Unapproachable East.pdf - The Forgotten Realms

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