Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms

Rashemen’s forces except the Witches, who usually follow his
suggestions as if they were orders.
The Iron Lord represents the physical ideal of Rashemi
men and personifies all their virtues: He should be able to outfight,
out-ski, outswim, outdrink, and outrun all his warlords.
In practice, no Iron Lord has been able to do this, though
many have come close.
Justice in Rashemen is swift and precise. People who steal
have their property confiscated. People who kill are killed or
exiled. The Witches dispose of people who offend them or the
spirits. Fortunately, most problems in Rashemen are the result
of drunken brawls and lusty spouses, and such things can usually
be worked out without serious harm to either party.
The absolute rulers in Rashemen are the Witches. They
prefer to remain behind the scenes, but if thwarted in their
tasks—most involving the safety of Rashemen—they are
ruthless in eliminating a potential spy or traitor. The Witches
have the power of life and death over the people but exercise
this right only when absolutely necessary (such as when someone
deliberately harms a Witch within Rashemen’s borders)
to avoid a bad reputation. Disobeying the direct order of a
Witch is considered treason and may be punished by death as
well, although the Witches normally give a warning and
repeat the order before exacting this punishment and are more
lenient with the young, the ignorant, or other Witches.
Enemies
Despite its remote location, natural barriers, and lack of mineral
resources, Rashemen has a number of enemies who would
like to see it destroyed, pillaged, or enslaved.
CHAUL OF CITADEL RASHEMAR
With the fall of Citadel Rashemar, a power vacuum
opened in the eastern end of Rashemen, and in stepped
Chaul, a devious hag with many minions and significant
abilities as a sorcerer. She is one of the durthans (see below)
and is power-hungry like all of her sisterhood. Since she isn’t
human, some humans in that organization fear what would
come to pass if she gained too much power. As it stands, she
has close ties with the annis hags of the Ashenwood, the
bheurs of the Running Rocks, and the shrieking hags of the
Endless Wastes.
Chaul is busily gathering an army in the eastern slopes of
the Sunrise Mountains, rallying goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears,
and ogres to her banner. While she loathes Rashemen and the
wychlaran, she knows she cannot overthrow the hathrans
with a humanoid rabble, and so she is seeking a subtler strategy.
She dreams of finding some way to turn the people of
Rashemen against the Witches, and to this end she has been
working to entrap young ethrans and seduce them to her way
of thinking with offers of power and wealth. So far she has
had little success, and any Witch who falls into her hands
soon winds up dead.
RASHEMEN
142
THE DUERGAR
Below the Sunrise Mountains lies a strong kingdom of duergar
known as Darzalstaukh, the City of Dark Dreams. So far,
the gray dwarves have not engaged in overtly hostile actions.
However, given their generally evil nature and the rarity of
their expeditions to the surface, most Rashemi assume the
duergar are up to no good. Drow are rumored to appear in the
Running Rocks from time to time, so if the Underdark beneath
Rashemen is contiguous, the gray dwarves may be able
to strike at any portion of the country from below.
Already, duergar outposts in surface caves come into conflict
with Rashemen’s miners over the land’s meager supply
of iron ore. The miners are preparing for inevitable war and
don’t plan on being the victims of a surprise attack. The
hathrans suggest patience and caution, for the numbers of
duergar are unknown, and they might be interested in trade
rather than war. The duergar may be unsavory trading partners,
but peace with Darzalstaukh would give Rashemen access
to iron and other valuable metals.
THE DURTHANS
The wychlaran aren’t the only female spellcasters manipulating
events in Rashemen. The durthans are a generally evil
group of women with powers similar to those of the
hathrans, but they are focused more on the spirits of destruction
and vengeance that live within the land. The
durthans believe the only way to protect Rashemen is to be as
ruthless to its enemies as its enemies are to the Rashemi
people. They dream of mounting attacks into Thay and Narfell,
stealing magic, and eliminating powerful foes. They would
tax the Golden Way and demand tribute from Thesk to allow
eastern goods to reach that country. The Great Dale, a similarly
forested and natural place, would become a target of
Rashemi expansion; the durthans are certain they can
awaken the spirits in that land and make it a place much like
their home.
As it stands, the durthans are greatly outnumbered by the
Witches, but because they work in secret and sometimes pretend
to be hathrans themselves, the extent of their power is
unknown. The Witches are grateful for the respite from
Thayan attacks, which gives them time to concentrate on this
danger from within. Most durthans take the durthan prestige
class (see Chapter 2: Prestige Classes), although they are
grooming many underlings for membership in their dark
order, much as the hathrans count the ethrans among their
number despite the inexperience of the “untried.”
NAR BARBARIANS
Old Narfell may be long dead, but the descendants of those
evil priests live on as bloodthirsty marauders and raiders who
fight with one another and anyone who stumbles into their
cold lands. From time to time, aggressive Nar tribes cross the
River Erech to battle the Rashemi, and when the two groups