Asavir's Channel from Tethyr, is a land of raiding
pirates. Farther south, some three hundred miles from
the Moonshaes, is the fabled is land of Lan tan, birthplace
of many odd inventions. Well south of there, beyond the
jungles of Ch ult, is the mysterious is land of Nimbral.
LANTAN
I had not visited Lantan for over a year when it hap-
pened, but the way most tell it, when magic failed utterly
in this place, all the s tored s mokepowde r and magical
gewgaws in Lantan exploded, one by one, just as great
waves washed over the is land. Within a terrifyingly
s hort time, Lantan was no more.
Or so the stories of survivors went. It appears now
that Lantan was transferred to another world, much like
Halruaa. Halruua, though, had foreseen the calamity
and taken time to prepare. Lantan was not so lucky.
The Lantanese were fascinated-some say obsessed-
with building mechanical wonders. Though they
employed magic from time to time, the whole island
s melled like sawdust, grease, a nd freshly scraped
metal, as s hop after shop worked on refining its latest
and greatest invention. The new creation might have
been little metal knights that walk and fight and knock
each other over, elaborate coffers w ith locks that latch
themselves, or mechanical arms that copy what a scribe
is writing onto a second s heet of parchment. During
my past visits there, I'd seen all of those and more with
my own eyes.
Were these gewgaws and trifles of help to the Lan-
tanese when the whole world was ripped from unde r
them? To whom did they turn when in that other world
their prayers to their favored god, Gond, went unan-
swered? What happened in thei r century away, and
now that they a re returned, a re they happy to be here,
or does it seem like their world has once more been
ripped away?
Some ships claiming to be from returned Lantan
have appeared in ports a long the Sword Coast, but from
what I hear, the Lantanese who emerge from them are
guarded and say little about their home land. These
trade rs seek to attain large quantities of raw mate rials
s uch as various types of woods a nd metals, trading
unus ual gems a nd strange gold coins in return. Of their
inve ntio ns, folks have seen little, but the few glimpses
attained have fueled much speculation about Lantan's
development of smokepowder weapons and greater
willingness to blend magic with machinery. Indeed,
Lantanese traders have reportedly offered many shield
guardians in private auctions up a nd down the Sword
Coast, a nd s uch golem-like constructs are us ually the
province of wizards, not tinkerers.
NELANTHER
Take a n old salt's advice a nd beware the Pirate Isles of
the Sea of Swords, the Nelanther. Here, all manner of
seafaring or sea-dwelling creatures live, from lizardfolk
a nd minotaurs to ores and ogres, with a smattering of
humans a nd others thrown in for variety. Where some
pirates hold to their own code of conduct, the folk of
Nelanther care nothing for rules, honor, or even good,
ne ighborly sense: they attack each a nother as often
BANNER OF THE
KNIGHTS OF N1MBRALand as viciously as they do any passing ship or convoy.
Simply put, the Nelanther I s les are a chain of reavers
and raiders, who eke out a living fighting whomever
they can find.
No one's ever bother ed to count or name all the tribes
of these islands, and I doubt a nyone's going to start
now. For one thing, it's a fool's errand: tribes split up
or are destroyed at such a rapid pace that by the time
you finishe d counting, you'd have to start over anyway.
For a nother, it's dirty, da nge rous work, and dealing
with pirates is a task best l eft to swift ships, well-armed
navies, and the kinds of fools that would want to count
th em in the first place.
If you do find out the name of a tribe in th e Nelanther,
be careful about mentioning it to a nother Nelanther
s hip unless you can confirm that the ship belongs to
a friendly tribe. Even so, be advised that alliances are
short as summer storms in these is les, and it's not likely
you'll be around long enough to witness a new one being
forged. Proclaiming your allegiance to a certain tribe
might anger the one you're talking to.
Still, if you're looking for cheap, strong hands, Nelan-
th er may be the place for you, but don't expect much in
the way of loyalty or cleve rness out of them. Hiring too
ma ny Nelanther sailors on a ship is just asking for your
s hip to be taken from you, sailed back to the islands, and
given new life as a pirate vessel.NIMBRAL
Ever seen an island simply disappear? That is, sup-
posedly, what happened to Nimbral at about the timeCHAPTER 2 I THE SWORD COAST AND THE NORTH