Post by DM Leverage on Jun 7, 2013 18:51:08 GMT -5
The Shaar
Capital: None (Council Hills)
Population: 587,520 (humans 60%, wemics 15%, gnolls 14%, centaurs 10%)
Government: Various nomadic chieftains
Religions: Mask, Oghma, Tempus
Imports: Armor, weapons, wine
Exports: Ivory, jewelry, slaves
Alignments: CN, N, CG
The Shaar is a vast, rolling grassland running from the Shining Sea too the distant lands of the east. Civilization has almost no hold on the area. Nomadic humans (the dozen or so tribes of the Shaaryan) and nonhumans such as centaurs, gnolls, and wemics populate the Shaar. The wemics hunt, the Shaaryan humans herd rothe and horses, and the gnolls raid the land supports its native grasses splendidly but is ill suited for agriculture--it’s not a desert, but the land bakes by day and freezes by night.
The Shaaryan humans seldom stray in large numbers from their ancestral plains, largely because their treasured horses do not do well outside the Shaar. Shaaryan horses are strong and faster than horses from other regions of Faerûn, as long as they roam their native grasslands. The great horses grow sick and die if they do not eat the grasses that thrive only on the wide plains of the Shaar. The Shaaryan understand this, and few of them leave their native culture behind to travel Faerûn.
Life and Society
The dozen or so nomad tribes known collectively as the Shaaryan have never been unified, though they share a common culture and way of life. Outsiders find it difficult to tell members of one tribe from the others, but the nomads can tell each apart instantly from clues of dress, accent, color of mount, and make of weapons.
Several of the tribes allow female warriors to ride as equals among the men, and a few have female chiefs. Chiefs are generally elected by secret votes among the elders, but two tribes have would-be dynasties of powerful charismatic families that attempt to keep a lock on power.
Traditionally, raiding parties of twenty or fewer warriors do not constitute an act of war against another Shaaryan tribe. Larger raiding parties amount to declarations of war, a risky proposition since tribes that declare war are generally not allowed to participate in the intertribal councils until they have made reparations or otherwise ceased their aggressions.
The wemics sometimes join in the Shaaryan councils. More often their chiefs pursue their own savage goals without caring for the human nomads’ traditions and protocols.
Major Geographical Features
Other types of terrain occasionally interrupt the rolling grasslands, including small sand dunes and valleys filled with tiny lakes and wildlife. The miniature oases contain ruins of earlier civilizations. Many also contain the temporary camps of present-day nomads.
Lake Lhespen: The swamps at the eastern edge of this lake are full of mangrove trees, giant eels, and water spiders. The shores are crusted with salt drawn out from the rocks beneath the waters. The nomads gather salt for their horses here when they do not wish to trade for salt at Shaarmid.
The Landrise: The eastern Shaar is two hundred to four hundred feet higher than the western Shaar. The Landrise is the dividing zone, splitting the grasslands into two areas south of the Firesteap Mountains and north of the Forest of Amtar. Nomad tribes warring upon each other frequently try to occupy different sides of the cliffs, to give themselves a chance of spotting their enemies as they approach.
River Shaar: The Shaar originates in the deep, cold Riftlake, hundreds of feet below the high plains. It roars and thunders through measureless caverns for more than one hundred miles before emerging from a great cavern mouth at the foot of the Landrise. From there it pursues a course across the lower Shaar to Lake Lhespen.
The Shaarwood and the Sharawood: The nomads visit the forests to gather herbs, hunt, and occasionally hide from their enemies. The wooded land is poor terrain for horses, so the nomads have never tried to settle these lands.
Important Sites
The nomads maintain few permanent settlements. Any cities here were established by other folk in the Shaar.
Council Hills: All the nomad tribes except those engaged in war send delegates to the Council Hills in the spring and fall to hold peace talks and drink together. The Council Hills are always considered neutral ground, off limits to fighting between the nomads.
Lhesper: This ruined city is home to a powerful clan of yuan-ti sorcerers. Human travelers along the shores of Lake Lhespen often fall prey to bandits under yuan-ti domination and are carried back to a terrible fate in Lhesper--usually sacrifice to the yuan-ti’s dark god, but sometimes transformation into monstrous servitors to the serpent race. The nomads give it a wide berth.
Shaarmid (Large City, 23,501): A free trading city populated by people who claim no kinship with the nomads, Shaarmid is accepted by the tribes as a long time ally because the city’s people have a history of brokering excellent deals for the nomads with the traders from the rest of Faerûn. Merchants flock to Shaarmid as a safe zone in a wasteland that otherwise threatens them with Shaaryan bandits and other raiders.
Regional History
The history of the Shaar isn’t recognizable as history to citizens of civilized Faerûn. Current events in the Shaar include small-scale conflicts with the gold dwarves, who have tired of having their trade caravans attacked by Shaaryan bandits, and an ongoing battle along the Landrise between tribes attempting to keep their rivals from reaching the Council Hills.
- Source: Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
Capital: None (Council Hills)
Population: 587,520 (humans 60%, wemics 15%, gnolls 14%, centaurs 10%)
Government: Various nomadic chieftains
Religions: Mask, Oghma, Tempus
Imports: Armor, weapons, wine
Exports: Ivory, jewelry, slaves
Alignments: CN, N, CG
The Shaar is a vast, rolling grassland running from the Shining Sea too the distant lands of the east. Civilization has almost no hold on the area. Nomadic humans (the dozen or so tribes of the Shaaryan) and nonhumans such as centaurs, gnolls, and wemics populate the Shaar. The wemics hunt, the Shaaryan humans herd rothe and horses, and the gnolls raid the land supports its native grasses splendidly but is ill suited for agriculture--it’s not a desert, but the land bakes by day and freezes by night.
The Shaaryan humans seldom stray in large numbers from their ancestral plains, largely because their treasured horses do not do well outside the Shaar. Shaaryan horses are strong and faster than horses from other regions of Faerûn, as long as they roam their native grasslands. The great horses grow sick and die if they do not eat the grasses that thrive only on the wide plains of the Shaar. The Shaaryan understand this, and few of them leave their native culture behind to travel Faerûn.
Life and Society
The dozen or so nomad tribes known collectively as the Shaaryan have never been unified, though they share a common culture and way of life. Outsiders find it difficult to tell members of one tribe from the others, but the nomads can tell each apart instantly from clues of dress, accent, color of mount, and make of weapons.
Several of the tribes allow female warriors to ride as equals among the men, and a few have female chiefs. Chiefs are generally elected by secret votes among the elders, but two tribes have would-be dynasties of powerful charismatic families that attempt to keep a lock on power.
Traditionally, raiding parties of twenty or fewer warriors do not constitute an act of war against another Shaaryan tribe. Larger raiding parties amount to declarations of war, a risky proposition since tribes that declare war are generally not allowed to participate in the intertribal councils until they have made reparations or otherwise ceased their aggressions.
The wemics sometimes join in the Shaaryan councils. More often their chiefs pursue their own savage goals without caring for the human nomads’ traditions and protocols.
Major Geographical Features
Other types of terrain occasionally interrupt the rolling grasslands, including small sand dunes and valleys filled with tiny lakes and wildlife. The miniature oases contain ruins of earlier civilizations. Many also contain the temporary camps of present-day nomads.
Lake Lhespen: The swamps at the eastern edge of this lake are full of mangrove trees, giant eels, and water spiders. The shores are crusted with salt drawn out from the rocks beneath the waters. The nomads gather salt for their horses here when they do not wish to trade for salt at Shaarmid.
The Landrise: The eastern Shaar is two hundred to four hundred feet higher than the western Shaar. The Landrise is the dividing zone, splitting the grasslands into two areas south of the Firesteap Mountains and north of the Forest of Amtar. Nomad tribes warring upon each other frequently try to occupy different sides of the cliffs, to give themselves a chance of spotting their enemies as they approach.
River Shaar: The Shaar originates in the deep, cold Riftlake, hundreds of feet below the high plains. It roars and thunders through measureless caverns for more than one hundred miles before emerging from a great cavern mouth at the foot of the Landrise. From there it pursues a course across the lower Shaar to Lake Lhespen.
The Shaarwood and the Sharawood: The nomads visit the forests to gather herbs, hunt, and occasionally hide from their enemies. The wooded land is poor terrain for horses, so the nomads have never tried to settle these lands.
Important Sites
The nomads maintain few permanent settlements. Any cities here were established by other folk in the Shaar.
Council Hills: All the nomad tribes except those engaged in war send delegates to the Council Hills in the spring and fall to hold peace talks and drink together. The Council Hills are always considered neutral ground, off limits to fighting between the nomads.
Lhesper: This ruined city is home to a powerful clan of yuan-ti sorcerers. Human travelers along the shores of Lake Lhespen often fall prey to bandits under yuan-ti domination and are carried back to a terrible fate in Lhesper--usually sacrifice to the yuan-ti’s dark god, but sometimes transformation into monstrous servitors to the serpent race. The nomads give it a wide berth.
Shaarmid (Large City, 23,501): A free trading city populated by people who claim no kinship with the nomads, Shaarmid is accepted by the tribes as a long time ally because the city’s people have a history of brokering excellent deals for the nomads with the traders from the rest of Faerûn. Merchants flock to Shaarmid as a safe zone in a wasteland that otherwise threatens them with Shaaryan bandits and other raiders.
Regional History
The history of the Shaar isn’t recognizable as history to citizens of civilized Faerûn. Current events in the Shaar include small-scale conflicts with the gold dwarves, who have tired of having their trade caravans attacked by Shaaryan bandits, and an ongoing battle along the Landrise between tribes attempting to keep their rivals from reaching the Council Hills.
- Source: Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting