A request for input on the FR Nations and their relative strength

[jester47]

One thing one might want to consider is a nation's reach. How far can they influence?

This makes me want to create a CivIII version of the realms and see how things would play out.

Aaron.

 

[Fenrir]

I'm surprised Amn isn't higher on everyone's list.

Amn has tremendous wealth, a large population, a large army, some of the biggest centers of civilization in all of Faerun, and is to date the only nation that has gone transcontinental with its monopoly over Maztica and Maztican goods.

I don't know where I'd rank em, but I'd put the top 5 most powerful nations on Faerun as:

Amn
Thay
Cormyr
The Shades
Mulhorand

With Tethyr gaining honorable mention once they finally get their act together. They're on the rise, too.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

Ok Gez, this sounds good.

Power Factor =

Population (actual population) x
Military Factor (1 through 5) x
Magical Factor (1 through 5) x
Economic Factor (1 through 5) x
Political Factor (1 through 5) x
Racial CR Factor (1 through 5 based on racial CR)

Factors - Population, Military, Magical, Economic, Political

Very Poor = 1
Poor = 2
Average = 3
Strong = 4
Very Strong = 5

Racial CR Factor
1/2 to 1 = 1
2 to 4 = 2
5 to 9 = 3
10 to 16 = 4
17+ = 5

Power Factor of Evermeet:

Population Factor: 1,658,880 Inhabitants
Military Factor: 4 (Strong)
Magical Factor: 5 (Very Strong)
Economic Factor: 2 (Poor)
Political Factor: 1 (Very Poor)
Racial CR Factor: 1 (Very Poor)

1,658,880 x 4 x 5 x 2 x 1 x 1 = 66,355,200

66,355,200 / 1,000,000 = 66.36

Power Factor of Evermeet = 66.36

- - -

This sounds like a creative and neat formula.
I do not have access to most 3E Realms products ... I am curious as to what the other nations of the Realms comes to, under this equation (???)

As for Evermeet, I would give it (just my opinion only) :

Population Factor: 1,658,880 Inhabitants
Military Factor: 5 (Very Strong)
Magical Factor: 5 (Very Strong)
Economic Factor: 2 (Poor)
Political Factor: 3 (Average)
Racial CR Factor: 1 (Very Poor)

1,658,880 x 5 x 5 x 2 x 3 x 1 = 248,832,000

248,832,000 / 1,000,000 = 248.83

Power Factor of Evermeet = 248.83

Obviously, I am rating Evermeet a lot higher than Gez. But what do others have to say? Is he right? Am I right? Are we both wrong?

 

[Volaran]

Possibly because parts of Amn were annexed by two ogre mages and an army of humanoids and all efforts by the council of six to be be rid of them have been fruitless. Even with interests as far as Maztica, a war within a country's own borders will reduce influence.

 

[Janos Antero]

You'd need to list a year as well.

The three most powerful as of the most current year are:

Mulhorand
Thay
Nimbral

Most other nations have had some sort of nasty war recently. With the war against Shade/Phaerimm, war against the Taker, war against the Purple Dragon, etc, many of the nations that traditionally have a great deal of power are weakened greatly.

Consider the list of nations beset by warfare recently:
Waterdeep
Cormyr several times over.
Sembia
Silver Marches
Evermeet
Halruua
Mulhorand

Plus nations/regions totally destroyed, like Shade.

 

[Fenrir]

Agh, I forgot about those stupid humanoids. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Dave Versace]

Not sure I saw it mentioned, and I'm far from being an expert in the FR, but another thing that might usefully be factored in is the direct favour/disfavour of a specific god.

I don't have my FRCS dead tree handy, so I can't cite a reference, but I seem to recall that several nations enjoy the direct attention (for good or ill) of deities, whose influence one way or the other could have a significant impact on their overall power ranking.

Just a thought.

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

(If anyone wants to do the work, I'd be interested in the numbers - using Aloisius's method of population x military factor x magical factor ... etc. - for the nations below. I do not have population statistics, and cannot do it myself.)


I guess if one were to do it as a Poll ...

Votes by:

Edena_of_Neith
Gez
Aloïsius
NewbyDM
Fenrir
Janos Antero

- - -

# 1

Halruaa (2 votes)
Mulhorand (2 votes)

Amn (1 vote)
Thay (1 vote)


# 2

Thay (2 votes)

Evermeet (1 vote)
Halruaa (1 vote)
Mulhorand (1 vote)
Thay (1 vote)

# 3

Calimshan (1 vote)
Cormyr (1 vote)
Dambrath (1 vote)
Evermeet (1 vote)
Nimbral (1 vote)
Waterdeep (1 vote)

# 4

Candlekeep (1 vote)
Evermeet (1 vote)
The Phaerimm of Anauroch (1 vote)
The Shade (1 vote)
Thay (1 vote)

# 5

Aglarond (1 vote)
Calimshan (1 vote)
Mulhorand (1 vote)
Nimbral (1 vote)
The Phaerimm of Anauroch (1 vote)

# 6

Aglarond (1 vote)
The Phaerimm of Anauroch (1 vote)
Sembia (1 vote)
The Shade (1 vote)
Tethyr (1 vote)

# 7

Waterdeep (2 votes)

Calimsham (1 vote)
Larloch / Larloch's Necropolis (1 vote)

# 8

The Shade (2 votes)

Mulhorand (1 vote)
Zhentil Keep / Zhentarim (1 vote)

# 9

Luruar (1 vote)
The Shade (1 vote)
Thay (1 vote)
Unther (1 vote)

# 10

Luruar (1 vote)
The United Illithid (1 vote)
Var the Golden (1 vote)
Zhentil Keep / Zhentarim (1 vote)

# 11

Calimshan (1 vote)
Waterdeep (1 vote)
Zhentil Keep / Zhentarim (1 vote)

# 12

Cormyr (1 vote)
Dambrath (1 vote)
Mulhorand (1 vote)

# 13

Rashemen (1 vote)
Var the Golden (1 vote)

# 14

Nimbral (1 vote)
Zhentil Keep / Zhentarim (1 vote)

# 15

Amn (1 vote)
Rasheman (1 vote)

# 16

Nimbral (1 vote)
Sembia (1 vote)

# 17

Amn (1 vote)
Dwarves of the Great Rift (1 vote)

# 18

Evermeet (1 vote)
Sembia (1 vote)

# 19

Mulmaster (1 vote)
Thesk (1 vote)

# 20

Cormyr (1 vote)
Shadowdale (1 vote)

# 21

Larloch / Larloch's Necropolis (1 vote)
Thesk (1 vote)

# 22

Dwarves of the Great Rift (1 vote)
Westgate / Night Masks (1 vote)

# 23

Menzoberranzan (1 vote)
Tethyr (1 vote)

# 24

Baldur's Gate (1 vote)
Larloch / Larloch's Necropolis (1 vote)

# 25

Candlekeep (1 vote)
Westgate / Night Masks (1 vote)

# 26

The Peoples of the Moonshaes (1 vote)
Tethyr (1 vote)

# 27

Beholder Nations of the Lake of Steam (1 vote)
Luiren (1 vote)

# 28

Baldur's Gate (1 vote)
Chessenta (1 vote)

# 29

Cormyr (1 vote)
Menzoberranzan (1 vote)

# 30

Luskan (1 vote)
Unther (1 vote)

# 31

Evereska (1 vote)
Luskan (1 vote)

# 32

Chessenta (1 vote)
Chondath (1 vote)

# 33

Shadowdale (1 vote)
Unther (1 vote)

# 34

Lantan (1 vote)
Raven's Bluff (1 vote)

# 35

Evereska (1 vote)
Raven's Bluff (1 vote)

# 36

Hillsfar (2 votes)

# 37

Lantan (1 vote)
The People of the Moonshaes (1 vote)

# 38

Lurien (1 vote)

# 39

Neverwinter (1 vote)

# 40

Chondath (1 vote)

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

To answer your question, Darkness, the reason I rated Candlekeep so high is simple:

Candlekeep is something like Faerun's Library of Alexandria, both in mudane and magical knowledge.
This makes Candlekeep the prime target of other nations on the planet, for the purposes of plunder.
Yet Candlekeep, somehow manages to avoid being plundered, and as far as I know has not been captured since it was founded.

That is why I place Candlekeep so high.

- - -

Darkness, obviously I missed a number of Faerunian powers.
Chad Nessid, among others.
I haven't put a single humanoid power on the list ... and I know the humanoids have at least two or three major powers.
If you or others would fill me in on what I missed, I'd be curious as to what that was. Faerun is chock full of nations and powers ...

 

[Edena_of_Neith]

Creamsteak, neither Janos nor UFO have contacted me concerning their lists.