Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms

slaves of the Tuigan Horde or refugees scurrying just ahead
of its advance who slipped into Thesk mere days or tendays
before their relentless pursuers. Others came with the long
caravans of merchant wagons that have been crossing the
Endless Wastes between Kara-Tur and the Unapproachable
East for centuries.
No matter how they got here, the Shou have become a fact
of life in Thesk. These foreign people with their strange
tongues and exotic ways usually congregate in districts of their
own, called Shou-towns, in just about every major city along
the Golden Way and beyond. They are slowly starting to have
an influence upon the societies of Faerûn as they become more
and more common in the region, and nowhere is this more obvious
than in the cities of Thesk.
TUIGANS
When the Tuigan Horde was defeated, not all the Tuigans returned
home. Some doffed their armor and threw down their
swords, trading in a soldier’s life for a peaceful existence in
Thesk. Most of these folk have little to no education, but they
THESK
Market day in Two Stars
176
are sharp. Many of them were pressed into the service of the
Horde and felt no great loss when it disappeared.
Others refused to give up the violent ways that had gotten
them to the doorstep of Faerûn. Many of these raiders knew no
other trade than war, and they were determined to make it pay.
The bandits who held Tammar for so long, for instance, were
mostly remnants of the Tuigan Horde. Such brigands continue
to plague Thesk to this day, although in dwindling numbers. Few
have enough determination to stand against the resolve of the
Merchants’ Council to keep the roads clear, and most such highway
robbers have been summarily executed for their trouble.
ORCS AND HALF-ORCS
The Zhents came to the aid of Thesk against the Tuigan
Horde a dozen years ago. After helping to win the battle
against the Horde, the Zhents opted to leave their orc units
stationed in Thesk. Over the intervening years, hundreds of
other orcs and half-orcs have come to join their fellows in one
of the few human nations that has shown the capacity to tolerate
their kind.
Illustration by Jim Pavelec