Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms

The oligarchs worry that the orc soldiers are still loyal to
Zhentil Keep. If this is true, the Zhents could conceivably activate
these troops at any time and destroy Thesk from within.
For this reason, many of the orcs who came to Telflamm have
been relocated, but most have been treated well enough in
Thesk to reconsider their loyalties, should the call to arms
come once again.
Life and Society
Thesk is all about business, at least from the point of view of
most humans who live and work here. There are a few mines
in the mountains and a number of farms along the Golden
Way, but these collectively come in a distant second behind
commerce, shipping, and catering to the caravans along the
main trade routes.
Wealth is the means to power, station, and comfort in
Thesk. Most often, this wealth lies in the hands of the socalled
merchant lords, or oligarchs, who control the great merchant
houses and the endless streams of caravans bound for
the lands beyond the Endless Wastes. However, prosperous
landowners and retired adventurers fit into this hierarchy as
well. The merchants of Thesk do not look down on the farmers,
craftsfolk, and laborers who populate their country. A
merchant who has gained wealth and influence sees governing
as a responsibility imposed by success and rarely seeks to
do anything more than discharge his duties in the quickest and
most efficient manner possible.
Theskians tend to be a warm people, always ready with a
kind word—and an open palm. They accept payment for services
rendered in any form. To them, it’s not who you are
that’s important so much as what you’re worth. To call all
Theskians schemers is a bit harsh, but most of them are always
on the prowl for the next big deal. Others may see their
commercialism as crass, but Theskians are some of the
most open-minded folk in Faerûn. They didn’t condemn the
orcs the Zhentarim left behind. Instead, they saw them as
valuable resources.
ECONOMY
As the gateway between Kara-Tur and Faerûn, Thesk’s fortuitous
geographical location has transformed its people into
one of the wealthiest nations in the East. Dozens of large trading
costers and hundreds of minor entrepreneurs organize
huge caravan trains to carry the goods of Faerûn to the distant
eastern lands. These magnates invest thousands of gold
pieces in cargoes that sell at a premium in Kara-Tur, then use
the revenues to buy silk, spices, and other exotic goods to bring
back to Thesk and sell to other merchants of the Inner Sea for
a prince’s ransom. An investment of 100 gp in western goods
sent to Kara-Tur can return 500 gp in silk and spice, although
the journey to Kara-Tur and back takes a full year and can be
quite dangerous.
Not all Theskians are capable of sponsoring their own caravans
to the far east, but many, especially in the larger cities,
THESK
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work as clerks, guards, laborers, and provisioners in the great
merchant houses. Those who are not involved in the eastern
trade make their living much as do people of other lands.
Thesk exports beef, leather, grain, and some timber to the
nearby nations of the East, although many farmers and ranchers
simply provision the caravans instead of selling their produce
abroad.
Thesk took a hit in the coin purse when the Tuigan Horde
invaded. The disruption cost not only many lives but a great
deal of gold, as two entire seasons of caravans were lost. Clearing
the Golden Way became a top priority for the Merchants’
Council and even the Shadowmasters, both of whom rely on
the prosperity of Telflamm to fuel their own rise to power.
LAW AND ORDER
Aglarondans mutter that justice is for sale in Thesk, but this
is not entirely true. Crime and disorder are bad for business,
so the oligarchs make a point of keeping order in their cities
and towns. The common folk are protected by a code of laws,
enforced by city watches hired by the merchants’ councils to
protect people and property from the depredations of the lawless.
However, there is little regulation of business practices,
so unscrupulous merchants think nothing of bribing the clerks
of their competitors to pass them information, charging usurious
rates when lending money, or even paying marauders in
the Endless Wastes to attack their rivals’ caravans.
Most crimes are punishable by stiff fines as opposed to imprisonment
or execution. A merchant lord can usually afford
to buy her way out of any trouble short of murder, and sometimes
even that can be atoned for with a sufficiently large
payment to the city’s ruling merchants. Common Theskians
do not often have recourse to this sort of bribery, so it’s not
unfair to say that the laws of the land are more onerous to the
poor than the wealthy. Thesk has a tradition of vigilante justice,
though, and poor folk may take the law into their own
hands when they perceive their wealthy neighbors have gotten
away with something.
DEFENSE AND WARCRAFT
The Theskians are not a warlike people. They have never
mounted an invasion of another country and have no desire
to do so. They’d rather trade with their neighbors, and it’s hard
to do that in the middle of a fight. “War is bad business for
everyone but the gravediggers,” is an old Theskian maxim, oft
repeated in troubled times. Still, the Theskians know their
wealth makes them a target for those who conduct business
transactions at the point of a sword. They invest considerable
resources in securing themselves and their belongings against
aggressors. Most merchants, not content to leave the safety
of themselves, their families, and their belongings to anyone
else, hire on large numbers of competent and loyal guards.
Thesk has no national army. Instead, the larger cities of Milvarune,
Nyth, Phsant, and Telflamm each field relatively small
forces of professional soldiers augmented by well-ordered and