D&D 5E Adventuring in Cormyr, post war setting

[PeterRandelJensen]

I'm in the process of putting together a campaign for the first time in a very, very long time, and I'm thinking of taking my friends back to good old Cormyr, with a base (at least in the beginning) in Arabel.
Many years ago (in real life) we played AD&D in Forgotten Realms, so some things will be familiar to the players, but a lot has changed and I'm trying to get my head around how Cormyr looks and feels after the Sundering and after the defeat of the Netheril army.

I'm thinking that deserters (humans, Shades, Krinth, etc.) from the army are spread across the lands, refugees from the invasion are still either stuck somewhere temporary or are on their way "to a better" place. Also there must be some changes/damage to a city (and the surroundings) like Arabel after it has been under siege, but so far I have found very little in the official material about what the situation is in Cormyr.

Is there something I'm missing, (and yes, I have been using Google), or does someone have some "tried and tested" from your own campaign in Cormyr?

Hope you have something you would like to share?

 

[gyor]

Support for FR outside of the Swordcoast of been crumbles, but if I had to guess I think most deserters and even simply survivors would feel back towards Sembia and from Sembia to what ever they originally came from if it survived.

Cormyrian refugees would like have mostly return I would think, and would be trying to rebuild, perhaps with some help from the crown and the churches.

Lots of reconstruction.

 

[aco175]

I could also see the Dalelands and even the Moossea offering to assist in reconstruction. Sembia may be allowed to open trading eventually if Cormyr needs the goods and it appears that the Sembians can blame Netheral for the war. Of course, all this aid comes with a price and people with their own agenda's.

 

[PeterRandelJensen]

I like the Sembia angle, though I would suppose that a lot of the Netheril (or whatever is left of their forces) would have moved towards the Farsea swamp, where I believe they had a staging area for their invasion, and from there North towards the desert assuming there is anything to return to in the desert?!

I also like the rebuilding theme - I had an encounter/session planned, where the characters are asked to help clear out an abandoned keep as it, and the dungeon/prison beneath it, is needed for some Netheril Arcanists who aren't important enough to keep in Suzail, but far too dangerous to let loose, and I don't think that execution of every single prisoner would be "the Cormyr way". I'm thinking something borderline concentration camp to give the players to work with in the sense of roleplaying and moral dilemmas. And I will probably by using the Chainspire keep and dungeon that Dyson's Dodecahedron published.

As for the Dalelands - I had somehow imagined that they were in as bad a shape as Cormyr considering Sembia had also pushed North, but it is something I'll put up on the idea board.

Thank you for the great input.

 

[aco175]

If the Dales are weakened enough, Cormyr could use this excuse to annex them to their empire. Although, they may be too weak to do so without another war they do not need.

 

[PeterRandelJensen]

Cormyr as the aggressor in a war with the Dalelands - doesn't feel right for me, but it could work as a good idea for some political infighting in a Cormyr that is still trying to find it's feet after the war with the Netheril, and some factions/nobles might not be as defensive/passive as the previous leadership has been.

Maybe a (minor) noble tries to enlist the players to help him get rid of one of the leaders in one of dales by telling a lie that he/she is actually a Sembian (or Netheril) lackey and needs to be removed. How do you know who tells the truth? The noble who is part of the rebuilding effort in [town] and who is most definitely doing a lot to help Cormyr back to glory? Or the not so charismatic (but actually truthful) leader in [name of dale] who claims innosence and redirects blame back to the wealthy noble?

In real life there was quite a lot of false finger pointing and blame in the aftermath of WWII... I think I need to dig into some of the stories from liberated France/Poland/Europe to find some inspiration