Post by DM Leverage on Jun 8, 2013 6:41:02 GMT -5
Halruaa
Capital: Halarahh
Population: 1,676,160 (humans 90%, dwarves 5%, halflings 2%, elves 1%, half-elves 1%)
Government: Magocratic oligarchy (Council of Elders)
Religions: Azuth, Mystra, Shar (new cult)
Imports: Exotic magic items, precious metals
Exports: Electrum, Haerlu wine
Alignments: LG, LN, NG
Far to the south and ringed by mountains lies Halruaa, a nation of wizards. The Halruaans are descendants of refugees from mighty Netheril, a kingdom of human wizards who allowed their own power to grow unchecked, corrupt their souls, and blast all their works into splinters. Halruaa maintained the Netherese fascination with magic, pursing the Art with fanatical devotion and considering all other studies to be inferior pursuits. So far the Halruaans have avoided the soul-blindness that doomed Netheril.
The Halruaan wizards are a self-satisfied lot, more interested in pursuing their research in the privacy of their home laboratories than in exploring or exploiting the rest of Toril. Those who do leave their native land are merchants or agents in search of unusual spell components. Sometimes such agents are important enough to travel in one of the fabled Halruaan skyships, but the flying craft are fragile and so valuable that they are not sent outside Halruaa on anything less than major missions.
Life and Society
Not all Halruaans are wizards, but they act as if they were. Halruaans observe exaggerated social courtesies, taking time for length declarations of intent, ritual sharing of spell components, and other elaborate social niceties. These practices would be a waste of time in a society that didn’t hinge on the worry that a fellow citizen who grows displeased with you could turn you into a toad. Halruaans often spend more time on their studies than on their families, seldom rearing large numbers of children--and populating their country more thinly than more vigorous human societies.
Halruaans receive public schooling until at least the age of thirteen. Screening for magical aptitude occurs at age five, and magi-capable students often master cantrips by the time they are fifteen.
Although practicing magic is not necessary to live well in Halruaa, it helps. Those who are capable of casting wizard spells “have the gift,” even if they do not make use of their talents. Roughly one-third of all Halruaans have the gift. Of that number, approximately two-thirds have some arcane knowledge and the rest have at least one level of wizard. To Halruaans, the true Art is wizardry--sorcery is viewed as a dangerously undisciplined and primitive approach to magic. The few Halruaans whose gifts force them to become sorcerers instead of wizards either downplay the extent of their powers or leave the country.
Major Geographical Features
Halruaa is a warm, humid land. The higher foothills and valleys of the Walls of Halruaa are cooler and more comfortable than the low-lands.
Lake Halruaa: This central body of brackish water connects the land’s river ports to the sea. Strong and unpredictable winds blowing in off the mountains make it a tricky place to sail and fish, and even trickier to fly over in a skyship.
Swamp of Akhlaur: This four-thousand-square-mile swamp is an unpleasant reminder that the disasters that destroyed Netheril could be repeated in Halruaa. Akhlaur was an ambitious conjurer who pushed his researches into interplanar connections too far, until they swallowed him whole. As Akhlaur died, the magic that he had set in motion went out of control. The Swamp of Akhlaur is fed constantly be a never-closed portal to the Elemental Plane of Water. The swamp grows by a hundred feet or so in all directions each year. Wizards and adventurers often enter the swamp in search of Akhlaur’s fabled magical treasures or a means of turning the swamp “off.” Those who survive were usually lucky enough not to encounter the magic-draining demons known as larakens that live only within the swamp.
The Walls of Halruaa: A ring of mighty mountains guards Halruaa to the west, north, and east. Three passes lead through the mountains to the often hostile kingdoms beyond. The Halruaans have largely tamed their side of the wall, but the far side is home to ogres, tall mothers, giants, perytons, and stray outsiders that know better than to tempt the wrath of the Halruaan wizards.
Important Sites
Halruaans prefer to live in small villages. Even the largest cities have no more than seven or eight thousand inhabitants.
Halagard (Small City, 7,500): The former capital of Halruaa is only slightly smaller than Halarahh, the present capital. King Zalathorm (LN male human Div20/Lor9) moved the capital north one hundred years ago, but residents of Halagard still think of themselves as the true bearers of the Halruaan spirit. In keeping with their stand against newfangled Halarahhan fashions, wizards of Halagard generally specialize in conjuration or evocation rather than divination.
Halarahh (Small City, 8,000): Some three thousand of the capital city’s inhabitants are practicing wizards. Their towers dominate the skyline, though Zalathorm has discouraged the “tower war,” a cyclic form of competition in which the wizards of Halarahh attempt to raise their towers over all rivals’ towers. To gain Zalathorm’s favor, lesser wizards have actually reduced the size of their towers, making the air that much safer for skyships. The seventeen members of the Council of Elders make their home in the capital.
Halarahh is a difficult place to live for those who lack the gift. Favorable treatment and promotions, in all walks of life, come to those who have the gift and somehow elude those who lack magical aptitude. The saying “as useless as a sword in Halarahh” is often on the lips of frustrated former residents of Halarahh who moved elsewhere.
Mount Talath (Small Town, 1,170): A high temple to Mystra is carved into the mountain. It consists of a grand worship space meant to inspire awe and a huge cavern complex built to store centuries of magical knowledge safely. The complex has some degree of organization--any magical fact can be located with no more than five or six years of diligent research. Halruaan wizards pride themselves on their ability to track down the information they need in Talath’s caverns, devising new spells designed expressly for that purpose. Non-Halruaan wizards pay exorbitant fees just to enter the rooms reserved for Halruaan apprentices.
Regional History
The first wizards of Halruaa came from Netheril in the north, fleeing the scourge of the phaerimms almost two thousand years ago. They were led by the archwizard Raumark, who foresaw the doom approaching his native land. They found a beautiful and rich country, settled sparsely by shepherds and fisherfolk.
Raumark and his retinue of loyal mages, apprentices, and their households did not set out to conquer the native Halruaans, but within a generation the two societies had grown together through intermarriage and common interest. The Netherese princes provided the simply folk of Halruaa with an organized ruling class, laws, justice, and wondrous works. Native Halruaans with a talent for magic were accepted as students with no hesitation, and the presence of so many powerful wizards in their land soon pacified the monsters and raiders who had plagued the lowlands.
The great work of Raumark and his followers in the first centuries after their flight was to prepare for the phaerimms attack that must surely follow Netheril’s fall in the North. But Netheril’s flying cities fell, the sands swallowed its Narrow Sea, and the fragmented realms of those who survived its fall vanished as well by the third century DR, and still the phaerimms did not attack Halruaa.
While Halruaa never fought the war that Raumark prepared for, the land was not left in peace by its neighbors. Envious of its riches and magical treasures, the barbaric Dambrathans invaded Halruaa on several instances. In 585 DR, a fleet of Dambrathan galleys attacked Halruaa’s coasts and occupied all the country south of Lake Halruaa for several months, until the great wizard-king Mycontil defeated the Dambrathans and slew their leader. The last serious invasion occurred about one hundred years ago, when a charismatic satrap of Lapaliiya led a great raid through the Talath Pass. The Halruaans drove them off easily.
The present wizard-king Zalathorm, is a diviner whose powers of foretelling have extinguished several threats before they could become serious. Zalathorm and the diviners have been so successful that the popular consensus is that Halruaa should be led by divination specialists from now on, instead of trusting evokers, conjurers, and other wizards who ruled in the days when Halruaa was actively forced to defend itself.
- Source: Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
Capital: Halarahh
Population: 1,676,160 (humans 90%, dwarves 5%, halflings 2%, elves 1%, half-elves 1%)
Government: Magocratic oligarchy (Council of Elders)
Religions: Azuth, Mystra, Shar (new cult)
Imports: Exotic magic items, precious metals
Exports: Electrum, Haerlu wine
Alignments: LG, LN, NG
Far to the south and ringed by mountains lies Halruaa, a nation of wizards. The Halruaans are descendants of refugees from mighty Netheril, a kingdom of human wizards who allowed their own power to grow unchecked, corrupt their souls, and blast all their works into splinters. Halruaa maintained the Netherese fascination with magic, pursing the Art with fanatical devotion and considering all other studies to be inferior pursuits. So far the Halruaans have avoided the soul-blindness that doomed Netheril.
The Halruaan wizards are a self-satisfied lot, more interested in pursuing their research in the privacy of their home laboratories than in exploring or exploiting the rest of Toril. Those who do leave their native land are merchants or agents in search of unusual spell components. Sometimes such agents are important enough to travel in one of the fabled Halruaan skyships, but the flying craft are fragile and so valuable that they are not sent outside Halruaa on anything less than major missions.
Life and Society
Not all Halruaans are wizards, but they act as if they were. Halruaans observe exaggerated social courtesies, taking time for length declarations of intent, ritual sharing of spell components, and other elaborate social niceties. These practices would be a waste of time in a society that didn’t hinge on the worry that a fellow citizen who grows displeased with you could turn you into a toad. Halruaans often spend more time on their studies than on their families, seldom rearing large numbers of children--and populating their country more thinly than more vigorous human societies.
Halruaans receive public schooling until at least the age of thirteen. Screening for magical aptitude occurs at age five, and magi-capable students often master cantrips by the time they are fifteen.
Although practicing magic is not necessary to live well in Halruaa, it helps. Those who are capable of casting wizard spells “have the gift,” even if they do not make use of their talents. Roughly one-third of all Halruaans have the gift. Of that number, approximately two-thirds have some arcane knowledge and the rest have at least one level of wizard. To Halruaans, the true Art is wizardry--sorcery is viewed as a dangerously undisciplined and primitive approach to magic. The few Halruaans whose gifts force them to become sorcerers instead of wizards either downplay the extent of their powers or leave the country.
Major Geographical Features
Halruaa is a warm, humid land. The higher foothills and valleys of the Walls of Halruaa are cooler and more comfortable than the low-lands.
Lake Halruaa: This central body of brackish water connects the land’s river ports to the sea. Strong and unpredictable winds blowing in off the mountains make it a tricky place to sail and fish, and even trickier to fly over in a skyship.
Swamp of Akhlaur: This four-thousand-square-mile swamp is an unpleasant reminder that the disasters that destroyed Netheril could be repeated in Halruaa. Akhlaur was an ambitious conjurer who pushed his researches into interplanar connections too far, until they swallowed him whole. As Akhlaur died, the magic that he had set in motion went out of control. The Swamp of Akhlaur is fed constantly be a never-closed portal to the Elemental Plane of Water. The swamp grows by a hundred feet or so in all directions each year. Wizards and adventurers often enter the swamp in search of Akhlaur’s fabled magical treasures or a means of turning the swamp “off.” Those who survive were usually lucky enough not to encounter the magic-draining demons known as larakens that live only within the swamp.
The Walls of Halruaa: A ring of mighty mountains guards Halruaa to the west, north, and east. Three passes lead through the mountains to the often hostile kingdoms beyond. The Halruaans have largely tamed their side of the wall, but the far side is home to ogres, tall mothers, giants, perytons, and stray outsiders that know better than to tempt the wrath of the Halruaan wizards.
Important Sites
Halruaans prefer to live in small villages. Even the largest cities have no more than seven or eight thousand inhabitants.
Halagard (Small City, 7,500): The former capital of Halruaa is only slightly smaller than Halarahh, the present capital. King Zalathorm (LN male human Div20/Lor9) moved the capital north one hundred years ago, but residents of Halagard still think of themselves as the true bearers of the Halruaan spirit. In keeping with their stand against newfangled Halarahhan fashions, wizards of Halagard generally specialize in conjuration or evocation rather than divination.
Halarahh (Small City, 8,000): Some three thousand of the capital city’s inhabitants are practicing wizards. Their towers dominate the skyline, though Zalathorm has discouraged the “tower war,” a cyclic form of competition in which the wizards of Halarahh attempt to raise their towers over all rivals’ towers. To gain Zalathorm’s favor, lesser wizards have actually reduced the size of their towers, making the air that much safer for skyships. The seventeen members of the Council of Elders make their home in the capital.
Halarahh is a difficult place to live for those who lack the gift. Favorable treatment and promotions, in all walks of life, come to those who have the gift and somehow elude those who lack magical aptitude. The saying “as useless as a sword in Halarahh” is often on the lips of frustrated former residents of Halarahh who moved elsewhere.
Mount Talath (Small Town, 1,170): A high temple to Mystra is carved into the mountain. It consists of a grand worship space meant to inspire awe and a huge cavern complex built to store centuries of magical knowledge safely. The complex has some degree of organization--any magical fact can be located with no more than five or six years of diligent research. Halruaan wizards pride themselves on their ability to track down the information they need in Talath’s caverns, devising new spells designed expressly for that purpose. Non-Halruaan wizards pay exorbitant fees just to enter the rooms reserved for Halruaan apprentices.
Regional History
The first wizards of Halruaa came from Netheril in the north, fleeing the scourge of the phaerimms almost two thousand years ago. They were led by the archwizard Raumark, who foresaw the doom approaching his native land. They found a beautiful and rich country, settled sparsely by shepherds and fisherfolk.
Raumark and his retinue of loyal mages, apprentices, and their households did not set out to conquer the native Halruaans, but within a generation the two societies had grown together through intermarriage and common interest. The Netherese princes provided the simply folk of Halruaa with an organized ruling class, laws, justice, and wondrous works. Native Halruaans with a talent for magic were accepted as students with no hesitation, and the presence of so many powerful wizards in their land soon pacified the monsters and raiders who had plagued the lowlands.
The great work of Raumark and his followers in the first centuries after their flight was to prepare for the phaerimms attack that must surely follow Netheril’s fall in the North. But Netheril’s flying cities fell, the sands swallowed its Narrow Sea, and the fragmented realms of those who survived its fall vanished as well by the third century DR, and still the phaerimms did not attack Halruaa.
While Halruaa never fought the war that Raumark prepared for, the land was not left in peace by its neighbors. Envious of its riches and magical treasures, the barbaric Dambrathans invaded Halruaa on several instances. In 585 DR, a fleet of Dambrathan galleys attacked Halruaa’s coasts and occupied all the country south of Lake Halruaa for several months, until the great wizard-king Mycontil defeated the Dambrathans and slew their leader. The last serious invasion occurred about one hundred years ago, when a charismatic satrap of Lapaliiya led a great raid through the Talath Pass. The Halruaans drove them off easily.
The present wizard-king Zalathorm, is a diviner whose powers of foretelling have extinguished several threats before they could become serious. Zalathorm and the diviners have been so successful that the popular consensus is that Halruaa should be led by divination specialists from now on, instead of trusting evokers, conjurers, and other wizards who ruled in the days when Halruaa was actively forced to defend itself.
- Source: Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting