Yora
Legend
I've long had the opinion that Forgotten Realms would actually work better as four or five separate campaign settings than one big barrel of everything to all people. (Which WotC might actually have concluded too, with almost all content of the past decade being only northern Sword Coast.) The three most viable for standing on their own feet are the NorthernSword Coast, the Heartlands of Cormyr, Dalelands, and Moonsea, and the Northeast with Aglarond, Rashemen, Thay, Impultur, and Damara. Southern Sword Coast and the Old Empires of the Southeast could also work, but always seemed underdeveloped.
The Northeast of the Unapproachable East and the Cold Lands is somewhat in the middle of the field. More developed than the two big southern regions, but seemingly very underused compared to the Sword Coast and Heartlands. Even though the Red Wizards seem to have always been quite popular. It's a region that I find really compelling from looking at it and I am quite curious about what great campaigns could perhaps be run in it.
The region in this map is 960 miles high and 1280 miles wide. The best comparion I could think of would be the Black Sea region. While it doesn't line up exactly and is located more southernly, I think the highlands of Anatolia and Armenia could make great references for the the landscape of Thay, and the Caucasus and Caparthian mountains might be of similar scale to the Earthspur and Sunrise mountains. Imagining the coast of Impiltur as similar to the coast of Bulgaria and Romenia could also work. And of course the Endless Wastes to the east are a literal stand in for the stepped of Kazakhstan. This map below is exactly the same size as the one above.
One thing I noticed browsing through Bloodstone Lands (1st ed.), Spellbound (2nd ed.), and Unapproachable East (3rd ed.) is that this region is almost exclusively populated by humans. The exception are some dwarves in the Galena Mountains in Damara, a population of half-elves in the Yuirwood in Aglarond that are culturally separate from the human coastal cities, and a sizable population of gnolls in Thay that has prospered as vassals of the Red Wizards. This is actually in line with the original concept of the Forgotten Realms, which had the elves almost entirely gone, and the dwarves becoming a nearly forgotten shadow of their former selves. With the way D&D settings are often presented, I usually find it difficult to really grasp how various regions are populated. What I found very useful is to visualize the size and distribution of major settlements that have been described in detail. For this part of Faerûn, it looks like this.
Not all surprisingly, most of the population is clustered along the coast of the Sea of Fallen Stars in numerous major port cities, but also the big metropolises of Thay. I would expect the rural population density to somewhat reflect the distribution of urban centers, simply because we don't really have anything else to go with. Once you're out of sight of the sea and get off the big trade roads, you're out in the wilderness.
Something that appears to be kind of a theme with this region is the presence of many very powerful wizards, but also a high exclusivity of magic. For the masses of common people, magic is something largely absent from their lives, and it's the domain of a small elite, that is as much feared as respected at best. The region also used to be the territory of two ancient empires of terrible sorcerers and demon worshippers who eventually both wiped each other out with their endless magical wars. These make for great sources of old dungeons hidden in the forests and under overgrown piles of rubble.
The Northeast isn't anything particularly special if you look at its many aspects separately. But a cold wilderness of forests and grasslands, with barbarians, witches, and sorcerers among ruins filled with burried ancient evils is something I find quite appealing. And approaching it with a Eastern Europe/Black Sea aesthetic in mind, which does occasionally shine through in the sources, I think it could be something really fun to play in.
I'm not having any specific questions right now, but I think this is a fun setting that would be really interesting to share impressions and exchange ideas about.
The Northeast of the Unapproachable East and the Cold Lands is somewhat in the middle of the field. More developed than the two big southern regions, but seemingly very underused compared to the Sword Coast and Heartlands. Even though the Red Wizards seem to have always been quite popular. It's a region that I find really compelling from looking at it and I am quite curious about what great campaigns could perhaps be run in it.
The region in this map is 960 miles high and 1280 miles wide. The best comparion I could think of would be the Black Sea region. While it doesn't line up exactly and is located more southernly, I think the highlands of Anatolia and Armenia could make great references for the the landscape of Thay, and the Caucasus and Caparthian mountains might be of similar scale to the Earthspur and Sunrise mountains. Imagining the coast of Impiltur as similar to the coast of Bulgaria and Romenia could also work. And of course the Endless Wastes to the east are a literal stand in for the stepped of Kazakhstan. This map below is exactly the same size as the one above.
One thing I noticed browsing through Bloodstone Lands (1st ed.), Spellbound (2nd ed.), and Unapproachable East (3rd ed.) is that this region is almost exclusively populated by humans. The exception are some dwarves in the Galena Mountains in Damara, a population of half-elves in the Yuirwood in Aglarond that are culturally separate from the human coastal cities, and a sizable population of gnolls in Thay that has prospered as vassals of the Red Wizards. This is actually in line with the original concept of the Forgotten Realms, which had the elves almost entirely gone, and the dwarves becoming a nearly forgotten shadow of their former selves. With the way D&D settings are often presented, I usually find it difficult to really grasp how various regions are populated. What I found very useful is to visualize the size and distribution of major settlements that have been described in detail. For this part of Faerûn, it looks like this.
Not all surprisingly, most of the population is clustered along the coast of the Sea of Fallen Stars in numerous major port cities, but also the big metropolises of Thay. I would expect the rural population density to somewhat reflect the distribution of urban centers, simply because we don't really have anything else to go with. Once you're out of sight of the sea and get off the big trade roads, you're out in the wilderness.
Something that appears to be kind of a theme with this region is the presence of many very powerful wizards, but also a high exclusivity of magic. For the masses of common people, magic is something largely absent from their lives, and it's the domain of a small elite, that is as much feared as respected at best. The region also used to be the territory of two ancient empires of terrible sorcerers and demon worshippers who eventually both wiped each other out with their endless magical wars. These make for great sources of old dungeons hidden in the forests and under overgrown piles of rubble.
The Northeast isn't anything particularly special if you look at its many aspects separately. But a cold wilderness of forests and grasslands, with barbarians, witches, and sorcerers among ruins filled with burried ancient evils is something I find quite appealing. And approaching it with a Eastern Europe/Black Sea aesthetic in mind, which does occasionally shine through in the sources, I think it could be something really fun to play in.
I'm not having any specific questions right now, but I think this is a fun setting that would be really interesting to share impressions and exchange ideas about.
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