Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms

Aglarondan spy who keeps an eye on developments in Amruthar
at the Simbul’s orders).
City Guard: Ftr7, Ftr6, War6, Ftr5 (2), War5 (5), Ftr4 (3),
War4 (7), Ftr3 (9), War3 (21), Ftr2 (23), War2 (76), Ftr1
(44), War1 (307); Hierarch’s Guard: Ftr9, Clr8, Ftr7, War6,
Clr5, Ftr5 (3), War5 (4), Clr4 (2), Ftr4 (5), War4 (30), Clr3
(4), Ftr3 (18), War3 (129). The rest of Amruthar’s citizens
are too numerous to describe here.
Bezantur (METROPOLIS)
Eltabbar may be the capital of Thay, but Bezantur has
long been the commercial center of the realm. The city
is the capital of the tharch of Priador and is
the largest port in the Red Wizards’
domain. For centuries, Thayan
cotton, fruit, and grain flowed
through Bezantur, enriching the
masters of the city and the tharchion,
but the wealth pouring in
now is unimaginable. To Bezantur
flow the gold, goods, and slaves exchanged
in dozens of Thayan enclaves
across the Sea of Fallen Stars, so it is
not only the largest city in Thay but
by far the wealthiest.
Black-walled Bezantur squats
on the northern shore of the
Alamber Sea. Artisans, merchants,
priests, and soldiers live
crammed within its walls,
while beyond sprawls an immense
and squalid shantytown
of commoners and slave pens.
No tree grows within twenty
miles of the city; great shipyards
even larger than those of
the Alaor lie along the shore
beyond its walls, employing
hundreds of carpenters and shipwrights
and thousands of slaves.
On the eastern side of the city,
within newly built walls even higher and stronger
than the city’s own, stands the Guild of Foreign
Trade, the heart of Thay’s sinister enterprise to enslave the
West through commerce.
THE CENTRAL CITADEL
This heavily fortified structure is one of Bezantur’s most
notable landmarks, dominating the city center. Made of hewn
black stone stacked tall enough to be seen from any place in
the city, the Central Citadel is the first building visible to
people approaching Bezantur, even before the low shanties
mounded up against the outside of the wall like rats nesting.
THAY
Samas Kul
166
The citadel houses the legion of Aznar Thrul (zulkir of evocation
and tharchion of the Priador) as well as his own luxurious
private quarters. These armed forces include nearly
5,000 gnolls, humans, goblins, darkenbeasts, and creatures
even more foul.
The previous tharchion—who most believe to be long
dead—secretly lives here as well. Mari Agneh has been bent
entirely to Thrul’s will, and he keeps her as a private slave, occasionally
trotting her out at his most debauched private parties
to demonstrate his power. Thrul is fond of magical
experimentation, and he keeps a number of well-stocked
laboratories here, as well as dungeons filled with fresh
victims for his trials.
THE GUILD OF
FOREIGN TRADE
Thay’s foreign enclaves are
administered through the
Guild of Foreign Trade,
headquartered in a vast complex
of warehouses, vaults,
and fortresslike offices dominating
the eastern end of
Bezantur’s harbor. The Guild
has existed for hundreds of
years, issuing licenses to
Thayans wishing to import
or export goods, but in the
last twenty years, its sponsorship
of mercantile enclaves
dealing in magic
items has catapulted the
Guild from a small, corrupt
bureaucracy to a vast, corrupt,
state-sponsored industry.
The guild is naturally obsessed
with the safety of its valuable merchandise,
and its vaults are guarded
by hundreds of wizards, skilled warriors,
and monstrous creatures. Thousands
of laborers and slaves toil at its docks and warehouses,
loading and unloading the yellow-sailed
dromonds that carry the output of magic workshops to
Thayan concessions and quarters across the Inner Sea. The
dromonds return even more heavily laden than they were
when they set out, since most of the goods exchanged for
Thayan magic items are bulkier and heavier than a cargo of
potions, scrolls, and wondrous items.
The Master of the Guild of Foreign Trade is a brilliant Red
Wizard named Samas Kul (LE male human Tra7/Red8). Ambitious
and cynical, Samas Kul is known for his acidic sarcasm
and urbane manner. He is a tall, corpulent man who flaunts
his wealth shamelessly, bedecking himself with gem-studded
robes and rings worth thousands of gold pieces. Some of
Samas Kul’s colleagues have mistakenly dismissed him as a
Illustration by Adam Rex