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96-479: Economically and technologically, Faerûn is comparable to Western Europe during the late Middle Ages , giving most new players using this campaign setting an intuitive grasp of the way the society functions. Gunpowder, known here as the magical substance smoke powder and different in its composition from historical gunpowder, is starting to make an appearance, but much of the armament is still dominated by pre-gunpowder weaponry such as swords, spears, and bows. Most of

192-498: A "vast, high-fantasy, neo-medievalist world". CBR writer Jared King considered the history of the world of Toril "full of deep lore crafted over decades of editions" and found the Dawn War, a conflict involving the gods in the ancient past of the setting, especially fascinating. In comparison to other D&D worlds, Aidan-Paul Canavan found Toril "more illustrative" and that it "became further codified and developed over time" than

288-592: A campaign setting that reinforced western culture's already racist understanding of the 'Orient'." The Kara-Tur campaign setting inspired the following eight adventure modules (in chronological order): Three choose your own adventure style books (one was actually released before the original Oriental Adventures book) were published: One of novels in The Empires Trilogy is set in Shou Lung of Kara-Tur. Maztica , called by its inhabitants The True World ,

384-709: A complete disaster. It is speculated that it is the land where the Creator Race known as the Aearee retreated a long time ago. It is rumored that several tribes of thri-kreen make their home in Anchorome's western regions. The continent of Faerûn is the primary setting of the Forgotten Realms and the part of Toril most detailed in stories and supplements. Kara-Tur 's cultures and peoples are fantasy analogues of medieval regions of East Asia, including China, Korea, Japan,

480-485: A great variety in environments and cultures could be encountered in the setting. The regions of Toril were given many details and relationships among each other in various game products. As a world designed for role-playing games it has a static character: where main characters in fantasy settings designed for novels could drastically change the world, the descriptions of Toril have to be "re-usable" for various groups of players. There were, however, significant changes made to

576-805: A mild, generally humid climate, influenced by the North Atlantic Current . Western Europe is a heatwave hotspot, exhibiting upward trends that are three-to-four times faster compared to the rest of the northern midlatitudes. Western European languages mostly fall within two Indo-European language families: the Romance languages , descended from the Latin of the Roman Empire ; and the Germanic languages , whose ancestor language ( Proto-Germanic ) came from southern Scandinavia . Romance languages are spoken primarily in

672-621: A pack of asteroids trailing Abeir-Toril's moon, Selûne . Known as the World Pillar Mountains in Faerûn or Wu Pi Te Shao in Kara-Tur , the "Roof of the World" is the largest mountain range in the fictional fantasy world of Toril. It is inhabited by evil Yak-men and separates Zakhara from the rest of the supercontinent . Yal-Tengri (also known as The Great Ice Sea ) is Toril's equivalent of

768-803: A printing of Trail Maps for Kara-Tur appeared as part of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition. In 1990 the maps were again included in The Forgotten Realms Atlas . Later that year TSR converted the monsters of Kara-Tur to second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules as part of the Monstrous Compendium series. After 1990, TSR ceased publishing new material related to Kara-Tur. The setting was, however, occasionally referred to by other TSR products such as Spelljammer and Ravenloft . The setting of Kara-Tur still exists on Abeir-Toril in Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition and

864-555: A result, Maztica is no longer a part of Toril, having been replaced with a continent called "Returned Abeir". On some maps, it has been renamed Anchorome. Zakhara is a fictional realm styled after the themes and setting depicted in the Arabian Nights . The land is the setting of the Al-Qadim campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop role-playing game . Zakhara

960-485: A significant retcon of the setting's history, Forgotten Realms material for the fourth edition of Dungeons & Dragons "reveals" that the world was split in two in prehistory, divided between the primordials (Abeir) and the gods (Toril). Toril is the world that has been showcased so far. A cataclysm called the Spellplague has caused several parts of the two worlds to switch places, displacing portions of Faerûn and

1056-405: A sub-Saharan-like continent south of Maztica, where humanity appeared. Toril was originally the name of Jeff Grubb 's personal campaign world before part of it was merged with Ed Greenwood 's Forgotten Realms setting. Toril was the name of Jeff Grubb 's campaign world, and was adopted as the name of the planet upon which the continent of Faerûn existed when he and Ed Greenwood were designing

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1152-471: A vast region of steppe that separates it from Kara-Tur . In the north are massive glaciers, named Pelvuria and Reghed, and a region of tundra . South of the continent, separated by the Great Sea, is a sub-tropical land called Zakhara. To the northwest, Faerûn is a region of wilderness, difficult winter weather, hordes of orcs, and barbarous human tribes. This region is generally referred to as "The North". It

1248-467: A wide variety of locations, each with its own hazards and potential rewards for the participants. Likewise, the region that the players explore can determine what types of monsters they will face, which famous individuals they will encounter, and what types of missions they assume. Besides the exterior coastline to the west and south, the most dominant feature on the continent is the Sea of Fallen Stars. This

1344-404: Is Jhothûn, the long-forgotten capital of a mighty empire of Giants. Philip J. Clements referred to "the world of the highly popular Forgotten Realms series" as "an unusually well-developed D&D setting", which has great variety among its fantasy races. A number of human cultures in different regions take their inspirations from real-world cultures. Daniel T. Kline summed up Abeir-Toril as

1440-599: Is a fictional continent that is a land of jungles and (to the Faerûnians) mystery. The area was heavily inspired by Aztec and Mayan culture. Early in its fictional history it was a land fought over by the gods Qotal the Plumed Serpent and his brother Zaltec. For a crime against his sister, Qotal retreated from Maztica for an age but returned in recent times. It was 'discovered' by Amnian explorers led by one Captain-general Cordell and his Golden Legion in 1361 DR . Amn

1536-569: Is a giant peninsula of the same supercontinent that hosts Faerûn and Kara-Tur on the planet Abeir-Toril. Zakhara is located east of Faerûn, and the closest Faerûnian lands to Zakhara are Dambrath (by sea) and Ulgarth or arguably Konigheim (by land). Zakhara is mostly isolated from the rest of the world, as the peninsula is separated from the main mass by the World Pillar Mountains (also known as Wu Pi Te Shao in Kara-Tur ). The Zakharan pantheon consists of several cultures, like

1632-700: Is a mostly-untamed region that lies between the large Anauroch desert in the east and the expansive Sea of Swords to the west with a mountain range at the far north called the Spine of the World. This area contains huge wooded regions such as the High Forest and the Lurkwood , the frozen Icewind Dale to the north, and an untamed region called the Savage Frontier, which includes the Silver Marches (Luruar). The coastal region

1728-712: Is a multilingual thesaurus maintained by the Publications Office of the European Union . In this thesaurus, the countries of Europe are grouped into sub-regions. The following countries are included in the sub-group Western Europe: The Western European and Others Group is one of several unofficial Regional Groups in the United Nations that act as voting blocs and negotiation forums. Regional voting blocs were formed in 1961 to encourage voting to various UN bodies from different regional groups. The European members of

1824-759: Is a system devised by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) which divides the countries of the world into regional and subregional groups, based on the M49 coding classification . The partition is for statistical convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories. In the UN geoscheme, the following countries are classified as Western Europe: The CIA classifies seven countries as belonging to "Western Europe": The CIA also classifies three countries as belonging to "Southwestern Europe": EuroVoc

1920-508: Is an irregular inland sea that keeps the neighboring lands fertile and serves as a major trade route for the bordering nations. Next in significance is the Shaar, a broad region of grasslands in the south that, together with a large body of water called the Lake of Steam, separates the area around the inland sea from the coastal nations at the southern edge of the continent. To the east, Faerûn is bordered by

2016-560: Is called the Sword Coast, "a haven for adventurers". Here lie the "iconic locastions" of the city-state of Neverwinter and the large port city of Waterdeep. Undermountain is a vast dungeon crawl under the area of Waterdeep, rated among the "deadliest" and most iconic in the game. The Ten Towns are located within Icewind Dale with the Sea of Moving Ice at the northernmost place in known Faerûn. In

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2112-686: Is divided into the nations of Nexal, Kultaka, Huacli, Kolan, Pezelac, and Payit. The region known as Far Payit neighbours Payit, both in the east around Helmsport. The native people of Maztica from Payit and Far Payit are known as Payits, whereas natives from the other nations are known as Mazticans. There are also the human races known as the Dog People and the Green Folk. Many monstrous races also live in Maztica, including wild halflings and Chacs— jaguar spirits. In very old times, couatl came from Maztica to fight

2208-582: Is full of secretive cities, unwelcoming to travellers, huge deserts, lush oases and powerful genies who meddle in the affairs of humans frequently. The continent is ruled by a theocracy headed by the Grand Caliph, and tales tell of demon-infested cities and godless sorcerers (like the genie-binding Sha'irs ) wielding strange magic. Powerful magic and great warriors of every like are to be found in Zakhara. Zakharans are firmly convinced they are more civilized than

2304-462: Is often mentioned in Forgotten Realms supplements. Characters and artifacts from Kara-Tur sometimes show up in Faerûn, but beyond that there is little interaction between the continents. The 2015 release of Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide , a supplement for Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, introduced Kara-Tur to the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons . There is a brief description of

2400-526: Is presented "as a chaotic, alien space". In some depictions Balfe sees the Arabic -style cities of the continent connected to erotic ideas of the harem and the "Arabian courtesan", tropes from Orientalist fiction. In his view the ruling Grand Caliph – "the symbolic figurehead of the entire Land of Fate" – is depicted as impotent to protect his own harem, so that he and his land are dependent on western-style heroic characters to save them. The Tears of Selûne are

2496-455: Is revealed that Balduran returns to Anchorome and retrieves a second hoard of treasure from the Native kingdoms. When he attempts to take on a number of locals to replenish his crew, he discovers they are infected with lycanthropy. The resulting battle shipwrecks Balduran on an island, which is later discovered by a Merchant Guild from Baldur's Gate and subsequently by the player who is sent to confirm

2592-594: Is the fictional planet that makes up the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting, as well as the Al-Qadim and Maztica campaign settings, and the 1st edition version of the Oriental Adventures campaign setting. The name means "cradle of life" in an archaic fictional language of the setting. It consists of various continents and islands , including Faerûn , Kara-Tur , Zakhara , Maztica , Osse, Anchorome and Katashaka,

2688-468: The Anauroch desert of Faerûn in 2010 as two of the few fantastic realms based on non-European medieval cultures to date. She remarked that the setting descriptions "reinforce their distance from the "real" Middle Ages ", "which suggests that the [non-Western] realms may be outside the imaginative limits of designers, at least for now". Screen Rant author Derek Garcia questioned the use of Abeir-Toril "as

2784-610: The Arabian Nights setting Al-Qadim , are also on this continent. Maztica , home of a tribal, Aztec -like civilization is far to the west, across an Atlantic-like ocean called the Trackless Sea. The subterranean regions underneath Faerûn are called the Underdark . Faerûn includes terrain that is as varied as that of Europe , western Asia , and much of Africa is on our planet Earth . Role-playing campaigns in Faerûn can be set in

2880-532: The Arctic Ocean . It is barely known at all. In the ancient time, the major city on its shore was Winterkeep ; it is now the trade city of Naupau, in Sossal . Far in the north of the sea is a small island dominated by a cathedral-like spire, inhabited by gnomes of Gond. The Yal-Tengri is free of ice for the six summer months of the year The Endless Ice Sea is the name of the western Faerûn part of it. Somewhere there

2976-515: The Azuposi , as well as the defunct Esh Alakarans and the xenophobic Poscadar elves. There is also a sahuagin realm called Itzcali located in the sea nearby. The character Balduran, a sea captain and founder of Baldur's Gate , sails to Anchorome and returns with a great wealth which is used to build the wall around the fledgling Baldur's Gate. In the Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast expansion, it

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3072-794: The Carolingian Empire in the west, and in particular the Great Schism between Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism , enhanced the cultural and religious distinctiveness between Eastern and Western Europe. After the conquest of the Byzantine Empire , center of the Eastern Orthodox Church, by the Muslim Ottoman Empire in the 15th century, and the gradual fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire (which had replaced

3168-621: The Carolingian Empire ), the division between Roman Catholic and Protestant became more important in Europe than that with Eastern Orthodoxy. In East Asia , Western Europe was historically known as taixi in China and taisei in Japan, which literally translates as the " Far West ". The term Far West became synonymous with Western Europe in China during the Ming dynasty . The Italian Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci

3264-765: The East–West Schism divided Christianity into Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity . This split Europe in two, with Western Europe primarily under the Catholic Church , and Eastern Europe primarily under the Eastern Orthodox Church . Ever since the Reformation in the 16th century, Protestantism has also been a major denomination in Europe, with Eastern Protestant and Eastern Catholic denominations also emerging in Central and Eastern Europe . During

3360-618: The Roman Empire (both Western and Eastern ), and medieval " Christendom ". Beginning with the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery , roughly from the 15th century, the concept of Europe as "the West " slowly became distinguished from and eventually replaced the dominant use of "Christendom" as the preferred endonym within the area. By the Age of Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution ,

3456-775: The Roman Empire . The Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire controlled the two divergent regions between the 3rd and the 5th centuries. The division between these two was enhanced during late antiquity and the Middle Ages by a number of events. The Western Roman Empire collapsed , starting the Early Middle Ages . By contrast, the Eastern Roman Empire, mostly known as the Greek or Byzantine Empire , survived and even thrived for another 1000 years. The rise of

3552-914: The U.S. President , Franklin D. Roosevelt , and the Premier of the Soviet Union , Joseph Stalin . Post-war Europe was divided into two major spheres: the Western Bloc , influenced by the United States , and the Eastern Bloc , influenced by the Soviet Union . With the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain . This term had been used during World War II by German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels and, later, Count Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk in

3648-790: The United Kingdom . It was further revisited in 1954 at the Paris Conference , when the Western European Union was established. It was declared defunct in 2011 after the Treaty of Lisbon , and the Treaty of Brussels was terminated. When the Western European Union was dissolved, it had 10 member countries. Additionally, it had 6 associate member countries, 7 associate partner countries and 5 observer countries. The United Nations geoscheme

3744-494: The "usual opposition, if not human, will be from the spirit world", rather than more conventional battles versus monsters . Game studies scholar Aaron Trammell commented: "Although Gary Gygax envisioned a campaign setting that brought a multicultural dimension to Dungeons & Dragons , the reality is that by lumping together Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Philippine, and 'Southeast Asian' lore he and co-authors David 'Zeb' Cook and Francois Marcela-Froideval actually developed

3840-429: The 1989 Avatar trilogy , which detailed a series of events called the Time of Troubles, during which gods walked the earth and magic became unpredictable. These events caused permanent changes in gameplay that were outlined in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition campaign setting books. In this edition, Abeir-Toril was considered one of D&D' s three main worlds, along with Krynn and Oerth . In

3936-452: The CIA classification a little more liberally and including "South-Western Europe", would give the following calculation of Western Europe's population. The Hague is the seat of government The climate of Western Europe varies from Mediterranean in the coasts of Italy , Portugal and Spain to alpine in the Pyrenees and the Alps . The Mediterranean climate of the south is dry and warm. The western and northwestern parts have

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4032-441: The Companions of the Hall, Cowled Wizards, Cult of the Dragon, Drow houses (like Baenre and Do'Urden), Elk Tribe, Flaming Fist, The Four (Mirt the Moneylender, Durnan, Asper and Randal Morn), Harpers, Iron Throne, The Kraken, Moonstars, Red Wizards of Thay, Seven Sisters, Shadow Thieves, and Zhentarim. Vartha Do'Urden was the previous matron mother of House Do'Urden whose unexpected death allowed her daughter Malice to take control of

4128-400: The Golden (collectively called the Shining Lands ), Luiren, the land of Halflings, Ulgarth, the easternmost extent of Faerûn, and Veldorn, the land of monsters, as well as The Great Rift, a large, powerful nation of dwarves, within a titanic canyon The immense complex of caverns and passages that lie beneath many parts of the continent of Faerûn is known as the Underdark. It contains cities of

4224-400: The Great Glacier dominate the landscape in blinding white. To the south are the equatorial jungles of Chult and the tropical coasts of Halruaa. It's bordered on the west by the Trackless Sea and on the east by the Endless Wastes and the Hordelands that separate it from Kara-Tur". Kara-Tur, which was the original setting of the D&D Oriental Adventures campaign setting, and Zakhara , home to

4320-404: The Harpers, who protect the good-natured races and seek a balance between civilization and nature. The Harpers are opposed by evil organizations, including the Red Wizards of Thay and the nihilistic Cult of the Dragon . In the northern lands, the Zhentarim is an evil network seeking to dominate the region. Their efforts are being resisted by the Lords' Alliance, a council of knights that pursues

4416-409: The Realms. The wizards rebelled from the Egyptian-based Mulhorand, while their occupied land is somewhat reminiscent of India. However the best parallel to Thay may actually be Stygia, an evil land from Robert E. Howard's Conan stories". Tharsult is an island of unscrupulous traders in the Shining Sea. To the southwest lies along the great Chultan peninsula that juts out toward the west. The waters to

4512-407: The Ryukyu Islands, Tibet, and others. According to Jim Bambra , "while primarily drawing on Japan for inspiration, [Kara-Tur] also contains elements of medieval China and Korea". Kara-Tur was first described in the original 1985 Oriental Adventures book. A reviewer for White Dwarf called the long background section of Kara-Tur in the book, a "bonus". Originally intended as a western part of

4608-399: The Sea of Swords. The west includes the city of Baldur's Gate (named for the great seafaring hero Balduran), the library-fortress of Candlekeep, both considered among "D&D's most iconic locations", the nations of Amn, Tethyr, Calimshan, the region of Western Heartlands and the elven stronghold of Evereska. These regions were the setting for the Baldur's Gate series of computer games. To

4704-456: The Underdark. The northern Realms were less affected by the Spellplague, but during the 100-year gap between the third and fourth editions of the setting, it was revealed that the Netherese wizards of the city of Shade had eliminated the desert of Anauroch, returning the land to its pre-Fall state. The borders of some of the kingdoms were changed to reflect this. In addition to these changes, floating islands of earth known as 'earthmotes' appeared in

4800-480: The Yuan-Ti of Chult . Some scorpionfolk from Maztica found an Underdark passage to the Underdark of Faerûn. North of Maztica is the continent of Anchorome . South of it (and separated by a strait) lies an unknown continent. Maztica was detailed for 2nd Edition Dungeons & Dragons in the Maztica Campaign Set by Douglas Niles , and in the Forgotten Realms novels of the Maztica Trilogy— Ironhelm , Viperhand and Feathered Dragon —also by Douglas Niles. It

4896-420: The coastline of the Moonsea with the infamous Zhentil Keep, and the bitterly cold steppes of The Ride. Along the east coast of the Dragon Reach (a northern branch of the Sea of Fallen Stars) is a temperate region called The Vast, consisting of farmlands, forests and the Earthsea mountains. This area includes the city of Ravens Bluff, which for many years was home to the RPGA 's Living City role-playing campaign and

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4992-409: The concepts of " Eastern Europe " and "Western Europe" were more regularly used. The distinctiveness of Western Europe became most apparent during the Cold War , when Europe was divided for 40 years by the Iron Curtain into the Western Bloc and Eastern Bloc , each characterised by distinct political and economical systems. Prior to the Roman conquest, a large part of Western Europe had adopted

5088-410: The continent of Oerik in the Greyhawk setting, the description of Kara-Tur in the Oriental Adventures rulebook made no attempt to link it with another D&D game-world. The first map of Kara-Tur appeared in the adventure module OA1: Swords of the Daimyo (1986), where the setting was still world-neutral. The 1987 Forgotten Realms Campaign Set left the eastern half of its continent reserved for

5184-401: The culture of Enlightenment and more savage deities, such as Ragarra. Waters around Zakhara are bountiful with pirates and corsairs who charge traders tolls to cross "their" seas, such traders willingly pay these exorbitant fees as Zakhara's exotic trading goods tend to be well worth the price back in Faerûn. Occasionally the pirates decide to completely cut off Zakhara from Faerûn. The land

5280-409: The elf-related drow including the infamous Menzoberranzan and the ruins of Ched Nasad, as well as Maerdrimydra, Llurth Dreir and Sshamath; cities of duergar such as Gracklstugh and Dunnspeirrin; and almost unpronounceable cities of creatures called the kuo-toa , illithids , and beholders . When the third edition of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting was released in 2001, the designers took

5376-403: The entire continent of Maztica, with regions of Abeir: Tymanther, Akanûl, and Returned Abeir. A subsequent event called "The Sundering" reverted many of these changes and restored much of the pre-Spellplague Toril. Abeir-Toril is the default world for the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons . Anchorome is almost unexplored and is at the North of Maztica . Its best-known inhabitants are

5472-415: The fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. West Germany peacefully absorbed East Germany , in the German reunification . Comecon and the Warsaw Pact were dissolved, and in 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Several countries which had been part of the Soviet Union regained full independence. In 1948 the Treaty of Brussels was signed between Belgium , France , Luxembourg , the Netherlands and

5568-435: The fantasy genre" to base a continent on these cultures. Maztica was also the name of the elder goddess who embodied the land of Maztica. Killed by her own son Zaltec, she was the wife of dead Kukul, but unlike her husband, continues to live on in the continued existence of the continent. In 4th edition, the Spellplague caused by Mystra 's death caused Abeir and Toril to briefly merge and then instantly rip apart again. As

5664-461: The finding, where both the original crews' and the natives from Anchorome's descendants are locked in a bloody lycanthrope feud. The fate of Balduran himself is never clearly revealed. After the discovery of Maztica by the mercenary captain Cordell, mercenaries from the Flaming Fist are sent to Anchorome. They build a keep, Fort Flame, in the shores of Balduran's bay (which is actually far below Balduran's resting place) but other than this it has been

5760-595: The followers of this region. These are comparable to mythological deities of the ancient Greek pantheon and cover a range of ethical beliefs and portfolios of interests. Faerûn is home to many non-human creatures of varying degrees of civilization or barbarism. Among these are several different races of dwarves , gnomes , halflings and elves , as well as goblins , orcs , lizardmen , ogres , various giants , and even dragons . There are several organized alliances in Faerûn, with each pursuing their particular agenda. A few are dedicated to decent and honest causes, such as

5856-448: The four decades of the Cold War , the definition of East and West was simplified by the existence of the Eastern Bloc . A number of historians and social scientists view the Cold War definition of Western and Eastern Europe as outdated or relegating. During the final stages of World War II , the future of Europe was decided between the Allies in the 1945 Yalta Conference , between the British Prime Minister , Winston Churchill ,

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5952-427: The future publication of Kara-Tur. In 1988, TSR released a boxed set, Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms , describing the region in greater detail, with two 96-page books and maps. In the process of adapting the setting to the Forgotten Realms, the size of the continent was scaled down significantly. The ten distinct nations and regions described in the boxed set and their real-world analogues include: In 1989

6048-402: The group are: In addition, Australia , Canada , Israel and New Zealand are members of the group, with the United States as observer. Using the CIA classification strictly would give the following calculation of Western Europe's population. All figures based on the projections for 2018 by the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs . Using

6144-440: The highest gross domestic product in Europe and the largest financial surplus of any country, Luxembourg has the world's highest GDP per capita, and Germany has the highest net national wealth of any European state. Switzerland and Luxembourg have the highest average wage in the world, in nominal and PPP , respectively. Norway ranks highest in the world on the Social Progress Index . Zakhara Abeir-Toril

6240-416: The house. The sub-continent of Faerûn is set in the northern hemisphere of the planet Toril , or, more formally, "Abeir-Toril". The continent has a "landmass of approximately nine and a half million square miles". Faerûn is the western part of an unnamed supercontinent that is quite similar to real-world Afro-Eurasia . Within the setting, "sub-arctic extremes chill its northern reaches, where ice sheets like

6336-473: The interests of the northern cities. Other organizations of Faerûn include the magical Seven Sisters, a band of assassins called the Fire Knives, a group of ruthless thieves operating out the city of Waterdeep named Xanathar's Guild, and the mysterious Shades—the returning survivors of the long-fallen Netheril empire. Faerûn is home to a large and diverse pantheon of deities, including: Numerous organizations of different types operate throughout Faerûn, including

6432-413: The land along with references throughout the book to its culture and how certain classes or backgrounds might fit in there. Reviewer Michael Mullen, looking at the setting of Kara-Tur before the publication of the boxed set, stated that players would probably like the world, but that it would depend largely on how familiar the DM was with Oriental culture or Japanese movies and television. He remarked that

6528-531: The last days of the war; however, its use was hugely popularised by Winston Churchill, who used it in his famous "Sinews of Peace" address on 5 March 1946 at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri : From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe . Warsaw , Berlin , Prague , Vienna , Budapest , Belgrade , Bucharest and Sofia ; all these famous cities and

6624-416: The module Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden , the titular Frostmaiden Auril makes her home on an island in this sea. Deep inland are the ancient dwarven citadels of Mithral Hall, Citadel Felbarr and the largest of the three, Citadel Adbar, which was featured in the Legacy of the Drow series of novels. This area is one of the most popular regions for role-playing campaigns set in Faerûn, and has been

6720-427: The newly developed La Tène culture . As the Roman domain expanded, a cultural and linguistic division appeared between the mainly Greek -speaking eastern provinces, which had formed the highly urbanised Hellenistic civilisation , and the western territories, which in contrast largely adopted the Latin language. This cultural and linguistic division was eventually reinforced by the later political east–west division of

6816-412: The north are named the Shining Sea, a body bounded by Calimsham to the north and joined to the Lake of Steam through the Straits of Storm. To the south of the land is the Great Sea. Located in this area are Chult, Lapaliiya, Samarach, Tashalar, and Thindol. South of the Sea of Fallen Stars is a region somewhat isolated by the Lake of Steam in the west, and the vast length of the Shaar. It is bordered along

6912-492: The opportunity to redesign the continent of Faerûn. Its size was reduced slightly to remove 'empty space' from the map and the Chultan Peninsula was moved several hundred miles north, reducing the size of the empty grassplain known as the Shaar. Additionally, the designers slightly adjusted the projection of the map to better reflect the curvature of the planet. There was no in-universe explanation given for these changes as it

7008-408: The original Forgotten Realms Boxed Set in 1987. Greenwood had written tales for his world "as far back as 1967" and "it had been the setting for his homespun D&D campaigns since 1978". Abeir- was added as a prefix to the planet's name so that it would be the first entry in the alphabetical encyclopedia of terms included in the set. The setting's entire planet underwent a major change during

7104-430: The population of Faerûn consists of farmers, who are organized somewhat loosely in a semi- feudal system . There are also several notable cities and trade between nations is common, as in the Renaissance era. Likewise, there are regions where more barbaric tribes and customs persist. Home to many different cultures, "[i]t is an eclectic land, rich in history, that has witnessed the rise and fall of kingdoms, forever bearing

7200-577: The populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow. Although some countries were officially neutral , they were classified according to the nature of their political and economic systems. This division largely defines the popular perception and understanding of Western Europe and its borders with Eastern Europe . The world changed dramatically with

7296-568: The protection of regional and minority languages are recognised political goals in Western Europe today. The Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the Council of Europe's European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages set up a legal framework for language rights in Europe. Western Europe is one of the richest regions of the world. Germany has

7392-584: The relatively peaceful Western Heartlands and the more savage North along the Sword Coast. The village of Daggerford lies along the Shining River along the Sword Coast. The sunken city of Northkeep was the first city built around the Moonsea by humans. Miyeritar and Ilythiir were ancient elven empires. The western part of Faerûn includes the nations south of Waterdeep and north of the Shining Sea , that border along

7488-533: The rest of the world and treat "barbarians" accordingly. The capital city of Zakhara is Huzuz, the "City of Delights". The setting itself proclaimed to have "much more in common with early Hollywood depcitons rather than hard historical fact." In the view of Myles Balfe, the Fantasy " Orient " of Zakhara has been designed as a new and exotic counter-realm for players to experience, contrasting with more common settings depicted as "a moralized neo-medieval Europe". It

7584-475: The scars of centuries of war." A major difference between the setting and Earth is the presence of magic . The system of magic is subdivided into divine and arcane categories, with the former empowered by a Faerûnian deity , and the latter by rituals or innate abilities which manipulate a mystical field called the Weave , the source of magical energies on Toril . Faerûn has a pantheon of deities that are worshipped by

7680-590: The scenes by spiritual witches, and it is the location of the Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer computer game. The lands of Damara and Vaasa were described in a 1989 publication, FR9, The Bloodstone Lands . This area formed the setting for the " H Series " of modules that used the Battlesystem rules to resolve battles. Secomber is a small town of nearly 1,500 that acts as a de facto border town between

7776-694: The sea extends far to the west, ending close to the Western Heartlands. To the south, the Vilhon Reach forms a second arm leading to the southwest. The notable areas within this region include Chondath, Cormyr, the Dragon Coast, Hlondeth, the Pirate Isles and Prespur, Sembia (and its largest city of Selgaunt), Sespech, Turmish, and the Shining Plains. Along the eastern expanses of the Sea of Fallen Stars,

7872-410: The setting for a number of popular role-playing video games . Another city is Mirabar, the mining center for the Sword Coast. North of the Sea of Fallen Stars is a region that stretches from the wide Anauroch desert in the west to the eastern edge of the inland Moonsea , in the northern region of the continent. It is a region of contrasts, with the forested Dalelands, the desert wastes of Anauroch,

7968-506: The site of the Living City series of game modules . The Dragonspine Mountains , which house the infamous Citadel of the Raven on their western slopes, is a mountain range northwest of the Moonsea. Northeastern Faerûn is a remote area that begins in the cold, forbidding lands along the great ice sheets and continues south toward the northeastern shores of the Sea of Fallen Stars. It is bordered on

8064-548: The skies above Faerûn and the continent of Maztica across the western ocean vanished along with the Faerûnian colonies on its east coast. Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe . The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean world,

8160-560: The south by the Great Sea; to the west by the Chultan peninsula region, and in the east by Luiren. The south includes the Border Kingdoms, Dambrath, the Great Rift, Halruaa, the Lake of Steam, and The Shaar. South and east of the grassy plains is an area known as the Shaar, along the shores of the Great Sea opposite the land of Zakhara. The region includes the lands of Durpar, Estagund and Var

8256-494: The south of Chondath and Chessenta. Thay is a magocracy ruled by the Red Wizards which was described in the 1988 publication FR6: Dreams of the Red Wizards . The nation has made multiple attempts to invade neighboring countries and following a civil war, the lich Szass Tam became Thay's leader. Shannon Appelcline, author of Designers & Dragons , highlighted that "Thay doesn't have an obvious real-world derivation like some of

8352-588: The southern and central part of Western Europe, Germanic languages in the northern part (the British Isles and the Low Countries ), as well as a large part of Northern and Central Europe . Other Western European languages include the Celtic group (that is, Irish , Scottish Gaelic , Manx , Welsh , Cornish and Breton ) and Basque , the only currently living European language isolate . Multilingualism and

8448-457: The water forms a long arm that travels to the east before turning south to become the Alamber Sea. The northern nations of this mysterious area are termed the "Unapproachable East" and the southern nations the "Old Empires" in campaign setting publications. This region includes the nations of Aglarond, Ashanath, Altumbel, Mulhorand, Murghôm, Thay and Unther. Chondalwood is a long, forested region to

8544-510: The west by the mountain-hemmed land of Vaasa and stretches east to the vast steppes of the Hordelands, with its largest city of Winterkeep. This region also contains the lightly populated kingdom of Damara, the druidic forests of the Great Dale, the coastal kingdom of Impiltur, the fallen and once evil empire of Narfell, and the trading nation of Thesk. Mystical Rashemen is a land ruled from behind

8640-585: The west in the vast ocean called the Trackless Sea is a multitude of islands, collectively named the Nelanther Isles. Other island kingdoms include the gnomish realm of Lantan, the country of Nimbral and, further west, the Moonshae Isles. With the exception of the Shining Plains, the interior lands of Faerûn lie along the irregular coastline of the western Sea of Fallen Stars. In the north the Dragonmere arm of

8736-495: The world of Greyhawk , and "militarily more stable and thus may lead to more 'adventure' based missions" compared to the focus on wars within Krynn / Ansalon . In Canavan's view, Toril more closely resembled Robert E. Howard 's Hyborian Age , as both are "constructed as a patchwork or mosaic of kingdoms, realms and lands, many borrowing directly from historical settings". Even though "pseudo-medieval European analogues" were predominant,

8832-631: The world to accommodate rule changes between different editions of the game, explained through magical events within the fictional universe. Areas of the planet inspired by non-Western real-world cultures, namely Chult , Kara-Tur, Maztica and Al-Qadim 's Zakhara, have been criticized for perpetuating simplistic and harmful stereotypes. In July 2020, Wizards of the Coast added a sensitivity disclaimer to digitally sold products describing such regions, to acknowledge and distance themselves from problematic content. Medievalist Amy S. Kaufman listed Kara-Tur and

8928-578: Was based on historical Central America . In a retrospective review in Black Gate , Scott Taylor found Maztica unimpressive because the continent too closely mirrored the Mesoamerican world, down to the history of the Conquistadores , rather than creating a uniquely fantasy version inspired by the "colorful and diverse" reality that is Mesoamerica. CBR author Matthew England considered it "a rarity in

9024-510: Was classified as a retcon . The fourth edition of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting , released in 2008, saw major changes to the geography of Faerûn and the world of Abeir-Toril . Due to a magical cataclysm known as the Spellplague, the southern parts of Faerûn were devastated. Chult became an island detached from the mainland, the kingdom of Halruaa was utterly destroyed, and parts of the Sea of Fallen Stars drained into

9120-664: Was one of the first writers in China to use the Far West as an Asian counterpart to the European concept of the Far East . In Ricci's writings, Ricci referred to himself as "Matteo of the Far West". The term was still in use in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Christianity is the largest religion in Western Europe. According to a 2018 study by the Pew Research Center , 71.0% of Western Europeans identified as Christians. In 1054,

9216-450: Was quick to carve out its claim to the land for trade benefits, establishing the port city of Helmsport, and the church of Helm led the encroachment into the new land. The native peoples were devastated by foreign diseases and the ruthlessness of the invaders, and this, coupled with the difficulties encountered on Maztica backfiring against them, caused the church of Helm to come under heavy criticism. Lantan also claimed some lands. Maztica

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