In 1393, the Year of the Vindicated Warrior, the world is enjoying a measure of peace. The Spellplague has largely faded, and its secondary effects as well, leaving a new equilibrium. Wise leadership among the most powerful realms has kept things from deteriorating too much, and, as folk are wont to do, there is already an eagerness for growth and opportunity.
Threats
- Iron Fleet
- Wild Gods
- Crown Wars / Eldreth Veluuthra
Battle of the Mythals
The Eldreth Veluuthra and the Eldar of the High Forest are battling to control the world's remaining mythals, presumably to harness their power for nefarious ends.
In hand:
- Myth Glaurach (Hellgate Keep)
In contest:
- Myth Dyraalis, Forest of Mir -- contested by the Church of Shar?
- Myth Nantar, Sea of Fallen Stars -- contested as crown property of Jhaamdath
- Myth Rhynn, Forest of Tethir -- contested by the Necropolis
- Myth Unnohyr, location ?
Rejected:
- Evereska (corrupted)
- Myth Drannor (already drained; officially considered corrupted)
Ideas
- Ythazz Buvarr popped a giant evil pyramid out of the ground. A creep has grown around it, converting everything it touches into spellscarred aberrations with a vaguely Mulhorandi theme. Intentions unknown.
- Neo-Raumathari order of witch-barbarians seek to topple the union between Rashemen and Thay. They hate the Empress and want to send Thay back to the stone age. They have a surprisingly amount of primordial elemental power. Icelia the Demilich is a patron.
- The railroads from Waterdeep spread in every direction, bringing economic growth and natural blight with them. The elves claim they are befouling nature. Some say Waterdeep risks angering the Eldar of the High Forest. But progress cannot be stopped. Happy Progress Day!
- Speaking of Progress Day, a new anarchist order has risen in Waterdeep, the Hexxen. There's a new leader--reminiscent of the Harlequin--and she wants to burn the city down. She's Jinx.
- A Conclave of powerful djinn lords (of various elements) have been granted dominion over Calimshan by nobles who reject the Lady of Light's progressive changes. Ancient clans have pacted with elemental outsiders to enhance themselves and claim nodes of power and holdings within the realm, intent on reclaiming Calimport itself. However, they feud with each other as much as with her. Still, the waterlords' ability to block the seaports, and Clan Jassan's blockade of the airways has put the city effectively under siege.
Checking in with characters
| Character | Age | Last status | Current status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Penny | 34 | Leading Waterdeep | |
| Kaine | 267 | Raising Penny's babies | Concerned about the Eldar |
| Sherry | 43 | Disabled in Evereska | Restored to health, changed, reclusive |
| Cassiel Heltharn | 8 | Baby | Magical talent |
| Lorien | n/a | Arch-hierophant of Leth | |
| Leuthil | elf | Crownless Queen | |
| Raithen | elf | Sad samurai | Shaman, aiding Mielikki hunting the Primordials |
| Keket | 46 | Doing Keket stuff | |
| Ani | 35 | Empress of Thay | |
| Ani babies | 8-13 | ||
| Kyrin Lothandrien | |||
| Kyria & Aramé | 22 | ||
| Zahl | 64/31 | Working with Szoth | |
| Azoun V | 22 | Boy king | Campaigning with Tchazzar in the south |
1371 | 2001 | 1372 | 2002 | 1373 | 2003 | 1374 | 2004 | 1375 | 2005 | 1376 | 2006 | 1377 | 2007 | 1378 | 2008 | 1379 | 2009 | 1380 | 2010 | 1381 | 2011 | 1382 | 2012 | 1383 | 2013 | 1384 | 2014 | 1385 | 2015 | 1386 | 2016 | 1387 | 2017 | 1388 | 2018 | 1389 | 2019 | 1390 | 2020 | 1391 | 2021 | 1392 | 2022 | 1393 | 2023 |
Politics, Government, and War
Cormyr
In 1392, the Games of the Fourth Olympiad were held in Suzail--or rather, a massive complex outside the city walls, erected for the purpose. The boy-king, now a man in truth, was a central figure, and rarely seen away from Sceptenar Tchazzar. The latter convinced him to mount a "final solution" to the pirates and vagabonds imperiling his realm from the south. And thus, the Purple Dragon went to war, to claim the Dragon Coast.
For his part, Tchazzar and his honor guard appear to be acting as an expeditionary force--even soldiers of fortune--rather than a political ally. Cimbar makes no claim on the lands taken by the combined force. The campaign has gone fairly well, except in--predictably--Westgate, where the weakened magical forces of Cormyr struggle against entrenched networks of thieves, assassins, and ne'er-do-wells.
Chessenta
Despite his very public stance for peace--which, to be fair, he has honored with respect to his powerful neighbors--Tchazzar's campaign has never fully ceased. He has fully incorporated Chondath, installing loyal puppets in each city-state and rapidly modernizing them, along with hefty taxes and levies to bolster his forces. Sespech is under occupation, and most of the Lake of Steam is under some form of siege, save Suldolphor, which expects to be attacked when the remainder of the lake is stable. Their tenuous alliance with Calimport would seem to be more or less moot given that city's loss of control of its home realm, so they expect to face the threat alone. They are considering--if there is any way to even cross such lines--appealing to Illythiir for aid, if even as a puppet state.
The Iron Fleet
They've conquered much of the Moonshaes, Luskan has flipped. Neverwinter is next, and Baldur's Gate has spotted their socut ships at distance. Waterdeep is being surrounded and isolated.
Amn is paying them off--only their ships are making it through the pirate-infested Sword Coast shipping lanes with any regularity. Of course, Calimport has dropped off the radar, so trade is going to slow down a lot. Once the pirates are cut off from supply via sea, they will hit the land--and hard.
The Silver Marches and the North
Operating in secret for years, the activities of the Eldar of the High Forest were largely unknown--at least until this year. Overnight, a massive magical ritual has reshaped the land. The High Moor is gone--replaced with an ancient forest featuring towering trees thousands of years old, visions of a bygone age matched only by their siblings in the newly reforged High Forest.
Unfortunately, this was not merely a cosmetic upgrade to elven lands. All along the shores of the Delimbyr, trees shot forth from the ground. The Southern League, home to hundreds of thousands of Silver Marches citizens, is completely destroyed. Those who did not perish immediately with the instant destruction of their towns and villages were largely hunted down, culled without mercy by Eldar hunters. A stream of survivors--those at the edges of the realm, traders out or inbound, or just lucky souls--have been arriving downriver at Daggerford, seeking asylum. A few made it upstream to Obouldar--now perilously close to the Eldar's border.
The rail-enhanced trade network of the Delimbyr simply vanished overnight. The only functioning winter waterway linking the Silver Marches to the Sword Coast has been cutoff. The Surbin still flows in summer, and its accompanying rail line is ever gaining more capacity to haul during winter months, but who can say how long it will take the Eldar to claim the Evermoors...or indeed the Moonwood, the Coldwood, and rest of the Silver Marches?
A nation of millions, long fearful of an attack by their elven neighbors, are now scrambling to find a plan to defend themselves against an existential threat. The method by which the Eldar wielded such mass destruction is not known. Therefore, the time and place of a future attack cannot be known, nor planned for. Terror grips the nation, and people are demanding answers.
Silverymoon has reached out through diplomatic channels, of course. Evermeet's "king" sends platitudes, of course, and thinly-veiled demands to recognize the Durothil king to receive any aid, what little it might be. Evereska is, as ever, an eager but underpowered ally. Their portal network connects Silverymoon to many parts of the world, but it was never meant to move millions in days.
Waterdeep is, of course, the obvious choice for an ally. The city has been aggressively trying to spread its industrial and economic ties to Silverymoon, and the locals, fearing the destruction of their way of life, and a yoke under Waterdhavian hegemony, have resisted. Now, that resistance has crumbled. With Penny's railroads and airships the only link to trade in the long winter months, and her weapons of Artifice the only plausible defense against the hyper-magical aggressors so close to the south, even the most ardent opponent of Waterdeep's expansion are now conceding. Penny, true to form, is in full problem-solving mode. The simple fact is that the Eldar have weapons of mass destruction.
And the only defense against WMDs...is your own.
She has been working toward this end for some time. A secret project, headquartered deep in Undermountain, called Project Unthinkable, has yielded fruit. The energists that power Artifice come in a variety of "flavors", some enjoying synergy with others, and some repulsing others. It turns out that repulsive force masks a much more powerful unifying force. With enough raw power, opposing energists can be forced to combine. What these new energists might do is unknown--because combining them unleashes a terrible amount of energy, potentially enough to level cities.
With this new threat, she has shifted the project's focus from finding a safe way to make stable Prime Energists, and instead find ways to weaponize and deploy this effect...just in case.
Of course, she'll need more energists than ever, and the rich forests and mines of the Silver Marches are the perfect source to feed her ever-growing engine of industry
The Obsidian Plains
Despite the terror caused by the Eldar, there are as yet even more existential threats appearing on the horizon. The Shadovar haven't been much of a nuisance for years, and have barely shown their faces--until a floating fortress made its way earlier this year to the Citadel of the Raven, seeking safe harbor and board for their greatly reduced forces. The Netherese claim they were attacked by an unknown force, a magic-devouring entity that nullifies magic and Artifice alike. The entity has transformed the desert, leaving glassy plains of obsidian where there was once sand and scrubby life. For miles in all directions, their former city has become a plain of blackness, hosting within in some sort of bizarre, unearthly lights.
Bold adventurers are needed to scout the Anauroch and determine the nature of this threat. Even bereft of weave and shadow weave magic, the Netherese remnants were no slouches, and anything that can get the better of them so easily must be studied, and its disposition determined.