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Draeden
Acolyte
USA
9 Posts |
 Posted - 19 Nov 2006 : 09:10:33
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I was just wondering if anyone could direct me to information concerning the Shaar?
It seems to fall between the cracks, Empires of Sands and The Shining South.
I am interested in canon and noncanon information...equally. 
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 19 Nov 2006 : 11:58:55
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There isn't a lot of detail for the Shaar.
1e/2e FR boxed sets have a little. As does the 3e Shining South tome. Ed's Elminster Speaks articles at WotC provide a few tidbits about the region. Scott Bennie's Old Empires as well.
Also, Powers & Pantheons and 3e's Races of Faerun.
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ShadowJack
Senior Scribe
USA
350 Posts |
Posted - 19 Nov 2006 : 13:06:10
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| If you look at Ed's Border Kingdoms articles there are a few snippets about the Shaar... I believe Serpent Knigdoms also has a little lore on the Shaar. It is a case where you will have to read through many sources to get all the snippets that have been published on the area. |
ShadowJack |
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Draeden
Acolyte
USA
9 Posts |
Posted - 19 Nov 2006 : 23:47:50
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Thank you ShadowJack and The Sage, I will look through those sources.
I was wondering though, do you get the feeling that the inhabitants of the Shaar are similar to the Tuigan of the Endless Wastes?
An by that I mean,
No central authority, nomadic hunters, raiding outlying civilazations for some of their luxury items, and so forth? |
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dwarvenranger
Senior Scribe
USA
428 Posts |
Posted - 20 Nov 2006 : 01:09:19
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| I would agree with idea that there is no central authority, although there can be alliances between the different nomadic groups, probably just over hunting range and the like though. I don't see the loxo, wemics or centaurs doing much raiding of settlements outside their traditional hunting areas, but the gnolls and humans I can see doing so. |
If I waited till I knew what I was doing, I'd never get anything done.
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Dhomal
Senior Scribe
USA
565 Posts |
Posted - 20 Nov 2006 : 01:33:27
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Hello-
I agree with the assessment of the possible raiders mentioned by dwarvenranger.
However - dont I remember correctly that there are Thri-Kreen in the Shaar also? If so - I would add them to the liste of raiders, along with the gnolls and humans.
Dhomal |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 20 Nov 2006 : 01:57:12
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Yes, there are thri-kreen in the Shaar, and in other savanna-like regions, as noted most recently in 3e Shining South.
There are also thri-kreen in the Mindulgulph Mercenary Company which operates in the region, as noted in Gold & Glory.
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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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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Draeden
Acolyte
USA
9 Posts |
Posted - 20 Nov 2006 : 19:01:35
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What about the climate, does anyone have a feeling for what it is comparable to?
I was thinking that it would be a lot like Florida, hot, humid, ample rain, where the temperatures seldom fall below 50 degress F.
What do you think? |
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Bluenose
Learned Scribe
United Kingdom
134 Posts |
Posted - 22 Nov 2006 : 11:41:15
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Personally I'd treat it as being more African savannah than Florida. It would still be hot but generally much drier, though you'd also get sudden heavy rainstorms. Migration would follow the rains, if there was a regular pattern, or be more random if there wasn't.
I don't really like the idea of more human nomads, especially not if they are going to be horse nomads like the Tuigan and others. Instead I'd look again at an African feel, with something perhaps like the Bantu. You'd have settled, fortified villages in areas with year round water, which would compete with each other over resources but unite against outsiders. Raiding would be a normal cultural activity, probably with some fairly strict rules about what you shouldn't do when you're dealing with your own culture, but which foreigners don't know or don't follow and which can therefore be broken when dealing with them. |
These, in the day when heaven was falling,
The hour when earth's foundations fled,
Followed their mercenary calling
And took their wages and are dead.
Their shoulders held the sky suspended;
They stood, and earth's foundations stay;
What God abandoned, these defended,
And saved the sum of things for pay. |
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ShadowJack
Senior Scribe
USA
350 Posts |
Posted - 22 Nov 2006 : 12:54:35
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| I would agree with Bluenose. The Bantu of the African Savannah would be a good comparison. You would have the small fortified "family" groupings that are then part of a larger tribe. The other non-human groups could be either semi-nomadic or nomadic. I think it is Shining South that talks about the annual tribal meeting where the human groups come together to dicuss issues. I believe it also says that some non-humans attend as well. By having these cultures adopt this type of lifestyle you can avoid making them too similar to the Horse nomads north of the Lake of Steam. I cannot remember what they were called, they were detailed in Empires of the Shining Sea, they were loosely based on the Bedouin cultures of the Middle East. |
ShadowJack |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 22 Nov 2006 : 20:59:02
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| Remember though the danger of making fantasy peoples too close to real world ones. |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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Draeden
Acolyte
USA
9 Posts |
Posted - 27 Nov 2006 : 14:45:55
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Interesting ideas!
Thanks |
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The Shaar
