Dice Forgotten Realms: The Dalelands [Lore]

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Campaign Lore​

The Land of Faerûn
From the bitter, windswept steppes of the Endless Waste to the storm-lashed cliffs of the Sword Coast stretches a wide, wild land of shining kingdoms and primal wilderness. Faerûn is only one continent of the world known as Toril. Other lands lie in distant corners of the world, but Faerûn is the center of it all, the crossroads and crux upon which all else turns. Dozens of nations, hundreds of city-states, and countless tribes, villages, and settlements dot its expanse.

The continent of Fearûn measures more than thirty-five hundred miles from east to west and and twenty-five hundred from north to south. It includes sun-blasted deserts, vast forest deeps, forbidding mountains, and gleaming inland seas. Across this vast expanse travel minstrels and peddlers, caravan merchants and guards, soldiers, sailors, and steel-hearted adventurers carrying tales of strange, glorious, faraway places. Good maps and clear trails can take even an inexperienced youth with dreams of glory far across Faerûn. Thousands of restless, young would-be heroes from backcountry farmsteads and sleepy villages arrive in Waterdeep and the other great cities every year in search of wealth and renown.

Known roads may be less traveled, but they are not necessarily safe. Fell magic, deadly monsters, and cruel local rulers are all perils that you face when you fare abroad in Faerûn. Away from the main roads and the great cities, the countryside is far wilder than the city folk remember. Even farms and free holds within a day's walk of Waterdeep itself may fall prey to monsters, and no place in Faerûn is safe from the sudden wrath of a dragon.

Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, 3rd Edition​

The Dalelands
The Dales are broad forest vales with rolling farmlands, linked by narrow trade roads running through beautiful woods. Blessed with fertile soil and a temperate climate (aside from the extremely harsh winters), the Dales are the breadbasket of the Heartlands. The Dales independent spirit and age-old alliance with the elves of Cormanthor have made them the historic birthplace or favored home of many of Faerûn's greatest heroes.

Eleven separate dales exist today, each with its own territory, government (or lack of it), militia, trading pacts, ambitions, and character. Archendale and Harrowdale value trade over all else. Tasseldale values industry and craftsmanship. Daggerdale stands alone against a powerful enemy, while Scardale struggles to recover its independence after years of occupation. Meanwhile, the other Dales respect the old Dales Compact and prefer to be left alone.

Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, 3rd Edition​

Spoiler: Dalelands Map

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The Dales Compact
The Dales were once deep woods hunted only lightly by the dragons, for these creatures preferred to make meals of ogres, deer, bears, and rothé available in the open Stonelands to the west. As the worms declined and elven might grew, the elven Realms of Cormanthry flourished.

Humans hailing from lands today known as Chondath and Impiltur settled the edges of that great forest. These migrations attracted folk from other regions of Faerûn: exiles, fugitives from justice, and adventurers who saw a land of bright promise. Scattered human farmsteads and hamlets began to appear at the fringes of Cormanthor around -200 DR. Elven defenses hampered woodcutting, so human settlements were scattered and isolated instead of sprawling across wide-open farmland, as they did in the lands that would become Cormyr to the west and Sembia to the South.

Forseeing the eventual doom of his people if they tried to fight off increasingly numerous human settlers, the elven coronal Eltargrim arranged the Dales Compact between the elves of the forest empire of Cormanthyr and the humans who would become known as Dalesfolk. Human and elven wizards together raised the Standing Stone in the center of Cormanthor as a symbol of unity between the two races. In return for promising not to cut deeper into the Cormanthor forest, the ancestors of the current Dalesfolk were allowed to settle around the forest's edges or in places where the great trees did not grow.

While the early Dales struggled to survive, the elves of Cormanthor grew strong and confident. In 220 DR, the elven coronal allowed humans to enter his kingdom. In 261 DR, he made the fateful decision to welcome them into its very heart, transforming the elven city then known as Cormanthor into the open city of Myth Drannor. All races were welcome in Myth Drannor, which enjoyed a golden age that lasted five centuries. Myth Drannor reached heights of arts, crafting, and culture unsurpassed since, and the city brought human, halfling, dwarven, and gnome trade, travel, and settlement to the Dragon Reach lands.

Myth Drannor's rise allowed the Dales to survive their troubled infancy. The city's fall in 714 DR gave the Dales the chance to flourish in ways that would have been impossible if elven might had remained intact. Few survivors of Myth Drannor's collapse escaped the demons, devils, and dragons that flocked to the ruins, but these survivors took the scraps of their wealth, magic, and learning to the nearby dales.

Although the Compact stands no more, most of the Dales still abide by its terms. Tradition has replaced elven might as the principal motivation for adhering to the Compact, but for now it is sufficient to preserve Cormanthor's borders as they stand.

Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, 3rd Edition​

The Dales Council
Each year at Midwinter, every dale sends a delegate to a selected Dalelands town for the Dales Council. Delegates debate issues affecting all the dales, such as maintenance of trade routes, defense pacts against Zhent or Sembian aggression, border squabbles between neighboring Dales, and matters relating to the great forest of Cormanthor.

Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, 3rd Edition​

 

[Bone2pick]

Geography
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Sembia
Sembia is a land of experienced merchants who know how to hold onto power and young traders who scheme for a share of it. Sembians relish the art of the deal, the skill of gaining advantage through negotiation instead of through outright falsehood or cheating. Although Sembia does not control as great a proportion of Faerûn trade as Amn, trade controls Sembia much more than trade controls Amn.

Unlike the lawless thugs of the Moonsea cities and the Pirate Isles, Sembians generally observe laws of contract, debts, and interest payments. Quite often Sembians observe these laws all too well, exploiting loopholes that others had not imagined.

Sembia conceives of itself as a young, aggressive, and expansionist nation. It has already co-opted one of the Dales, the former Moondale, and transformed it into a new capital fit for a great power: the city of Ordulin. But the Sembian elite are too interested in seeking advantage over each other to unite behind a single foreign policy or single warlord.

Sembia uses its position on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Fallen Stars to serve as the broker between the north and the south of Faerûn. The Zhents of the Moonsea also trade with other countries, but the Sembians don't consider them a true competitor, because a great deal of Zhent commerce flows through Sembian ports at one point or another, mostly through Ordulin. The Sembians do think of the Zhents as a magical threat, but the foremost worry of Sembia is the magical mercantilism of the Red Wizards of Thay. The Council of Sembia has little interest in seeing Thay force its way into formerly Sembian markets by providing magical goods that the Sembians can't duplicate.

Cormyr
Founded over a thousand years ago, the kingdom of Cormyr benefits from an enlightened monarchy, hard-working citizens, and an advantageous location. Cormyr is a civilized land surrounded by mountains, forests, and settlements of evil humanoids. Known for its well-trained military and its active group of government-sanctioned spellcasters, Cormyr boasts fine food, honest people, strange mysteries, and abundant contacts with other parts of the world.

Recently challenged by treacherous noble families, armies of goblins and orcs, famine, a maurading ancient red dragon, and the death of its beloved monarch, Cormyr is now struggling to maintain its holdings. With one of its cities in ruins and great numbers of evil humanoids still roaming the countryside, this nation is in need of resourceful individuals willing to defend the crown and confront its enemies.

Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, 3rd Edition​

Cormanthor
Walking beneath Cormanthor's giant maples, looming shadowtops, and towering oaks, humans soon realize that they have entered a world that does not need them. The great forest is a living testament to a forgotten green age, a time in which humans were an afterthought instead of the dominant society.

During the elven retreat, more than 90% of the elves who called Cormanthor home left for Evermeet or moved west to Evereska. A few remained, particularly in the Semberholme area near Lake Sember and in the communities of Bristar and Moonrise Hill in Deepingdale. Others, who had human mates, human friends, or half-elf children, stayed on in other parts of the Dales.

As the elves left Cormanthor, they set traps and magic wards to discourage humans and others from moving into their ancestral lands. The defenses were particularly strong in the area surrounding the former Elven Court. Queen Amlaruil's followers must have known that their efforts would not keep nonelves out forever. But it is doubtful that they guessed hat their ancient enemies, the drow, would be the first to slip past the defenses and claim the forest.

Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, 3rd Edition​

Archendale
Capital: Archenbridge
Most of the dales are free-form republics or enlightened feudal states, but Archendale is ruled by three masked autocrats who call themselves the Swords. Over the past couple hundred years, the Swords have consistently played on Archenfolk's militaristic instincts, insisting that the dale needs to be stronger than its neighbors. In Archendale's defense, it's generally acknowledged that the dale owes its wealth to ruthless mercantilism rather than military adventurism. Archenbridge is a hub of trade for all the Dales, and it is the first stop for Sembian caravans winding their way north.

Battledale
Capital: Essembra
Battledale's fierce name isn't a reflection on its character or its foreign policy—it's an indication of the dale's geographic position in the middle of the best invasion routes through the Dalelands. Historically, the biggest local battles have been fought in Battledale's rolling meadows. Essembra is the closest thing Battledale has to a capital, but Ilmeth, the lord of Essembra, has little authority over the rest of the dale. Serious matters such as banditry, arson, or murder are taken to Ilmeth if they can't be handled locally, but he is under no official obligation to deal with problems outside Essembra.

Daggerdale
Capital: Dagger Falls
Daggerfolk are known to be hard, grim, and unforgiving, largely because Zhentil Keep has been trying to claim their lands for decades, seeking to rule this dale as a client state or smash it as Teshendale was ruined. Of all the dales, Daggerdale is the most likely to offer contracts and support to adventuring parties willing to fight Zhents, clean out monster-infested mines, rescue hostages taken by bandits, kill those same bandits, or travel into the mountains after predatory vampires. Most Daggerdale communities keep their gates locked, opening them only to trusted friends or people vouched by someone inside.


Deepingdale
Capital: Highmoon
Deepingdale remains true to its founding vision, the original Dalelands Compact with the elves of Cormanthor, in which Dalesfolk were guests of the elves and joint custodians of the mighty trees of the forest. Unlike the farmers of other dales who thrive by clearing land, the folk of Deepingdale practice forestry in order to maintain the land's original thick green blanket of vegetation. Other Dalesfolk and even some elves refer to Deepingdale as the Dale of the trees. Nonhuman members of Deepingdale's militia include elven rangers from Moonrise Hill and sorcerer-rangers from Bristar.

Featherdale
Capital: None
Featherdale survives as a relatively innocent pastoral farmland while more powerful dales around it crumble into anarchy or arm themselves for war. Occupying the lowlands between Blackfeather Bridge in the west and Feather Falks in the east, Featherdale has muddled through all the eras of Dalelands history without possessing a ruler, capital, standing army, or sizable town. The Featherdarrans only political gatherings are infrequent four or five-day meetings called Dalemeets.

Harrowdale
Capital: Harrowdale Town
As the oldest surviving dale, Harrowdale has learned to tend to its own affairs, respect its neighbors, and care for its land—both the cleared lands of the farmers and the woodlands it considers borrowed from the elves. Until recently, Dalesfolk would have described citizens of Harrowdale as conservative country folk, much like the Featherdarrans to the south. Harrowdale Town's growth into a large port has changed that image.

High Dale
Capital: Highcastle
Those who were born in High Dale swear by its crisp air, its splendid views of the Thunder Peaks between Cormyr and Sembia, and its citizens' self-sufficient, self-determined lifestyles as shepherds, small farmers, craftsfolk, or stonecutters. Those not born in High Dale regard it as nothing more than a convenient or strategic mountain pass just barely below the tree line. The Highdalefolk live relatively free of the political intrigues and mercantile competition that frequently intrude in the lowland Dales. Some maps fail to note High Dale's existence.

Mistledale
Capital: Ashabenford
Life is good in Mistledale, or at least it was until the present struggle against the drow of the forest. Mistledale is a widely spread dale. Its small settlements can see each other across the gently rolling hills, except in the mornings and evenings when mist from the river rises to fill the valley. The Dale has no lord; instead, six elected councilors serve as its governing body. The Council of Six chooses a seventh Mistran who serves as the high councilor, bears a black rod as ,a sign of office and commands the Riders of Mistledale.

Scardale
Capital: Chandlercross
Shattered by wars it started, occupation by its enemies, and a horrible plague, Scarsdale might have gone the way of Teshendale. Scaredalefolk, though, are made of sturdy stuff. In order to put their dale back on its feet, they have washed their hands of their former capital, the port of Scarsdale Town. Power has shifted away from the port town to to the farming and mercantile communities of the interior. The present government of the dale is a nine-person council.

Shadowdale
Capital: Shadowdale
Shadowdale is the most renowned of all the Dales because of its history of successful battles against drow, Zhents, and would-be conquerors such as Lashan of Scardale. Although small, Shadowdale makes up in quality what it lacks in quantity of citizens. The folk of Shadowdale have a history of choosing their lords by popular acclaim. The dale is notorious as a home for adventurers who now prefer a quieter life.

Tasseldale
Capital: Tegal's Mark
Tasseldale is a dale of craftsfolk and tradesfolk, heavily influenced by Sembia. "Tassel" is the local word for town. The twelve tassels in Tasseldale shelter over half of the Dale's inhabitants. Archenfolk and members of the Dales Council express surprise that Sembia hasn't formally annexed Tasseldale. Sharburg, located above Tegal's Mark, is an ancient elven fort converted into the military headquarters of the mounted marshairs (local variant of "marshals") who police the Dale.
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The Lost Dales
Bards tell colorful tales of dales that are no more—overgrown ruins deep in the forest, their treasures waiting to be found. Much of this talk of dancing ghosts, stalking monsters, and lost riches is poetic fancy, but kernels of truth exist in every story. All Dalesfolk know the names of the dales lost most recently: Moondale, Sessrendale, and Teshendale. Dales have fallen before, and dales will fall again.