Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms

with earthquakes, freakish storms, and strange monsters. Fortunately,
most of these battlefields are in the northern, less
populated reaches of the country. The icy lakes and rivers that
form Rashemen’s western border are enough to deter casual
aggressors, and the fury of its native sons and daughters drives
off all but the most determined attackers. The people of
Rashemen love their home despite its dangers and prefer to
keep it untarnished by the footprints of ignorant visitors.
Major Geographic
Features
Lake Ashane is the longest natural feature defining Rashemen’s
borders. Icy cold and inhabited by water spirits and
aquatic monsters, it is the lifeblood of many fishing villages.
Ferries cross at Mulsantir, where the Golden Way spans the
lake. The Ashane ices every winter, particularly in its narrower
stretches, and caravans cross on foot when the surface
is frozen.
Lake Mulsantir is a turbulent body of water that forms
part of the border with Thay. In years past, the Red Wizards
stocked the lake with hostile magical crossbreeds, but such
things were as likely to return south against their creators as
to go north, so this practice has ceased. Some of the more cunning
creatures survive, though, and are blamed whenever boats
disappear on this lake. Mulsantir connects with Lake Ashane
through a broad passage referred to as the River Mulsantir.
Rashemen’s southern border continues east from Lake Mulsantir
along the Gorge of Gauros to the Sunrise Mountains.
Evil humanoids and natural predators make life dangerous for
travelers and prospectors here. The border runs north past the
ruins of Citadel Rashemar, which is inhabited by fell creatures
and ruled by a powerful hag sorcerer, then north and northeast
along the edge of the Endless Waste until it reaches the
Icerim Mountains. Frost giants, frost worms, taers, and white
dragons lurk in the Icerims, but these creatures dislike the relative
warmth of the flatlands and are rarely seen there. The
southern edge of the Icerims forms the country’s northern
border to the Falls of Erech, which flow downstream to join
Lake Ashane.
Most interesting features of Rashemen are confined to its
southern parts. The eastern side of Lake Ashane cradles the
Ashenwood, a wild forest inhabited by hungry monsters. East
of the Ashenwood are the Running Rocks, a leg of the Sunrise
Mountains reputed to have mystical powers and connections
to the Underdark. The Urlingwood to the north is
controlled by the Witches and forbidden to all others under
penalty of death. In the middle of the southern flatlands is
Lake Tirulag, fed by rivers originating in the forests and inhabited
by an “ice dragon.”
RASHEMEN
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Ashenwood
This ancient forest is primarily ash, aspen, fir, and pine.
Mighty spirits live in the stones and trees, capable of imparting
great wisdom to listeners or exacting terrible
vengeance on those who trespass. By ancient tradition, the
Ashenwood remains unpopulated, both as a precaution
against the anger of the spirits and as a promise to preserve
this most sacred and pristine part of Rashemen.
While no Rashemi live here permanently, some enter for
a short time to hunt or to complete a quest. These visits always
begin with prayers and small gifts for the spirits to ensure
their favor. A typical offering is a flask of clean water, a handful
of fertile earth from a garden or farm, and a meal consisting
of several kinds of food that would appeal to the
creatures of the forest. The meal is burned on a smoky fire in
the middle of a circle of stones so the smell of it will reach
the spirits.
The subjects of a hunt are usually perfect specimens of a
particular kind of animal (such as a stag), although dangerous
dire animals are common prey as well. Whenever a hunt is successful,
the hunters make offerings so that the creature’s spirit
will become a telthor (see Chapter 6: Monsters of the East)
or at least will not seek vengeance against the hunters.
In addition to mundane creatures and spirits, fierce monsters
inhabit the forest, such as annis hags, ettercaps, owlbears,
stirges, and trolls. Some of these creatures are very old and
cunning and have grown to unusual size. Rashemi legend tells
of Hornclaw the Gray, an owlbear bigger than most giants and
said to be over a hundred years old, and of Dar-Guran, a fell
troll who can take off a man’s head in one bite.
Not all of the unusual residents of the Ashenwood are so
dangerous. Bristlebeard, an awakened dire boar with patches
of bright red hair, listens to the telthors and watches over
Rashemi who become lost in the forest. Stormwind (NG treant
of 20 HD) is a huge and ancient treant who sleeps for decades
at a time but awakens to speak to the Witches when they need
his council. Stormwind is so large that he has been mistaken
for the Wood Man, a legendary embodiment of the power of
the forest that is said to defend Rashemen against invaders.
Ashanath
With the exception of the trade-town of Kront (see Chapter
9: The Great Dale) at its north end, this plain is completely
uninhabited by humanoids. Grassy with rich dark soil and a
few small herds of wild oxen and ponies roaming its length,
the Ashanath is an untouched breadbasket. Resources are so
plentiful in this area that they easily could support a large
city-state such as those along the Moonsea, but people do not
settle here because of the frequent tornadoes that tear up the
earth for miles at a stretch. Regardless of the season or ambient
weather conditions, this territory experiences dozens of
tornadoes a year—sometimes as often as once a tenday.