Thesk

Despite this, the people of Thesk are honest, hardworking folk. As the gateway from Faerûn to Kara-Tur, a vast number of caravans pass through its borders each year, some of which are initiated by its own shrewd merchants. Those parts of Thesk that aren’t based around the Golden Way consist of broad, prosperous farmsteads and forests with an occasional mining community.

Geographic Overview

Thesk lies between the Great Dale to the north and Aglarond and the Sea of Dlurg to the south. To the west is the Easting Reach, while Thay and Rashemen are to the east. The country is nearly 300 miles from north to south and a little less than 500 miles across. Like the Great Dale to the north, Thesk climbs as one travels east; Two Stars is about 2,000 feet above sea level.

Thesk is surrounded by water on two sides. The waters of the Easting Reach batter the western shore, but they also carry eager merchants to the two port cities of Telflamm and Nyth, places ripe for the plucking (or so it seems to such ambitious people). To the south, the Dragonjaw Mountains define much of the land’s lower edge. These steep slopes tumble precipitously into the waters of the Sea of Dlurg, across which the northern shore of distant Aglarond is visible on a clear day. The border with Thay is more ephemeral, defined by few geographical landmarks. To most Theskians, their land ends wherever the Thayan patrols begin. Over the past few years, this border has been more stable: The tharchions of Lapendrar and Eltabbar have made few efforts to edge farther into Thesk. The River Sur is well within Thayan territory, as is the River Umber. The Thesk Mountains and the vale between those peaks and the Dragonjaws to the south are Theskian, although settlements grow few and far between within fifty miles or so of Nethentir.

The Thesk Mountains (after which the entire country is named) dominate the center of the land, a range of low, rugged, scrub-covered peaks stretching more than 100 miles east from Phent. The mountains are inhospitable enough in their western vales, but as one travels east, they grow higher, more rugged, and more desolate. Snows persist on their northern faces until the end of summer, but the snow is usually gone by the middle of Eleasis. The sere brown peaks are visible from just about every point in the country, and travelers use them as landmarks.

Thesk is most famous for the Golden Way. This well-maintained road starts in Telflamm, crosses the River Flam, and then passes through Phent, Phsant, Tammar, and Two Stars, skirting the northern side of the Thesk Mountains before it dead-ends at the River Mulsantir, between Lake Ashane and Lake Mulsantir. From there, travelers and their cargo take ferries across the water to Mulsantir, in Rashemen, and continue along the Golden Way through Rashemen and the Endless Wastes all the way to distant Kara-Tur. The Golden Way is a major overland trade artery. Its existence is the primary reason that Thesk isn’t simply part of the Great Dale or—worse yet—another tharch in Thay.

With the increase in trade in and out of Thay, merchants have developed a number of paths to Nethentir from Phent, Tammar, and Two Stars. They are well traveled these days, but all of them are long treks plagued by brigands and hungry monsters. The merchant princes of Thesk have no interest in building expensive new roads that would only make it easy for Thay to roll its siege engines from Eltabbar to Telflamm. Thesk may be a land of merchants rather than warriors, but its people know enough not to build a convenient invasion route for a power that has been their enemy in the past and will likely be their enemy again someday.

Major Geographic Features

For the most part, Thesk is a rural, lightly settled nation. Its main sources of revenue are farming and providing services to travelers along the Golden Way. Like the Great Dale to the north, Thesk is also a place of untouched natural beauty. Vast stretches of land are empty of people. Even most of the farmers in Thesk live along the Golden Way, making it easier to transport their harvests to market.

Few people live along the path between Phent and Nethentir, although this is one of the most breathtaking stretches of land in this part of Faerûn, running as it does between two mountain ranges separated by only twenty miles. Even in high summer, travelers can see snow high on the white-capped peaks to both the left and right.

• Ashanath
• Dragonjaw Mountains
• Thesk Mountains

People of Thesk

Although Thesk is populated mostly by humans (a substantial majority), it is still the most racially diverse nation in the Unapproachable East. Gold is the great equalizer here. No matter who a person is or what she may have done, her fortune speaks louder than all else. The people of Thesk respect those of wealth, especially those lucky or talented souls who earned their wealth with their own hard work and ingenuity.

Races and Cultures

Thesk is the melting pot of the East. Races who would be at war against one another in other parts of the world work side by side here. The influence of gold is certainly one factor, but many new peoples have also come to Thesk over the past several years. Given the situation at the time—the war with the Tuigan Horde and the ever-present threat of Thay—the Theskians were happy for the help, and their gratitude has waned little over time.

Damarans

Most of the humans of Thesk are descended from the Damarans who settled this land 400 to 500 years ago. These folk came from the cities of Impiltur to the north, and for some time the lords of Telflamm owed fealty to the rulers of that land, but Thesk has been independent of Impiltur for well over 200 years. In Thesk, folk of Damaran blood have long mingled with Rashemi and a handful of Nars and Mulan who have come to this land, so Theskians show signs of both Damaran and Rashemi blood.

Shou

These people hail from the expansive Shou Empire in the distant lands of Kara-Tur, far beyond the Endless Wastes to the east. Many of the Shou currently living in Thesk were either slaves of the Tuigan Horde or refugees scurrying just ahead of its advance who slipped into Thesk mere days or tendays before their relentless pursuers. Others came with the long caravans of merchant wagons that have been crossing the Endless Wastes between Kara-Tur and the Unapproachable East for centuries. No matter how they got here, the Shou have become a fact of life in Thesk.

tongues and exotic ways usually congregate in districts of their

own, called Shou-towns, in just about every major city along

the Golden Way and beyond. They are slowly starting to have

an influence upon the societies of Faerûn as they become more

and more common in the region, and nowhere is this more obvious

than in the cities of Thesk.

TUIGANS

When the Tuigan Horde was defeated, not all the Tuigans returned

home. Some doffed their armor and threw down their

swords, trading in a soldier’s life for a peaceful existence in

Thesk. Most of these folk have little to no education, but they

are sharp. Many of them were pressed into the service of the

Horde and felt no great loss when it disappeared.

Others refused to give up the violent ways that had gotten

them to the doorstep of Faerûn. Many of these raiders knew no

other trade than war, and they were determined to make it pay.

The bandits who held Tammar for so long, for instance, were

mostly remnants of the Tuigan Horde. Such brigands continue

to plague Thesk to this day, although in dwindling numbers. Few

have enough determination to stand against the resolve of the

Merchants’ Council to keep the roads clear, and most such highway

robbers have been summarily executed for their trouble.

ORCS AND HALF-ORCS

The Zhents came to the aid of Thesk against the Tuigan

Horde a dozen years ago. After helping to win the battle

against the Horde, the Zhents opted to leave their orc units

stationed in Thesk. Over the intervening years, hundreds of

other orcs and half-orcs have come to join their fellows in one

of the few human nations that has shown the capacity to tolerate

their kind.

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Illustration by Jim Pavelec

THESK

Market day in Two Stars

The oligarchs worry that the orc soldiers are still loyal to

Zhentil Keep. If this is true, the Zhents could conceivably activate

these troops at any time and destroy Thesk from within.

For this reason, many of the orcs who came to Telflamm have

been relocated, but most have been treated well enough in

Thesk to reconsider their loyalties, should the call to arms

come once again.

Life and Society

Thesk is all about business, at least from the point of view of

most humans who live and work here. There are a few mines

in the mountains and a number of farms along the Golden

Way, but these collectively come in a distant second behind

commerce, shipping, and catering to the caravans along the

main trade routes.

Wealth is the means to power, station, and comfort in

Thesk. Most often, this wealth lies in the hands of the socalled

merchant lords, or oligarchs, who control the great merchant

houses and the endless streams of caravans bound for

the lands beyond the Endless Wastes. However, prosperous

landowners and retired adventurers fit into this hierarchy as

well. The merchants of Thesk do not look down on the farmers,

craftsfolk, and laborers who populate their country. A

merchant who has gained wealth and influence sees governing

as a responsibility imposed by success and rarely seeks to

do anything more than discharge his duties in the quickest and

most efficient manner possible.

Theskians tend to be a warm people, always ready with a

kind word—and an open palm. They accept payment for services

rendered in any form. To them, it’s not who you are

that’s important so much as what you’re worth. To call all

Theskians schemers is a bit harsh, but most of them are always

on the prowl for the next big deal. Others may see their

commercialism as crass, but Theskians are some of the

most open-minded folk in Faerûn. They didn’t condemn the

orcs the Zhentarim left behind. Instead, they saw them as

valuable resources.

ECONOMY

As the gateway between Kara-Tur and Faerûn, Thesk’s fortuitous

geographical location has transformed its people into

one of the wealthiest nations in the East. Dozens of large trading

costers and hundreds of minor entrepreneurs organize

huge caravan trains to carry the goods of Faerûn to the distant

eastern lands. These magnates invest thousands of gold

pieces in cargoes that sell at a premium in Kara-Tur, then use

the revenues to buy silk, spices, and other exotic goods to bring

back to Thesk and sell to other merchants of the Inner Sea for

a prince’s ransom. An investment of 100 gp in western goods

sent to Kara-Tur can return 500 gp in silk and spice, although

the journey to Kara-Tur and back takes a full year and can be

quite dangerous.

Not all Theskians are capable of sponsoring their own caravans

to the far east, but many, especially in the larger cities,

work as clerks, guards, laborers, and provisioners in the great

merchant houses. Those who are not involved in the eastern

trade make their living much as do people of other lands.

Thesk exports beef, leather, grain, and some timber to the

nearby nations of the East, although many farmers and ranchers

simply provision the caravans instead of selling their produce

abroad.

Thesk took a hit in the coin purse when the Tuigan Horde

invaded. The disruption cost not only many lives but a great

deal of gold, as two entire seasons of caravans were lost. Clearing

the Golden Way became a top priority for the Merchants’

Council and even the Shadowmasters, both of whom rely on

the prosperity of Telflamm to fuel their own rise to power.

LAW AND ORDER

Aglarondans mutter that justice is for sale in Thesk, but this

is not entirely true. Crime and disorder are bad for business,

so the oligarchs make a point of keeping order in their cities

and towns. The common folk are protected by a code of laws,

enforced by city watches hired by the merchants’ councils to

protect people and property from the depredations of the lawless.

However, there is little regulation of business practices,

so unscrupulous merchants think nothing of bribing the clerks

of their competitors to pass them information, charging usurious

rates when lending money, or even paying marauders in

the Endless Wastes to attack their rivals’ caravans.

Most crimes are punishable by stiff fines as opposed to imprisonment

or execution. A merchant lord can usually afford

to buy her way out of any trouble short of murder, and sometimes

even that can be atoned for with a sufficiently large

payment to the city’s ruling merchants. Common Theskians

do not often have recourse to this sort of bribery, so it’s not

unfair to say that the laws of the land are more onerous to the

poor than the wealthy. Thesk has a tradition of vigilante justice,

though, and poor folk may take the law into their own

hands when they perceive their wealthy neighbors have gotten

away with something.

DEFENSE AND WARCRAFT

The Theskians are not a warlike people. They have never

mounted an invasion of another country and have no desire

to do so. They’d rather trade with their neighbors, and it’s hard

to do that in the middle of a fight. “War is bad business for

everyone but the gravediggers,” is an old Theskian maxim, oft

repeated in troubled times. Still, the Theskians know their

wealth makes them a target for those who conduct business

transactions at the point of a sword. They invest considerable

resources in securing themselves and their belongings against

aggressors. Most merchants, not content to leave the safety

of themselves, their families, and their belongings to anyone

else, hire on large numbers of competent and loyal guards.

Thesk has no national army. Instead, the larger cities of Milvarune,

Nyth, Phsant, and Telflamm each field relatively small

forces of professional soldiers augmented by well-ordered and

THESK

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disciplined mercenary companies. These mercenaries abide by

a long-standing, relatively strict set of standards that prevent

dishonorable actions, such as changing sides in the middle of

a conflict or refusing to fight unless their employers come up

with more money. The mercenary companies also have a tradition

of negotiating with one another before a battle to see

if a show of force will suffice. Numerous conflicts between

Thesk’s cities have turned into little more than martial parades:

The captains of both sides determine who would have won in

open battle and report the results to their employers.

For the most part, the cities of Thesk stand together in a defensive

league. A Thayan attack against Tammar, for example,

would bring the armies of Telflamm, Phsant, and Two Stars

to their neighbor’s defense. Theskians may not have much of

a martial tradition, but they can hire a lot of help (including

sorcerers, wizards, and intelligent monsters) to fight a major

war. When the professional forces are insufficient to meet the

threat, Theskian towns muster numbers of well-armed militia.

Thesk is a plutocracy, not a democracy, but its folk are willing

to fight for the freedom and opportunities they do possess.

The typical Theskian soldier is an experienced mercenary,

mounted and equipped with the best arms and armor he can

afford. Thesk’s defenses have been strengthened of late by the

addition of thousands of orc warriors, many of whom serve in

the armies and mercenary companies of the cities. The orcs may

be less reliable than human soldiers, but they live for battle.

RELIGION

It’s said that the people of Thesk worship only coins, but this

is patently not true. In fact, most Theskians are extremely

generous with their contributions to the gods, tending to favor

several deities over one. Merchants like to cover all the bases,

ensuring that most of the deities they recognize are happy

with them. Waukeen, Tymora, and Shaundakul are all popular

in Thesk, as these deities oversee commerce, fortune, and

travel, respectively.

Few Theskians openly worship evil gods, although those

willing to use any means to get ahead find Cyric’s church compelling.

The one great exception to this is Mask. Just about

everyone in Thesk ends up contributing to the priests of Mask

by allowing the Shadowmasters a cut of their earnings,

whether they realize it or not. Those who choose not to contribute

voluntarily are quite often required to pay later.

Adventurers

Adventurers are welcome in Thesk. There are plenty of dangerous

jobs to be had—from poking around in ancient ruins

to escorting caravans across the country—and never enough

brave souls ready to undertake them at a reasonable price. The

Theskians recall the role of adventurers in terminating the

drive of the Tuigan Horde, and they respect the power of

high-level adventurers. They try to get into the good graces

of such people, hoping this investment of time and friendship

will pay off in the future.

Thesk itself has only a few locations appropriate for a traditional

dungeon delve, but it makes a great base of operations

for an ambitious party willing to hire out its services to a

wealthy benefactor.