The Turbulence of the Dale Land

It is the year DR 1372 in the Dale Lands.

The Dale Lands find themselves a turbulent country. They crouch at the winding, ragged coastline of Faerun’s inner seas, nestled in a geopolitical crux between east and west; north and south. Riches flow along these cardinal veins, washed along the trading routes that connect Moonsea in the north with the Sea of Fallen Stars in the south.

The eleven city states which comprise the Dale Lands are so blessed and cursed. They have the wealth of the sea, but weigh this against the avarice of their neighbors. From all sides, actors far and near regard the Dale Lands in some way. It is for this reason that the shining city states came together in a federation run by the Dales Council, centuries ago.

On the southern border of the Dale Lands is Sembia – young among nations, and a champion of trade, much as the Dales. Over the years, there have been scattered skirmishes between the militias of Sembia and the Swords of Archendale, the southernmost of the Dale Land city-states. Between them, they argue an undefined border. One of Sembia’s cities, Ordulin, used to be of the Dales many years ago.

From the east, across the seas, distant and mysterious actors exert their interests. Merchants bring tidings of Thay, and the arcane enclave that rules there known as the Red Wizards. While they are a remote group owing to their distance across the sea, their agents spread widely in Faerun. It is rumored that it is by their direction that slavers drive occasional raids along the Dale Lands’ coast. If true, then many Dalelanders now reside in Thay, although they no longer own their freedoms.

To the north, a multitude of more direct threats lie, and the great elven forest state of Cormanthor provides an ever-diminishing buffer owing to the generation-long exodus of those peoples from the mainland. Foremost among the threats is Zhentil Keep, which resides at the heart of the nation of the Zhentarim. The Zhentarim and their dark connections extend far beyond their borders, seeking favorable trade and using their militaries to secure advantageous positions.

A generation ago, the Zhents claimed Teshendale of the Dale Lands, leaving it a smouldering ruin. Refugees from that city fled to the other Dales, bringing to common knowledge stories of the monstrous creatures that were in league with the Zhentarim during that invasion. The Dales Council leaves a seat among their number open for representation by Teshendale -- as the city is ruined, the seat sits unfilled, as a continuous reminder to the council of the pressures that come from the north.

In the same wave of invasions that claimed Teshendale, the city of Daggerdale was also occupied. It was just three years ago, in DR 1369, that the rightful heir to that Dale, Lord Randal Morn, marched upon it with his riders, and re-took it from the Zhentarim, alleviating the immediate northern encroachment on the Dale Lands.

Since Lord Randal took back Daggerdale, an uneasy peace has prevailed, and attentions have diverted inwards as the different city-states jostle between themselves. Which city’s needs are greatest? In which direction should the federation’s forces be arrayed?

It is at this moment of calm that we begin.

Footnote: DR, Dale Reckoning (a calendar system in the Forgotten Realms).