The Vast

The Vast was a region in north Faerûn that rested along the north coast of the Sea of Fallen Stars, bounded by the Dragon Reach and River Lis in the west; the Earthspur Mountains, the Gray Forest, and Impiltur in the east; and the Moonsea and Damara in the north. It lay on both sides of the Earthfast Mountains that ran through it. Over its long history, it was home to the orc nation of Vastar for which it was named; the ancient elf city of Ylraphon, an outpost of Cormanthyr; the brief dwarf kingdom of Roldilar, the Realm of Glimmering Swords; and a variety of human city-states—historic Procampur and Tsurlagol, and the newcomers Calaunt, Tantras, and Ravens Bluff, the Living City—some of which gathered into the nation of Vesperin.

Geography

The Vast was a land of great open spaces, sparsely settled but far from empty. Once, it was covered in dense forests, but the orcs of Vastar cut these down, leaving only grasslands and isolated woods.

This left a green and temperate realm of hunting grounds and rolling farmlands, their fields used to grow all kinds of crops that suited the climate or for the grazing of herds. The farms and fields were separated by low fieldstone walls, which were often cultivated as wild hedges where they faced the roads. Amongst these farms were small woodlots and copses, which grew from scrublands left behind by the great old forests of the past.

Beyond the farmland were real forests, though mostly these were second-growth forests from surviving saplings. Druids cultivated these forests, and encouraged woodland creatures and fey to move in from other forests further away. The great forests of the Vast were Adhe Wood, Brynwood, and the Gray Forest, which was called the "Tsurlar Forest" in the Vast.

The Vast held four great rivers: the Fire River, the River Vesper, the River Lis, and the River Dalton. They emptied into the bay of the Dragon Reach, while the Lis and Dalton ran from the Moonsea to the Reach, the latter via the Flooded Forest, a swamp that was once part of Cormanthor. There were many small streams and brooks, but they rarely joined the major rivers of the Fire River and the River Vesper. More often, they ended in pools and drained away into subterranean channels and finally emptied into the Inner Sea. Some even rose to the surface again, only to disappear once more. Thus the water table was described as a crazy jigsaw.

This was due to the geology of the Vast, consisting of slanting and broken layers of rock deep beneath the soil. These left a quite a number of small-sized caves, rifts and sinkholes, that could be well concealed in apparently empty fields. Such places were a favorite spot for children to hide, for farmers to conceal their savings, or for some to build privies over.

There were also rocky outcrops marking where the foothills met the great mountain ranges of the Vast. The western shoreline of the Vast by the Dragon Reach was also high and stony, with many rocky reefs and few ports. Where the Earthfast Mountains and the Earthspur Mountains met the sea were sheer cliffs that only the most skilled climbers could ascend. The southern coast against the Inner Sea was called the Tsurlagan coast. In the north, Mount Wolf marked the border of the Vast in the north.

On the east, the High Country was a large area of rocky moors and grassy plains and hills. It jutted east into a gap in the Earthspur Mountains. Rumors told of hidden passes through the mountains into neighbouring Impiltur. Protected from human settlement and farming, the High Country was a fertile breeding area for game animals.

Climate

As with the other lands that surrounded it, the Sea of Fallen Stars produced rainfall and moderate temperatures in the Vast, warming it in winter and keeping it moist and green. Thus the Vast experienced a mild climate all year, with its summers long and cool, and its winters short and clement, though the Dragon Reach could ice over.

Fauna

Animals commonly found in the forests and mountainsides were boar, deer and black-masked bears. These were a favourite of local hunters and local inns. There was supposedly a kind of rabbit living in the Brynwood that was capable of whistling like a canary.

Geographical features

Forests

Adhe Wood • Brynwood • Gray Forest (Tsurlar Forest)

Mountains

Earthfast Mountains • Earthspur Mountains • Iron Dragon Mountain • Troll Mountains

Rivers

Fire River • River Vesper

Other locations

Beluar's Hunt • Dragon Falls • Elvenblood Pass • Flooded Forest • Glorming Pass • High Country • Three Trees Pass • Viperstongue Ford

Locations

In its history, the Vast was home to several large cities, each thriving ports. Some were incredibly old and well established, such as the fallen elven city of Ylraphon, the enduring dwarven city of Earthfast, and the human cities of Procampur and Tsurlagol, among the first settled by humans in the Heartlands. Others were veritable newcomers, such as the brief dwarven city of Sarbreen, and the later human cities of Calaunt, Tantras, and Ravens Bluff.

Cities

Calaunt • Earthfast • Procampur • Ravens Bluff • Sarbreen • Tantras • Tsurlagol

Towns

Hlintar • King's Reach • Kurth • Maerstar • Mossbridges • Thindilar • Ylraphon

Villages and hamlets

Bambryn • Blanaer • Dark Hollow • Dead Tree Hollow • Dragon Falls • Fallentree • Highbank Forest • High Haspur • Maskyr's Eye • Orlimmin • Sarbreenar • Sendrin • Sevenecho • Swords Pool • Tavilar

Roads and trails

Blaern's Trail • Coast Road • Cross Road • Feldar's Trail • Helve's Trail • High Trail • Hlintar Ride • Hunt Trail • Long Reach • North Road • Pass Trail • Stormcrest Trail • Tantras Trail

Sites

Arch of Goolgog • Mage's Tower • Moonlit Tower • Master's Library

History

Ancient history

In ancient times, agents of the Elven Court of Cormanthor made contact with the dwarves of Sarphil in the lands later known as the Vast. Desiring to maintain control over the forests there, the Elven Court warred against the dwarves to stop them expanding to the surface. But after the elves saved the dwarves from being defeated by orcs, the two sides negotiated on the Vast's battlefields around −6400 DR. They made a tenuous alliance, but it lasted 2000 years, and each prospered from trade of goods and information.

Some time after −5005 DR, Jhaamdath began expanding over the Inner Sea and settled colonies in the Vast, among other lands. These brought trade goods and prestige to the empire.

Elves from Cormanthor went beyond the River Lis to found Yrlaphon in the northern Vast in −1535 DR. After drow raiders weakened its defenses in the winter of −722 DR, Yrlaphon fell to orc hordes in the summer.

The ancient minotaur kingdom of Grong-Haap (−981 DR to −350 DR) once encroached upon the northern highlands of the Vast.

Vastar and the Jhaamdathan colonization

The orc kingdom of Vastar rose circa −700 DR. It was in place across the land in −626 DR. The history of Vastar was a turbulent one, with frequent coups, bloody civil wars, constant strife, and regular attacks and counter-attacks against their neighbors and other creatures who lived in their land. Every dozen years, a horde would form in the summer, steal or build ships, and sail south over the Inner Sea to raid. Their survivors rarely returned, instead spreading south. For their shipbuilding efforts, the orcs cut down the great forests of the land. When they ran out of timber, they went over the Dragon Reach and over the River Lis to take what they wanted from Cormanthor, but were more often slaughtered by the elves. They made several such invasions by sea and land.

During the reign of King Glaurath the Great of Westgate (−301 DR – −291 DR), thieves stole the royal treasury of Westgate and fled by ship to the Vast. They anchored at the spot where the city of Procampur would later lie, and went up into the Earthfast Mountains, pursued by Westgate's forces, until both sides were annihilated by a thousand local orcs in a mountain pass.

On the southern side of the Inner Sea, the empire of Jhaamdath fell beneath a great wave in the Year of Furious Waves, −255 DR. A wave of refugees—later known as the Chondathan people—crossed the Inner Sea to colonize the lands of Impiltur, Thesk and the Vast south of the Earthfast Mountains, becoming among the first lands on the north coast to be settled by humans. After occupying these lands, circa −200 DR, their descendants migrated westward from Impiltur and the Vast to cross the Dragon Reach and settle Sembia, Cormyr and the Dalelands, in time giving rise to those realms.

Dwarves from Earthfast founded the underground town of Proeskampalar in the Year of the Starry Shroud, −153 DR. That same year, it was joined by descendants of the Jhaamdathan refugees, who also settled there. It later became known as Procampur. More founded the city of Chessagol, later known as Tsurlagol, in the Year of Enchanted Hearts, −72 DR.

When humans first dominated the Vast, Sendrin was settled in the remote Vast, along with a temple to Savras. With Savras then commonly seen as a wise user of magic rather than just a diviner, Sendrin became a mecca for wizards, despite its remoteness. However, when Azuth defeated Savras and supplanted him as god of magic before or after the Dawn Cataclysm, Azuth's followers sacked and destroyed the Savran temple of Sendrin. The wizards stopped coming, and those who'd serviced them—scribes, component sellers, tailors, healers, escorts—gradually left. The community they'd made went mobile, becoming the travelling Magefair.

In the Year of Cold Clashes, 331 DR, the orcs of Vastar launched a surprise attack on Cormanthyr, and occupied a portion of the lands east of the Old Elven Court. They solidified their forces in the area over the next few years. It wasn't until the Year of the Vanished Foe, 339 DR, that the occupying orcs were routed by combined elvish and human forces.

In the early 5th century DR, King Meldath I of Impiltur led a conquest of the Vast and other nearby lands, turning Proeskampalar and Chessagol into vassal city-states.

In the Year of the Wyvernfall, 512 DR, Vastar was on the rampage again, with orc hordes from here and other strongholds emerging and threatening Cormanthyr and many other lands with war. The orc chieftain Ulbror marched his horde through many small passes in the Earthspur Mountains and invaded Impiltur. The orcs slew King Sharaun Mirandor, his three heirs and their army, killing off the Mirandor dynasty. Ulbror and the orcs were defeated later that year in the Battle of Bloody Reeds.

Ologh the Overking of Vastar was killed by the black dragon Iyrauroth in the Year of Writhing Darkness, 572 DR, leaving his throne at the Hollow Mountain vacant. Vastar descended into civil war as orcish factions battled for control across the land. Meanwhile, underground, dwarves from the north and east expanded their mines into the mountains of Vastar, making silent war upon the orcs. After eight bloody years, the orc Grimmerfang won the civil war and seized the Hollow Mountain—now called Mount Grimmerfang—in the Year of the Loose Coins, 580 DR, ending warfare amongst the orcs of Vastar, at least for a short time. However, the dwarves continued to encroach from the west, spreading underground and applying increasing pressure on the orcs. Vastar also suffered repeated defeats to the elves. Working with humans and elves, the dwarves developed orcslayer blades and then surged out of the mountains to slaughter the orcs and defeat Grimmerfang. Vastar fell in the Year of the Spellfire, 610 DR, while the survivors were driven north and south into the mountain peaks.

Roldilar, the Realm of Glimmering Swords

The victorious dwarves claimed the surface lands for themselves and that same year they founded Roldilar, the Realm of Glimmering Swords, under Deep King Tuir Stonebeard, who ruled from Mount Grimmerfang. They began construction of a secure trading center, Sarbreen, around the Year of the Normiir, 611 DR. The Roldilarren dwarves set to work trading with other nations and developing their new land, by building stone towers and importing livestock. Their logging industry cleared forests for miles and they attempted large-scale agriculture.

Roldilarren dwarves ruled the Vast while the orcs and goblinoids were driven out and subdued, but others soon immigrated to the developing land. Gnomes and halflings seeking opportunity joined the dwarves in their farming efforts. At that time, humans were few in number north of the Sea of Fallen Stars, but a few bold and cautious folk came to explore and settle. In the Year of the Costly Gift, 645 DR, the human archmage Maskyr paid his right eye to King Tuir for the vale called Maskyr's Eye. Others followed, and this marked the beginning of permanent human settlement in the Vast beyond the southern coast. Their arrival prompted King Tuir to declare that humans would be allowed to come only so far into the mountains and no further, at a point marked by the town of King's Reach. Ironically, in some parts, humans and elves lived in the mountains alongside orcs and worse neighbors, as the dwarves controlled the lowlands. There they built their tombs and strongholds.

Among these settlers, two Sembian merchants explored the dwarven-held lands, seeking a trade-route from the dwarven mines down to the River Vesper. To that end, the North Road was laid through Three Trees Pass, linking Kurth and King's Reach. Humans waged costly battles against the orcs of the mountains to control the pass, but were successful.

Roldilar enjoyed only forty years of peace before its power waned. In that time, the orcs had replenished their numbers and recovered their strength. Above and below ground, vast hordes of orcs engulfed Roldilar in the the Year of the Bloody Crown, 649 DR. Drow also struck from the subterranean ways. Deep King Tuir led the dwarven armies against those of the orcs and goblins, but they were defeated at Viperstongue Ford over the River Vesper. Roldilar's defenses were broken, and the dwarves retreated to Mount Grimmerfang. After the Battle of Deepfires beneath the mountain, Roldilar fell in 649 DR.

The Roldilarren dwarves, however, were saved from total extinction by their human and elven allies. The elven warrior Beluar and his forces won a great victory against the orcs, routing them at Viperstongue Ford. This delayed the end of Roldilar.

Dwarven refugees of Roldilar retreated, many going to other lands. Roldilar was the last dwarven realm to claim the surface lands of the Vast or dominate there, as of 1370 DR.

The Time of Glorious Fools

The humans settlers, however, stayed to fight the orcs and hold onto the land they now called home. Others moved quickly to exploit the power vacuum. The Impilturan royalty had a long-standing policy of encouraging its lesser nobles—those not set to inherit any land—to settle new lands beyond their borders. Before the year 649 DR was out, these Impilturan nobles led a wave of immigration west into the Vast. Many more, however, left overcrowding in the Vilhon Reach to cross the Inner Sea and settle the Vast south of the Fire River. Here, they made a foothold from which they could expand, growing populous with high immigration and birthrates. They quickly absorbed the former, settled inhabitants, the dwarves, gnomes, and halflings.

They advanced swiftly over the Vast, finding a war-torn land where orcs ruled, and trolls, leucrotta, and other creatures had left the mountains and flourished by preying upon dead and dying dwarves and orcs. They fought them frequently, and steadily pushed them all out of the lowlands and into the hills and mountains once more. Many adventurers rose out of these conflicts, folk who sought impossible odds and made desperate assaults, and miraculously won as often as they were slaughtered. Thus local bards named this "the Time of Glorious Fools", a period that some said continued well on into the 14th century.

The most successful adventurers were those who won both gold and fame for their great deeds. Such adventuring bands set themselves up in keeps, with mounted warriors, minor battle-mages, and priests of Helm or Tempus, and promised to protect local farmers from raids in exchange for a "shield tax", though they were often too late to help.

As they expanded, the human settlers cleared land for their farms, erected low fieldstone walls to divide their fields, and built good roads. These eventually linked Procampur and Tsurlagol on the Inner Sea to Mulmaster by the Moonsea. Farmers then enjoyed bountiful harvests for several years. The settlers went on to open up the more accessible mines, and grew more prosperous. Seeking agricultural produce, trading vessels came from Aglarond, Impiltur, Sembia, and Westgate, and they sold goods like quality cloth and ironwork, locks, and weapons. The harbors of the Vast, Calaunt, Sarbreen, and Tantras—once landing spots for immigrants and rest stops for pirates—were developed as trade ports. This all cemented human habitation of the Vast. As they settled the coastline, the ruins of Sarbreen remained dangerous but the Fire River was useful as a waterway into the interior. Local farmers and merchants gathered instead at the Fire River Bridge, later the settlement of Mossbridges.

Thus, there were two paths to lordship for the folk of the Vast. On the one hand were big farmers who'd earned their fortunes, bought up surrounding land and their fellows, and called themselves lords and ladies. On the other were retired adventurers who'd won wealth and power, built strongholds and gathered their own followers, and could call themselves what they liked. Some of the farmer lords were themselves retired adventurers, while others were deposed by adventurers looking to retire.

Ravens Bluff was established as a city over the remains of Sarbreen, in the Year of the Horn, 1222 DR.

The mid–13th century saw the Vast once again suffer rampaging hordes of orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears, supplemented by some human brigands and half-breed rogues. In the Year of Burning Steel, 1246 DR, the orc warlord Fottergrim and the magelord Archlis led a mixed horde of them in an invasion and take-over of Tsurlagol. Procampur sent an army to besiege and liberate the city. Fottergrim and Archlis were slain, Procampur's armies were victorious, and Tsurlagol was liberated. Fottergrim's silver-plated skull was mounted on a pillar halfway between the two cities with a warning against threatening Procampur's allies.

In the mid-13th century (i.e., over a century before the 1360s DR), a hobgoblin horde marched near Procampur. It was defeated with the aid of the mage Snilloc, who earned some fame for his actions here.

Also sometime around the mid–13th century DR, the forests in the northern Vast began sinking into swampland, becoming the Flooded Forest.

In the Year of Beckoning Death, 1253 DR, plague struck the Vast, as well Cormyr and Sembia.

The terrifying red dragon Halarglautha Firewings had rampaged across the lands of the Vast south of the River Vesper, particularly along the Fire River. The flaming destruction she inflicted on dwarf, human, and orc settlements here apparently gave the Fire River its name. Her reign of terror ended when she was slain by a band of human adventurers in the late 13th century.

By 1294 DR, much of the Vast was again wilderness, lawless, and plagued by monsters. The Magister of the time, Inhil "Hurler-of-Stars" Lauthdryn, went into the Vast wilderness to find, defeat, and bring to justice rogue archmages of Calaunt and Ravens Bluff. Inhil's remains were later found, slain but apparently successful in his quest.

Modern History

In the Year of the Wandering Wyrm, 1317 DR, the Plague of Dragons quickly spread around the Inner Sea from the Vilhon Reach to Impiltur and Tsurlagol. The priests of Procampur feared that their city would be the next to suffer the diseases and the dragon that spread them.

The Time of Troubles

During the Time of Troubles, in the Year of Shadows, 1358 DR, skeletons rose from their graves to take over the town of Hlintar. Refugees from Hlintar and other chaos-stricken areas fled to Calaunt, Ravens Bluff, and Tantras.

The god Torm the True manifested in the city of Tantras and took up residence there, while his faithful persecuted those of other gods. Torm eventually discovered their crimes and punished them for it. Then the god Bane the Black Lord arrived to take one of the Tablets of Fate, which he'd hidden in the city. In a titanic battle in the harbor, Torm fought Bane, and absorbed the souls of thousands of his willing faithful there to strengthen himself. In the end, both gods slew one another, and left parts of the city destroyed, depopulated, and in a massive dead-magic zone. Torm did not take the children of the faithful, however, leaving a generation of orphans known as the Martyr's Progeny.

The god Talos the Destroyer visited Tsurlagol, and was there at the conclusion of the crisis on Marpenoth 15.

Calaunt suffered great strife of its own, producing its own displaced peoples. Looting mobs of refugees from Calaunt, together with those from Tantras and Mulmaster, wandered the Vast. Meanwhile, in the southern Vast, many wealthy merchants of Procampur and Tsurlagol fled to their country houses in the town of Maerstar. However, they were harassed by the mobs, who'd also come through Maerstar, and some were killed.

Recent History

With the Horde Wars in east and northeastern Faerûn over 1359–1360 DR, a wave of refugees and immigrants fled west into Impiltur and the Vast and over the Inner Sea. The Tuigan Horde was expected to overrun Thesk and Impiltur and then the Vast, before continuing east. King Azoun IV of Cormyr called for a crusade against the Tuigan Horde in the Year of the Turret, 1360 DR. The dwarf city of Earthfast was the first to join and this helped sway other allies to the cause. Tantras and Ravens Bluff sent envoys to Azoun's council on Tarsakh 10, and between them contributed 4,000 volunteer soldiers, as well as wizards, to the crusade. Meanwhile, the nobles of Procampur, such as Duke Jozul Piniago, contributed to, and profiteered off, the crusade by selling supplies to the army.

Although sahaugin raids increased all around the Inner Sea in the Year of the Gauntlet, 1369 DR, the ports of the Vast on the eastern Dragon Reach were inexplicably spared, leaving only the usual activity.

One night in the Year of the Tankard, 1370 DR, pirates launched a surprise attack on the harbor of Ravens Bluff. Crippled by the assault, the city's navy was annihilated by subsequent setbacks. On that same night, in the backlands of the Vast, the Warlord Myrkyssa Jelan arose at the head of an army of orcs, ogres, giants, drow and human mercenaries, mages, and even demons. They marched against Ravens Bluff, demanded the city's surrender, then assaulted and lay siege to the city and surrounding estates, demolishing buildings and ruining the land. This war dragged on for half the year and Ravens Bluff came close to defeat.

The Vast was among those lands covered by the Tyrantfog of 9–11 Mirtul of 1370 DR, stretching as far east as Tsurlagol. Under the fog, Cyric worshipers were afflicted with terrible diseases, while followers of Iyachtu Xvim were strengthened. Finally, items and beings filled with Bane's power were destroyed, and baneliches hidden in Tantras exploded. The Tyrantfog then burned away in green flame.

In the summer of 1370 DR, the forces of Ravens Bluff rallied and confronted those of Myrkyssa Jelan, and her war ended in the six-day-long Battle of Fire River. By its end, Myrkyssa Jelan's army had been defeated, its combatants slain or routed, but the Warlord herself had escaped. Ravens Bluff survived, but with a quarter of its army killed or injured, its fleet gone, and no means of support, but the Ravenians pulled through and rebuilt.

Later that year, Myrkyssa Jelan reappeared with another army, likely the remnants or reserves of her first, and this time marched on Tantras. She demanded the city's surrender, else she'd raze it to the ground. The Tantran High Council met with the Warlord, and they came to some agreement. The terms of this were unknown, but Jelan's army withdrew without attacking. Tantras had requested aid from Procampur and Ravens Bluff, but by the time this arrived, Jelan's army had faded into the mountains.

Later in 1370 DR, Ravens Bluff proposed the formation of a regional government in the Vast. They started by taking neighbouring settlements under its control, such as Mossbridges and New Hope, and thus turned Ravens Bluff into a city-state. Procampur remained neutral on the plan, preferring to wait-and-see, while Tantras strongly rejected the proposal. Local lords were unwilling to place themselves under civic authority, while others disliked being annexed, but merchants and many ordinary folk felt it would only improve prosperity of the Vast.

Through 1370 DR, there was strange news of dark goings-on in the Vast. Some unknown being, organization, or power had paid regular visits to the tombs of powerful undead creatures—and cleaned them. Another had deposited horrifying deepspawn in several old ruins to dwell there. Though adventurers and local folk kept a lookout, these bizarre practices continued and remained unexplained. Furthermore, some adventurers had found and explored old tunnel networks once used by dwarves and orcs. They disturbed orcs and more dangerous creatures, which ventured out of the mountains to hunt adventurers themselves. These made the Vast a more dangerous land for heroes. Strange monsters also began lurking in numbers around the Flooded Forest's southern marshes, including owlbears, stirges, and strange unknown creatures, threatening hunters from Ylraphon.

By Midsummer of 1372 DR, rumors spread that a powerful mercenary commander in the Vast was gathering an army of hired soldiers and adventurers. Their plan was, apparently, to capture the town of Scardale over the Dragon Reach, which would be a valuable holding for any Vast city. It was unknown who was behind this venture; some thought merchants in Calaunt or Tantras.

During the Dracorage of the Year of Rogue Dragons, 1373, on Hammer 23rd a flight of dragons destroyed Ylraphon.

Post-Spellplague

A regional government was eventually formed in the Vast, as the formerly independent city-states of Calaunt, Ravens Bluff, and Tantras united in the nation of Vesperin. It was still a young nation by 1479 DR. Tantras was named its capital.

When the second Netheril took over Sembia around 1400 DR, many Sembian merchants migrated to Vesperin. The majority of them settled in Ravens Bluff, making it the largest city in the nation. The Netherese rulers eventually cracked down on Sembian migration, killing would-be refugees who tried to cross to the Vast. With Sembia dominated, Impiltur in decline, and the influx of migrants, Vesperin flourished as a neutral center of trade and intrigue.

Races
Humans 78%
Dwarves 9%
Halflings 5%
Elves 3%
Gnomes 2%
Half-elves 1%
Half-orcs 1%
Languages
Easting (Procampan, Tantran), Damaran
Religions
Chauntea, Clangeddin, Eldath, Mystra, Tempus, Torm, Tymora, Waukeen

Type

Region

Location under

North Faerûn