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Talinfein
Acolyte
Germany
14 Posts |
 Posted - 25 May 2004 : 16:39:45
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Greetings all,
I hope some of you sages here can help me with a question that I have about the original Realms.
I know that TSR has added certain areas and/or elements to the Realms over the years that probably wouldn´t have been there if Ed would have been able to stop them. The addition of Maztica is one, the addition of Kara-Tur is another, if I´m not mistaken.
What other areas/concepts were added onto the Realms in this way? I´m talking about fairly major changes and only changes, not additions in terms of an expansion of information on a certain area.
So, basically, what do Ed´s original Realms look like?
Thanks for your help.
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Brother Ezra
Learned Scribe
USA
268 Posts |
Posted - 25 May 2004 : 16:51:38
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Well, I don't know if it's accurate to say that Ed Greenwood would have "stopped them" from being included. It's more accurate to say that there were areas in the Realms that were either added or altered in some way from Ed's original maps and notes.
1. The Moonshae Isles were originally a large archipelago of very small islands running in a chain from the north Sword Coast to the current location of the Moonshaes. They were added to place the location for the Darkwalker on Moonshae novel by Douglas Niles.
2. Similar situation with Icewind Dale. The whole Frozenfar area was not detailed by Ed Greenwood, but was chosen by Bob Salvatore as his setting for The Crystal Shard precisely because no one had detailed it yet.
3. The areas now known as Vaasa and Damara were originally covered by the Great Glacier. The Glacier was pushed northward, leaving those two realms clear of ice in order to place the "H" series of modules into the Realms.
4. Zakhara, and Maztica were not part of Ed's original Realms concept, but I'm unsure if Kara-Tur was or not.
There may be others as well, but those are the major ones that I'm aware of. |
"Suffering is the touchstone of all spiritual growth."
-St. Sollars the Twice-Martyred |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36912 Posts |
Posted - 25 May 2004 : 17:18:47
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I don't recall who stated it, but this is something I found somewhere on this site:
quote:
Ed DIDN’T create Vaasa, Damara, Bloodstone Pass, the people or folk of the Moonshaes (though the name is his), the Uthgardt barbarians, Drizzt or the drow (though he did give the drow lots of Realms rules and two gods, Eilistraee and Vhaeraun), Kara-Tur, Al-Qadim (though he did contribute some spells to that setting), Shade, some features in Anauroch, the Hordelands, or Maztica. He isn’t responsible for the Egyptian pantheon of gods put into Old Empires, or most of the nonhuman deities (though he created a few gods for the dwarves). He didn’t create Danilo Thann or Arilyn, though he DID create Elaith. Most of the lead characters in novels not by him were created by others, though he did name and create a surprising number of them, from almost all of the Uskevrens in the Sembia series to Myrmeen Lhal in The Night Parade.
Everything else came originally from Ed, even to the name “Forgotten Realms.” The map of Faerûn has been tinkered with a bit, but what you see today is, more or less, what Ed handed to TSR back in 1986.
Ed is very quick to credit others for expanding his creation and putting it into D&D form, from staffers like Jeff Grubb and Steven Schend to freelancers like Eric Boyd and many, many others. The Realms is a shared world, now, but as someone who saw it before TSR ever did, I can swear beyond any doubt that Ed Greenwood is THE Creator of the Realms. He even created Candlekeep (not this site, but the monastery it is named for . . . plus Alaundo, most of the Roll of Years, the Calendar of Harptos and Harptos himself, and so on and on and on).
BTW, welcome to Candlekeep!  |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen!  |
Edited by - Wooly Rupert on 25 May 2004 17:21:46 |
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Faraer
Great Reader
3308 Posts |
Posted - 25 May 2004 : 17:50:34
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Here's one place Ed's answered this question. As well, Evermeet was much farther away in the west, and no Whamite Isles. Scott Bennie's Mulhorand, Unther, and Chessenta are more Egyptian, Sumerian, and Greek than Ed's; Steven Schend's Calimshan, I think, is more Arabian. The overall timbre of the pre-TSR Realms can be felt in the Band of Four novels or, I think, in the Polyhedron Border Kingdoms articles. More characters and groups, fewer iconic things hogging the spotlight. Various aspects have been underplayed, such as trade, sexuality, and gates between worlds (I like the Nehwon ghoul mentioned in FOR4). Various important magical details have never been made explicit in print. Ed's Realms also has/had no Wall of the Faithless and accompanying crypto-monotheism, and 3Eisms like the Thunder Blessing, the Shadow Weave, Shade, etc. aren't his.
As to which of these additions and changes Ed would have wanted at the time, or thinks are good ideas now, he's said in some cases and not others. Some of his comments are both legitimately open-minded and diplomatic. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36912 Posts |
Posted - 25 May 2004 : 18:28:36
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quote:
Originally posted by Faraer
(I like the Nehwon ghoul mentioned in FOR4).
Having just read the Newhon stuff for the first time, can you tell me what page of FOR4 that reference is on? |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Faraer
Great Reader
3308 Posts |
Posted - 25 May 2004 : 19:24:37
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p. 83:quote:
Tamper Tencoin is known to have traveled many planes in his career, and he is often accompanied by creatures strange to the Realms. His companion at the time he fought alongside the Knights was the Nehwon ghoul Lacheera (an axe-wielding warrior-woman of a race from another plane), but more recently Tamper has been seen alone, strangling Zhentilar and Zhentarim in Daggerdale to aid Randal Morn.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36912 Posts |
Posted - 25 May 2004 : 20:04:34
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quote:
Originally posted by Faraer
p. 83:quote:
Tamper Tencoin is known to have traveled many planes in his career, and he is often accompanied by creatures strange to the Realms. His companion at the time he fought alongside the Knights was the Nehwon ghoul Lacheera (an axe-wielding warrior-woman of a race from another plane), but more recently Tamper has been seen alone, strangling Zhentilar and Zhentarim in Daggerdale to aid Randal Morn.
Ah, thank you for that reference!
I wonder how she got to the Realms, and how many portals there are between Nehwon and Toril... |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Israfel666
Acolyte
Italy
37 Posts |
Posted - 25 May 2004 : 21:32:01
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quote:
Originally posted by Faraer
Evermeet was much farther away in the west
?!
How much more to the West could it be than it already is? |
Stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus. |
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Faraer
Great Reader
3308 Posts |
Posted - 26 May 2004 : 00:24:59
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quote:
This small island realm [Eskember] never made it into the Old Grey Box for the same reason Evermeet got shoved several thousand leagues east (closer to mainland Faerûn): accurate maps of my 'home' Realms campaign would have been map panel after map panel ('panel' meaning one fit-the-box folded rectangle of those fold-out map pages) of mostly empty water stretching west, with only a few islets and island chains scattered thereon.
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Israfel666
Acolyte
Italy
37 Posts |
Posted - 26 May 2004 : 14:01:17
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| Thank you, Faraer. |
Stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus. |
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Steven Schend
Forgotten Realms Designer & Author
USA
1730 Posts |
Posted - 26 May 2004 : 19:15:36
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quote:
Originally posted by Faraer
Here's one place Ed's answered this question. As well, Evermeet was much farther away in the west, and no Whamite Isles. Scott Bennie's Mulhorand, Unther, and Chessenta are more Egyptian, Sumerian, and Greek than Ed's; Steven Schend's Calimshan, I think, is more Arabian.
Just to be fair and put credit where due, here's some clarity (at least on what I contributed to the Realms):
Calimshan (and Amn & Tethyr): All the basics were in Ed's Realms, then Scott Haring wrote up the original EMPIRES OF THE SANDS that covered all three. I had the good fortune to get to revamp and update those areas in LANDS OF INTRIGUE and EMPIRES OF THE SHINING SEA. My major contributions were in finishing the Restoration of Tethyr, making Amn a little more aware of the consequences of its actions (i.e. Maztica, ogre mages, rebel cities, etc.), and making Calimshan less Arabian and more Turkish / Ottoman Empire (since we had AL-QADIM covering the Arabian stuff quite well).
The only places I can lay claim to having added wholly that weren't in Ed's Realms were Erlkazar (LOI Book 3) and the undersea realms in SEA OF FALLEN STARS. I've mostly just tinkered in the corners, otherwise, of Waterdeep, Undermountain, Myth Drannor, and a few other places.
If there's any places I'd have loved to have tinkered in the Realms, it would have been Impiltur (and the Demonlands, a moniker that's fallen by the wayside), the Shaar (which I saw as a quasi-India with huge platform cities on stilts above the tiger- and rakshasa-filled plains), and perhaps one more delve into history to finish what history I started but didn't complete with CORMANTHYR.
Even so, Ed did the greatest thing (as was underscored by Jeff Grubb and me) in creating a world where everything was possible--if fantasy fans wanted something, we knew where they could find it in the Realms. As it was impossible for Ed to write everything, it's a true shared world and I don't know how different it would be if it were all Ed; it probably would have been smaller, like Greyhawk, a world where one writer (Gary Gygax) called all the shots and rarely allowed much work there without his say-so until much later. Food for thought, eh?
Steven Schend |
For current projects and general natter, see www.steveneschend.com
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Faraer
Great Reader
3308 Posts |
Posted - 26 May 2004 : 20:25:48
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Hi Steven,
I think your Realms work is tremendous and it ending was one of the worst things that happened to the Realms. When I mentioned your Calimshan being more Arabian I was partly thinking of your Calishite names, the yrs and the els--they are quite Turkish, I was being vague--compared to Ed's where the influence is more buried.
The World of Greyhawk comparison is interesting. I like that world too and Gary is its seat of authority for me as Ed is for the Realms--he wasn't able to publish as much for it as he wanted due to having to also run TSR--I just don't connect the post-Gygax Greyhawk stuff to that setting: for me, the stream continues in his Dangerous Journeys and Lejendary Adventure and Castle Zagyg work. The key is imaginative sympathy and negative capability: if you show me you like the setting you're writing in, and are willing to try to internalize how it works and get inside it, you've won me over.
My ideal Realms is just a little less shared and more compact than it became--I can reach that Realms easily enough in my head, but for newcomers there's a lot obscuring those original ideals and rhythms now. |
Edited by - Faraer on 26 May 2004 20:26:43 |
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ericlboyd
Forgotten Realms Designer
USA
2089 Posts |
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SiriusBlack
Great Reader
USA
5517 Posts |
Posted - 26 May 2004 : 23:10:25
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quote:
Originally posted by Steven Schend
and perhaps one more delve into history to finish what history I started but didn't complete with CORMANTHYR.
I would have enjoyed seeing that. |
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Talinfein
Acolyte
Germany
14 Posts |
Posted - 27 May 2004 : 11:30:51
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Thank you all for answering my question. The reason why I asked in the first place is that there are parts of the realms that don´t feel true, somehow. Mulhorand and the accompanying pantheon of gods for example just don´t seem to fit, at least the names don´t. And so I was wondering what other parts of the realms were changed or added onto.
As much as I don´t like RSEs I do like the return of Shade, for example, even if it isn´t "original realm" so to speak. |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jun 2012 : 18:19:21
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*BUMP*
Looking for any info on the Whamites, I stumbled across this old thread, and thought it interesting (and relevant) given the current state of things.
Not stirring the pot here - just wanted a decent list of non-Edwardian concepts that made it into the Realms, which 'may' help us establish things in other threads. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jun 2012 : 19:08:40
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| This plus Ed's upcoming book on his home Realms game ought to make for interesting reading. I'm very excited about that book. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
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Eilserus
Master of Realmslore
USA
1446 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jun 2012 : 19:30:37
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quote:
Originally posted by Steven Schend
quote:
Originally posted by Faraer
Here's one place Ed's answered this question. As well, Evermeet was much farther away in the west, and no Whamite Isles. Scott Bennie's Mulhorand, Unther, and Chessenta are more Egyptian, Sumerian, and Greek than Ed's; Steven Schend's Calimshan, I think, is more Arabian.
If there's any places I'd have loved to have tinkered in the Realms, it would have been Impiltur (and the Demonlands, a moniker that's fallen by the wayside), the Shaar (which I saw as a quasi-India with huge platform cities on stilts above the tiger- and rakshasa-filled plains), and perhaps one more delve into history to finish what history I started but didn't complete with CORMANTHYR.
Steven Schend
This would be some interesting stuff to possibly put into 5E. platform cities on stilts and rakshasa-filled plains is just cool(i'm stealing this idea!). Impiltur and the dwarves of Earthfast would be great places to give some love in 5E too. |
Edited by - Eilserus on 27 Jun 2012 19:31:26 |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jun 2012 : 07:20:22
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| I like the idea for the shaar - I personally replaced wemics with lionmen (NOT catfolk!) in my Realms. Monte Cook had those in his setting/rules. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31799 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jun 2012 : 15:21:54
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quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
I like the idea for the shaar - I personally replaced wemics with lionmen (NOT catfolk!) in my Realms. Monte Cook had those in his setting/rules.
You mean the Litorians? Cool.
I'd love to hear more. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Marco Volo
Learned Scribe
France
205 Posts |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
12096 Posts |
Posted - 09 Jul 2025 : 13:08:31
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quote:
Originally posted by Marco Volo
quote:
Originally posted by ericlboyd
Eskember is detailed here, as is Daufin, Helbrester, and Tor Mak.
http://oracle.wizards.com/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0304D&L=realms-l&P=R5617
--Eric
Hi fans,
Does someone has an archive for this? The website is no longer with us.
grab the whole link below from the wayback machine.
https://web.archive.org/web/20070930055343/http://oracle.wizards.com/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0304D&L=realms-l&P=R5617
and here's the actual text I see there... not guaranteeing how well it pastes.
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2003 22:20:47 EDT
Reply-To: The Forgotten Realms Mailing List <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: The Forgotten Realms Mailing List <[log in to unmask]>
From: "Eric L. Boyd" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: PLACES: A Look At Four Locales of the Realms
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"
Hey all,
I always love it when folks surprise me with references to obscure
Realmslore, and recent questions (by AJA) and references (in the RoF Ffolk
write-up) to Eskember and Helbrester both certainly qualified. Thus inspired,
I twisted the arm of Ed of the Greenwood for a few more hints about these two
locales, but to my surprise unleashed a treasure trove of new Realmslore
about FOUR locales.
Enjoy! I certainly am. And thanks Ed!
--Eric
PS I'll post these on my website as well, http://www.ericlboyd.com/dnd/.
===
A Look At Four Locales of the Realms
Daufin
This village lies in southern Amn, about three days by cart or afoot east of
the Trade Way and two days travel (at the same rate) north from the
Imnescource (turn at a crossroads called Immer's Well; a cart-road called
Scandar's Way runs a crooked route north and east from Immer's Well through
Daufin and on through the similarly small villages of Lorthul and Craun
Crowns to reach the River Esmel at the slightly larger barge-port of
Starnsword).
The location of Daufin was, of course, purposefully left vague in REF5 Lords
of Darkness so the Skeletons adventure could be set more or less anywhere in
temperate farmland terrain. Kendra's wanderings, by the way, tend to be in
rural Amn along the Umar Hills, reaching southeast around the end of the
Wealdath only once or twice in a decade.
Eskember
This small island realm never made it into the Old Grey Box for the same
reason Evermeet got shoved several thousand leagues east (closer to mainland
Faerun): accurate maps of my 'home' Realms campaign would have been map panel
after map panel ('panel' meaning one fit-the-box folded rectangle of those
fold-out map pages) of mostly empty water stretching west, with only a few
islets and island chains scattered thereon.
So to 'find' Eskember, get out the Old Grey Box mapsheet labelled
"1031XXXX0703," and look at the Moonshaes. Start at the map panel occupied by
the Wave Rocks, the Gull Rocks, and the Moonshaes, and go due west (following
the "to Evermeet" arrow that's helpfully floating on the waves there) for two
panels of almost-blank sea (the second invisible panel has a tiny cluster of
shoals called "Wash Rock" on it, at about the same latitude and position in
the panel as the Gull Rocks occupy in the panel you're examining). In the
western half of the third panel of proceeding westwards lies Evermeet (at
least, as it was situated in the original Realms). Now shift southwest from
this panel, diagonal corner to diagonal corner, into a new panel of empty
sea. Go west along this new line of latitude the full length of another
panel, and as you enter the panel beyond, imagine it dotted with numerous
small islands and rocks, and dominated by two larger islands.
One of these large isles, about 2-o'clock in orientation to the center of the
panel, is a 100-mile-long, fairly slender (30 miles wide at best) east-west
crescent (center bow towards the north) that's wild jungle over VERY rough
terrain (rock ridges and little gorges cut by numerous small streams that all
find their own ways to the sea without ever combining into larger rivers).
Shove all manner of monsters, especially oversized bats and nasty plants of
all sorts, into this terrain, put abundant gems and a little gold into the
many gorge crevices (and if I was doing it today with 3E rulebooks, I'd
deploy generous numbers of chokers, too), put in a few deep caves with
cloakers and an ancient, subterranean automaton-guarded and
magic-item-studded tomb of a fled-from-Netheril archmage, and call the whole
thing "Sarambril."
Make Sarambril the run-to refuge of some pirates of the Nelanther, and the
place the most daring pirates come to seek gems, or put ashore disobedient
crew or slaves in a sort of rough justice ("We'll return to this
landing-place next year; if you meet us here then with X amount of raw gems
in payment, all is forgiven/you're freed...and we'll take you aboard and
deliver you ashore in the mainland, just trust us" :}). Most pirates have
never been to Sarambril; to them it's a legendary but known-to-be-real place
somewhere "far across the trackless waves."
South of Sarambril, sheltered by it and by Eskember from the worst winds, are
many small, rocky islands inhabited by simple fisher-folk, who have no riches
or possessions to speak of (beyond their nets, spears, boats, and huts).
These brown-skinned, long-limbed people are called "the Hael" by the pirates,
after the name of one of the largest islands (Hael, about twelve miles across
and roughly circular), but call themselves after the particular island they
come from, and lack any unified government or authority beyond family elders.
Though they include many castoff pirates and descendants of shipwreck crews,
the Hael don't make war on each other or discriminate among themselves on the
basis of blood or appearance; they consider everyone on an island to be 'a
family.' Preoccupied with the daily struggle to survive, the Hael are acutely
attuned to the weather and the sea, entertain themselves with tale-telling
(visitors will instantly become the focus of new tales created from
conjecture), and have little interest in alliances, the doings of the wider
world, or riches (beyond abundant food, good sails and rope, and the like).
Hael treasure good hand-weapons (handaxes, broadswords, and daggers), many of
which they've gleaned from outlanders, but mistrust hurled spears, arrows,
and the like (any missile weapons beyond the simple sling or rolled boulder)
because of the strong, gusty local winds.
The Hael wear broad woven straw hats (tied securely on their heads against
sea-winds), and wear large, loose, wrap-around-the-body weather-cloaks
salvaged from old sails. They make small, slender, swift boats out of
palm-trunks lashed together (with lateen sails woven on looms from the
cotton-like fibers of the pods of the thradra plants that grow naturally on
the high slopes of most of these islands), fish with small drag nets and long
palm fish-spears, and flee and hide rather than fighting most outlanders.
They dwell in caves that have thatched hillside 'forerooms' built over the
cavemouths, and tiny 'back ways out' (concealed by capstones) laboriously dug
for each cave that doesn't naturally connect with another. Many of the ridges
in the islands of the Hael are honeycombed with small, spiderlike cavern
networks, customarily divided into individual sleeping-caves by
readily-rolled-aside stones, and having many connections to the outside.
The Hael neither read nor write, but they can count, have their own
arithmetical characters and symbols for warnings and place-markings, and have
a simple system of whistling and "seabird-shriek" calls that they use to
communicate across water. They speak a heavily-accented Chondathan, and
Common.
The Hael have long since exterminated most of the predators on their islands,
though wyverns fly out from Sarambril on 'hunger raids' from time to time. A
few islands amid the cluster of 130-plus small islets remain wild and
monster-roamed; Hael seeking to get rid of belligerent outlanders will
sometimes direct such folk to one of these, claiming ruins thereon contain
rich treasure. Many of the islands DO have ancient crumbling-stone-wall ruins
(of origins unknown to the Hael), but the only 'treasure' most of them hold
is monsters, monsters, and more monsters.
Some of the more populous islands of the Hael (in roughly descending order of
size) include: Hael, Sorsee, Umbar, Thloekil, Thammar, Ruveldar, Osell,
Mrasak, Oumpaun, Ilidil, Tarmusk, Faedree, and Darso.
To the west of the islands of the Hael is the large island of Eskember, which
is roughly teardrop-shaped, with its long axis running north-south and its
larger, bulbous part at the south end. Its northern spur is about forty miles
across in most places, and 120 miles or so long, curving slightly to the
northeast at its tip (which is a profusion of rocks, shoals, and islets
rising out of the sea). Its southern bulk is about seventy miles across and
fifty miles 'high' from north to south, and its entire western flank consists
of a rugged range of mountain peaks that thrust almost vertically up out of
the sea and the rest of the land-mass, forming a sheltering wall. The peaks
are said to be 'haunted' by beasts that "eat the minds of men," and few folk
trouble to go there to see what these menaces may be.
Eskember is usually covered with a light mist, and is always covered with a
forest of huge shadowtop trees, of a height and girth astonishing to most
mainlanders who see them. These forest giants are much prized for use in
shipmaking, and for centuries sawmills and shipbuilding slips have been
located here; of old a few intrepid seafaring folk of Tethyr, Tashluta, and
Baldur's Gate considered this place their 'secret hoard of ships.'
Down the centuries, sheep-farms and then small trading-ports grew up around
the coastal mills and shipwrights' yards (which are located at the only two
settlements of Eskember: the horseshoe-shaped port "Eskember" that surrounds
the natural harbor of Tarnstar Bay, a long inlet at the center of the eastern
face of the island's southern bulk; and Halamorn, located where the small
Darsurpar River empties into Rathaer's Bay, two-thirds up the eastern shore
of the island's northern spur).
The port of Eskember, in particular, has become something of a crossroads
trading place, haven, and 'neutral ground' for pirates, outlaws, slavers,
whalers, far-faring fisherfolk, and outcasts from all over Faerun. The pirate
Rathaer set himself up as 'Lord of Eskember' centuries back, largely to
establish a rather brutal law-keeping force that drove home his idea of
Eskember being a 'down-all-weapons, suspend-all-feuds' place. He died long
ago, but his best import remains: established clergies of Helm, Mielikki,
Selune, and Silvanus who govern in concert, 'in the name of' the Lord of
Eskember (whose empty throne is kept on display, never-if they or any of the
rival pirates who call in at Eskember have anything to say about it-to again
be filled). A few priests of Chauntea, Ilmater, Lathander, Lliira, Lurue,
Sune and Tymora can also be found on the island, but they take no part in
governance, and form no priesthoods larger than a dozen individuals.
From time to time folk who've fled to Eskember or parted ways from captains
or crews there will get together on a newly-built boat to sail east to the
mainland, usually sailing well south to avoid the Nelanther, and calling at
Tharsult or Tashluta. In these voyages they're aided by two things: even the
fiercest ship-wrecking storms seldom manage to actually sink ships that are
crammed full of lumber, and a deck cargo of large masts sold at the docks of
any Sword Coast port usually defrays all costs of the voyage and leaves every
person disembarking quite wealthy.
This has led to tales of "distant, golden Eskember" and "Eskember the
Sea-Haven," many of which are so embellished that folk who reach Eskember are
often bewildered not to find an empire, palaces full of riches and beautiful
folk, and the like. Those who come to conquer are warned that the Mist
Haven's forests hide more than a few simple dwellings of powerful folk who
came to this remote isle so as not to be found-but retain the means to firmly
resist unwanted visitors.
Helbrester
Of old, this fortified city of linked towers (great cylinders built of
green-hued local island stone by a small group of folk fled from Netheril,
whose magic extended to little more than levitations and spells that could
shape stone and fuse rocks into great solid masses) rose like a hand reaching
for the stars from a low-lying island just east of the site of Irphong.
The founders of Helbrester, who used magic to prolong their lives and became
known as the Elders, favored a policy of isolation from the world, preferring
to spend their time in arcane studies and in perfecting 'snatch-portals' that
could open at selected mainland locations, magically 'suck in' beasts they
wanted to dine on or items they wanted to possess, and 'snatch' said things
back to the linked, labyrinthine halls of Helbrester.
The city itself consisted of towers built so close together, and linked on so
many levels, that only seabirds and creeping beasts could use the spaces
between. Great domed crystal ceilings were raised over many towers to let
light down in, to illuminate garden-like interiors of large halls, but many
smaller rooms and passages existed in almost perpetual gloom, illuminated by
floating, semi-sentient glowing 'driftglobes.'
As time passed, the original Elders died, or withdrew into seclusion
(acquiring a reputation among their descendants for becoming ever-more-deeply
"age-crazed"), and younger generations of their offspring, and the children
of their unions with 'snatched' mainland folk, populated Helbrester. They
looked at the world around with great interest, and started to trade, setting
themselves up as a reprovisioning and repair port for ships plying the Sword
Coast. When pirates sought to seize control of Helbrester, the
increasingly-powerful spells of a few of the Elders blasted the pirates and
their ships, until Helbrester won a "touch-them-not" reputation.
Mainlanders seeking freedom from various oppressions sailed to the Sunset
Towers (as the city of Helbrester became known) seeking to dwell there, and
were usually accepted. The city slowly grew into a neutral-ground port used
by pirates and merchant shippers alike, though many coastal Tethyrians
mistrusted it as "a pirate power waiting to erupt." It was governed by its
self-styled Lords and Ladies, the heads of twelve of its most senior families
(which included the surnames Arathtaea, Hallowhand, Iyrimsar, and Kolthund).
Unbeknownst to Helbrestans, two Elders who'd retired completely from public
life and memory to lurk entirely in hidden, spell-guarded rooms and passages,
eventually attained two different imperfect forms of lichdom. Both forms of
undeath required the liches to subsume energies (life-essence for one, and
spell-power for the other) from time to time, or crumble away. So one
(Thakloamur by name) became a kidnapper and murderer, and the other
(Mingaudorr) a thief of magic. They managed to elude detection for some years
by preying almost exclusively on visiting outlanders, although dark rumors
began to circulate in the city-but when they met and fought each other, and
began to feud in earnest, their spellbattles started to destroy the city.
Towers came crashing down as one lich or the other sought to destroy his
rival. The bewildered Helbrestans raced through the rubble with drawn swords
seeking to find who was responsible, but were powerless to stop most of the
city being laid waste. Mingaudorr was thrown down and buried in the collapse
of the entire southern end of Helbrester, and the battles ceased.
Pirates promptly came plundering, and the few Helbrestans who survived their
raids fled the city forever. Pirates who sought to claim the remaining towers
as a stronghold were slain by the stalking Thakloamur, and when a pirate
fleet whelmed to hunt down this mysterious slayer, the lich's spells blasted
entire ships to tumbling embers.
However, the battle-tremors freed Mingaudorr, who worked a titanic magic that
(most sages agree) destroyed his foe, the very island Helbrester stood upon,
all that was left of the city, and Mingaudorr himself. The riven island was
hurled into the skies as its roots were drowned by the seas, and Helbrester
was no more.
Some folk believe that either Thakloamur or Mingaudorr or both survived that
final battle, perhaps as crazed and cumbling remnants of themselves-and their
opinions are supported by the undeniable evidence that from time to time,
along the coasts of Amn and Tethyr, 'snatch-portals' open without warning to
take beings and things to an unknown otherwhere. On the other hand, these
spells could be worked by descendants of other Helbrestans or even folk who
gained such spells from others who fled Netheril.
What is certain is that nothing but jagged shoal rocks and tumbled stones lie
off Irphong today where once rose the proud towers of Helbrester.
Tor Mak
As REF5 Lords of Darkness tells us, "Widden Valley is a broad expanse of
grassy fields and tree-lined hills. The narrow Widden River bisects the
valley. To the south of it is the village of Meryn. To the north of it is the
ruined city of Tor Mak...once a prosperous place, a center of learning that
was home to scholars and wizards. But the walled city was laid waste in the
Goblin Wars, now long past."
Like Daufin, this locale was created by Deborah Christian for REF5 Lords of
Darkness, and the whereabouts of Tor Mak was kept nebulous therein so DMs
could most easily transplant it into their own campaigns.
At the time, I chose to make the Widden the middle tributary of the River Nun
(the one that on the mapsheet for The Vilhon Reach rises closest to
Colletro), and placed Tor Mak about three miles north of the river and about
fifteen miles east of the headwaters of the Widden, and Meryn about ten miles
south of the river and about sixteen miles from its rising (in other words,
farther west than 'due south' from Tor Mak). I didn't develop any backstory
for either Tor Mak or the Goblin Wars, because play in the 'home' Realms
campaign didn't reach the ruins, and because I like to leave mysteries lying
around for other folks to build Realmslore on. :}
Readers of my lore-screeds on Chondath will recall that all of this area is
in the hands of various self-styled lordlings. The closest of these is Faelae
Windthrarn, who calls himself 'Crowned Lord' of the Malander-which is the
valley occupied by the main River Nun, that (if one navigates upriver from
the sea in a very small boat) is the westernmost branch, and reaches farthest
south. The Malander is a small realm of verdant barley and root-crops farms,
policed by the swift-riding 'knights' of the Crowned Lord.
Lord Windthrarn dines on and exports a constant supply of sheep, too
plentiful in numbers to be supported by the small number of fields he gives
over to grazing, and Elminster suspects that the Crowned Lord has a captured
deepspawn in a cavern somewhere busily disgorging an endless stream of sheep.
In the original 'home' Realms campaign, this law-of-the-sword region is very
much like the Border Kingdoms: adventurer types are endlessly arriving,
butchering or running off the resident lordlings, and setting themselves up
with grand titles (such as "The Overking of All Crommador" and "The Exalted
Lord of the Great Realm") to rule over a few cow pastures, a village, a mill,
a keep, and a woodlot or two-until the next would-be ruler comes along. It
makes for great adventuring, with running feuds, lurking Thayan agents making
alliances with one lordling against another and then backstabbing their
recent allies, intelligent undead and mages who want to cast experimental
spells and practise monster-crafting running amok, outlaws rushing in (hotly
pursued) with stolen treasure to hide, and the works. When PCs need a
breather, they can always seek the Underdark or a big war elsewhere as a
place to relax in. :}
...And there you have it.
As always, preceding Realmslore Copyright © 2003 by Ed Greenwood for Wizards
of the Coast, Inc.
Enjoy!
Ed
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Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
Edited by - sleyvas on 09 Jul 2025 13:12:16 |
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Original Realms Locations
