Loudwater

Loudwater, called the City of Grottos, was a city (now town) that sat on the confluence of the Delimbiyr and Greyflow rivers in the Delimbiyr Vale. It was a picturesque garden city home to a pleasant and thriving cosmopolitan community of humans, half-elves, elves, and many other races. It was also the home of Mielikki's chosen, the Green Regents and their Scions, and thanks to their efforts the city served as the very image of her faith.

Government

The town was ruled by the High Lord of Loudwater.

Leaders

By 1357 DR, High Lord Nanathlor Greysword had reigned for a half-century and was loved by the people as a careful administrator and just ruler. He was still in power by 1370 DR. He was succeeded by Kalahar Twohands, who reigned around 1372 DR. The High Lords resided in High Lord's Hall, the seat of power in the city, and ruled via decrees such as the Decree of Reception. They were aided by their chancellors, such as Rayler Drenn, who wore a silver circlet as sign of their position, and their heralds, like Lisyil Sweetwhisper, who summoned people to audiences.

The half-elf warlock Lady Moonfire, a member of one of the old elven houses, was the leader of the town around 1479 DR. Telbor Zazrek, a mage and retired adventurer, reigned as high lord in the late 1480s DR.

Defences

The High Lords were served by two Gauntlets who commanded the city's militia. They were titled the Gauntlet of the Eastern Marches (with headquarters in the Eastenhall) and the Gauntlet of the Western Marches (with headquarters in the Western Tower) and given the duty of defending Loudwater's territory to the east and west, respectively. In times of war, they might be joined by a third gauntlet. The gauntlets directly reported to the reigning High Lord. By 1357 DR and through 1370 DR, the two Gauntlets were Harazos Thelbrimm and Kalahar Twohands. Around 1372 DR, the Gauntlet of the Eastern Marches was Harazos Thelbrimm and the Gauntlet of the Western Marches was Jaida Zerezeal, who was soon replaced by Isyan Kiy'sisnos. Harazos was briefly Gauntlet of the Western Marches as well in Eleasis/Eleint of that year.

The militia of Loudwater in the mid-to-late 14th century DR comprised 300 warriors, divided into patrols of 20. Known as the Loudwater Guard, they were alert warriors equipped with chainmail, a wooden light shield, longsword, light crossbow, and bolts. They wore uniforms of electric-blue tabards emblazoned front and back with the city's three golden crescent moons, over dark-brown breeches and blouses. The sergeants, titled "fists", were capable fighters who instead wore white tabards and were granted masterworked, even magical, armor and weapons, including alchemical silver bolts and potions of cure light wounds. They were aided by mages, namely evokers and sorcerers, and clerics, typically of Helm, the Red Knight, or Torm. Typically, when there was trouble in the city, the citizens called for the guard, who responded within a minute with a group of up to a dozen guards led by a fist, and possibly with a spellcaster. Circa 1479 DR, the militia was known as the Loudwater Patrol and led by Captain Harrowleaf. Its symbol was a crossed sword and axe, and it defended the town and dealt with crime. The militia remained small in the late 1480s DR.

In the 1360s DR, the town didn't have defensive walls, only a ditch and earthen rampart, both covered with wild flowers. By 1372 DR, it was heightened with the addition of a palisade. In the west, the rampart was passed via the Vine Gate while in the south it was passed via the Forestview Gate. By 1479 DR, the rampart has been replaced by a wall constructed of stone and timber over 20 feet (6.1 meters), with flowers growing at its base on both the inside and outside. The two gates were called simply West Gate and East Gate. They were both iron gates, 20 feet (6.1 meters) wide and high, flanked by two towers built into the wall with an arched walkway over them, with four guards standing sentry duty. They were left open in daytime and shut and locked at night, unless one wished to leave. Traders and merchants paid a toll of 5 sp per cart or wagon, while single travelers and small bands could pass for free, while monstrous creatures were barred.

The lands claimed by Loudwater stretched for two days' ride up and down the river. The army patrolled this domain

Industry & Trade

Standing at the confluence of the Delimbiyr and Grayflow rivers, Loudwater enjoyed both fertile farmland and a key location for commerce, allowing it to both flourish and prosper. Its success spread to the rest of the Gray Vale, helping it grow into a center of trade in northwest Faerûn.

The local people made a living through farming and fishing, as well as by providing services to caravans. They often ate szorp, a fish caught in the Delimbiyr. The Loudwater Vale region was known for making the richest cheeses in the North, such as the translucent mist cheese. These cheeses were ripened in local caves. Hardwoods were also produced in the area; such woods were finely carved for the "Avatar" chess set sold by Aurora's Emporium in the 1360s DR.

In the mid-to-late 14th century DR, Loudwater was a significant stop on the trade route along the Delimbiyr. Formerly, in the days of Eaerlann, most trade through Loudwater went north overland, on a portage route past the Shining Falls, but in the 1360s DR, it went east to Llorkh, where caravans were assembled. From Loudwater to Llorkh, all trade was tightly controlled by the Zhentarim. Zhentish trade through Loudwater and neighbouring Llorkh helped prominent local merchants grow rich. The city offered a safe place to rest to both caravans and riverboats; merchants and travellers often passed through the first two times but stayed on the third. This situation remained much the same in the late 15th century DR; many merchants preferred to ship goods along the river and Loudwater was still a secure stop for merchants, riverboats, caravans, adventurers, and travellers, despite the ruination of its neighbours and the collapse in trade after the Spellplague. However, Loudwater would not regain its prosperity even an entire century afterward.

In the late 1480s DR, Loudwater strained under a high cost of living and exorbitant prices at all its businesses, while many goods carried hefty taxes. Coincidently, these taxes only applied to goods not supplied by the Zhentarim.

History

Early History

The area was first settled by Netherese human refugees of Netheril, sometime after its fall in the Year of Sundered Webs, −339 DR. Their settlements were the progenitors of Loudwater and other cities of the North.
It was also once home to a community of elves, part of the nation of Eaerlann before its fall in 882 DR. As recorded in their own histories, two elven houses established themselves here as they built a school of philosophy, which they named the Velti'Enorethal. The great dwarf craftsman Iirikos Stoneshoulder and his team of dwarves from Ammarindar built an ornate bridge across the Delimbiyr River at this site for some elven friends in the Year of the Dwarf, 149 DR. Later referred to as Flying Fish Bridge, it was considered to be constructed by the dwarves to honour the elves. The dwarf artisan also built a manor house for a local elf lord, and the settlement of Loudwater developed around it. Thus, the elves built much of the later city.

Later, further settlement of the Loudwater and Llorkh region, as well as Longsaddle, Secomber, Triboar, and others, was undertaken by human pioneers from Waterdeep after the establishment of the Lords of Waterdeep there in 1032 DR. These pioneers were sponsored by noble and mercantile Waterdhavian families.

The last elf to rule Loudwater took her own life in Tragedy's Grotto in the late 10th century DR. Her reasons were lost with her, though it was before any human villas stood in the area. In the Year of the Bloodrose, 1100 DR, desiring to escape the growing human population, the elves of Loudwater and the lands around began leaving their homes for Evereska.

The Rensha Rule

Fifty years later, in the Year of the Scourge, 1150 DR, a family from Calimshan called the Renshas, led by Ibun Rensha at the head of a mercenary army, conquered the Delimbiyr Vale and centered their power in Loudwater. According to local stories, heroes of Loudwater of the time first sighted the approaching Rensha forces from Tragedy's Grotto. This began a period known as the Rensha Rule.

Seeing Mielikki's Green Regents and their Scions as threats to their reign, the Renshas persecuted them mercilessly, forbidding the selection of new Scions and regents and hunting down any they found, causing them to vanish for more than a century. The second lord, Misbah Rensha, ruthlessly crushed the last resistance to the family's rule, with the help of the archdevil Baalzebul.

Misbah Rensha made a treaty with Thay. This included the establishment of the Ivy Enclave in Loudwater and his marriage to a Thayan woman, the Red Wizard Thola, who also served as his court sorceress. He later had her poisoned to end her plotting. Though they made the town more prosperous and expanded its connections with the outside world, they exploited the Vale's natural resources and despoiled much of the pristine beauty of the area. Under them, loggers cleared the forests away from the river and farmers claimed the land for agriculture, while miners strip-mined the mountains, all at a shocking pace, and the wealth flowed down the river and out of the vale. The amoral Renshas also soon descended into decadence and the pursuit of their dark magic, which would lead to their downfall.

Nevertheless, the Renshas ruled for 165 years before a Nimbrali mercenary working for them named Nanathlor Greysword rebelled against the rule of Pasuuk Rensha in the Year of Spilled Blood, 1315 DR. Nanathlor was a noble of Nimbral who'd desired to establish a realm of his own in the North, and found one that needed him. Pasuuk commanded a band of talented mercenary hunters, among them Nanathlor, to bring him the horn of a unicorn, apparently for some infernal rite. But Nanathlor stayed his hand and instead defended the unicorn—in fact an avatar of the goddess Mielikki. She made him the new Green Regent and the twelve hunters who stood with him his Scions, and tasked them with overthrowing the Renshas.

The two-year-long War of the Returned Regent freed the Vale from Rensha rule. Finally, in the Year of the Wandering Wyrm, 1317 DR, Nanathlor Greysword defeated Pasuuk and the Renshas' forces at the Battle of Tanglefork and became the ruler of Loudwater. However, some histories marked his reign as commencing four years earlier, circa 1313 DR. In either case, the start of Nanathlor's reign marked the official founding of the modern Loudwater. Nanathlor maintained relations with other lands but ended the rampant logging and strip-mining, thus restoring the ecology and fertility of the land, and in turn renewing prosperity in the Vale.

14th century DR

In Tarsakh of the Year of Shadows, 1358 DR, on several occasions, residents of farm holdings on the outer edges of Loudwater's domain heard eerie howling and later discovered corpses near their lands. These were identified as various wicked beings, including two drow and some fish-like humanoid, and all carried bite marks. High Lord Greysword was notified and he formally reported the finds. A search of caves in the Delimbiyr Vale showed signs of recent occupation, but no connection to the underground. Later that year, in Eleasias, a mysterious healer of the High Wood called Radoc helped victims of an orc raid and escorted them to Loudwater. His odd appearance, taciturn nature, and purchasing of supplies with crystals made him the subject of much rumor before he departed. Later that year, a troop of Zhentarim and Zhentilar commanded by Vaalgamon invaded the main street of Loudwater to ambush the Heroes of Ascore, a band of adventurers carrying the magical statuettes of Ascore. With their manticores, they blocked the main street and patrolled side streets looking for them. For some reason, Lord Greysword dared not move openly against the Zhents. Meanwhile, a gnoll clan also hid from the Zhents and looted houses. Making use of Loudwater's winding roads and side streets, the adventurers thinned the Zhents' numbers and routed them, and the Loudwater Guard joined them for the final fight. However, Vaalgamon escaped and burned his headquarters as he left, causing much damage in the area and necessitating rebuilding. A few tendays later, in autumn, ghouls, wights, and wraiths emerged from the Mausoleum at nights and plagued the surrounding streets until the returning Heroes of Ascore eliminated them. Members of the Kraken Society, a coven of green hags, harpies, pirates, and priests of Bane were also operating in secret in the city at this time.

In the autumn of Year of the Gauntlet, 1369 DR, Malarite lycanthropes of the Thicket attacked the city after a blood-red moon appeared in the sky. For three bloody nights, they raided the city and homesteads, forced people out of their houses, and engaged in frenzied hunting and slaughter. Nanathlor himself was on his deathbed but Gauntlets Kalahar and Harazos eventually organized a defense and a young man named Stedd Rein was heralded as a hero. The then Green Regent, Galaer Grasswave, was killed while trying to repair the city's magical wards. High Lord Nanathlor passed away from old age not long after.

His successor, Kalahar Twohands, oversaw some of the most turbulent times in Loudwater's history since the war, including a mass migration of orcs from the High Forest, threats from a bandit army and their illithid allies, dragons, and several attacks from the Zhentarim. In the summer of the Year of Wild Magic, 1372 DR, High Forest orcs settled in and around the city and took work there; in response to racial tensions and a double-murder outside the Red Boar Tavern, Kalahar issued the Decree of Reception, granting the orcs rights similar to those of citizens. While the Decree of Reception was abided by, it was met with much confusion and loud opposition, and the murders of orcs continued.

15th century DR

Following the Spellplague in the Year of Blue Fire, 1385 DR and the ensuing decline in trade, Loudwater was much reduced in size and population, yet it survived where neighboring Llorkh and Zelbross did not. By 1479 DR, it had not yet fully recovered and stood as a frontier town that was a shadow of its former self, but still the biggest in the Gray Vale. At the time, Loudwater was ruled by Lady Moonfire. That same year, the town came under attack by goblins from the Barrow of the Ogre King, who were intent on retrieving a sacred dagger which had been stolen from their lair.

After 1485 DR, the wizard Telbor Zazrek was the High Lord of Loudwater. When the stone giants of the Graypeak Mountains, led by Thane Kayalithica rampaged through the Grayvale, destroying hamlets and devastating Llorkh and Orlbar in an effort to crush humanoid civilization, refugees streamed into Loudwater. These folk were forced to stay in warehouses by the river, as the inns were too expensive, if not full. More went on down the Delimbiyr Road. Only Loudwater still stood firm and unafraid as the last outpost of civilization in the land, even as the stone giants spied on its defences from afar.

Geography

Loudwater lay in the Gray Vale at the confluence of the Delimbiyr River and the Grayflow. In this stretch, the Delimbiyr was especially wide, giving the settlement enough room for a modest harbor.

Maps

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  Map of Loudwater

Races
Humans 37%
Half-elves 20%
Elves 18%
Halflings 10%
Gnomes 7%
Dwarves 5%
Half-orcs 3%
Religions
Lathander, Labelas Enoreth, Mielikki, Silvanus

Alternative Name(s)

City of Grottos

Type

Town

Population

2,000

Location under

Savage Frontier

Owner/Ruler

Telbor Zazrek

Characters in Location

• Telbor Zazrek