Faerun

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Sembia

Capital: Ordulin
Population: 2,462,400 (humans 96%, halflings 3%)
Government: Plutocracy (merchants' council with elected Overmaster)
Religions: Azuth, Deneir, Lathander, Loviatar, Mystra, Shar, Sune, Tymora, Waukeen
Imports: Anything it can trade to someone else
Exports: Anything it acquires from others, books, food, livestock, pottery, spiced sausage, silk, weapons, wine
Alignment: Usually LN, NG, or LE

Sembia is a land of experienced merchants who know how to hold onto power and young traders who scheme for a share of it. Sembians relish the art of the deal, the skill of gaining advantage through negotiation instead of through outright falsehood or cheating. Although Sembia does not control as great a proportion of Faerûn's trade as Amn, trade controls Sembia much more than trade controls Amn.

Unlike the lawless thugs of the Moonsea cities and the Pirate Isles, Sembians generally observe laws of contracts, debts, and interest payments.

Quite often Sembians observe these laws all too well, exploiting loopholes that others had not imagined.

Sembia conceives of itself as a young, aggressive, and expansionist nation. It has already co-opted one of the Dales, the former Moondale, and transformed it into a new capital fit for a great power: the City of Ordulin, and recently as of 1384 DR sought to annex several others, although that attempt was met largely with failure. For the most part however, the Sembian elite are usually too interested in seeking advantage over each other to unite behind a single foreign policy or a single warlord, save for rare exceptions.

Sembia uses its position on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Fallen Stars to serve as the broker between the north and the south of Faerûn. The Zhents of the Moonsea also trade with other countries, but the Sembians don't consider them a true threat now that the Zhentarim military presence in Silverdale (formerly Scardale) has been removed, as well as because a great deal of Zhent commerce flows through Sembian ports at one point or another, mostly through Ordulin. The Sembians do think of the Zhents as a magical threat, but the foremost worry of Sembia is the magical goods that the Sembians can't duplicate.

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Sespech

Capital: Ormpetarr
Population: 952,560 (humans 96%, dwarves 2%, elves 1%)
Government: Feudal barony with an elected baron
Religion: Eldath, Helm, Lliira, Malar, Talos, Tempus, Waukeen
Imports: Metal
Exports: Horses, mercenaries, salt
Alignment: Usually LG, NG, or TN

Sespech is a barony located at the southwest end of the Vilhon Reach. Once a part of Chondath, Sespech maintains its independence through naval power and diplomacy.

Baron Aldorn Thuragar, sometimes known as the Foesmasher, rules Sespech. Once a bold adventurer, Thuragar relies on several old comrades from his adventuring company, the Band of Iron, to help him govern the country.

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The Shaar

Capital: None (Council Hills)
Population: 587,520 (humans 60%, wemics 15%, gnolls 14%, centaurs 10%)
Government: Various nomadic chieftains
Religions: Mask, Oghma, Tempus
Imports: Armor, weapons, wine
Exports: Ivory, jewelry, slaves
Alignment: Usually CN, TN, or CG

The Shaar is a vast, rolling grassland running from the Shining Sea to the distant lands of the east. Civilization has almost no hold on the area. Nomadic humans (the dozen or so tribes of the Shaaryan) and non-humans such as centaurs, gnolls and wemics populate the Shaar. The wemics hunt, the Shaaryan humans herd rothé and horses, and the gnolls raid. The land supports its native grasses splendidly but is ill suited for agriculture - it's not a desert, but the land bakes by day and freezes by night.

The Shaaryan humans seldom stray in large numbers from their ancestral plains, largely because their treasured horses do not do well outside the Shaar. Shaaryan horses are stronger and faster than horses from other regions of Faerûn, as long as they roam their native grasslands. The great horses grow sick and die if they do not eat the grasses that thrive only on the wide plains of the Shaar. The Shaaryan understand this, and few of them leave their native culture behind to travel Faerûn.

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Shadovar

The City of Shade returned to Faerûn abruptly in 1372 DR, appearing in the sky over the Dire Wood and then proceeding directly to the Anauroch, where it has remained since except for brief forays into the neighboring lands. Basing their home high over the Shoal of Thirst, the Shadovars lost no time in establishing the Empire of Shadows. They have made it clear that they consider the entire expanse of the great desert to be their rightful territory, and the disappearance of several Zhentarim caravans from the southern portion of the wasteland is considered testimony to the Shadovar claim.

Thus far, the new masters of the Anauroch have not deigned to take action against the Bedine, the nomadic peoples who inhabit the desert, considering them beneath notice. Their attitudes toward races and cultures beyond Anauroch have ranged from aloof to curious, and from disdainful to aggressive.

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The Shining Lands

Population: 82% humans, 7% halflings, 4% half-elves, 3% dwarves, 2% gnomes, 2% half-orcs
Religions: The Adama (Zionel (Gond), Curna (Oghma), Lucha (Selune)), Torm, Waukeen
Exports: Field glass, grain, gems, coffee, fish, fruit and vegetables

Durpar, Estagund, and Var the Golden, the three trading nations collectively known as the Shining Lands, sprawl around the large bay known as the Golden Water, just off the Great Sea. These balmy countries soak up the warmth of the southern sun at what most folk consider to be the extreme southeastern end of Faerûn.

Many assume that the Shining Lands mark the end of the civilized world, since all that lies beyond the bay is the Utter East - a collection of lands known to most of Faerûn only through legends too fantastic to be believed. Some claim that the Shining Lands have taken on many of the strange characteristics of their more bizarre eastern neighbors and as such are hardly recognizable as part of Faerûn at all.

Though Durpar, Estagund, and Var the Golden differ in their forms of government and internal operations, all three champion trade as a way of life. Merchant consortiums known as chakas provide products and services, and their leaders, known as nawabs, hold both political and economic power. All three nations also embrace the Adama, a combination of a religious belief and a code of conduct that guides citizens in their daily lives.

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The Silver Marches

Capital: Silverymoon
Population: 1,090,800 (humans 40%, dwarves 20%, elves 20%, half-elves 10%, halflings 5%, gnomes 2%, half-orcs 2%)
Government: Confederation of lords headed by Alustriel of Silverymoon
Religions: Corellon Larethian, Helm, Lathander, Mielikki, Moradin, Mystra, Oghma, Selûne, Sune, Tymora
Import: Armor, books, manufactured goods, pottery, spices, wine
Export: Dwarven and elven craftwork, furs, heroes, precious metals
Alignment: Usually LG, NG,or CG

Silverymoon is the Gem of the North, a city built as a center of learning and a symbol of the greatness that once shone out of the elven capital of Myth Drannor. In 1369 DR, the ruler of Silverymoon, High Lady Alustriel reached out to the rulers of other human, elven, and dwarven strongholds north of the High Forest, west of the Evermoors, and south of the great mountains.

After much debate, the diverse dwarfholds, human and half-elven settlements, and human cities decided to ally in a mutual defense pact headed by Alustriel, who stepped down as ruler of Silverymoon in order to oversee the new confederacy of the Silver Marches.

The present member settlements of the Silver Marches include Citadel Adbar, Citadel Felbarr, Deadsnows, Everlund, Jalanthar, Mithral Hall, Quaervarr, Silverymoon, and Sundabar.

Silverymoon

The city of Silverymoon is a beautiful place of ancient trees and soaring towers, with curving lines in its stonework and garden plantings adorning every nook and balcony. Aerial steeds carry riders on high, magic and learning is revered, music and laughter are heard often in the streets, and the city contains fascinating shops brim-full of maps, books, minor magic items, and beautiful things.

Even more so than Waterdeep, Silverymoon is built on the spirit of cooperation between the races. Humans, elves, and dwarves all maintain dwellings in the same areas of the city instead of dividing into separate wards. A human home might be built around the base of a tree, with elves using the tree above as part of the walkway to their central tree home, and dwarves caverns beneath the surface.

Silverymoon is considered the foremost center of learning and culture in the North. It is noted for its musicians, its cobblers, its sculptors, and its stonemasons - as well as the mages, who are gathered here in greater numbers than in any other city of the Sword Coast lands except Waterdeep. Their might alone keeps the Arcane Brotherhood of Luskan and other evils of the North at bay - were these mages to vanish tomorrow, the civilized North might well be swept away in blood and ruin.

Silverymoon boasts a conservatory of music, a great library, parks, castle-like residences of many noble folk, and temples and shrines to such deities as Helm, Lathander, Mielikki, Milil, Mystra, Oghma, Selûne, Silvanus, Sune, Tymora, and the dwarven and elven deities. Perhaps the most famous structure is the University of Silverymoon; a school of magic composed of several formerly separate colleges.

The city's army, the Knights in Silver, numbers over five hundred and patrols the city constantly. Harper scouts and mages assist them, and when they must turn back orc hordes, awesome mage-might gathers to fight with them, Silverymoon is also protected by a number of wards that detect the presence of evil beings and the use of magic in certain areas.

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The Smoking Mountains

The Smoking Mountains are a range of volcanic mountains located to the southwest of Unther. The gold dwarves of the Great Rift have established strongholds, foundries, and smelters near both the volcanic fires of the mountains and the Black Ash Plain of Unther to the mountain's south.

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Snow Eagle Aerie

The last redoubt of the avariels today is known as the Aerie of the Snow Eagles, a crystal citadel hidden atop one of the most remote peaks in the Icerim Mountains of distant Sossal. The exact location of the Aerie of the Snow Eagles is one of the avariels' most closely guarded secrets.

The aerie itself resembles a tremendous castle or tower of glass, built on a sheared-off mountaintop. A flight of avariel nomads discovered it abandoned ages ago. The avariels believe that the original mountaintop was taken by a Netherese archmage who wished to use it to build a floating city. The present-day aerie is a wonder to behold. The walls of the glass aerie are magically hardened to the strength of steel. Inside, the Aerie of the Snow Eagles supports a tropical climate, complete with jungles of plants and trees long extinct elsewhere in Faerûn.

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Sossal

Capital: Naupau
Population: Human
Goverment: Monarchy
Religions: Auril (benign aspect)
Imports: Fine wooden furniture, furs, gold, seal meat
Exports: Dwarven weapons, silver, meats

This remote realm far to the north of Narfell has little contact with the rest of Faerûn. Once or twice a year (generally in the summer), visitors from Sossal arrive in Damara, bringing furs, seal meat from the Great Glacier, beautiful items of shaped wood, and, gold. They leave with dwarven weapons, silver, and various kinds of meat to trade with the people of the glacier.

Some Sossrim have natural powers akin to druidic magic and can bend plants to their will, pass through growth impenetrable to others, or even transport themselves from one tree to another. In fact; the ornate and smoothly shaped Sossar furniture sold so steeply in Sembia is not carved at all, but sculpted by the minds of Sossrim "carvers."

Outsiders who visited Sossal were confined to the walls of the port capital.

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The Spine of the World

To Faerûnians, the Spine of the World is simply an endless, nigh impassable wall of tall, frozen mountains that marks the end of the world. Beyond it lies the Endless Ice Sea, a howling, frigid waste where nothing can live, which eventually stretches through deadly white mists to divine realms. Citizens of Scornubel refer to this mountain range simply as the Wall. The propensity of the monstrous inhabitants of these peaks to raid the lands below keeps the conifer-cloaked, stag-roamed rolling foothills of the Wall relatively uninhabited, though fierce and hostile barbarian human tribes wander here.

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The Sword Coast

Capital: None
Population: 660,960 (humans 65%, dwarves 10%, orcs 5%, half orcs 5%, elves 4%, halflings 4%, gnomes 2%, half-elves 1%)
Government: Diverse city-states
Religions: Nearly all
Imports: Books, manufactured items, magic items, miners, pottery, spices
Exports: Gems, leather goods, mercenaries, Neverwinter's crafts, precious metals, timber

A region of coastal mountains, forests, and cities of smoke-wreathed ironworks, the Sword Coast is dominated by Waterdeep at its southernmost end. The City of Splendors is detailed separately in the Waterdeep entry, below.) The Lords' Alliance, a loose league of like-minded rulers led by Waterdeep, allies the good cities and small settlements of the Dessarin valley in this region. The Arcane Brotherhood of Luskan and the insidious Kraken Society oppose their efforts, seeking to rule this region by spell, sword, and trade.

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Tashalar

Capitol: Tashluta
Population: 889,920 (humans 94% [Tashalans 83%, Calishites 12%, Chultans 3%, Shaarans 1%], lizardfolk 4%, yuan-ti 1%)
Government: Merchant oligarchy
Religions: Amphisbaena the World Serpent (Sseth [now Set]), Chauntea, Malar, Savras, Talona, Waukeen
Imports: Beef, calantra, fruit, silver, slaves
Exports: Calantra wood carvings, cheese, crossbows, died fabric, glass, olive oil, olives, seafood, ships, spices, wine
Alignment: Usually CN, TN, or NE

Although many use the term "the Tashalar" to broadly refer to the Tashtan Coast, which stretches from Narubel to Sheirtalar, in truth it refers only to the Tashalar Basin, which is encircled by the peaks of the Hazur Mountains.

The Tashalar is a verdant coastal area full of bountiful vineyards, gardens, and groves of olive trees. Tashalaran harvests are shipped north to ports in Calimshan and along the Lake of Steam, and from there to the rest of Faerûn. Tashalaran grapes are so perfect that even the worst vineyard of the region produces wines worth 100 gp or more in Waterdeep.

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Tethyr

Capital: Darromar
Population: 3,771,360 (humans 76%, halflings 20%, elves 3%)
Government: Feudal monarchy (free commoners)
Religions: Helm, Ilmater, Siamorph, Torm, Tyr
Imports: Magic items, mercenaries, spices, weapons
Exports: Ambergris, carpets, cheese, cloth, fish, fruit, livestock, nuts, pearls, pipeweed, rugs, silk, tea, vegetables, wine, whale oil
Alignment: Usually CG, TN, or LG

Tethyr recently emerged from a decades-long civil war with two new monarchs. The strong rule of Queen-Monarch Zaranda Star Rhindaun and King Haedrak III (who for years served as scribe in Shadowdale to the great wizard Elminster under the name Lhaeo) is beginning to restore hope to a cynical suspicious, wartorn land.

Tethyr is now growing, establishing ties with hesitant neighbors, and driving monsters from its lands. Its political situation still involves much intrigue, and the people distrust organizations that admit to meddling in others' affairs (such as the Harpers). The forest elves remain wary of the new rulers, for the last three kings sought to tame the great forest with axe, fire, and sword. The pirates living in the Nelanther isles to the west plague the kingdom's maritime commerce, including trade with far-off Maztica.

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Thay

Capital: Eltabbar
Population: 4,924,800 (humans 62%, gnolls 10%, orcs 10%, dwarves 8%, goblins 5%, halflings 4%
Government: Magocracy
Religions: Bane, Gargauth, Kelemvor, Kossuth, Loviatar, Malar, Shar, Talona, Umberlee
Imports: Iron, magic items, monsters, slaves, spells
Exports: Artwork, fruit, grains, jewelry, magic items, sculpture, timber
Alignment: Usually LE, NE, or TN

Thay is a nation ruled by cruel wizards who rely on slavery to provide them with the wealth and luxury they need to support their magical research and dreams of conquest. The land is ruled by eight zulkirs, the most powerful wizards of the land. The zulkirs in turn choose the land's tharchions, civil governors who manage the mundane affairs of the realm and serve at the pleasure of the Red Wizards.

The power of the Red Wizards extends far beyond Thay's borders. Red Wizard enclaves exist in dozens of major cities through- out the Inner Sea lands, exchanging magic items for the goods, riches, and - in some cases - slaves of a dozen lands. The Thayans are widely disliked and distrusted, but their growing stranglehold on the trade in magic devices makes them virtually indispensable to many of their clients.

The zulkirs back in the homeland grow rich beyond belief with the spread of their sinister trade. They constantly scheme and plot against their neighbors. Thayan armies have marched on Aglarond and Rashemen many times, and folk think it is only a matter of time before the Thayans revert to their old habits of taking what they want through force of arms and deadly spells.

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Thesk

Capital: None
Population: 855,360 (humans 85%, gnomes 8%, orcs 6%)
Government: Oligarchy
Religions: Chauntea, Mask, Shaundakul, Waukeen
Imports: Gold, horses, trade goods
Exports: Food, gnome goods, iron, Kara-Turan goods
Alignment: Usually TN, NG, or CG

Thesk is a land of shrewd but friendly merchants and able farmers. The trade route that leads to the far land of Kara-Tur allows the Theskians to see all kinds of people and interact with many cultures, making Thesk one of the more tolerant nations in Faerûn. After being decimated by the Tuigan horde, the people of Thesk are rebuilding their cities and towns, and they have even made a home for the orc army left behind by the Zhentarim.

The Theskians familiarity with quality and obscure goods makes them skilled at appraising items. Arcane magic in this land is rare; that fact, along with the influence of the Shadowmasters, a thieves' guild backed by the church of Mask, makes Thesk more than just another realm of traders.