We left on good terms, and it wasn't until we were well
away that we realized we all shared a strange apprehen-
sion. We had not seen much of women while we were on
the island, which was to be expected since Northlanders
typically house guests well away from the homes, farms,
and forges that are the Northlander women's domain.
But we also neither saw nor heard any children or young
men, and never once did we see any old men or women.
Indeed, I hesitate to say that any man among the North-
landers we met had a single gray hair on his head or in
his beard. This strange fact, and the Rocklanders' weird
custom of giving any human figure in their art the arms
of their totem-a many-tentacled squid-makes me leery
of a return.RUATHYM
The island of Ruathym is the ancestral homeland of
all the Northlanders who live on the islands of the Sea
of Swords and the humans who would go on to found
old Illusk, now Luskan, and spread out as the Illuskan
people. The warlike folk of Ruathym know they have
this legacy, and they consider rule over other Northland-
ers and the cities of the coast to be their birthright.
Merchants can occasionally trade with Rauthym at
its capital city, also called Ruathym, but I don't risk
such a stopover if I can help it. One never knows when
Ruathym is going to be at war, and any ship within sight
of the island when it is will be fair prey.
TuERN
Well to the west of its nearest neighbor, the remote
island of Tuern is host to violent folk who raid and
pillage at will and seek to enslave any outlanders they
capture on or near their island. They trust no magic of
any kind, and offer tribute to the red dragons and giants
that dwell in the high mountain caves of this place. They
have five kings, with a High King supposedly enthroned
in their capital of Uttersea, but like any sailor with
sense, I've avoided the island by a great distance, so I
can't tell you which bloodthirsty knave currently rules
the roost.
THE WHALEBONES
The tiny outcrops that make up the Whalebones are so
numerous it's impossible to accurately chart them all.
Each has its own legends and its own (often self-pro-
claimed) king, and they battle one another incessantly
in skirmishes where the casualties number in the
dozens, at most.
The Whalebones are so called because of the scat-
tered skeletons of those great sea creatures that litter
the beaches of most of the islands. These bones are the
only real commodity of worth these isles have-which
means that anyone thinking to simply sail up and pluck
ivory from the shores of the Whalebones is sorely
underestimating how furiously its inhabitants defend
their property.0RLUMBOR
If you're looking to purchase or repair a ship, there is
no better place to do it along the Sword Coast than
in Orlumbor. The finest shipwrights in the world live
here, and their joining work is among the reasons
Waterdeep remained so strong for so many years.
Even when much of the city's navy lay disabled in its
harbor, the strong ships of Orlumbor proved sturdy
enough that folk could live on and in them while the
city recovered.
Orlumbor was once a simple shipwright island, sup-
plying the city-states of the Sword Coast with vessels for
their navies. Waterdeep in particular relied on Orlum-
bor to supply ships for its defense, making the island a
wealthy and well-protected place in return. When Lord
Neverember sank Waterdeep's navy in his fight against
pirates, he arranged to hire mercenary ships to replace
the force, funneling ill-gotten proceeds into his own
pockets, and leaving both the coffers and the shipyards
of Orlumbor high and dry. After Neverember's ouster,
Waterdeep's business returned, and with it much of the
isle's prosperity.
Reaching Orlumbor by ship is tricky because of the
rocky, cavernous approach to the harbor. Once a ship
navigates the route properly, it can find a wider berth,
and any minor damage to the new visitor is happily
(and cheaply) repaired by the Orlumbor dockworkers.
These are folk born and bred to work on ships. The
homes on Orlumbor are built into the caverns of the
island, and just as well defended as the docks that are its
life's blood.
More than once down the years, Waterdeep's protec-
tion has kept Orlumbor from falling to Mintarn, Luskan,
Arnn, or Baldur's Gate, all of which have sought to claim
the islands and its shipyards for their own. None of
these other places ever considered that Orlumbor might
simply choose not to build ships for them, but thank-
fully, it's never come to that. Now, Orlumbor once again
serves Waterdeep, in exchange for coin, foodstuffs, and
other goods from Faert1n.SOUTHERN ISLES
Off the coast of the southern realms of Faert1n, even
south of the Moonshae Isles, are some smaller, less
influential island nations. The Nelanther, just across