Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms

–970 The Nentyarch of Tharos builds his capital at Dun-
Tharos and forges the Crown of Narfell. He begins a
campaign to conquer the various petty Nar realms
and unite them beneath his rule.
–946 The Nentyarch’s armies destroy Shandaular, capital of
Ashanath; all Nar kingdoms now united.
–900 The Raumvirans establish the realm of Raumathar,
with its capital at Winterkeep.
–160 Year of the Stone Giant: Narfell and Raumathar destroy
each other. Dun-Tharos and Val-Murthag are
ruined.
543 Year of the Lyre: Uthmere is founded by Lord Uthmere
of Dilpur.
722 Year of the Last Hunt: The Great Druid of Leth takes
the title of Nentyarch and raises a new druidic castle
amid the overgrown ruins at Dun-Tharos.
888 Year of the Twelve Teeth: The sorcerer Clymph raises
the demon-built tower that bears his name.
890 Year of the Burning Tree: Clymph builds Tower
Threespires. Shortly thereafter, he is slain by demons
in his own keep.
1095 Year of the Dawndance: The war-captain Imphras
unites the major cities of the Easting Reach into the
new nation of Impiltur.
1244 Year of the Defiant Keep: Lord Elphras of Impiltur
raises a castle near the Great Barrow; the castle is mysteriously
abandoned soon thereafter, and he is not
heard of again.
1338 Year of the Wanderer: The Windblown Goat is built
near the old stone markers at Bezentil. Other folk
follow, founding a small town at the site.
1359 Year of the Serpent: Szass Tam allows the Tuigan horde
to pass through Thay and attack Rashemen. Thousands
of refugees stream across Lake Ashane. A few of the
more determined head toward Uthmere and settle
along the Great Road. To this day, the people of the
Great Dale refer to these people as “the newcomers.”
1362 Year of the Helm: The Rotting Man appears in the
Rawlinswood.
1364 Year of the Wave: Lord Uthlain inherits his position
from his father, Lord Uthrain. The elder lord is killed
in a hunting accident initially blamed on the rangers
of the Forest of Lethyr. A group of adventurers
tracks down the real killers, servants of the Shadowmasters
who hoped to destabilize Uthmere.
1368 Year of the Banner: A strange plague sweeps through
the Forest of Lethyr, destroying the minds of many
treants and reducing them to mere trees.
1370 Year of the Tankard: An adventuring party enters
Clymph Tower with the aim of destroying its
demons. They are never heard from again.
1371 Year of the Unstrung Harp: The Rotting Man’s army
takes Dun-Tharos, driving the Nentyarch into exile at
Yeshelmaar.
1372 Year of Wild Magic: Current year. The Talontar
blightlords begin mustering a blightspawned army to
crush the Circle of Leth and raze the Great Dale.
THE GREAT DALE
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Government
The government of Uthmere is an inherited monarchy. The
first ruler of the city was its founder, Lord Uthmere, a
wealthy Dilpuran sea captain who believed he had discovered
the perfect gateway to eastern Faerûn. He began the construction
of the Great Road along the center of the Great
Dale, and it was completed during his grandson’s reign.
Sadly, Lord Uthmere’s plans for transforming his town into
the jewel of the Easting Reach never materialized. Each of the
lords who followed has tried to breathe life into that dream,
but none have had much success. This is partly because the rest
of the country doesn’t really want this to happen, but it’s
mostly because Uthmere’s main competitor as the gateway to
the east is Telflamm, a city notoriously corrupted by the Shadowmasters
headquartered there.
The Great Dale itself has no government. The closest the
lands outside of Uthmere come a ruler is the Nentyarch, the
leader of the Circle of Leth. The Nentyarch earned his position
by becoming the most powerful and respected druid in the
region. He plans to hold this place of honor until another
druid surpasses him, he retires, or he dies.
In the open lands of the Dale, politics—such as they are—
work like this: The Nentyarch tells the druids what to do; the
druids advise the clanlords and the leaders of homesteads, and
those individuals run their lands as they choose. The leader of
a small clan is hardly an autocrat or a tyrant; he might be the
king of his hold, but one who rules with the consent of his
kinsfolk. The Nentyar rangers or Leth druids often serve as
impartial arbiters when neighboring clan-chiefs can’t come to
an agreement about matters of mutual concern.
Enemies
Despite the Great Dale’s lack of traditional riches and the fact
that it is mostly untamed wilderness, a number of factions
harbor ill intentions toward the Dalesfolk and their druidic
protectors.
THE QU’ENCESTA
The Qu’encesta are members of one of the most violent tribes
in all Narfell. Eager for plunder and slaughter, they have
launched attack after attack against their kinfolk over the
years, and every time, they have been crushed by the combined
might of the other tribes. Recently, they have decided to
switch targets and have turned their collective eye on the
Great Dale.
Under the guidance of Warleader Heara (CE female human
Bbn11/Rog2), the Qu’encesta have been slowly massing for
war. Their activity has not gone unnoticed by the Dag Nost
tribe, who live in the southern plains of Narfell. The Dag Nost
are not the target of the impending Qu’encesta raid, though—
the folk of the Great Dale are. Warleader Heara plans to
strike south, cutting straight though the narrowest part of the
Rawlinswood to break out into open ground near Bezentil.