Post by Tyrrox Zym on Apr 11, 2015 13:54:28 GMT -5
This isn't related to John's game, but I figured this is one of the few, if not the only board people are checking lately. It's a new country I've been building in Faerun and got a decent amount done. I figured if people are ever looking for a new game I could use this country and try a 5th edition game starting at around level 4 to see what we all think of the system. Anyway, let me know what you think, I definitely put a lot of time and effort into it so far, from the map to the descriptions of the land.
Silverbourne
I'll also paste in the countries insert below. Feel free to read it as you can.
Silverbourne
Capital: Castle Valstrath
Population: 1,703,427 (humans 40%, dwarves 22%, elves 21%, half-elves 8%, halfings 5%, gnomes 2%, half-orcs 2%)
It is worth noting that the dwarf and elf population are a large estimate based on traveling dwarves and elves venturing out of their lands. Though all races helped defend Silverbourne in the Black Scar war, no official census has ever been taken from the dwarf and elf kingdoms.
Government: Diarchy where the day to day activities and rule of the land is handled by Queen Gabella Silverbourne, while her husband King Lothar Silverbourne has command of the military. Both are advised, however, by the Panoptic Council (a group of wise-men including mages and clerics).
Religions: Lathander (Silverbourne state god), Deneir, Eldath, Ilmater, Milil, Selune, Sune, and recently there have been immigrants claiming worship to Odin and Thor though they are a minority for now.
Imports: Armor, weapons, books, manufactured goods, spices, wine, beer.
Exports: Dwarven and elven craftwork, furs, precious metals, halfling food and drink.
Alignment: LG, NG, CG.
Silverbourne is a city of freedom and choice, a city that fought hard to separate itself from its parentland, Steeltide, directly to the west. Jut seven years ago the Black Scar war ended when King Lothar Silverbourne was able to call upon allies from lands close and far and use their varrying knowledge to attack Steeltide on all fronts of warfare, physical combat, divine and arcane magic alike, as well as political scheming. The once large country of Steeltide was divided after the western half was left barren and war torn and now King and Queen Silverbourne took the Eastern half as their land to start anew, inviting all races and creatures that helped them win a safe and comfortable home.
The dwarves contine to reside in the mountains of Silverbourne except for Vor Ladur which has been vacant since the end of the Black Scar war, though dwarves do not like to talk about it, and most individuals from other races are not familiar with what happened there.
The elves continue to call the Imethrion Woods their home and as the greatest allies to the king and queen they have agreed to offer additional protection to the royal palace should an attack ever occur.
The halflings of Silverbourne have recently finished rebuilding and regrowing Hilltopple in the west, as it suffered significant damage in the war.
Life and Society
The folk of Silverbourne are a confident and stout people that are very content with what they have, most placing thanks to their king and queen and the humans also place a significant amount of their success to the state deity most worship Lathander. With so many other races residing across the land, the humans are careful to over use anything especially without permission from the elves and dwarves as the diarchy has placed those forests and mountains under command of the respective races who have their own leaders to answer to.
With the success of the war not even a decade ago, Silverbourne finds itself still accepting and denying refugees from Steeltide though by now the refugees are far and few between. From reports of scouts, it appears that Steeltide is still a smoking wasteland inhabited only by vandals, outcasts, and Steeltide survivors of the Black Scar war which is so named from the large black scar it left in the center of Steeltide.
The new diarchy is far from perfect as the queen often finds herself doing more day to day work running the land now that the war is over than the king. All the while the diarchy listens to and often makes decisions and laws based on advice from the Panoptic Council who are fairly large in number and vocal at times. The people of Silverbourne from all races generally see the diarchy as a blessing from the gods and favor them. The queen is seen as a stern but loving and fair ruler, while the king is seen as a war veteran enigma who prefers to keep to himself and his generals.
Major Geographical Features
Silverbourne generally includes the lands east of Steeltide south of Rockteeth Bay and north of the Wyrm's sea. The elves lay claim to the forests while the dwarves long ago claimed most of the mountain ranges.
Imethrion Woods: A pine, birch, and spruce forest mostly unmarked by humans except for the roads that go through them are home to most of the elven population of Silverbourne.
Steeltide the Sunken City: The sunken city is, if anything, a blight on Silverbourne that the diarchy prefers everyone would forget. It was once the capital of Steeltide before and during the Black Scar war. An intense mage battle at the end of the war known as the Panoptic battle left the city flooded and sunken as the waters surrounded the island burying all that were there giving rise to the Panoptic council. Though the Panotic council members claim their actions were justified to end the war and kill the Steeltide Plutocracy that resided there, many innocent people lost their lives in the battle. Since then the rumors of hauntings, ghosts, monsters, and various sea creatures residing in the sunken city have never stopped.
Vor Ladur the Lost Mountain: Once a territory of the dwarves in Steeltide, Vor Ladur suffered heavy casualties from an unknown source(s) in the Black Scar war and the surviving dwarves were forced to flee the mountain to the east. To this day most are still unsure what exactly happened there and the dwarves that do know do not easily talk about it.
Valstrath Mountains: The most unkown and secretive geographical location in Silverbourne is the Valstrath mountain range. "The Mountain," as its often called by the locals, is an anathema parents tell their kids, and if they dont behave the beast within it will come get them. The name Valstrath actually comes from the first inhabitant of the land long long before Silverbourne and even Steeltide were countries of Faerun. Though Valstrath was/is known by myths and stories to be a dragon, it is unknown what type of dragon he, or she, exactly is. Valstrath himself has not been seen in hundreds of years, so many people of all races believe him to have died long ago, though many others claim that is completely false. Regardless of the truth, there are no known tales of people who have been to Valstrath Mountains and returned to tell the tale.
Important Sites
Tarnstead (Small Town, 1,217): A quaint town at the western border of Silverbourne benefits greatly from the agriculture, food and drink that comes out of Hilltopple it is a must stop merely for that for all first time travelers and immigrants to Silverbourne. Its inn, The Bottomless Mug is renowned for some of the best food in Silverbourne at a remarkable price, despite its humble and simple Halfling inspired design.
Stratham (Large Town, 3,583): With the dangers of fishing in the Eastern Death, Stratham has become the prime stop for fishermen and those that crave seafood alike. A town not known for its cleanliness, Stratham is a workers town containing mostly fishermen and their families with the occasional traveler stopping in as well as most of the Silverbourne's naval force. The Dirty Kraken is the primary inn of the town known for its seafood and not much else. The drinks are adequate at best and the prices are good for seafood and moderate for all else as it must be brought in from neighboring towns.
Azmar (Small City, 6,973): A former dwarven outpost, Azmar once, and still to this day, contains a large amount of dwarven population. Azmar benefits greatly from the minerals and precious gems and metals and crafts from the dwarven capital of Dum Thorim to the northeast. The dwarves of Dum Thorim only trade with Azmar in return for food, timber, and other materials not attainable from a mountain and as such the other towns and cities of Silverbourne must go to Azmar for the dwarven goods and crafts. Lord Axeinhelm's is the go to inn of Azmar known for its eccentric and loud dwarven owner. The ale is second to none brought in and crafted from the finest dwarven recipes at a very fair price. Various meats are available as well at a moderate price including beef, chicken, and pork.
During the war Azmar served as an outpost and guard post for Dum Thorim, and much of the towers and posts remain to this day still funded by the dwarves.
Dum Thorim (Large City, 19,863): The crown and jewel of the dwarves in Silverbourne, Dum Thorim is the capital of the dwarven cities led by King Vordrak Mithrilshield and his council of dwarven field marshalls. Gold, silver, bronze, even platinum and mithril are mined here alongside diamonds, sapphire, and other precious gems. Dum Thorim is nothing short of paradise on earth for the dwarves of Silverbourne and is a mountain any dwarf of Faerun would die to be a part of.
Due to its corner location in Silverbourne the mountain is fairly safe from invaders, but the dwarves are on constant guard for sea invasions, though none have ever martialled a successful attack on the mountain. The path leading up to the mountain now is home to a large chasm from a quake that the dwarves are quite fine to leave in place along with the known giants that patrol the area and call the surrounding hills home.
The dwarves of the mountain rarely allow visitors unwelcomed but if one were to find themself in the mountain invited they would find ale, meat, and crafted weapons, armor a plenty as well as more wealth than the crown itself would hope to get in a lifetime, and as a result, the dwarves are known to give loans to the crown, especially in these early years of the kingdom.
Goulcrest (Large Town, 2,248): Once a secondary naval port and fishing town to Stratham, Goulcrest has become a ghost of its former self, quite literally. The town is known to frequently have its inhabitants attacked or plagued by ghosts, ghouls, and other departed souls who lost their lives to the dangers of the Eastern Death sea. As a result the navy has pulled almost all of its ships out of the port leaving only a few ships to operate more as a lookout than for combat.
Fishing off the coast is extremely dangerous and if it were not for the lobster, crab and other highly sought after seafood it would have been done away with long ago. The fisherman that take to the seas off Goulcrest, along with the towns inhabitants are among the stoutest and bravest humans most will encounter and they demand high wages for their fishing trips.
Darngon (Large City, 15,017): After the loss of Vor Ladur, the remaining dwarves not taking up residence in Dum Thorim have come to call Darngon home. A mountain range spacially larger than Dum Thorim, the resources in the mountain, though plentiful, still pale to those in Dum Thorim. Nonetheless, Darngon has become the military capital for the dwarves of Silverbourne and you often will find numerous dwarven war machines, and dwarves training and preparing for whatever battle may come. Due to its stron military presence, Darngon welcomes even fewer visitors than Dum Thorim only allowing the occasional human, elf, or other race the training of dwarven combat for a fair price. Many willingly pay for the dwarven training if for nothing else than the possibility to get dwarven weapons and armor.
Bamburgh (Hamlet, 372): Bamburgh is home to the vast majority of Silverbourne's half-orcs that live in very simplistic homes and structures. The small village offers little to a traveler that is not of half-orc other than the possibility to see a culture and lifestyle not found anywhere else in Silverbourne.
The half-orcs of Bamburgh are among the few that willingly fish the Eastern Death, in the most dangerous parts of the waters at that. Fishing the waters is actually a rite of passage for the half-orcs and many adventurers looking for sunken treasure will hire the half-orcs out to help ensure a safe return. Though the half-orcs are not the best sea-faring race, they make up for that in their fierce fighting and defense of their ships.
Panoptic Spire (Council of Wise Men): The Panoptic Spire is home to the crown's council and wise-men contianing a mixture of arcane and divine mages and clerics with a smattering of druids which choose to inhabit the surrounding forest amounting to about 76 councilmen (32 mages, 32 clerics, and 12 druids). Though the council would not turn away visitors, it is considered rude and inconsiderate by most of Silverbourne to simply show up to the Spire uninvited.
It is also worth noting that the Panoptic Spire is the center of magical art learning in the kingdom where all those willing and able to train in the arts of magic can come for the cost of materials and training.
Wellspring (Metropolis, 37,077): Considered the greatest city of Silverbourne, Wellspring was once a secondary capital for Steeltide known as the White City for its bright white bricks used in its building construction. Wellspring's building are a magnificent mixture of towers, tall castle peaks, and tree-like tower homes that blend together to form a paradise for those that are fortunate to call it home. Most of Wellspring houses the wealthy and politically powerful nobles of Silverbourne that often call it home as well as their workplace when they are not in the capital.
Due to a powerful whirlpool that is off the coast, fishing and the port have been completely closed here, at least temporarily until the whirlpool is dealt with. Their are many inns across the city all with exquisite food and drink with impressive structures that would impress even the greatest of dwarven craftsmen, however, given the inhabitants of the city, almost everything is imported from surrounding towns and cities, thus making everything here very expensive.
The most renown inn is the Shimmering Eagle, a four story inn with the basement and ground floor housing the restaurant and bar. The inn has an impressive gold eagle with its wings spread standing outside the inn, while a silver gryphon sits ready to punce inside the foyer of the inn. The prices of the shimmering eagle are exceedingly high and often one can only eat or stay at the inn by reservation weeks in advance.
Kald (Large Town, 3,755): Kald sits at the southernmost part of Silverbourne and has some of the largest livestock in all of Silverbourne. Though the ale may not be of particulary favorable taste, the meat is second to maybe only Hilltopple.
Kald is the closest town to the Valstrath Mountains, and the Wyrm's Sea, and as such there are many tales and stories sung by bards of sighted dragons in the nightsky stealing livestock from the local farmers. No dragon has ever been officially seen by the town guards or inhabitants, however, that does not stop the tales from spreading.
The Dragon's Lair is the most known and attended inn within the town coated with steel plates to look like a dragon's hide. Visitors to the inn are greeted by a large steel statue of a dragon standing just outside the inn.
Temple of Lathander: The Temple as its known by the inhabitants of Silverbourne, is the largest temple in the kingdom boasting a huge altar and statue to the god Lathander. The temple sees regular visitors coming and going each day. The temple has a fairly large staff of Lathander clerics that serve and maintain the temple as well as give services. The surrounding landscape is full of wild horses and the like. The temple itself is the closest structure to the Valstrath mountains but has yet to have any incident; locals chock this up to divine protection from Lathander.
Norbury (Small City, 7,135): Norbury is among the most serene and beautiful cities within the kingdom nestled between two forests. The city itself boasts a large amount of clerics of all faiths that train for their duties upon graduation; Lathander being the largest of them.
With the war over Norbury still serves as the south western outpost tasked with always being on the lookout for something or some army coming from what remains of Steeltide. A large portion of the kingdoms military trains here before they are deployed across the kingdom.
Norbury is a town of buildings covered with vines and trees perfectly manicured to give it a feel of a paradise in the woods with the most noteworthy inn receiving a constant stream of visitors, the Towering Timber; an inn built right around and within a massive sequoia tree.
Norbury is also the leading timber producing city of any in Silverbourne.
Hilltopple (Small Town, 1,217): Hilltopple has recently been rebuild and regrown after the heavy damage it took from the war sitting on the western edge of the kingdom. Hilltopple is home to the majority of halflings in Silverbourne. The food, pipeweed, and agriculture is by far the best in the land and is the primary export of the town; of which Tarnstead benefits greatly from. Halflings rarely see visitors from non-halfling races so much of the town is unknown to the "tall folk."
As the rumblings of Vor Ladur started it was the halflings that noticed it first with Hilltopple sitting just below the mountain they felt the quakes first. Though many shrug it off as they take little stock in a halfling's opinion, the inhabitants of Hilltopple certainly have started to become more concerned for their recently restored home.
Imethrion Woods ("Metropolis", 34,000): Home to the majority of elves within Silverbourne, the Imethrion woods have never fully been explored by any race other than the elves within it. The woods are teaming with creatures of all sorts and how the elves deal with it is entirely unknown, but they do keep the north and south roads clear, for travelers to the capital.
The elves are led by their king Narayan Darkwood and his queen Raina. The elves of Imethrion provide little more than constant protection for the capital as well as council to the diarchy. They do export elven armor and arms which queen Gabella is particularly fond of.
Castle Valstrath (Metropolis, 42,079): Castle Valstrath and its surrounding manors and towns make up the capitol of Silverbourne boasting the largest population of humans that choose to live as close to their beloved king and queen as they can. Those that live in the capital are typically either very wealthy pofiteers from the war, or trusted servants and/or military officers of the kingdom.
The capital itself has four guard posts around it that are still in disrepair from the war, and due to the elven inhabitants of the woods, there has not been a huge need to rebuild them.
The manors and surrounding villages of the capitol are mostly homes to the generals and officers of Lothar's military, or Gabella's most trusted officials. Lush greenery and garden paintings are plentiful throughout the capitol as well as the constant sound of music and pleasant aromas usually most pleasing to the queen.
The capitol bolsters a large amount of libraries, music, parks, temples and shrines to all the deities of Silverbourne. The kingdom's primary knights and elite fighting force, The Titans, call the capitol home and train and prepare for anything here as well.
King Lothar himself named the capitol in reverance to the great dragon of myth which he felt was a fitting name for his and his queen's seat of power.
Plots and Rumors
Adventurers have started coming to Silverbourne for many reasons. The tales of Vor Ladur and Valstrath mountains peek some interest while others have began trying to pillage Steeltide the Sunken City. Others have come to Silverbourne seeking a new start in a land that is just beginning to write a new chapter for itself. However, the wealth and newfound power of Silverbourne has brought with it great hatred for the neighboring country of Steeltide and its inhabitants.
Dark Plots in Steeltide: The ruined country of Steeltide has seen more and more individuals moving within it by Silverbourne scouts and spies of late and many are starting to see weird creatures skulking about never before seen in Faerun by most. Some are starting to wonder what exactly is going on in the west.
The Enigmatic King: A common title of the King, he is very hard to read and rarely makes public appearances. King Lothar is much much older than Queen Gabella and likely not his first marriage, though no one seems to know for sure. Though Lothar is not considered a mean or evil man by most, his secluded ways and war-like personality has many questioning his true motives. Moreover, and more importantly, Lothar is known to be hundreds of years old as recorded in the Steeltide records. Though most assume his longjevity is due to arcane magic or divine intervention, none seem to know for sure how or exactly why the King has stayed alive for so long.
Rumbling in Vor Ladur: Recently there have been large quakes that seem to be coming from within Vor Ladur, and though some just push it aside as minor quakes, others are concerned by it as this has never been known to come from Vor Ladur before.
The Elven Prisoner: Only 7 days ago the elfs of Imethrion Woods escorted a half-orc barbarian and a female human cleric to Castle Valstrath accusing them of high treason against the diarchy of Silverbourne.
Request for Adventurers from Dum Thorim: Two weeks ago the dwarven leaders of Dum Thorim sent word to all cities and villages of Silverbourne that they are in need of a group of able bodied men and/or women to help them with a task. It is believed the dwarves wish to reclaim some items from the Sunken City but claim they are unable to reclaim the items themselves.
Silverbourne
I'll also paste in the countries insert below. Feel free to read it as you can.
Silverbourne
Capital: Castle Valstrath
Population: 1,703,427 (humans 40%, dwarves 22%, elves 21%, half-elves 8%, halfings 5%, gnomes 2%, half-orcs 2%)
It is worth noting that the dwarf and elf population are a large estimate based on traveling dwarves and elves venturing out of their lands. Though all races helped defend Silverbourne in the Black Scar war, no official census has ever been taken from the dwarf and elf kingdoms.
Government: Diarchy where the day to day activities and rule of the land is handled by Queen Gabella Silverbourne, while her husband King Lothar Silverbourne has command of the military. Both are advised, however, by the Panoptic Council (a group of wise-men including mages and clerics).
Religions: Lathander (Silverbourne state god), Deneir, Eldath, Ilmater, Milil, Selune, Sune, and recently there have been immigrants claiming worship to Odin and Thor though they are a minority for now.
Imports: Armor, weapons, books, manufactured goods, spices, wine, beer.
Exports: Dwarven and elven craftwork, furs, precious metals, halfling food and drink.
Alignment: LG, NG, CG.
Silverbourne is a city of freedom and choice, a city that fought hard to separate itself from its parentland, Steeltide, directly to the west. Jut seven years ago the Black Scar war ended when King Lothar Silverbourne was able to call upon allies from lands close and far and use their varrying knowledge to attack Steeltide on all fronts of warfare, physical combat, divine and arcane magic alike, as well as political scheming. The once large country of Steeltide was divided after the western half was left barren and war torn and now King and Queen Silverbourne took the Eastern half as their land to start anew, inviting all races and creatures that helped them win a safe and comfortable home.
The dwarves contine to reside in the mountains of Silverbourne except for Vor Ladur which has been vacant since the end of the Black Scar war, though dwarves do not like to talk about it, and most individuals from other races are not familiar with what happened there.
The elves continue to call the Imethrion Woods their home and as the greatest allies to the king and queen they have agreed to offer additional protection to the royal palace should an attack ever occur.
The halflings of Silverbourne have recently finished rebuilding and regrowing Hilltopple in the west, as it suffered significant damage in the war.
Life and Society
The folk of Silverbourne are a confident and stout people that are very content with what they have, most placing thanks to their king and queen and the humans also place a significant amount of their success to the state deity most worship Lathander. With so many other races residing across the land, the humans are careful to over use anything especially without permission from the elves and dwarves as the diarchy has placed those forests and mountains under command of the respective races who have their own leaders to answer to.
With the success of the war not even a decade ago, Silverbourne finds itself still accepting and denying refugees from Steeltide though by now the refugees are far and few between. From reports of scouts, it appears that Steeltide is still a smoking wasteland inhabited only by vandals, outcasts, and Steeltide survivors of the Black Scar war which is so named from the large black scar it left in the center of Steeltide.
The new diarchy is far from perfect as the queen often finds herself doing more day to day work running the land now that the war is over than the king. All the while the diarchy listens to and often makes decisions and laws based on advice from the Panoptic Council who are fairly large in number and vocal at times. The people of Silverbourne from all races generally see the diarchy as a blessing from the gods and favor them. The queen is seen as a stern but loving and fair ruler, while the king is seen as a war veteran enigma who prefers to keep to himself and his generals.
Major Geographical Features
Silverbourne generally includes the lands east of Steeltide south of Rockteeth Bay and north of the Wyrm's sea. The elves lay claim to the forests while the dwarves long ago claimed most of the mountain ranges.
Imethrion Woods: A pine, birch, and spruce forest mostly unmarked by humans except for the roads that go through them are home to most of the elven population of Silverbourne.
Steeltide the Sunken City: The sunken city is, if anything, a blight on Silverbourne that the diarchy prefers everyone would forget. It was once the capital of Steeltide before and during the Black Scar war. An intense mage battle at the end of the war known as the Panoptic battle left the city flooded and sunken as the waters surrounded the island burying all that were there giving rise to the Panoptic council. Though the Panotic council members claim their actions were justified to end the war and kill the Steeltide Plutocracy that resided there, many innocent people lost their lives in the battle. Since then the rumors of hauntings, ghosts, monsters, and various sea creatures residing in the sunken city have never stopped.
Vor Ladur the Lost Mountain: Once a territory of the dwarves in Steeltide, Vor Ladur suffered heavy casualties from an unknown source(s) in the Black Scar war and the surviving dwarves were forced to flee the mountain to the east. To this day most are still unsure what exactly happened there and the dwarves that do know do not easily talk about it.
Valstrath Mountains: The most unkown and secretive geographical location in Silverbourne is the Valstrath mountain range. "The Mountain," as its often called by the locals, is an anathema parents tell their kids, and if they dont behave the beast within it will come get them. The name Valstrath actually comes from the first inhabitant of the land long long before Silverbourne and even Steeltide were countries of Faerun. Though Valstrath was/is known by myths and stories to be a dragon, it is unknown what type of dragon he, or she, exactly is. Valstrath himself has not been seen in hundreds of years, so many people of all races believe him to have died long ago, though many others claim that is completely false. Regardless of the truth, there are no known tales of people who have been to Valstrath Mountains and returned to tell the tale.
Important Sites
Tarnstead (Small Town, 1,217): A quaint town at the western border of Silverbourne benefits greatly from the agriculture, food and drink that comes out of Hilltopple it is a must stop merely for that for all first time travelers and immigrants to Silverbourne. Its inn, The Bottomless Mug is renowned for some of the best food in Silverbourne at a remarkable price, despite its humble and simple Halfling inspired design.
Stratham (Large Town, 3,583): With the dangers of fishing in the Eastern Death, Stratham has become the prime stop for fishermen and those that crave seafood alike. A town not known for its cleanliness, Stratham is a workers town containing mostly fishermen and their families with the occasional traveler stopping in as well as most of the Silverbourne's naval force. The Dirty Kraken is the primary inn of the town known for its seafood and not much else. The drinks are adequate at best and the prices are good for seafood and moderate for all else as it must be brought in from neighboring towns.
Azmar (Small City, 6,973): A former dwarven outpost, Azmar once, and still to this day, contains a large amount of dwarven population. Azmar benefits greatly from the minerals and precious gems and metals and crafts from the dwarven capital of Dum Thorim to the northeast. The dwarves of Dum Thorim only trade with Azmar in return for food, timber, and other materials not attainable from a mountain and as such the other towns and cities of Silverbourne must go to Azmar for the dwarven goods and crafts. Lord Axeinhelm's is the go to inn of Azmar known for its eccentric and loud dwarven owner. The ale is second to none brought in and crafted from the finest dwarven recipes at a very fair price. Various meats are available as well at a moderate price including beef, chicken, and pork.
During the war Azmar served as an outpost and guard post for Dum Thorim, and much of the towers and posts remain to this day still funded by the dwarves.
Dum Thorim (Large City, 19,863): The crown and jewel of the dwarves in Silverbourne, Dum Thorim is the capital of the dwarven cities led by King Vordrak Mithrilshield and his council of dwarven field marshalls. Gold, silver, bronze, even platinum and mithril are mined here alongside diamonds, sapphire, and other precious gems. Dum Thorim is nothing short of paradise on earth for the dwarves of Silverbourne and is a mountain any dwarf of Faerun would die to be a part of.
Due to its corner location in Silverbourne the mountain is fairly safe from invaders, but the dwarves are on constant guard for sea invasions, though none have ever martialled a successful attack on the mountain. The path leading up to the mountain now is home to a large chasm from a quake that the dwarves are quite fine to leave in place along with the known giants that patrol the area and call the surrounding hills home.
The dwarves of the mountain rarely allow visitors unwelcomed but if one were to find themself in the mountain invited they would find ale, meat, and crafted weapons, armor a plenty as well as more wealth than the crown itself would hope to get in a lifetime, and as a result, the dwarves are known to give loans to the crown, especially in these early years of the kingdom.
Goulcrest (Large Town, 2,248): Once a secondary naval port and fishing town to Stratham, Goulcrest has become a ghost of its former self, quite literally. The town is known to frequently have its inhabitants attacked or plagued by ghosts, ghouls, and other departed souls who lost their lives to the dangers of the Eastern Death sea. As a result the navy has pulled almost all of its ships out of the port leaving only a few ships to operate more as a lookout than for combat.
Fishing off the coast is extremely dangerous and if it were not for the lobster, crab and other highly sought after seafood it would have been done away with long ago. The fisherman that take to the seas off Goulcrest, along with the towns inhabitants are among the stoutest and bravest humans most will encounter and they demand high wages for their fishing trips.
Darngon (Large City, 15,017): After the loss of Vor Ladur, the remaining dwarves not taking up residence in Dum Thorim have come to call Darngon home. A mountain range spacially larger than Dum Thorim, the resources in the mountain, though plentiful, still pale to those in Dum Thorim. Nonetheless, Darngon has become the military capital for the dwarves of Silverbourne and you often will find numerous dwarven war machines, and dwarves training and preparing for whatever battle may come. Due to its stron military presence, Darngon welcomes even fewer visitors than Dum Thorim only allowing the occasional human, elf, or other race the training of dwarven combat for a fair price. Many willingly pay for the dwarven training if for nothing else than the possibility to get dwarven weapons and armor.
Bamburgh (Hamlet, 372): Bamburgh is home to the vast majority of Silverbourne's half-orcs that live in very simplistic homes and structures. The small village offers little to a traveler that is not of half-orc other than the possibility to see a culture and lifestyle not found anywhere else in Silverbourne.
The half-orcs of Bamburgh are among the few that willingly fish the Eastern Death, in the most dangerous parts of the waters at that. Fishing the waters is actually a rite of passage for the half-orcs and many adventurers looking for sunken treasure will hire the half-orcs out to help ensure a safe return. Though the half-orcs are not the best sea-faring race, they make up for that in their fierce fighting and defense of their ships.
Panoptic Spire (Council of Wise Men): The Panoptic Spire is home to the crown's council and wise-men contianing a mixture of arcane and divine mages and clerics with a smattering of druids which choose to inhabit the surrounding forest amounting to about 76 councilmen (32 mages, 32 clerics, and 12 druids). Though the council would not turn away visitors, it is considered rude and inconsiderate by most of Silverbourne to simply show up to the Spire uninvited.
It is also worth noting that the Panoptic Spire is the center of magical art learning in the kingdom where all those willing and able to train in the arts of magic can come for the cost of materials and training.
Wellspring (Metropolis, 37,077): Considered the greatest city of Silverbourne, Wellspring was once a secondary capital for Steeltide known as the White City for its bright white bricks used in its building construction. Wellspring's building are a magnificent mixture of towers, tall castle peaks, and tree-like tower homes that blend together to form a paradise for those that are fortunate to call it home. Most of Wellspring houses the wealthy and politically powerful nobles of Silverbourne that often call it home as well as their workplace when they are not in the capital.
Due to a powerful whirlpool that is off the coast, fishing and the port have been completely closed here, at least temporarily until the whirlpool is dealt with. Their are many inns across the city all with exquisite food and drink with impressive structures that would impress even the greatest of dwarven craftsmen, however, given the inhabitants of the city, almost everything is imported from surrounding towns and cities, thus making everything here very expensive.
The most renown inn is the Shimmering Eagle, a four story inn with the basement and ground floor housing the restaurant and bar. The inn has an impressive gold eagle with its wings spread standing outside the inn, while a silver gryphon sits ready to punce inside the foyer of the inn. The prices of the shimmering eagle are exceedingly high and often one can only eat or stay at the inn by reservation weeks in advance.
Kald (Large Town, 3,755): Kald sits at the southernmost part of Silverbourne and has some of the largest livestock in all of Silverbourne. Though the ale may not be of particulary favorable taste, the meat is second to maybe only Hilltopple.
Kald is the closest town to the Valstrath Mountains, and the Wyrm's Sea, and as such there are many tales and stories sung by bards of sighted dragons in the nightsky stealing livestock from the local farmers. No dragon has ever been officially seen by the town guards or inhabitants, however, that does not stop the tales from spreading.
The Dragon's Lair is the most known and attended inn within the town coated with steel plates to look like a dragon's hide. Visitors to the inn are greeted by a large steel statue of a dragon standing just outside the inn.
Temple of Lathander: The Temple as its known by the inhabitants of Silverbourne, is the largest temple in the kingdom boasting a huge altar and statue to the god Lathander. The temple sees regular visitors coming and going each day. The temple has a fairly large staff of Lathander clerics that serve and maintain the temple as well as give services. The surrounding landscape is full of wild horses and the like. The temple itself is the closest structure to the Valstrath mountains but has yet to have any incident; locals chock this up to divine protection from Lathander.
Norbury (Small City, 7,135): Norbury is among the most serene and beautiful cities within the kingdom nestled between two forests. The city itself boasts a large amount of clerics of all faiths that train for their duties upon graduation; Lathander being the largest of them.
With the war over Norbury still serves as the south western outpost tasked with always being on the lookout for something or some army coming from what remains of Steeltide. A large portion of the kingdoms military trains here before they are deployed across the kingdom.
Norbury is a town of buildings covered with vines and trees perfectly manicured to give it a feel of a paradise in the woods with the most noteworthy inn receiving a constant stream of visitors, the Towering Timber; an inn built right around and within a massive sequoia tree.
Norbury is also the leading timber producing city of any in Silverbourne.
Hilltopple (Small Town, 1,217): Hilltopple has recently been rebuild and regrown after the heavy damage it took from the war sitting on the western edge of the kingdom. Hilltopple is home to the majority of halflings in Silverbourne. The food, pipeweed, and agriculture is by far the best in the land and is the primary export of the town; of which Tarnstead benefits greatly from. Halflings rarely see visitors from non-halfling races so much of the town is unknown to the "tall folk."
As the rumblings of Vor Ladur started it was the halflings that noticed it first with Hilltopple sitting just below the mountain they felt the quakes first. Though many shrug it off as they take little stock in a halfling's opinion, the inhabitants of Hilltopple certainly have started to become more concerned for their recently restored home.
Imethrion Woods ("Metropolis", 34,000): Home to the majority of elves within Silverbourne, the Imethrion woods have never fully been explored by any race other than the elves within it. The woods are teaming with creatures of all sorts and how the elves deal with it is entirely unknown, but they do keep the north and south roads clear, for travelers to the capital.
The elves are led by their king Narayan Darkwood and his queen Raina. The elves of Imethrion provide little more than constant protection for the capital as well as council to the diarchy. They do export elven armor and arms which queen Gabella is particularly fond of.
Castle Valstrath (Metropolis, 42,079): Castle Valstrath and its surrounding manors and towns make up the capitol of Silverbourne boasting the largest population of humans that choose to live as close to their beloved king and queen as they can. Those that live in the capital are typically either very wealthy pofiteers from the war, or trusted servants and/or military officers of the kingdom.
The capital itself has four guard posts around it that are still in disrepair from the war, and due to the elven inhabitants of the woods, there has not been a huge need to rebuild them.
The manors and surrounding villages of the capitol are mostly homes to the generals and officers of Lothar's military, or Gabella's most trusted officials. Lush greenery and garden paintings are plentiful throughout the capitol as well as the constant sound of music and pleasant aromas usually most pleasing to the queen.
The capitol bolsters a large amount of libraries, music, parks, temples and shrines to all the deities of Silverbourne. The kingdom's primary knights and elite fighting force, The Titans, call the capitol home and train and prepare for anything here as well.
King Lothar himself named the capitol in reverance to the great dragon of myth which he felt was a fitting name for his and his queen's seat of power.
Plots and Rumors
Adventurers have started coming to Silverbourne for many reasons. The tales of Vor Ladur and Valstrath mountains peek some interest while others have began trying to pillage Steeltide the Sunken City. Others have come to Silverbourne seeking a new start in a land that is just beginning to write a new chapter for itself. However, the wealth and newfound power of Silverbourne has brought with it great hatred for the neighboring country of Steeltide and its inhabitants.
Dark Plots in Steeltide: The ruined country of Steeltide has seen more and more individuals moving within it by Silverbourne scouts and spies of late and many are starting to see weird creatures skulking about never before seen in Faerun by most. Some are starting to wonder what exactly is going on in the west.
The Enigmatic King: A common title of the King, he is very hard to read and rarely makes public appearances. King Lothar is much much older than Queen Gabella and likely not his first marriage, though no one seems to know for sure. Though Lothar is not considered a mean or evil man by most, his secluded ways and war-like personality has many questioning his true motives. Moreover, and more importantly, Lothar is known to be hundreds of years old as recorded in the Steeltide records. Though most assume his longjevity is due to arcane magic or divine intervention, none seem to know for sure how or exactly why the King has stayed alive for so long.
Rumbling in Vor Ladur: Recently there have been large quakes that seem to be coming from within Vor Ladur, and though some just push it aside as minor quakes, others are concerned by it as this has never been known to come from Vor Ladur before.
The Elven Prisoner: Only 7 days ago the elfs of Imethrion Woods escorted a half-orc barbarian and a female human cleric to Castle Valstrath accusing them of high treason against the diarchy of Silverbourne.
Request for Adventurers from Dum Thorim: Two weeks ago the dwarven leaders of Dum Thorim sent word to all cities and villages of Silverbourne that they are in need of a group of able bodied men and/or women to help them with a task. It is believed the dwarves wish to reclaim some items from the Sunken City but claim they are unable to reclaim the items themselves.
I didn't want to say anything about it until I was confident I had enough to actually do a game in it. I don't know enough about the rest of the world to know exactly where to fit them in, but maybe you can help me with that? While looking at Toril I was thinking possibly the far east part of Zakhara? The part I circled in Black seems like a fairly similar looking location to what I had in mind too.
