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 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 additional less developed tribes and customs persist. Akadi, Asmodeus, Bane, 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 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". and
Zakhara, home to 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 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 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 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.
Northern regions 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 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 the frozen
Icewind Dale to the north, and an untamed region called the Savage Frontier, which includes the Silver Marches (Luruar). The coastal region is called the Sword Coast, "a haven for adventurers". Here are found the "iconic locations" 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. 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 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, 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 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 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 the scenes by spiritual witches, both considered among "D&D's most iconic locations", To 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 north and west, the Moonshae Isles and Ruathym. 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 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, 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 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 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.
Southern nations To the southwest lies along the great Chultan peninsula that juts out toward the west. The waters to 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 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 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
Underdark 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 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. ==Changes in geography==