarond. The great peninsula of Aglarond juts out shortage of danger in the Forest Kingdom, whether from
into the Inner Sea, and that body of water and the for- scheming, treacherous nobles, monsters out of the Hul-
ests of the Yuirwood define much of the nation's charac- l a ck Forest or the Stonelands, or some ancient, hidden
ter. A realm of humans living in harmony with their elf magic. Corm yr is many things, but dull isn't one of them.
and half-elf neighbors, Aglarond has been a foe of Thay The Cold Lands. The nations of Damara, Narfell, Sos-
for centuries, in part due to the temperament of its for- sal, and Vaasa, known collectively to most Faerunians as
mer ruler, the Simbul. The nation is now ruled by a Sim- the Cold Lands, rest near the Great Glacier in the cold,
barch Council, which has backed away from open hos- dry environs of the northeast. Few outside the region
tilities with Thay. With the restoration of the Weave, the have much interest in what goes on here, except for those
ongoing changes to the political landscape, and calls for in the immediately surrounding lands, who fear a resur-
elven independence within the nation, it is unclear what gence of the ancient evils of the region- though they ar-