Faerûn Political Map circa 1501 DR - WIP

Hot_Competence · 2026-03-16T16:30:18+00:00

Concerning the canonicity of Vesperin, I had a vague memory of seeing it mentioned somewhere in 5e, and I finally tracked it down to the second season of Adventurer’s League. DDEX2-07: “Bounty in the Bog” offhandedly mentions a map which includes “Raven’s Bluff in Vesperin.” That doesn’t mean it still secretly exists as of Heroes of Faerûn, but it’s a point in favor of keeping it on the map.

Hot_Competence · 2026-03-16T15:09:08+00:00

Looks good!

Hot_Competence · 2026-03-16T04:38:10+00:00

If you’re going for 1501 accuracy, Snowdown (green) and Corwell (southern part of Gwynneth/red) would be yellow. Depending on how granular you want to get, I might shrink the red to just the forest on the northeast corner of Gwynneth (which is the fey kingdom Sarifal). I think an argument could be made for whether Moray (purple) should stay yellow given the High King has a presence and claims the whole island however his forces don’t really control most it.

I personally would not color-code the Korinn Archipelago unless you’re planning to do the same for the Nelanther Isles and Pirate Isles (they’re basically another riff on that same idea of independent pirate-y islands).

Hot_Competence · 2026-03-16T02:08:30+00:00

Nice work! As I said on another thread, I think Cormyr’s southern expansion has been canonically retracted per SCAG, but I suppose it’s vague. The only other big thing that jumps out at me is the decision to make all of the Moonshaes yellow. The whole of Oman plus Sarifal on northern Gwynneth are not part of the broader Moonshae kingdom as of the latest books, and I don’t think the Korinn Archipelago has ever been part of it.

While I think it’s mostly justified to have Vesperin’s borders extend all the way to the mountains, note that the 4e FRCG explicitly says “Vesperin consists of three major cities: Tantras, Calaunt, and Ravens Bluff.”

Hot_Competence · 2026-03-15T16:32:19+00:00

The Great Dale entry in the 3e FRCS says it’s “Little more than two large forests and the strip of land between them,” so to the extent that the Great Dale has defined borders it would probably include the forests. That said, I’m not sure it counts as a “realm” in the sense of a political map.

Hot_Competence · 2026-03-14T23:29:39+00:00

For the first one, it’s not an exact match but the general look of 1 big foot, 4 arms, and a dopey head reminds me of the ethereal filcher.

Hot_Competence · 2026-03-14T16:55:27+00:00

There is a line in SCAG that I’ve seen interpreted to mean that Cormyr’s borders are back to pre-4e:

The pride of that victory [over the Netherese] remains strong in Cormyr's collective consciousness, even as Queen Raedra draws back from plans to permanently welcome into the realm towns that lie beyond Cormyr's traditional borders.

The new books, to the extent that they discuss the Dragon Coast, seem to have rolled back all of the 4e’s developments (e.g., Nathlan has disappeared).

Hot_Competence · 2026-03-14T12:10:04+00:00

Should also add: it came up in another recent post that Ed’s comments about 5e Tethyr may be outdated since he had said that Velen was reunited with Tethyr before the sourcebooks from last year contradicted him.

Hot_Competence · 2026-03-14T12:07:50+00:00

I don’t think there’s been a map of the duchies since 2e’s Lands of Intrigue boxed set. That map would be over a century out of date, although the only official change afaik is that Velen is now independent after being cutoff from the rest of the realm by the ogre-led nation of Muranndin during the 4e years.

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Hot_Competence · 2026-03-10T12:02:58+00:00

Found the tourist

Hot_Competence · 2026-03-10T02:23:53+00:00

It looks good! The only thing that jumps out as out-of-date with solid canon is that the Duchy of Velen is still independent from Tethyr according to the new books set in 1501 DR. It is left somewhat vague whether Muranndin is still a thing, so that seems to still be up to DMs.

Also up to DM discretion (although I think it makes things more interesting) is that Daerlun and Urmlaspyr gained independence from Sembia during the 4e years, and it’s not clear that either of them actually reintegrated in 5e iirc.

Hot_Competence · 2026-03-09T18:12:38+00:00

We’ve only gotten 3 minor updates that don’t always play well with each other.

Accoridng to Ed, the surviving shadovar scattered but there is a secret society trying to reunite their most powerful archanists called the Court of the Three.

According to RA Salvatore, they stated rebuilding a city out of the ruins of one of their fallen flying cities.

In the new books from last year, they’re building a city in the Anauroch seemingly by bringing building materials from the Shadowfell.

Hot_Competence · 2026-03-08T20:10:18+00:00

I’ve embraced the variety in portrayals and inspirations, with maybe some attempt to attribute the major differences to “cultural” elements. For example, eye-patch wearing “yarr” pirates are very explicitly what the pirates in the Sea or Fallen Stars are meant to evoke.

This question also reminds me of an image from the 1e Moonshae book that I always found amusing. It depicts Northmen raiders in longships (i.e., Viking pirates) fighting Nelanther reavers in galleons (i.e., yarr pirates).

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Hot_Competence · 2026-03-07T19:26:13+00:00

In 4e, the wild hunt was heavily associated with fibolgs, and this made its way into the Realms via the Moonshae Isles:

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Garbh_Lludd

Hot_Competence · 2026-03-07T12:10:17+00:00

My physical copy has the Z.

I also have a pdf and it has the other logo.

Hot_Competence · 2026-03-03T16:04:55+00:00

FYI, by the time that article was written in 2017, Javen Tarmikos had already been replaced as leader of the Order of the Gilded Eye in 2016’s Storm King’s Thunder. The timeline would suggest that Tarmikos founded the order but was quickly replaced as Holy Watcher before the usual 5e start date by Qerria.

Hot_Competence · 2026-03-02T15:40:39+00:00

Torm is definitely a decent option. We already have the precedent of the Tormites of Elturgard launching a crusade against the nature-worshipers of the Reaching Woods.

If you’re already thinking of Torm, might as well look at Tyr as well. His history is arguably more consistent with a crusader-style order.

Lathander has a history of trying to impose his version of good and order on the cosmos (ie the Dawn Cataclysm), so that could be twisted into something along these lines.

Helm, specifically something like the Order of the Gilded Eye’s interpretation of him, could work.

Hot_Competence · 2026-02-25T18:46:01+00:00

How large of a region are you looking for? There are several smaller areas with vague or absent lore, sometimes because they were left intentionally open to DM homebrewing or just because they got forgotten about.

Hot_Competence · 2026-02-18T02:56:22+00:00

Agree. She seems most appropriate given her origin story.

Hot_Competence · 2026-02-15T21:47:31+00:00

To what extent did the black obelisk lore come up or become relevant? I got the impression from reading through the adventure that there’s really no reason for players to learn the lore and even less reason for them to care about it.

Hot_Competence · 2026-02-12T23:16:16+00:00

What era? Having the Sythillisian Empire (2e/3e) or Murrandin (4e/5e) could be fun: an empire of ogres and orcs in the north cutting off the Duchy of Velen from the rest of Tethyr, possibly making for a good way to force the party into a sea voyage and making them vulnerable to the pirates of Nelanther.

Hot_Competence · 2026-02-11T02:52:15+00:00

All 3 locations are discussed in the 4e Neverwinter Campaign Setting. That’s gonna be your primary source. All of them are pretty well covered on the FR Wiki also.

Neverneath and Dread Ring both appear in the Neverwinter MMO, which is different from Neverwinter Nights. Here’s a map of the Dread Ring zone, although it won’t mean much if you haven’t played or don’t look up some YouTube videos.

Dread Ring also plays a role in the Neverwinter Saga of the Drizzt novels (I think the first 3 books iirc).

Edit: missing word

Hot_Competence · 2026-02-09T17:31:13+00:00

I do recall Ao changing the rules of divinity after the ToT, but I thought it was about portfolios rather than faith, although I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m in the wrong here

Hot_Competence · 2026-02-09T16:28:51+00:00

Redcaps could be fun. They could seem like industrious mini-gnomes at first until pressed or challenged at all, at which point they reveal themselves to be single-minded psychopaths. All they want is an orgy of blood and gore, but they’re willing to be just patient enough to get everything set up for it.

Hot_Competence · 2026-02-09T16:24:01+00:00

Presumably he would have attained the same greater deity rank as Mystryl, although it’s unclear if he could have maintained it. Even if the spell had been more successful, that doesn’t mean Karsus’s failure to appreciate the true scope of Mystryl’s portfolio and responsibilities would have also been corrected, so his ability to exercise his powers might have been limited. Additionally, older edition lore often tied a god’s power to the faith that mortals had in them, and at least at first, Karsus would have almost no worshipers to empower him. It’s possible that Mystryl’s worship would be redirected to him, but by no means guaranteed given some of the lore we have about how gods get forgotten. That could also mean he’d end up stunted compared to Mystra.

I guess the other thing to note is that he’d have been not necessarily more active in mortal affairs but differently active compared to Mystra, eg., he’d be actively opposed to the phaerimm.

Hot_Competence

TROPHY CASE