Where in Faerun? - Lore help please!

[~Corvus~]

I've been designing a D&D story for a little bit, but I don't know where, exactly, to position such a story within the setting, and also thus I don't know how to give good names to the people. Here's the background story:

A middle-aged knight has spent the last two decades bringing relative peace to his region of the country, and has recently been blessed with the title of Nobility, along with his own region and castle; He even brought a few other nobles' regions into greater peace and prosperity, and so has become known as "[Noble] the Kind & Wise." Last year, however, his son disappeared soon after visiting their ancestral home. He wrote to the High Cleric, who was a tutor to "Squire the Wise," and he was just as mystified by his absence.

Not long after this, Noble the Wise had a terrible ordeal, after which his actions and orders were anything but wise and just. Incensed at not being able to find his son, he pushed his fellow Knights and militia to find his son at any cost. The High Cleric proposed that Noble the Wise join him and a few of his knights in their Mountain home, and search the ruins of the Forgotten Church at the edge of the town. All did not go well.

Noble the Wise arrived at the town in a fury, and when a cursory search of the Church yielded nothing, he turned on his townsfolk and kinsmen, the community from which he'd grown to become a great man, and even tortured a few of them before he was confronted by the High Cleric and his fellow knights. A long debate among each other devolved into a pitched battle between Noble the Wise and his devoted Knights, and they were forced to slay him and those loyal to his unusual actions. With his dying breath, Noble the Wise cursed his remaining fellow knights, making a wish to any Dark Power that could hear him, that his town, his knights, and the High Cleric would come to terrible ruin for resisting his attempt to find his son.

Those of you that haven't yet fallen asleep already might be thinking Gee, this sounds a lot like the story from Diablo I and you'd be right! It's certainly inspired by such a grimdark origin, but I don't want the game to just be a dungeoncrawl, and I want to make enough changes to the story to allow this kind of story not only to be a dungeoncrawl but also fit comfortably into the D&D setting.

Spoiler: For any that don't mind significant spoilers...

Show

The demon to replace Diablo will be Areex, an obscure demon Prince who, although mentioned in the 1983 Monster Manual II, only has connections to lore through Gibberlings in Sigil that say he'd left to "journey beyond the stars to honor a pact with Bollothamog." The latter personality--Bolothamogg--is an Elder Evil of the Far Realm, and the D&D equivalent of Yog-Sothoth, the primal Guardian of the Far Realms.

Areex, by my own estimation, is overdue for a return to the D&D realm, but not without significant powers. His journey indeed gave him great power, but his entrance into the Mortal realm taxed him far more than he'd thought. He sought to possess a mortal--Noble the Wise--but that didn't entirely work, and his gamble has left him weakened. Therefore, of course, he kidnapped Noble the Wise's son, and has set to work in the underground church.

Areex's influence has begun to twist and turn the Church and even the caves around the area's mountains into terrible Labyrinth-like depths, and has even made the weather foul, thus completing our "conversion" of the (simpler) Diablo plot and setting into one we can fit into a D&D setting.

If this story could actually work in the Forgotten Realms, I'd love to hear a suggestion as to where. If it would best be set somewhere else (Is there another setting for 5E?), let me know that, too.

Thanks to any that respond~

[Aussiehams]

I would try for somewhere near Elturel in the Fields of the Dead. Probably a small hamlet/castle between there and Boarskyer bridge.

[~Corvus~]

I would try for somewhere near Elturel in the Fields of the Dead. Probably a small hamlet/castle between there and Boarskyer bridge.

Looking at a map from the Forgotten Realms Wiki, I understand that this region is East of Baldurs Gate? Would the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide be of help here?

[Aett_Thorn]

Tethyr might be a good call, too. There’s lots of changes in nobility there and conflicting factions where someone could come up fairly quickly, and fall just as fast. Would also allow you to add some political intrigue into the story if you want to in the future.

[~Corvus~]

Tethyr looks like a really good spot! Tethyr has recently(?) been embroiled in some conflict and has come to some peace, it seems. Good for the story's premise. The Starspire Mountains are vast enough and have undergone quite a few changes in the years... and within the Three Peaks Vale "was once the site of a monastery to Tyr," ambiguous enough to mean that said monastery has become a ruin. It could easily be nestled within the mountains and have a community grow up around it.

I also like the Snowflake Mountains and its Edificiant Library. If there's ONE library, there's bound to be more nearby...and the Starspires might be just the place for a malign influence to oppose this ancient one.

The Knights of the Silver Chalice was formed by edict of the demigod Siamorphe in Waterdeep a century ago. Siamorphe's ethos is the nobility's right and responsibility to rule, and the demigod is incarnated as a different noble mortal in each generation. By the decree of the Siamorphe at that time, the Knights of the Silver Chalice took it upon themselves to put a proper heir on the throne of Tethyr and reestablish order in that kingdom. Since then they have grown to be the most popular knighthood in Tethyr, a nation that has hosted many knighthoods in fealty to the crown.

[~Corvus~]

Does 5th edition Forgotten Realms have a current Years' entry, roughly?

Edit: The 5th-edition SCAG seems to recount many such timetables, like the Time of Troubles (Baldur's Gate 1?), the Second Sundering--in which I'm pretty sure the second Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, and Neverwinter Nights stories are set--and this all ends around 1489 Dale Reckoning. This is as close an answer i'll find.

2nd edit: THe sundering of Neverwinter--a major event in 4th Edition--happened in 1475 DR, and I remember that this conflict was resolved as of the start of 5th Edition, including the city's occupation by a Silver Dragon. So far, the timeline of ~1480s DR seems consistent.

[Coffee_Dragon]

The Snowflake Mountains think they're so special.

[Clistenes]

Erlkazar, east of Thetyr sounds like what you are looking for. Check the Lands of Intrigue supplement.

That said, I don't know how is Erlkazar doing during the 5th edition... it may be a hole in the ground by now...

[~Corvus~]

I would try for somewhere near Elturel in the Fields of the Dead. Probably a small hamlet/castle between there and Boarskyer bridge.

Although there's little to compete with a name like the Fields of the Dead, my objection to this region are such large numbers of fantastical creatures here beyond the scope of the game I'd like to run. Otherwise, it might have worked out.

Erlkazar, east of Thetyr sounds like what you are looking for. Check the Lands of Intrigue supplement.

The Wiki states "the vampires and bandits of Erlkazar still raid Amn, Calimshan, Tethyr and Turmish..." and so this might be an excellent setting for a "pushing away bandits" scenario to be worked into this story, too. Hmm...The "Lands of Intrigue" set is from 2nd Edition. I'm not sure if there's too much of a span of years between 2nd to 3.5 edition, as I'm pretty sure these were more about streamlining gameplay than significantly advancing story.

I went to the library earlier today and actually picked up several books, so I'll report what I learn.

[~Corvus~]

Erlkazar, east of Thetyr sounds like what you are looking for. Check the Lands of Intrigue supplement.

That said, I don't know how is Erlkazar doing during the 5th edition... it may be a hole in the ground by now...

The 2nd Edition books on the Lands of Intrigue are excellent for names & custom ideas i'd wanted to also tease out, so thanks for that pointer! This is neat: "in the Highlands of Tethyr, the social habits of Erlkazar - from king's court to farmers' lands -- are lax and informal. The Erlkazarans mean no disrespect, but their rugged land forces them together, so respect and nobility must be earned, not gained by natural or divine right." How perfect. Now to see if the SCAG has anything to mention.

It seems the SCAG has only two mentions of the Tethyr region (as appropriate: the region is directly south of Amn, the southernmost nation of the book's primary map). Page 11 says, "The farmands of Tethyr are abundant...Tethyr has seen more than its share of noble intrigue and royal murder, and adventurers....are often drawn into such plots," which further cements my certainty this is a good location for my story. No mention of Erlkazar here.

SCAG's "Knights of the Order" section (page 151) mentions the Knights of the Silver Chalice, who "took it upon themselves to put a proper heir on the throne of Tethyr and reestablish order in that kingdom," and have "grown to be the most popular knighthood in Tethyr." Somewhere between 2nd edition and 5th Edition *a collapse happened* in Tethyr and I'm not sure where to find it...but this is a great knighthood to grab onto and run with.

Erlkazar is way East of Darromar--the capitol of Tethyr's kingdom--so we really could be in the special Snowflake Mountains at this point, huh?

[~Corvus~]

Somewhere between 2nd edition and 5th Edition *a collapse happened* in Tethyr and I'm not sure where to find it

4th Edition's Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide has some help:

Erlkazar and the Lake of Steam
South of the Vilhon Wilds [...]™a temperate climate and good cropland engender stability and burgeoning populations. The Baronies of Erlkazar are seemingly peaceful and idyllic. When
night falls, however, the vampire thralls of the Night Barony terrorize the region.

Vampires can be vicious, but aren't usually known for decimating their region of prey...but what if they did just this here? It would certainly explain 5th Edition's mention of Knight of the Silver Chalice making new and better leadership.

As if the spirit-hand of Tymora herself has guided others' knowledge to point me here, there's also delicious text about the region directly north of Erlkazar:

The lands of the Vilhon Reach were affected greatly by the merging of Abeir with Toril.
[...]
This region barely survived its first contact with
the Abolethic Sovereignty roughly fifty years ago.
Since the Year of Blue Fire, civilization has been slow
to return to the wilder Spellplague-morphed regions.

The Sovereignty have flown around Toril in their own massive hedron-vessel ,and in 4th Edition, made portals and contacts (psionically or otherwise) with any area affected by spellplague to do their own experiments. But even cooler, Aboleth are from the far Realm, or at least their progenitor is!! My choice of Areex Returned gets better and better!

By 5th Ed, the spellplague has ended and the Sovereignty has left this region's reach, but this connection is too good to ignore.

[~Corvus~]

That said, I don't know how is Erlkazar doing during the 5th edition... it may be a hole in the ground by now...

There's a good deal of land-reshaping that's happened with Abeir-Toril's integration, and the region is close to the Sea of Stars, only separated by the region of Turmish, whose landscape was also significantly altered by that event. In particular, the mountains south of the Thornwood have been flattened, and the Omlarandin range has gotten smaller.

To Erlkazar's East, the Shilmistan forest, much of which have been Treants, has been diminished by war, and I think the Elves here are mostly concerned about the forest's regrowth; they're not going to help the Tethyrian people even if they're officially part of the realm.

The Thornwood to the South, as of 3rd Edition, had a good deal of both dark elves, liches, and 1 beholder. If any place has captured the interest of the Knights of the Silver Chalice, this place in particular is of interest for them to clear out, if not only to reclaim elven items of power, but to restore good order to its region.

Shyressa, the vampiric Runemistress who had occupied the crypts near the Thornwood, was slain only after making a great number of thralls. 4th Edition's story makes clear that the Twisted Rune, the order to which Shyressa belonged, has moved out of the Thornwood, and far from being snuffed out has done great evil. Shyressa's thralls made a mess of the greater Erlkazar region with their relocation; this certainly explains why the region's cursory mention for all of 4th edition is only that the baronies here barely survived the vampiric "Night Barony."