Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms
Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms
Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms
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Most travelers enter Thay through one of five major<br />
routes. In the north, those following the Golden Way come<br />
first to the port city of Surthay on the southern shore of Lake<br />
Mulsantir. Traditionally, travelers ride or walk the Long<br />
Portage from Surthay up to the top of the Plateau of Thay.<br />
<strong>The</strong> River Thay is one of the great highways of the land, and<br />
slave-pulled barges ferry goods and passengers from the First<br />
Escarpment to Lake Thaylambar. Once on the lake, it’s an<br />
easy voyage to Eltabbar, the capital city, located on the southwestern<br />
shore.<br />
In the southeast, travelers forge their way up the River<br />
Thazarim to the First Escarpment. An old Mulhorandi road<br />
leads through the gorge of the Thazarim and meets a track<br />
bound for Pyarados. From there, one can either take the path<br />
along the Sunrise Mountains to Lake Thaylambar, or go by<br />
the well-maintained <strong>East</strong>ern Way to Tyraturos, then north<br />
along the High Road to Eltabbar. Few people enter Thay by<br />
this route, as the tharch of Thazalhar is a desolate and forbidding<br />
land, plagued by restless undead and hungry monsters<br />
from the mountains.<br />
Most people bound for Thay put in at the great port of<br />
Bezantur, one of the largest cities along the Sea of Fallen<br />
Stars. <strong>The</strong> High Road leads straight north through Tyraturos<br />
to Eltabbar. <strong>The</strong> Thayans expect visitors to enter by this<br />
route, so inns and taverns catering to foreigners are common<br />
along the High Road—as are spies and agents of the Red Wizards,<br />
who keep a close eye on folk of other lands.<br />
In the past, armies seeking to invade Thay have come by<br />
way of the River Lapendrar. <strong>The</strong> Lapendrar itself is not navigable<br />
past the First Escarpment, as a waterfall tumbles over<br />
the edge of the Plateau of Thay, preventing passage. However,<br />
the gorge of the River of Sorrows is one of the broadest and<br />
most gentle ascents of the First Escarpment, at least for travelers<br />
on foot. When Halacar of Aglarond led his ill-advised expedition<br />
into Thay a century ago, this was the route he chose.<br />
Lastly, some prefer to sail up the River Umber to Nethjet,<br />
located on the eastern side of Lake Umber. From here,<br />
one can follow the <strong>East</strong>ern Way until it meets up with the<br />
High Road at Tyraturos, then head north to Eltabbar. Monsters<br />
haunting the passage through the Dragonjaw Mountains<br />
Thay is filled with these small fortresses. Each houses a garrison<br />
of thirty to fifty gnoll or human warriors, ready to put<br />
teeth into the implied threat each visitor faces when accosted<br />
by the tax collectors.<br />
Tax stations stand not only at the edges of Thay, but also<br />
at the border of each tharch and at every other point along<br />
which people are likely to pass. <strong>The</strong> revenues collected help<br />
to fund the tharchs, one of the reasons for Thay’s excellent<br />
public services. Taxes vary greatly from tharch to tharch,<br />
not to mention from station to station. <strong>The</strong>y are rarely<br />
exorbitant, as the tharchions don’t wish to discourage traf-<br />
THAY<br />
151<br />
make this route somewhat dangerous, and the Nethjet end of<br />
the <strong>East</strong>ern Way is poorly maintained, a magnet for gnoll<br />
brigands and similar undesirables. Folk from northerly lands<br />
along the Inner Sea find this a faster but more dangerous<br />
route than the long walk up the Golden Way to Mulsantir<br />
and Surthay.<br />
In addition to the natural defenses of Thay, a number of<br />
small citadels sprinkle the slopes of both the First and Second<br />
Escarpments. <strong>The</strong>se well-built stone structures ostensibly keep<br />
out enemies, but in truth, they are home to patrols of humans<br />
and gnolls who spend more of their time keeping Thayan<br />
slaves in. Most roads on the Plateau itself (especially the <strong>East</strong>ern<br />
Way and the High Road) are impeccably maintained.<br />
Raised a few feet above the surrounding land, they are covered<br />
with an alchemical tarmac for durability and ease of use.<br />
Work crews constantly repair the roads, keeping them in nearperfect<br />
shape. Small fortresses known as tax stations line the<br />
roads and appear at all other points of entry into Thay.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Alaor<br />
Tax Stations<br />
<strong>The</strong> Alaor comprises two islands off the southern coast of<br />
Thay, where the Wizards’ Reach meets the Alamber Sea.<br />
While this is the smallest of the eleven tharchs, its position<br />
makes it one of the most vital. <strong>The</strong> bulk of the Thayan navy<br />
is housed here, along with the primary Thayan shipyards.<br />
<strong>The</strong> principal harbor of the Alaor is an expansive cove<br />
guarded by a sea-arch. In the rock of the headlands lies a network<br />
of sea caves large enough to hide an entire fleet. <strong>The</strong><br />
rugged islands have no other good landing spots or sheltered<br />
bays, which is one reason no other country thought to use<br />
them as a naval base.<br />
Tharchion <strong>The</strong>ssaloni Canos (LE female human Ftr17)<br />
commands the tharch; the evoker Mur Vhol (N male human<br />
Evo7/Red5) assists her, supervising the various magelings assigned<br />
to the tharchion’s fleet. Over 15,000 souls call this<br />
tharch home, including sailors. <strong>The</strong> fleet consists of a dozen<br />
slender, deadly dromonds, powerful galleys each crewed by<br />
over one hundred well-armed warriors and twice that<br />
number of slave rowers. Each warship carries a pair of<br />
fic through their territories. <strong>The</strong> amount ranges from as<br />
little as 2 cp to as much as 1 gp. Guards also check for<br />
passes or traveling permits while they collect the coins, and<br />
folk abroad without the proper documentation are usually<br />
jailed on the spot.<br />
<strong>The</strong> tax stations also keep the slave population under control.<br />
Few slaves have any money, and those who try to pose<br />
as Thayan citizens are sure to run into problems without<br />
cash. <strong>The</strong> fees may not be that high, but they must be paid.<br />
<strong>The</strong> station’s soldiers do their utmost to make tax evaders see<br />
the error of their ways.