Icewind Dale
This is the edge of the map. North of the Spine of the World and west of the towering Reghed Glacier is a frigid expanse few dare to explore, let alone inhabit. War is common, resources scarce, and the unrelenting winter seeps into the bones of all who call this place home.
"For the rest of their lives, two memories would ring clear in the wizards’ minds whenever they thought about this trip, two facts of life on Icewind Dale that travelers here never forgot. The first was the endless moaning of the wind, as though the land itself was continuously groaning in torment. And the second was the emptiness of the dale, mile after mile of grey and brown horizon lines."R.A. Salvatore, The Crystal Shard
Inhabitants
The few inhabitants of Icewind Dale are the Dalefolk of Ten-Towns and the Reghed Nomads of the Reghed Glacier.The Ten-Towns Settlements:
Bremen Bryn Shander Caer-Dineval Caer-Konig Dougan's Hole Easthaven Good Mead Lonelywood Targos TermalaineGeography
The vast open tundra of Icewind Dale, is buffeted by katabatic winds sweeping down from the Reghed Glacier, ceaselessly battering anything that dares to grow or breathe in Icewind Dale. Without fail, these winds find their way through every chink and crack, every opening in the warmest furs, every tent flap, every roof and board of the strongest homes, draining away any hint of warmth. Storms bring driving hail and sleet that leaves everything coated in a sheath of ice. Snow piles in deep drifts and blocks all trails leading south to warmer lands.
The ice cliffs of the Reghed Glacier rise in the east like prison walls, while the snow-capped peaks of the Spine of the World loom to the south. North and west, the Sea of Moving Ice churns icebergs and floes in a deadly tumult, like winter grinding its teeth in anticipation of its next freezing assault. A single mountain, Kelvin's Cairn, stands alone near the center of the Dale, its waters feeding three massive lakes: Redwaters, Lac Dinneshere, and Maer Dualdon.
Localized Phenomena
For the past two years, Icewind Dale has been trapped in a perpetual winter the locals call The Everlasting Rime. The sun never rises above the peaks of the Spine of the World Mountains, and the land is always cast under a shadow.
Natural Resources
Resources in the North are scarcely found, unless one knows where to look. Icewind Dale has few trees due to the permafrost of the tundra, so lumber is cut from the slopes of the Spine of the World or the depths of the Lonelywood Forest. Stone mined from the hills and valleys surrounding Kelvin’s Cairn supplements wood as a building material in Ten-Towns. Rocky deposits and minerals serve as a lucrative source of trade for those with the means to transport such heavy shipments across the frozen wastes. Around the great lakes, the communities collectively known as Ten-Towns have formed to reap the benefits of the knucklehead trout that flourish there and to trade goods and services.
Trapped in winter’s cold embrace, nomadic humans follow herds of reindeer through their migrations, while others dare the treacherous waters of the Sea of Moving Ice in search of fish, seals, walruses, and whales to sustain them. Dwarves dig into the earth to seek shelter and mine for iron. Meanwhile, folk descended from foolhardy and treasure-mad immigrants eke out meager lives in Ten-Towns, which can barely hold back the wind, let alone marauding orcs, giants, and fierce tundra yeti.
History
Several major events have impacted Icewind Dale before our story begins; their ramifications resonate
into the modern day. Over 150 years ago, a wizard named Akar Kessel stumbled across a powerful magical relic known
as Crenshinibon, the Crystal Shard. Crenshinibon was a powerful, evil, sentient artifact that intended to use Kessel to conquer Icewind Dale. Kessel was eventually stopped by Icewind Dale’s most famous heroes, the Companions of the Hall, but the Crystal Shard and its power remained for some time. The Shard was eventually destroyed, but not until the wars that had been fought for it and its necromantic energy had permanently scarred the landscape with deadly black ice. Since that time, Icewind Dale has been the site of several major conflicts. Among the disparate and distant people of Icewind Dale, threats seem constant: goblin armies, dragons, barbarian raids, and dark magicians are but some of the would-be conquerors of the Dale, all of whom have been turned away by the populace’s sheer stubbornness—and the occasional hero. Most recently, Hedrun Arnsfirth, a child of the barbarian Tribe of the Elk, was granted power as the Chosen of the ice goddess Auril. With this power, Hedrun became known as the Ice Witch and nearly conquered all of Icewind Dale before her defeat at the hands of a team of adventurers.
Maps
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Icewind Dale
Icewind Dale was an arctic tundra located in the Frozenfar region of the North, known for being the northernmost explored region in all of Faerûn. It earned its name from the harsh winds and icy storms that destroyed buildings and scoured the landscape. The dale was a harsh, near-uninhabitable land that regularly plunged below freezing temperatures, and received little sunlight, particularly during the severe winter months. It was home to only the most hardened of frontiersmen, pioneers, and barbarians. Beyond the sporadic dots of civilization dwelled terrifying beasts and deadly monsters of the North.