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J D Dunsany
Learned Scribe
United Kingdom
180 Posts |
 Posted - 11 Jan 2006 : 22:04:17
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Hi there!
The FRCS says (on page 188) that Sembia has "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." Ordulin is described later on as being "a new city". My question is very simple: When (and how - was it violent or diplomatic?) did this co-opting happen? (The FRCS doesn't say exactly as far as I can tell.)
(The reason I'm asking is because I'm doing a detailed character background for a PC from Featherdale and I'd like to have him visit a reasonably large city to gain a higher level of education round about 1354 DR. Ordulin would fit the bill nicely, but if it's not been built by that time, I'll have to think of somewhere else - Selgaunt, maybe, or possibly Saerloon.)
Thanking your knowledgeable selves in advance...
JDD
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"How content that young woman looks, don't you think? How content, and yet how flammable." - Lemony Snicket, The Unauthorized Autobiography |
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Foxhelm
Senior Scribe
Canada
592 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jan 2006 : 22:27:19
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I think that with Moondale it was the same thing that they are doing with Tasseldale. Slowing gaining power through coins. Spreading the idea that it would be more successful, and posperous as part of Sembia. They could be better defended by Sembia from monsters. And such.
The only Reason that Tasseldale is not part of Sembia yet, is that it is being used as part of a buffer zone between Sembia and the Dales. Until they can get the inner dales.
Also Orlin (SP?) is build on the old capital of Moondale, if I recall. So it might be possible that it had a bardic college as the Dales are bard lands. No a big one like New Olam (SP?), by minor ones like in "Magic of Faerun".
Does that help? |
Ed Greenwood! The Solution... and Cause of all the Realms Problems! |
Edited by - Foxhelm on 11 Jan 2006 22:30:58 |
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martynq
Seeker
United Kingdom
90 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jan 2006 : 22:29:24
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I can't tell you exactly when Ordulin was founded, but I'm certain it was built by 1354DR. The original old grey box detailed the Realms in 1356DR. It tells us that the merchant-council of Sembia is based in Ordulin. I believe this is highly unlikely if the city hadn't existed two years earlier.
Further, the information about Ordulin in the Forgotten Realms Adventures hardback book tells us that 40 years ago (I'm guessing 1338DR, since this book gives the info immediately post-Time of Troubles), there was a major wizard battle in the city which affected some of the city buildings. This suggests the city was a city (and hence part of Sembia, not just a Dale) at that time.
Is this good enough?
Martyn |
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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore
Australia
6680 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jan 2006 : 22:52:57
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The "Fall of Myth Drannor" accessory (p.19) tells us that in the Year of the Slain Raven (700 DR) the forests of Moondale, founded shortly after the raising of the Standing Stone in the Dalelands, are completely cleared by this year.
-- George Krashos
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"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus |
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J D Dunsany
Learned Scribe
United Kingdom
180 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jan 2006 : 22:56:00
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Thanks everyone. That all helps tremendously. (And such a quick response too! )
Love to all,
JDD |
"How content that young woman looks, don't you think? How content, and yet how flammable." - Lemony Snicket, The Unauthorized Autobiography |
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Faraer
Great Reader
3308 Posts |
Posted - 11 Jan 2006 : 23:29:59
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From my work-in-progress Timeline of the Dales:
c.1070: The city of Ordulin grows up on the site of Moondale, and joins the nation of Sembia.*
* A Grand Tour of the Realms pp. 35–6, 60–1; FRS1 The Dalelands pp. 49, 59 [“About 300 years ago”]; FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting pp. 116, 188. [But FRS1 p. 49 indicates Tasseldale is settled, 980 DR, around the time Moondale becomes Ordulin.]
Yet a third FRS1 reference (p. 18) has Essembra settled “about 400 years ago, when the Ordulin-Hillsfar road was cut through the Elven Court”. The c.1070 is really a placeholder date based on the most direct reference, pending revision. But it's centuries before your campaign, in any case.
The process of Moondale's co-option is best described in Forgotten Realms Campaign Set (1993): A Grand Tour of the Realms p. 35:quote:
As Sembia rose in power as a nation of merchants, ties to Moondale were strengthened. Trade bloomed and money flowed into the community, both from Sembia and from the elves to the north. This brought more traders, and with it more of the refinements of the civilized South. Sons and daughters of the original Dalesmen married into the merchant houses, and soon the entire community was a mixture of southern and Dales blood.
The outlook of the community, however, strayed from its dour and to the younger generations, old-fashioned) viewpoint to a freewheeling lifestyle brought by of the influx of trade and the lure of money. Within a generation Moondale no longer considered itself part of the Dales community and began to lumber and farm more heavily the southern reaches of Cormanthor (abandoned by the elves). With a second generation, a city had grown up on the site of Moondale, and it joined the nation of Sembia as the city of Ordulin (see Ordulin in the “Sembia” chapter).
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Edited by - Faraer on 12 Jan 2006 00:02:35 |
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Moondale into Ordulin
