Nesmé (NEZ-may)

Nesmé was a small frontier city located in the Savage Frontier of northwest Faerûn, lying by the River Surbrin.

Defences

The Riders of Nesmé were an effective military force that defended Nesmé against its enemies. With peace rare, the Riders swiftly became experienced veterans. But after years of attacks by trolls and giants, by 1374 DR, the Riders had been reduced greatly in strength and numbers.

Nesmé's leaders encouraged adventurers to come and stay in their city and fight off the trolls and giants, provided they behaved themselves. Those who were not were escorted out by the Riders. As a result, Nesmé was a great base for adventurers looking for action.

In the Year of the Banner, 1368 DR, Nesmé had the finest stone wall between Silverymoon and Mirabar. Arrow slits allowed it to be defended at any location and several catapults were kept ready behind it.

When Luruar began to face the burgeoning threat of Many-Arrows, Nesmé had to fend for itself against the giant raids that had not subsided since its fall. Tessarin Alaurun spent much of her treasury in 1372 DR to retain the services of Sky Pony Uthgardt mercenaries and the Khoroshen tribe of lizardfolk in order to supplement the Riders of Nesmé.

By 1484 DR, the wall had grown to be about the size of two ogres stacked on top of each other. It was 15 feet from the battlement to the ground.

By 1491 DR the wall had fallen to ruin like the rest of the town.

History

Pre-Spellplague

In the the Year of the Moat, 1269 DR, a half-orc bandit named Thaurog built Thaurog's Keep on the site where Nesmé would later lie. Control later fell into the hands of his son, Throgh. However, in the Year of the Deep Moon, 1294 DR, he was killed by human adventurers from Waterdeep, who were then attacked by wyverns. The wyverns made their lair in Thaurog's Keep.

Later, in the Year of the Mace, 1307 DR, Algraetha the Enchantress got rid of all the wyverns and rebuilt the settlement around the old keep, and it became known as Nesmé.

In Eleint of the Year of Shadows, 1358 DR, the town came under the first of several attacks from the Uthgardt Griffon Tribe. Rumours at the time claimed that Nesmé had surrendered to the barbarians and that Tessarin Alaraun led the city along with the tribe's leader, Kralgar Bonesnapper, after forcing First Speaker Jygil Zelnathra into exile. In reality, after repelling the attacks, the weakened town council, suffering the loss of their goddess, had been ousted in an election, which ended with Zelnathra being demoted and Alaraun taking her place. That year, Nesmé contributed troops to the Battle of Keeper's Dale, aiding the dwarves of Mithral Hall against the drow of Menzoberranzan.

Around the Year of the Banner, 1368 DR, the population of Nesmé experienced a dramatic fall with an equally dramatic rise in the number of troll and orc attacks. A group of adventurers discovered that fog and cloud giants had moved into the Evermoors, driving the former inhabitants, the trolls, out of the moors. It reached a climax in the Year of the Tankard, 1370 DR, as an army of trolls invaded and ruined Nesmé. They were driven out by an army of dwarves from Mithral Hall and Mirabar.

After this, Nesmé had to rely on its own defences, as the cities of the Silver Marches were forced to refocus their forces northward, along the frontier with the newly established Kingdom of Many-Arrows. In the face of repeated giant raids and the threat that the trolls might one day regroup, Nesmé's First Speaker, Tessarin Alaurun, stretched her finances to pay the Riders of Nesmé and maintain a small force of Uthgardt barbarian mercenaries.

With the expenditure of considerable time and resources, Alustriel and Silverymoon decided to have Nesmé rebuilt into a town of both larger and grander proportions. First, the remnant of the Riders and a large detachment of Knights in Silver drove the trolls deep into the Trollmoors, making the surrounding roads the safest they'd been in over a decade. Then, refugees displaced from homes lost to the orcs were encouraged to go to Nesmé to aid in the reconstruction. This had the effect of increasing Nesmé's population to around twice that of what it was before the siege. These people spent the entire winter of 1371 DR to 1372 DR building new structures that greatly outshone the old ones in both durability and size and erecting a double wall that surrounded the place, especially fortified and manned on the border of the Evermoors. Contingents of Riders and Knights patrolled the streets regularly and the town was never been finer, a startling difference to those who knew the place either before or during the troll siege.

Post-Spellplague

In the Year of the Awakened Sleepers, 1484 DR, the city's First Speaker was Jolen Firth. Nesmé was one of the first cities to fall under siege by the orcs of the Kingdom of Many-Arrows (spurred on by the drow matron mother Quenthel Baenre through the restored House Do'Urden). The Companions of the Hall, including Drizzt Do'Urden and Athrogate, spent several weeks defending the city, but left in an attempt to aid other regions. Soon after their departure, the city was beset by orcs and the white dragon Arauthator. The city fell; the 600 survivors, including First Speaker Jolen Firth and Rider of Nesmé Giselle Malcomb, were taken prisoner. The drow Tiago and Saribel Baenre were declared "Duke and Duchess of Nesmé". Eventually, however, the drow were forced to abandon the city.

By the Year of the Iron Dwarf's Vengeance, 1485 DR, the city had fallen to ruin, with monsters from the Evermoors thwarting efforts to rebuild it. Some time after the city's abandonment, the ruins were used as a meeting place between Zhentarim mercenaries and Gundahella, a fire giant representing Duke Zalto.

Geography

Nesmé sat beside the River Subrin. The dangerous Lurkwood forest rested in the north. To the north and west were plains and hills inhabited by many Uthgardt barbarian tribes. The Evermoors lay to the southeast. The road to the south led to Mornbryn's Shield in the Surbrin Hills.

RUINED SETTLEMENT
1484 DR / 1485 DR

Founding Date

1307 DR

Type

Town

Population

600 (end 1484 DR)
0 (Current Year)

Inhabitant Demonym

Nesmian

Location under

Savage Frontier