Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms
Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms
Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms
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A Shadowmaster at work<br />
ADVENTURING IN THE EAST<br />
84<br />
demanding a ruinous cut of legitimate enterprises. So far, they<br />
have been cautious in extorting native <strong>The</strong>skians, preferring to<br />
maintain a chokehold on their fellow Shou instead of provoking<br />
the merchant-princes. Now the Nine Golden Swords have<br />
just about conquered their chosen battlefield, and the riches of<br />
their neighbors beckon. Shou thugs and gangsters are moving<br />
their operations into the heart of <strong>The</strong>skian business all along<br />
the Golden Way.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Nine Golden Swords are led by a mysterious figure<br />
known as the Golden Master. <strong>The</strong> city of Phsant is the base<br />
of their power; the Golden Master can muster hundreds of<br />
loyal soldiers in the Shou quarter of that city, if he so chooses.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Shadowmasters of Telflamm have no use for the Nine<br />
Golden Swords, and a fierce gang-war has sprung up between<br />
the two powerful societies.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Red Wizards of Thay<br />
No discussion of powerful organizations would be complete<br />
without mentioning the Red Wizards, a society of such ambition<br />
and ruthlessness that their reach extends across a continent.<br />
Red Wizard enclaves dot the shores of the Sea of<br />
Fallen Stars, exporting deadly and wondrous magic to cities<br />
and kingdoms throughout Faerûn in exchange for goods,<br />
slaves, and coin of unimaginable value.<br />
While the Red Wizards are discussed at length in Chapter<br />
11: Thay, their influence pervades all the lands of the <strong>Unapproachable</strong><br />
<strong>East</strong>. Thayan spies skulk among the people of<br />
Aglarond and Rashemen, seeking ways to sow dissent and<br />
weakness among the traditional enemies of their land. Thayan<br />
merchants and wizards dominate the Wizards’ Reach and<br />
wield great power in cities such as Nethentir and Tammar.<br />
Those states are nominally independent, but the Red Wizards<br />
could devour them in a tenday if they chose.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Shadowmasters<br />
of Telflamm<br />
Ruthless and sinister, the Shadowmasters are one of the most<br />
successful and widespread thieves’ guilds in all Faerûn. Only<br />
the Shadow Thieves of Amn, and perhaps the Night Masks of<br />
Westgate, rival their power. Shadowmaster guilds lurk in<br />
Emmech, Escalant, Laothkund, Nethentir, Nethjet, Nyth,<br />
Phent, Phsant, Uthmere, and even Bezantur in Thay, scheming<br />
to plunder from commoner and noble alike. <strong>The</strong> Shadowmasters<br />
secretly rule <strong>The</strong>sk, since many of the merchant<br />
princes who make up the land’s governing Council are either<br />
spies for, or thoroughly intimidated by, the guild.<br />
While the Shadowmasters virtually rule Telflamm through<br />
its weak Merchants’ Council, they do not yet exercise the same<br />
political power in other cities, such as Emmech or Escalant.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re the Shadowmaster presence is limited to small bands of<br />
thieves content to burglarize, embezzle, extort, and mug in<br />
the manner of criminal gangs everywhere. But unlike other<br />
guilds, these Shadowmaster cells are eyes and ears for the<br />
entire organization, funneling information back to their<br />
Illustration by Sam Wood