The Realm of Nimbral

Ed Greenwood

I: Legends, Mysteries, and History

Some Faerûnian mainlanders say that human-sized and larger versions of the fey, many possessing extra limbs and strange powers, inhabit the secretive, seldom-visited island realm of Nimbral. Still other tales whisper of lush, deep, and endless forests inhabited by elves (or elflike beings) who can turn invisible and teleport at will. The tales tell of the inhabitants tormenting intruders with spells and sudden "thrusts from nowhere" of poisoned blades. Some folk of Faerûn believe that Nimbral is a land of fell women who have, over centuries of spell use on their newborns, changed their races form to gain tails or extra limbs and innate magical abilities. These beings supposedly dwell on Nimbral under the rule of hags and use portals to reach certain mainland forests and cities to breed with men who never suspect their true nature and origins. Still others think the isle serves as the abode of a centuries-old colony of disciplined and powerful arcane casters who use spells and spell-commanded monsters to drive off intruders and spread wild tales (like the preceding beliefs) of what truly exists on Nimbral.
Most tales of Nimbral agree on two things, however: Deep green forests (temperate woodlands dominated by soaring shadowtops, duskwoods, oaks, and elms) dominate the realm, and a Flying Hunt of glass-armored knights who ride pegasi steeds call the place home. Legends of this splendid aerial spectacle have given Nimbral its most famous mainland nickname: the Realm of the Flying Hunt. Some name it the Sea Haven for its location, too, since it made its small harbors a refuge from storms for sailors blown west from the shipping lanes around the Chultan peninsula and into the seemingly-endless expanse of uncharted ocean.
Many mainlanders had the existence of the Flying Hunt proven to them dramatically in the Year of the Shield, when a Flying Hunt flew across the Trackless Sea and raided pirate ships in the Nelanther Isles -- the first such foray in living memory. They left several pirate ships off the coast of Tethyr afire and adrift, with the crews slaughtered. Many in coastal lands lauded these deeds, but the actions of the Flying Hunt awakened fears of where the Hunt might strike next, and whether any land remained safe from their raids. Flying ships from the mage-land of Halruaa sailed the skies to Nimbral shortly after this foray; some thought the ruling wizards of the Land of the Skyships wanted to discourage any possibility of the Nimbrese becoming a new sort of aerial pirate, coastal raider, or conqueror of lands in face-to-face discussions.
What ensued from those talks remains unknown, but rumors among seafarers up and down the Sword Coast and the Shining Sea ports suggest that the Nimbrese were avenging pirate raids, not embarking on any campaign of raids or expansions. (However, other sailors have reported finding caves on small, isolated sea isles that had Nimbrese garrisons and that also possessed pegasi pens, forage for the steeds, and "star charts" to aid in oversea flights.) Moreover, seafaring Calishite slavers revile the Flying Hunt as ruthless raiders and bandits, blaming them for many disappearances and "strange ills" (the local term for bad luck), suggesting a history of strife between the Nimbrese and all who come slave-raiding within their reach.
The folk of Nimbral seem self-sufficient, and they engage in no regular shipping or trade with mainland Faerûn. Some sailors and sages of interior Faerûnian lands alike believe this land is purely legendary; others, such as the monks of Candlekeep, hunger for more information about this remote and reclusive island. Scholars, by the way, apply the term "Nimbrese" to the collective folk of the island, "Nimbran" to their work, study, beliefs, and customs, and "Nimbrian" to items of their making. Thus, a Knight of the Flying Hunt is a Nimbran, wearing Nimbrian armor, and of the Nimbrese people.
The history of Nimbral remains sketchy at best, but moon elves colonized this forested island of wild beasts long ago, and they later welcomed humans from Halruaa who (unlike the majority of folk in that wizard-ruled realm) worshiped Leira, goddess of illusions. Intermarriages between the races became common. Those elves who had no wish to live so closely with humans gradually departed, until almost no pureblood elves remained. No record of strife exists between elf and human inhabitants of Nimbral, perhaps because neither racial group has ever been so sufficiently numerous as to overcrowd the island.

II: What the Eye First Sees

The rare visitor to Nimbral today is a curiosity and does not receive hostile treatment (unless armed and aboard a slaving ship, or engaged in the act of slaving or raiding and pillaging the Summer Land). So long as that visitor obeys any glass-armored knights he or she sees, or any herald of the realm (any person flying without a steed, and bearing a rod of white carved bone fashioned with a spread-fingered human hand at either end), he or she can freely roam the island at will and might well observe some of facts and specifics that follow.
Nine out of ten Nimbrese today are dark-haired, fair-skinned humans (apt to be slender and tall of build, sometimes with blue-tinged skin around their cheeks and throats from traces of moon elf blood), with the tenth Nimbrese being a half-elf of obvious moon elven descent. No social stigma is attached in the Summer Land to being one or the other. Nimbrese refer to themselves as "the Folk of Summer" and their land as either (very formally or poetically) "the Land of the Summer Seas" or, more often, "the Summer Land."
Nimbral uses the Calendar of Harptos, though the latitude of the island, plus the cooling sea breezes that customarily blow gently over it, make winters a short, mild month (Hammer) of rains, cold mists, and mud (followed by another month or so of warming weather accompanied by near-blinding fogs), and summers long and gentle. They embrace the standard Roll of Years, and many Nimbrese are familiar with extensive local lore (events down the years, including shipwrecks, dragon arrivals and slayings, births and deaths of important citizens as well as their own kin, and so on).
All Nimbrese speak Common and Halruaan. (The former is used in daily speech, and the latter in prayers, family and community lore, ballads, and formal speech.) Most use the Draconic alphabet daily, and many are also familiar with Elven and the Espruar script. Song, rhyming tales (from simple children's ditties such as "Oh, if you go down to the sea today/The merfolk will call: come away/Heed not their pleas if you would stay/Alive, alive-o!" to long, intricate narrative ballads), and romantic tales of true love, sacrifice, and loyalty are favorites of most Nimbrese. One rarely finds an unlettered inhabitant of the Sea Haven, though many prefer to listen and speak little, writing when haste is unnecessary and strong emotions or principles latter. (For example, love letters and notes to state positions in disputes are common.)
Nimbral itself is a gently-rolling, well-watered land of lush forests. Knee-deep ferns, sun-dappled blue-green shade, damp air, and fireflies by night are the elements that come to the minds of most folk when asked to describe the Realm of the Flying Hunt. One never strays far from small brooks and ponds when in Nimbral, though it has only one river: the Ormarr. This river is navigable from its mouth to the cascades that bring it down from the high slopes of Maern Prestarr, which is the largest and highest peak of the Seirsardar. This central range of mountains provides a rampart for the island against the occasional "Great Waves" that sweep across the sea to the west of Nimbral. "Maern" means "mountain" in Nimbran naming, and "Thorl" is rock (usually applied to offshore rocks that endanger Nimbran fishing boats, or the sea-lashed coastal rocks where shellfish many be found). Interestingly, Nimbrese have no word for "Wood" or "Forest," because, despite some open meadows and cleared farmlands, they regard all of Nimbral as a place of trees.
The visitor roaming Nimbral can see trees, trees, and more trees. Marshes are few and so are farms (which tend to be individual clearings strung along the unsignposted labyrinth of dirt lanes that crisscrosses the realm in a great web). High meadows exist only on the rising slopes of the maerns, in particular along the eastern side of the Seirsardar and the southern face of the Vaerael (the mountain range at the northern tip of the island).
All of the sizable settlements in Nimbral are ports, though few of them are large enough to even be towns, to mainland eyes. These settlements climb steep, rocky slopes up from the sea in a series of terraced lanes that link a dock front strip of warehouses and fishing-net frames with a few shops and a scattering of garden-bedecked homes.

III: What the Eye Next Sees

For most Nimbrese, life is simple, and one that remains harmoniously close to the cycles and ways of the land or sea. Nimbrese avoid boredom by mastering craftwork (such as weaving, gemcutting, wood carving, cookery, and building with beauty and elegance in lumber or stone) and by enjoying and spinning written, told, and sung tales. The realm holds many inventive storytellers and a lively publishing industry. (Almost all Nimbrese chapbooks are short, lurid romantic tales.)
Coastal Nimbrese dwell in stone houses that have been built into hillsides; each one has roofs of either slate or growing thatch. Most inland Nimbrese inhabit small log lodges that either snake along a wooded ridge, or make extensive use of stairs, platforms, and rooms in trees like the elf dwellings of Tangled Trees in Cormanthor.
Overland travel in the realm is by foot or on horseback, with small carts being used to move goods about. Traveling peddlers number many, but large market-moots few. Inns tend to be stout stone or log buildings that sprawl in all directions in a welter of wings and spired rooms obviously built at different times; the structures growing as needs demand.
The western shores of Nimbral see the harshest seas and weather, and ship travel tends to be for short "hops" from one port to the next, whereas numerous small vessels ply the waves along the southern and eastern coasts of the realm. Both large amounts of heavy goods, and items and folk who need to move a long way in the realm swiftly, tend to go by water except in the winter months.
The backwoods lanes, however, always teem with local traffic (something it should always be remembered that forest predators are aware of). Here and there, the visitor traversing the trails can see the only thing (besides the prevalence of uncut "forest giant" trees) that makes the Nimbrese landscape instantly different from upland Turmish: the slender spires of small, "fairytale" castles.
Nimbrese castles are stone structures that they call "fairytale" or "fairylike" because they're built in graceful, sweeping curves that feature tall, slender towers, balconies, and beautiful stonework. These serve as the abodes of the Knights, the wealthiest and most worldly of Nimbrese, who ride in the Flying Hunt and who have usually journeyed (in secret, not openly wearing glass armor and flying in concert with armored fellows) to the mainland in their youth, to taste what the rest of Faerûn has to offer. Many of the most restless Nimbrese youths can't wait to "take the Tour" as this practice of wandering and adventuring is known -- but unless they meet with misadventure abroad, or fall deeply in love with someone there who is rooted to the mainland, they tend to return to live out their lives in the Realm of the Flying Hunt, wiser and happy to be home, where (as many of them put it) "things aren't so crowded, dirty, violent, and spoiled."
A "home farm" surrounds most castles of Knights, and on these farms live a small cluster of tenant families who grow specialized crops for sale around the island. Knights seldom compete directly with nearby neighbors in types of produce grown, but when they do, rivalries can be fierce.
Knights of Nimbral wear full suits of glass armor enhanced for hardness and for providing various magical attributes upon the wearer. They follow an elaborate code of chivalry (designed centuries ago to prevent Knights raiding each other's holdings and families, and ever making war upon each other directly), and on their patrols they attack predatory beasts and monsters, repel invaders and raiders (such as pirates and slavers), observe the whereabouts and doings of Nimbrese and visitors, and enforce the laws of Nimbral upon visitors and citizens alike.
Most mainlanders regard some Nimbrian crops as unusual: Nimbrese harvest certain giant dusty-red "shade roses" and ugly, bulbous creeping forest vines for the table, for example. They crush mint-ferns to purify water, as well as add, crush, or ferment some very odd things, from bark to seaweeds, for addition to various local wines and teas.
Nimbrian medicines can be even more surprising. Certain grubs, swallowed whole and living so as to be kept alive in the body for as long as possible, for instance, neutralize some poisons and diseases (though such effects work only for some Nimbrese, and they do not help almost all outlanders save half-elves and human with some elf bloodlines). Many shore-harvested local weeds have roots that they pickle for eating, and almost all inland Nimbrese garden and gather edible fungi and berries in the woods.

IV: Nimbrian Life, Coin, and Livings

The occasional mainlander visiting the Sea Haven is bewildered as to how Nimbrese earn livings --they seem to live so simply in a wild woodland realm, and yet they buy and sell jewelry, books, and beautiful but impractical statuettes and other "art objects."
The truth is that life in Nimbral (a land of mild climates and plentiful food, water, and free foraging) is relatively cheap. Some port-dwelling Nimbrese carve furniture of driftwood or sculpt it -- and blocks to build dwellings from -- of stone, or make livings trading some goods for others (because they possess warehouses for storage and the best information as to scarcities elsewhere in the realm). Everyone who dwells near a Nimbran shore scavenges crabs and shellfish from tidal pools and "beach wash."
The majority of port-dwelling Nimbrese are fisherfolk ("wavefarers" in local parlance they put forth in small boats to net fish or to raise and lower crab-pots and oyster-scoops. The waters around Nimbral hold abundant sea-slake (the hand-length, tasty, strong-smelling brown fish sometimes called "smelt" in Sword Coast lands) and silvereye (a large blue-and-silver sharp-nosed fish with flesh so salty that it keeps for days without needing smoking or salting) year-round. In the warmest months they also yield hansrae (a fat many-finned fish that tastes like beef and has a body the shape and size of the head of an axe) and in the winter chill can produce a few highly flavored shull or "basking turtle," the flavorful, slow, soft-shelled sea-turtle that can grow as large as some small open boats and is best brought in with harpoons and several boats working together.
Fisherfolk of the Sea Haven always carry flails and throw-nets to bring down the large, squawking slate-hued diving seabirds known as "shaurrak," that constantly try to plunder drawn-in fishing nets of fish. When spit-roasted, the smoky-tasting white flesh of shaurrak is prized in the local diet, and the Nimbrese often boil the oily feathers to yield a useful water-repellent oil or sealing gum.
Nimbral has at least two trading caravels capable of reaching the mainland, twice that number of fast, slender coastal ships that can deliver goods and people from port to port or act as an impromptu navy if called upon, about a dozen broad-beamed, wallowing but sturdy old cogs (much smaller than the merchant cogs in general use along the Sword Coast these days), and four dozen or more small fishing boats of various sorts, conditions, and sizes.
Nimbrese dwelling in the forested interiors work with lumber for their furnishing and shelter needs, and they hunt the woodland beasts that still roam the lush forests of Nimbral in profusion, for food and pelts. Such prey (which can sometimes become the hunters of those trying to hunt them) includes many boar, deer, and bears, but the forests of the realm also hold a few owlbears, wolves, nyths, and peryton -- as well as a few rarer and more feared monsters.
A few Nimbrese make their livings taming and then selling captured forest beasts, or they breed horses and ponies in the meadows for sale across the realm. Because such beasts (particularly the largest, strongest horses needed for pulling boats ashore, logs out of the woods, and heaviest carts) are in short supply, prices for trained horses can be 20% higher than in most mainland locales of Faerûn (Player's Handbook standard prices).
Folk of Nimbral use coins of all origins (gleaned from shipwrecks, pirates, visitors, and voyages to the mainland), following the usual values of copper, silver, and gold, but they also pay each other in local gems, mint simple (triangular and pierced) copper coins from native Nimbrian copper, and engage in a lot of barter. "Stone debts" are IOUs scratched on a flat stone and taken to a Herald for witnessing by both parties to a debt; the Herald makes a paper record of the debt and scratches his or her own sign on the obverse face of the stone; when the debt is paid, the Herald shatters the stone in the presence of both parties or their inheritors.
Nimbrese tend to be fatalistic. Drownings at sea and deaths from forest beasts or treefalls happen to many despite precautions taken, and winter chills and ailments claim some folk every year . . . so why worry? The Lords protect us against dragons or other unusual marauders, and all else is simply the way of things, they believe.

V: Laws and Heralds

The laws of Nimbral, known as "the Tellings," are, simply put, the wills and decrees of the mysterious, seldom-seen ruling Nimbral Lords. They are codified and posted (with updates) at all inns and port offices of the realm.
The Tellings include voluminous Lords' judgments on individual matters (for example, "Thaldon Immertree shall touch or cause to be moved no boundary post of Faerond Mallow, or suffer the breaking of a finger and the payment of forty silver coins or more, per marker shifted"), but follow these general principles: instantly and utterly obey any Knight, Herald, or Lord or face a period of imprisonment; give (if one is a Knight or Herald) no overly ruthless, foolish, or needlessly tyrannical orders or face prison time; steal not, attack not, despoil not (trees and crops as well as citizens and set no fires or perform other destruction -- or face both fines and longer imprisonment (depending on the degree of damage done).
Prison time in Nimbral is spent gardening or, for the worst prisoners, mining for copper and gems (mainly emeralds, but moonstones and sapphires also come to light) in mountain mines. The mines tend to be narrow, dangerous shafts and crawl-tunnels down which lone miscreants in harnesses are lowered on ropes to work with prybars and picks, in the light of enspelled glowstones.
Murderers (of Nimbrese citizens) are either slain or set to mining until they die or survive twenty summers. Folk who maim others often find themselves treated to the same disability they visited upon a victim. Those deemed to have slain or maimed whilst defending children, the wounded or sick, or in desperate self-defense, are usually given lighter sentences (often four or five years of mining, or service on a long and perilous Nimbrese naval journey). The Tellings place a high value on leaving alone growing things, and not harming or causing fear in any Nimbran, and a lower value on property -- and include many instances of "punishments fitting crimes." (A Nimbran who liked to beat his wife, for instance, was beaten in like manner by a larger woman, to collapse, every day for nine days; a Nimbran who continually stole from her neighbors had all of her belongings seized and distributed freely among folk of a distant port, and so on.)
It may take a visitor to Nimbral some time to notice that Nimbrese continually tell little lies (especially about their own pasts and deeds this is a legacy of the realm's longtime state worship of Leira, as is the love of tale-spinning. Since the fall of the goddess in the Time of Troubles, the Nimbral Lords have sought to remove all power of illusions from the general populace, and to make lying about "things that matter" (current behavior, items and their amounts and whereabouts, things and events observed) extremely frowned upon. The Lords promote the idea that all organized worship is founded in deceit, and is therefore a bad and self-limiting thing. Therefore, no state religion or organized priesthoods are allowed in the realm, only small shrines and individual priests (whose doings must never offend against the Tellings, upon risk of exile after more usual punishments are administered). No law deems lying a crime, but all Nimbrese know that Heralds (and presumably the Lords) can tell truth from falsehood. Most don't know that this ability is conferred by rings of truth telling all Heralds wear.
Ring of Truth Telling: This ring provides its wearer with the combined effects of a detect thoughts spell and a zone of truth spell. The ring has 50 charges. One charge powers either detect thoughts or zone of truth function for 5 minutes.
Faint divination and enchantment; CL 5th; Forge Ring, detect thoughts, zone of truth; Price 15,750 gp.
Heralds of Nimbral do not discuss their specific duties, numbers, and orders with non-Heralds, but they seem to number sixteen or so. They deliver warnings and guidance (based on their exhaustive knowledge of the Tellings and the intent of the Lords), decide what matters to take to the Lords for judgment; deliver Lords' judgments to others; and can command all Knights as enforcers, bodyguards, and peacemakers.
Every Herald receives ongoing, specific operational orders as "voices in their minds" directly from the Lords, in a mental contact they have no control over (they can mentally "speak back" to a Lord when in contact, but can't "call" a Lord).

VI: Of Heralds and of the Nimbrese Character

Heralds of Nimbral wear distinctive black-with-white-piping "triangular" tabards over black breeches and high boots. The tabards are identical belted black robes dominated by an equilateral triangle-front having one point at the belt, the other two giving the wearer wide, impressive shoulders. This triangle echoes Leira's holy symbol, but no Herald will be pleased to be told this. Every tabard magically resists mold and soiling, and has stronger magical powers equal to those of a winged shield. (There is evidence Lords often temporarily confer additional magic on a tabard, for the wearer's use in a specific task).
The breast and back of a Herald's tabard display the symbol of the Nimbral Lords, which is also the Sign of the Realm: a white three-pointed star with one point straight down and the other two at forty-five-degree angles to upper left and upper right. The downmost point is a fish, snout up to the center of the symbol; the left point is a stout tree, in leaf; and the right point is a human left hand, fingers and thumb spread, with tiny stars floating above the end of each digit.
Twelve Heralds are stationed in the ports; the other four (?) wander the interior except when relieving the stationary Heralds (usually for nine days of "off duty" time in small, secluded forest cottages that each Herald builds and eventually retires to). Heralds may be on a first-name basis with neighbors, but when "working" use only their names of office.
In order of seniority, the heraldic offices are Fyrefelen (stationed in Ormen Ohndivur (Tethmor Ramrath (Curstallyon Durlance (Nimsur Mhanrued (Esdul Lyaparce (Bromtor Skannajh (Rauthaven Hoathal (Sombor Statharn (Nimith Ultaunt (Vindal Taerash (Suthhaven Thuldroun (Arevar and the wanderers: Maunthar; Vorlmaer; Culree; and Honthallow (and possibly more). The origins of these names are lost in antiquity, but many think they were once nicknames of prominent leaders of the Voyagers who came to Nimbral long ago (from Halruaa).
All Heralds live simply, presumably as directed by the Lords. They're encouraged to have hobbies, some of which seem odd to outlanders (the collecting of human skulls, for instance). They tend to be grave, soft-spoken, firm folk rather than haughty or officious; Heralds who exhibit these latter traits soon disappear.

To Be Nimbrese, and How Things Got This Way

Brief strife marked the fall of the Church of Leira in Nimbral after the Time of Troubles as the hitherto all-powerful Priests of the Deceiver were slain or driven from the realm by the wizards they had subjugated for generations. (They had shut away the wizards in spell-workshops in the guarded enclave of Selpir, whose fortress towers also held Nimbrese driven mad by the constant deceptions).
Life in Nimbral before the Loss of Leira was two-faced: on one hand the simple, necessary labor of fishing and forestry, and on the other the neverending "dream deceptions" practiced by all Nimbrese upon each other. These always-changing games of falsehood and deception were spun with lies, playacting, illusions, physical disguises, and hallucinatory drugs added to most drinkables and cooked dishes. Priests took pride in being the "Master Dreamweavers" of manipulation, causing Nimbrans to do strange things through false perceptions and beliefs. (Taking the place of a person's mate unnoticed, for instance, was a favorite practice of the clergy.) Nimbrese engaged in this ongoing game with enjoyment, seeking to uncover the falsity and weavings of others while spreading their own deceits, large and small.
Since the Fall, the ever-reclusive Lords have succeeded in causing revulsion in Nimbrese for life-wasting, pointless deceptions, turning their love of invention and spectacle into interest in tale-spinning and in harmless false impressions of decor. (One such example is a sort of painting known in our real world as trompe l'oeil, which Nimbrese apply to surfaces in their dwellings and to their ever-present cloaks, typically giving the latter large and fanciful beast-faces on one side, and nigh-perfect camouflage on the other.)
The Nimbrese of today glean excitement and enjoyment in life from things of beauty, from clever tales and entrancing music, and through loving and befriending alert, alive, witty people. Inventive fashions and cuisine are encouraged, but ridiculous extremes in either are just that: moments of whimsy to laugh over together and then set aside in favor of the practical work that must be done. As local sayings put it: "A life lost in dreams is a life wasted" and "Time spent deceiving could better be spent achieving."

VII: The Knight's Character

The Knights of Nimbral patrol the skies and coastal waters of the realm in patrols of 3-6 pegasi riders (typically including one or two novices). Patrols fly in one of three daily shifts: dawn to sunsigh (that moment after highsun when the sun has clearly passed its highest point), sunsigh to dusk, and dusk to dawn. Most Knights assemble at a maerntop moot every seven days to join in a larger Hunt (of 2-40 Knights), which takes them on patrol over all areas of the realm. Including novices, the full muster of Knights is probably just over 75. Like the magic employed by the Heralds, the magic items used by the Knights (in armor, weapons, steeds, and horns) are made for and given to them by their masters: the mysterious Nimbral Lords.
In the event that a Knight sounds a "general cry" on an alarm-horn to denote a threat to the realm, larger Hunts muster on particular maerntops. The Knights rarely sound the general cry; more often heard is the "rally-call," which signals for individual Knights to race in as reinforcements to deal with a lone problem.
The Knights have three ranks: Commander, Knight, and Novice. Commanders lead patrols and hunts by virtue of experience, but they wield power very much as "first among equals" rather than brook-no-disobedience authority figures. (The decrees that aren't to be gainsaid come from Heralds and the Lords.) Onlookers can immediately identify novices by their nonglowing "practice suits" of armor, but Commanders wear neither special badge nor identification.
Knights of the Flying Hunt wear magnificent spired and curving full plate magic glass armor. Only the Lords (and certain Halruaan wizards) know how to make such armor, which is as hard and yet as durable as the finest battle-steels. As Novices, all Knights begin training with a practice suit of nonglowing dull gray armor, with the following properties: +1 glass full plate with an always-operating feather fall (that affects separated pieces of the suit, not just its wearer). (Note to DM: This normally costs 5,050 gp, but it should be available only to those accepted as a Novice.)
When a Novice attains full Knighthood, the Lords bestow what is known among Nimbrese as "Storm Armor": the glowing glass armor of legend. (Its hues and patterns have nothing to do with rank or awakened magic, but they shine and shift entirely as the wearer desires, gaining brightness as their rage or excitement increases, and going dim as consciousness or physical vitality fails.) All storm armor suits have the following base properties: +2 invulnerable glass full plate with an always-operating feather fall (as the Novice version) and electricity resistance 10. (Note to DM: This armor normally costs 47,050 gp, but it should be available only to those accepted as a Knight.)
Faithful service and outstanding performance by a Knight can earn the Lords' choice of magic armor augmentations; these almost always have some of the following enhancements:
1. fortification, moderate 2. ironguard, greater 3. ironguard, lesser 4. magic missile (3/day, as 7th-level caster) 5. mirror image (1/day; five images of self and steed) 6. reflecting (as the shield property; suit does not become mirrorlike) 7. all powers of a shield of arrow deflection 8. spell resistance (13) 9. water walking
The suits of senior Knights may have all of these powers, and more. It is thought that a Lord sometimes rides with the Knights so that he can cast a variant of mass teleport that snatches the entire Flying Hunt from the skies above Nimbral to mainland Faerûn or isolated islands in the sundering seas between.
Knights of Nimbral fight with swords, daggers, "hurl clubs," and heavy lances. Hurl clubs are greatclubs that have both ends weighted for throwing, which Knights can do without penalty for 1d10 points of damage per strike. (Critical damage is impossible, and despite tavern-tales to the contrary, the weapon doesn't return to the hurler.) Some Knights attach long chains to hurl-clubs to prevent losing them, but these hamper throws, lessening damage to 1d8 and forcing a -2 penalty on the attack roll. The Lords enspell some senior Knights' lances so that the Knights can activate wands fitted beneath their tips at the wielder's will. Typical wands include color spray, cure serious wounds (for use on fellow Knights), darkness, dispel magic, Melf's acid arrow, lightning bolt, and web.
Knights follow a strict code of loyalty to the Lords, and chivalry to all otherwise, ever mindful of the power they wield.

VII: The Knight's Character

The Knights of Nimbral patrol the skies and coastal waters of the realm in patrols of 3-6 pegasi riders (typically including one or two novices). Patrols fly in one of three daily shifts: dawn to sunsigh (that moment after highsun when the sun has clearly passed its highest point), sunsigh to dusk, and dusk to dawn. Most Knights assemble at a maerntop moot every seven days to join in a larger Hunt (of 2-40 Knights), which takes them on patrol over all areas of the realm. Including novices, the full muster of Knights is probably just over 75. Like the magic employed by the Heralds, the magic items used by the Knights (in armor, weapons, steeds, and horns) are made for and given to them by their masters: the mysterious Nimbral Lords.
In the event that a Knight sounds a "general cry" on an alarm-horn to denote a threat to the realm, larger Hunts muster on particular maerntops. The Knights rarely sound the general cry; more often heard is the "rally-call," which signals for individual Knights to race in as reinforcements to deal with a lone problem.
The Knights have three ranks: Commander, Knight, and Novice. Commanders lead patrols and hunts by virtue of experience, but they wield power very much as "first among equals" rather than brook-no-disobedience authority figures. (The decrees that aren't to be gainsaid come from Heralds and the Lords.) Onlookers can immediately identify novices by their nonglowing "practice suits" of armor, but Commanders wear neither special badge nor identification.
Knights of the Flying Hunt wear magnificent spired and curving full plate magic glass armor. Only the Lords (and certain Halruaan wizards) know how to make such armor, which is as hard and yet as durable as the finest battle-steels. As Novices, all Knights begin training with a practice suit of nonglowing dull gray armor, with the following properties: +1 glass full plate with an always-operating feather fall (that affects separated pieces of the suit, not just its wearer). (Note to DM: This normally costs 5,050 gp, but it should be available only to those accepted as a Novice.)
When a Novice attains full Knighthood, the Lords bestow what is known among Nimbrese as "Storm Armor": the glowing glass armor of legend. (Its hues and patterns have nothing to do with rank or awakened magic, but they shine and shift entirely as the wearer desires, gaining brightness as their rage or excitement increases, and going dim as consciousness or physical vitality fails.) All storm armor suits have the following base properties: +2 invulnerable glass full plate with an always-operating feather fall (as the Novice version) and electricity resistance 10. (Note to DM: This armor normally costs 47,050 gp, but it should be available only to those accepted as a Knight.)
Faithful service and outstanding performance by a Knight can earn the Lords' choice of magic armor augmentations; these almost always have some of the following enhancements:
1. fortification, moderate 2. ironguard, greater 3. ironguard, lesser 4. magic missile (3/day, as 7th-level caster) 5. mirror image (1/day; five images of self and steed) 6. reflecting (as the shield property; suit does not become mirrorlike) 7. all powers of a shield of arrow deflection 8. spell resistance (13) 9. water walking
The suits of senior Knights may have all of these powers, and more. It is thought that a Lord sometimes rides with the Knights so that he can cast a variant of mass teleport that snatches the entire Flying Hunt from the skies above Nimbral to mainland Faerûn or isolated islands in the sundering seas between.
Knights of Nimbral fight with swords, daggers, "hurl clubs," and heavy lances. Hurl clubs are greatclubs that have both ends weighted for throwing, which Knights can do without penalty for 1d10 points of damage per strike. (Critical damage is impossible, and despite tavern-tales to the contrary, the weapon doesn't return to the hurler.) Some Knights attach long chains to hurl-clubs to prevent losing them, but these hamper throws, lessening damage to 1d8 and forcing a -2 penalty on the attack roll. The Lords enspell some senior Knights' lances so that the Knights can activate wands fitted beneath their tips at the wielder's will. Typical wands include color spray, cure serious wounds (for use on fellow Knights), darkness, dispel magic, Melf's acid arrow, lightning bolt, and web.
Knights follow a strict code of loyalty to the Lords, and chivalry to all otherwise, ever mindful of the power they wield.

VIII: The Nimbral Lords

The Nimbral Lords rule Sea Haven, and they speak and act through their Heralds and Knights while almost always remaining inside the enclave of Selpir that was for so long their prison.
Studious and introverted, the Lords have grown extremely powerful in the arcane arts over centuries of magical research -- activity that still dominates their time today. The Lords are a tightly knit, loyal family of twenty-six archmages (aided by sixteen apprentices). Intermarried for generations, they have abandoned surnames. Led by five Elders, they jealously guard the isolation of Nimbral and their personal secrecy, fearing attacks from magically powerful groups such as the Red Wizards of Thay if knowledge of their ower ever leaks out.
In rough order of influence, the present Elders are as follows: Ardanthe (a motherly LN female human wizard 24/archmage 2 Skouloun (a sharp -witted and -tongued CN male human wizard 22/archmage 1 Mardamaun (a taciturn, deep-thinking LN male human wizard 25/archmage 1 Yusendre ("YOO-say-nn-dra," an impish, fun-loving CG female human wizard 20/sorcerer 6/archmage 1) and Belaurant (an elderly, kindly but manipulative CN male human wizard 25/archmage 1).
The Elders and their fellow Lords (who aren't much lower in levels!) have created a huge variety of magic items. They don't use the standard forms in most of them (no Nimbral Lord makes a ring of blinking when she can craft a bracer of blinking), they magically disguise them as something else (that bracer resembles a bloodstained bandage), and they also magically link them to a select group of Lords -- so that they either remain inert or erupt with full harmful effects on anyone else trying to use them.
Favorite "battle items" include rings with the powers of a staff of fiery power, belts equal to a staff of mighty force, and leggings equivalent to a staff of rapid barrage -- and favorite disguises for such things are as tattoos, wicker baskets of cut herbs, and smudges of caked-on mud. The Lords possess many constructs that fight for them, dozens of magic items with effects as powerful as a staff of cosmos, and unknown spells of their own devising that are superlative in three pursuits: scrying from afar; detecting active spells operating on, and magic items carried by, all beings in Nimbral; and protecting Lords' minds from the magic of others.
However, the Nimbral Lords appear in battle only as a last resort -- either when a being begins wantonly destroying living things in Nimbral and is obviously too powerful for citizens or Knights to deal with, or when an intruder enters their refuge to attack or steal from them directly.
Lords of Nimbral tend to be quiet-spoken, sober, gentle individuals, always "thinking ahead" to possibilities and aware of consequences. They continually watch for signs that suggest trends in the thinking and future deeds of magically powerful mainland beings.
Whenever possible, the Elders arrive at decisions by discussion and consensus (following established policies when swift action is needful and debate impossible), but they decide disputes by voting. Apprentices get no vote unless they unanimously agree on a position, in which case they collectively receive a single vote. All Lords have a vote each, except Elders, each of whom can cast two.
The established policy to deal with intruders who are members or agents of any magically powerful group is to remain hidden as much as possible, to give the impression that the Lords are hermits surrounded by tales of spell-use, rather than truly powerful mages. If an intruder starts prying or attacking Nimbrese with magic, they are whisked to Starshot by teleport or portal-trap immediately, to try to convince them that all the Lords are dead or gone mad in the dangerous wild magic ruins.
The Lords dwell in the linked stone towers of Selpir, which rise in the midst of huge old trees without fields or walls. Selpir is a vast warren of many linked living spaces, pantries, spell workshops, and storage rooms, defended by golems and other constructs, and by wards that detect -- and can forcibly teleport -- intruders. The skyships that brought the Voyagers to Nimbral are built into its towers, but only a few of the present Lords know how to awaken them. (If they flew away, Selpir would be shattered.)
In the forest nearby is Nimbral's only "dungeon": Starshot, where a shattered skyship lies overgrown in the woods, atop a labyrinth of underground rooms built by a long-dead, mad Voyager archmage. Raging wild magic that twists spells into deadly and spectacular unintended effects dominate these monster-crawling cellars.