Faerûn
Economically and technologically, Faerûn is comparable to Western Europe during the late Middle Ages,[4][5]: 200–201 giving most new players using this campaign setting an intuitive grasp of the way the society functions.
[1] Home to many different cultures, "[i]t is an eclectic land, rich in history, that has witnessed the rise and fall of kingdoms, forever bearing the scars of centuries of war.
Other organizations of Faerûn include the magical Seven Sisters, a band of assassins called the Fire Knives, a group of ruthless thieves operating out the city of Waterdeep named Xanathar's Guild, and the mysterious Shades—the returning survivors of the long-fallen Netheril empire.
[1] Faerûn is home to a large and diverse pantheon of deities, including: Numerous organizations of different types operate throughout Faerûn, including the Companions of the Hall, Cowled Wizards, Cult of the Dragon, Drow houses (like Baenre and Do'Urden), Elk Tribe, Flaming Fist, The Four (Mirt the Moneylender, Durnan, Asper and Randal Morn), Harpers, Iron Throne, The Kraken, Moonstars, Red Wizards of Thay, Seven Sisters, Shadow Thieves, and Zhentarim.
[7]: 6 Within the setting, "sub-arctic extremes chill its northern reaches, where ice sheets like the Great Glacier dominate the landscape in blinding white.
Next in significance is the Shaar, a broad region of grasslands in the south that, together with a large body of water called the Lake of Steam, separates the area around the inland sea from the coastal nations at the southern edge of the continent.
To the northwest, Faerûn is a region of wilderness, difficult winter weather, hordes of orcs, and barbarous human tribes.
It is a mostly-untamed region that lies between the large Anauroch desert in the east and the expansive Sea of Swords to the west with a mountain range at the far north called the Spine of the World.
It is a region of contrasts, with the forested Dalelands, the desert wastes of Anauroch,[12] the coastline of the Moonsea with the infamous Zhentil Keep,[12][22] and the bitterly cold steppes of The Ride.
Along the east coast of the Dragon Reach (a northern branch of the Sea of Fallen Stars) is a temperate region called The Vast, consisting of farmlands, forests and the Earthsea mountains.
It is bordered on the west by the mountain-hemmed land of Vaasa and stretches east to the vast steppes of the Hordelands, with its largest city of Winterkeep.
Mystical Rashemen is a land ruled from behind the scenes by spiritual witches,[25] and it is the location of the Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer computer game.
The west includes the city of Baldur's Gate (named for the great seafaring hero Balduran) the library-fortress of Candlekeep,[26] both considered among "D&D's most iconic locations",[5]: 200–201, 280 the nations of Amn,[12] Tethyr, Calimshan, the region of Western Heartlands and the elven stronghold of Evereska.
[28] With the exception of the Shining Plains, the interior lands of Faerûn lie along the irregular coastline of the western Sea of Fallen Stars.
The notable areas within this region include Chondath, Cormyr,[29] the Dragon Coast,[30] Hlondeth, the Pirate Isles and Prespur,[31] Sembia (and its largest city of Selgaunt), Sespech, Turmish, and the Shining Plains.
[32] The nation has made multiple attempts to invade neighboring countries and following a civil war, the lich Szass Tam became Thay's leader.
[33] Shannon Appelcline, author of Designers & Dragons, highlighted that "Thay doesn't have an obvious real-world derivation like some of the Realms.
The fourth edition of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, released in 2008, saw major changes to the geography of Faerûn and the world of Abeir-Toril.
[39] Chult became an island detached from the mainland, the kingdom of Halruaa was utterly destroyed, and parts of the Sea of Fallen Stars drained into the Underdark.
The northern Realms were less affected by the Spellplague, but during the 100-year gap between the third and fourth editions of the setting, it was revealed that the Netherese wizards of the city of Shade had eliminated the desert of Anauroch, returning the land to its pre-Fall state.
In addition to these changes, floating islands of earth known as 'earthmotes' appeared in the skies above Faerûn and the continent of Maztica across the western ocean vanished along with the Faerûnian colonies on its east coast.
