With the Shaar on the east, it separated the Shining South from the rest of Faerûn. On its shores was a collection of free cities, mainly on the northern and western sides. The southern side, by contrast, was a collection of kingdoms collectively named the Border Kingdoms. At the center of the lake was the Arnrock. The mountains around the area were one of the only places that the rare substance, zardazik, could be found.
- MAJOR GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES
The lake itself and the Shining Sea to the south are the primary features of the area, along with the forests that surround the lake.
Duskwood: This tangled haunt of stirges, predatory trees, giant spiders, and enormous snakes is still widely visited for many kinds of rare plants prized by herbalists, spellcasters, and alchemists. The wood is also known for several pools said to be capable of repairing magic items. The
Vauntagar, a magical binding-ward, keeps a cycle of monsters alive to guard the pools. When the active monster is severely injured, it shifts to an extradimensional space where the others live, and a fresh creature is sent to take its place in the wood. Aside from the Vauntagar creatures, at least one beholder haunts the forest.
Jundarwood: Spiders of all kinds inhabit this tall forest, both normal and giant-size. Rumors abound that intelligent spiderlike beings, either ettercaps or araneas, also lair here. Evidence is scarce, so if they do exist, they have been living in tunnels underground or high in the forest canopy. The eastern end of the Jundarwood sports a volcanic hill known as the Jundarmount, which releases small amounts of lava and a great mass of cinders at least once a month, often setting portions of the wood on fire if the wind is right.
Lake of Steam: Despite its name, the Lake of Steam (also called Arnaden) is a saltwater bay of the Shining Sea. Its stinking yellow waters give off clouds of steam due to volcanic activity beneath the waves, so its waters are always warm and cloaked with impenetrable mists on cold nights. Shallow as a pan, the lake is less than two hundred feet deep at its deepest, and only a few dozen feet in depth for most of its eastern arm.
The warm, iron-strong, undrinkable waters are rich in minerals that spur weeds, shellfish, and fish to grow to great size; the lake has been called “the Breadbasket of the Seas.” Predators here grow very large, too, from birds and otters to dragon turtles. Dolphins are common, and sharks and leeches (some as large as rowboats, and given to hunting ashore during wet nights) are frequent, outnumbering more fearsome aquatic monsters. The lake is also known for the greenish pearls of its oysters.
The islands in the Lake of Steam change as volcanic stacks collapse and rise, but tend to be concentrated at Arnaden’s western end. The Arnrock is an active volcano that exploded about a thousand years back, and is now a low, wide, open-topped dome with a cauldron filled with woods and always active hot springs and fumaroles. It’s
the abode of a small settlement of strongheart halflings who call themselves the Arn. They fish, farm, and do a little copper-casting using volcanic rifts at the cauldron’s heart.
Great numbers of wild beasts roam the island of Olodel. The place was once the private hunting preserve of the Lords of Olodel, eccentric Calishite merchants who brought a number of deepspawn hence and fed them deadly monsters, from tigers to manticores and chimeras. Several beholders slew the Lords and now rule Olodel. The island of Felmer’s Keep looks like a castle but is actually a steepsided extinct volcano, its outer flanks rocky ramparts, and its heart a verdant meadow.
The Strait of Storms (also known as the Suldolphor Strait or the Wide Water) links Arnaden with the Shining Sea, and waters flow through it dangerously fast. To voyage north into the lake, ships wait on strong winds and favorable tides, sometimes for days.
Qurth Forest: This forest is thick almost to the point of being impassable. Long ago a Calishite sorcerer cursed one of the local rulers that monsters would overrun his realm, and while the curse died with the offending ruler, the offspring of those monsters still thrive here. Owlbears, intelligent fungi, and giant spiders are common, and an occasional naga can be found. Ruined, overgrown cities still exist in the interior of the forest, long abandoned when monsters drove out the inhabitants.
Thornwood: This is one of the most dangerous forests in southwestern Faerun. It is inhabited by evil humanoids, dangerous plants, and at least one beholder. Wood elves, druids, and treants struggle to hold back the tide of evil. Legends tell of the Green's Sword, a green blade that sprouts from a particular grove every ten years; the grove is encircled with brambles and it otherwise unremarkable for the sword-shaped leaves of plants where the sword appears.
Winterwood: This lush forest's canopy allows little direct sunlight to penetrate. The ground is often shrouded in white mist that resembles snow. Green elves, orcs, and intelligent mold-based creatures fight for territory. The forest is also home to
Foilsunder an old male green dragon with druidic powers.
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