Barony of the Floshin Estates

Ardeep Forest

Until recently, this ancient forest, a remnant of the woods that once covered the North from the River Delimbyr to the mountains of the Utter North, was the home of the moon elves. This ancient race of Elvenkind lived in harmony with men and dwarves in a kingdom that stretched to the east of the forest, in what is now rolling moorlands known as the High Moors. Even before the times of the Fallen Kingdom, this was part of the vast forest that was Elven Illefarn. The forest is forlorn and largely empty. The elves have left the forest of tail blueleaf, duskwood, and weirwood trees unattended. This region was known as ‘Faraway Forest’ to the elves because, although it was near the coast of Faerûn, it was still far away from what the elves considered home: the island of Evermeet.

Ardeep’s borders varied nearly as much as its rulers did, but generally they encompassed the forested lands from the feet of the Troll Hills to the southern bank of the Dessarin River, from the cliffs of the Sword Coast to the Forlorn Hills (Phalorm). The Realm of the Deepening Moon occupied all of this territory for much of its existence, even though it was not always forested. Ardeep Forest is thick woodland of tall blueleaf, duskwood, chime oak and wierwood trees. Its verges are deceptively pleasant, with sun-dappled paths roamed by foraging deer. Its southern most reach, the Trollbark Forest is as dangerous as its reputation insists. Full of trolls, owlbears, hobgoblins, and more than a few green dragons, this is considered the wild remnant of what Ardeep once was.

Farther into the Ardeep Forest of today, the terrain is broken by ridges and breakneck gullies cloaked in thick vines and shrubbery and concealed in mist. Wild boar, leopards and the odd forest bison roam through ruins hidden beneath the forest canopy, and faintly glowing blue moss and mushrooms provide dim spots of ghostly illumination.

Circle of the Deepening Moon

This ancient circle of moss-covered standing stones dates back more than two hundred millennia, long before the waxing days of the Realm of the Deepening Moon. At one time, the boughs of Ardeep Forest sheltered the circle, but now the stones stand exposed atop a gently sloped, grass-covered hill. The only magic still within these stones is a keyed, one-way, variable portal leading to a random location within the underground forest known as Wyllowwood on the fourth level of Undermountain. The portal can be activated by stepping inside the circle while the clouds cast a shadow over them. Who originally built the circle and why has been lost to time, but the stones neither weather, or age. In earlier times this stand of stones was the heart of a druidic circle dedicated to the Goddesses of the Waters and Skies.

Here of old were the ancient fertility rites performed in secret away from the males guaranteeing a bountiful crop of new young elves to continue the generations. The current portal is a sick and twisted joke of Halasters, but only he finds it funny. In more ancient times the avatars of Angharradh (Sehanine), Selune, Deep Sashelas and Eldath have all appeared here to bless the increased fecundity of the women dancing there. A female of any humanoid species who pays homage to any of the above Goddesses, and who drinks of the waters gathered from the small spring that flows into a natural stone bowl in a nearby rocky outcrop, and who then dances and sings in heartfelt joy, will fall pregnant if she tries. Twins and triplets are not unheard of here and occur with much more frequency than would be expected amongst elves.

Ruins of Delimbiyran

Founded in the Year of the Risen Towers (146 DR) as the capital of the nascent realm of Elembar by settlers from Tavaray, the city of Delimbiyran served as the largest city and throne hold of a number of successive realms. After the reduction of Elembar by an orcish horde in the Year of the Fortress Scoured (511 DR), the capital survived, going on to become the central city of the realm of Phalorm and later giving its name to Delimbiyran, the Kingdom of Man.

A shining fortress city of white stone, the spires of Delimbiyran rose high and proud as the city that was never conquered. Eventually, the city was brought low by a series of disasters. During the Year of Doom (714 DR), as its sister city of Myth Drannor was falling to the Army of Darkness, the so-called Warrior's Gate was imploded from it's Myth Drannan end. The distant destruction had disastrous consequences, utterly destroying the Tower of Art in Delimbiyran and devastating the surrounding city. The ruined city becomes host to a series of successive dukes, culminating in a final attempt in the Year of the Hurled Axe (928 DR) to reform the Kingdom of Man that fails.

Eventually, in the Year of the Advancing Wind (947 DR), the great white wyrm Cortulorrulagalargath falls to his death in battle over the once-proud city. His death plummet destroys the center of the city and slays the reigning Duke of Calandor and ignites a wild magic surge against the remaining wards that plunges the city into a perpetual winter. The remaining citizens flee the city, eventually establishing the city of Daggerford on the River Delimbiyr to the south.

Today, the ruins of the "City of Man" lie upon an ancient mound halfway between Daggerford and Elvenhold. Its once shining white walls are stained and covered in perpetual ice. The streets of the city are torn and rippled by magical upheaval and the central palace is a shell of stone shattered by the bones of a titanic dragon. It is a place of much magic, but its incredible secrets are protected by a plague of maddened undead and roving pockets of wild energy.

Elvenhold

(Village, 420)

Situated deep within a forested valley overlooking the rolling Dragonfields, the ruins of Delimbiyran, and the shining crescent of the River Delimbiyr, Elvenhold is the sprawling mansion and ancestral grounds of House Floshin. Seemingly grown out of and from the hundreds of ash, oak, elm, and shadowtop trees that cluster fill the limestone vale, the beautifully shaped buildings of Elvenhold mostly span the gurgling white water Laughingflow Creek that flows downward over falls and rocks from Ardeep Forest to join the distant River Shining. The magical wards of House Floshin cloak the entire manse in overlapping abjurations and illusions creating something a minor mythal that have protected the family and retainers of this ancient elven house for millenia.