Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms

Thayan bombards (see Chapter 5: Magic Items for more information),
as well as a ship’s mage and a ship’s acolyte—a
wizard and a cleric specializing in battle magic. The pride of
the Thayan navy—a massive warship known as the Red
Scourge—lies at anchor here when not escorting Thayan
merchant ships in and out of the area. Most pirates flee at
the first sight of the ship’s crimson-colored sails, for they
know that to confront such a powerful vessel is to invite a
swift and sorcerous death. Altogether, the fleet is crewed by
almost 5,000 officers, soldiers, and slaves; most of the remaining
folk who call this barren island home are carpenters,
stevedores, provisioners, sailmakers, shipwrights, and all
the other artisans and professionals needed to maintain a
fleet in port.
With the advent of Thay as a mercantile power, the Alaor
has become even more vital to the nation’s interests. The
Thayan navy had long worked to keep the waters of the Sahuagin
Sea (as the Alamber Sea is also called) free of pirates. They
have since extended their operations to include a good stretch
of the Wizards’ Reach. Between the forces of Thay and Aglarond,
there are few safe places for pirates to operate in this
region. Several naval ships have even been converted into mercantile
vessels carrying Thay’s goods to the rest of the world.
Merchant ships from Bezantur carry much of Thay’s trade to
other lands, but shipments to and from major enclaves are entrusted
only to Thay’s navy.
The Alaor is well defended. The zulkirs know the islands
are Thay’s first line of defense against an invasion by sea. If
the islands were to fall into a foreign power’s hands, the results
would be disastrous. Any foe who had control over such
a base could attack up and down the southern coast of Thay
with impunity.
Besides the garrison of 1,000 soldiers on duty here at all
times, the islands are outfitted with dozens of batteries of
Thayan bombards.
Delhumide
Once the most populous district of old Thay in the days of
Mulhorandi rule, the tharch of Delhumide is now thinly settled.
Stretching from Lake Thaylambar to the Gorge of
Gauros and bounded on the east and west by the River Thay
and the River Gauros, Delhumide is a broad land of open
plains and few people. The tharch could easily support a much
greater population, except that demons, ghosts, and sleeping
spells of deadly malevolence taint the countryside for miles
around the ruins of the old capital and the province’s abandoned
estates.
With the exception of some farmland along the river
valleys, Delhumide is mostly used as open range for large
herds of cattle. Tharchion Invarri Metron (LE male human
Ftr11) governs the land from his palace at Umratharos, a
small city at the bend of the River Thay. He has little interest
in the ruins of the old capital but is happy to collect
a cut of any wealth recovered by adventurers picking through
the wreckage.
THAY
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Eltabbar
Northwest Thay belongs to the tharch of Eltabbar, a curving
swath of land that extends from the western shores of Lake
Thaylambar and around the northern slopes of the Second Escarpment
all the way to the River Umber, almost directly opposite
the city of Eltabbar. Even though Thay’s capital city
is located in this tharch, large portions of it are lightly populated—most
of the land between the rich valley of the River
Thay and the Umber is scrubland, home to the roaming bands
of gnolls and orcs who make up the zulkirs’ foot soldiers.
The tharchion of Eltabbar is the notorious Dmitra Flass
(NE female human Ill7/Red8), the so-called First Princess of
Thay. She spends all her time in the capital and gives little
thought to anything that happens on the northwest frontier.
The wreckage of old Nar ruins dot the remoter portions of
the tharch, occasionally disgorging some forgotten demon
that terrorizes the countryside until bound or destroyed by
the Red Wizards.
Gauros
Gauros is a relatively poor tharch with no major cities. The
River Gauros flows down from the heights of the Sunrise
Mountains and through northeastern Thay before tumbling
over the edge of the First Escarpment to carve out the great
Gorge of Gauros. From there, it flows into Lake Mulsantir on
the nation’s northern border.
Gauros is rocky, rugged, and forbidding, a wild land of dry
pine forests and high, barren mesas. Swift, shallow snowmelt
rivers from the Sunrises rush through the land, but by
midsummer they are reduced to dusty rivulets. Most of the
folk in the district are Rashemi woodcutters and goatherds.
Ruined towers and empty keeps crown many of the barren
hills, the remnants of ancient Raumathar’s foothold on this
part of the Thayan plateau. The nearby mountains harbor
dangerous monsters, including athachs, chimeras, and bands of
feral gnolls.
The ruler of Gauros is Tharch Azhir Kren (NE female
human Ftr15). An aggressive general, she is itching to lead
Szass Tam’s legions into battle. The zulkir’s fascination with
developing trade does nothing but frustrate her. Kren’s troops
constantly patrol the Gorge of Gauros, looking for any excuse
to launch an invasion of her nation’s northern neighbor,
Rashemen. Kren only needs the thinnest of pretexts, and if she
doesn’t stumble across one soon, she’ll manufacture the necessary
evidence.
DAGGERTOOTH PASS
One of only two passes through the Sunrise Mountains, Daggertooth
Pass follows the Gauros up to its headwaters and
crosses a high saddle to come down in the upper vale of the
Murghol, a tributary to the Clearflow of the Endless Wastes.
To one side of the main track a knifelike peak looms, the
mountain that gives the pass its name. The top of the pass is