The World of Toril

THE WORLD OF TORIL

Toril, (or Abeir-Toril to give its full name) is an Earthworld orbiting a Fireworld, in the blackness of wildspace. Around Toril itself orbits another Earthworld, the moon Selune, and sages believe that the twinkling lights in the night sky, or "stars" as they are popularly known, are also Fireworlds - possibly with their own retinue of Earthworlds, and the postulated Waterworlds and Airworlds.

Great continents span the oceans of Toril. The known lands are detailed thusly: -

Faerun (Fay-ROON) is the cradle of the Realms. Faerun consists of the northwest quarter of the dominant continent on Toril. It is bounded on the west by the Trackless Sea, on the south by the Great Sea, on the east by the wide expanses of the Hordelands, and on the north by the ice of the uttermost north. The continent includes a number of large off-shore islands, including Lantan, Nimbral, the Moonshaes and Evermeet.

Create a hero from Faerun...

HORDELANDS

Beyond the lands of Thay and Rashemen is a land of endless emptiness, paling with its vast openness even the Shaar to the south or the Fields of the Dead in the Western Heartlands. It is a treeless land occupied by barbarian herdsmen and raiders, the hollow link between Faerun and Kara-Tur. It is called the Endless Waste in old texts.

Its people call it Taan and themselves the Tuigan. The modem natives of Faerun call it the Hordelands, for out of this land came the engine of destruction known as the Horde. The barbarian tribes of this land united and like a swarm of ants surged westward into the lands of Faerun. They conquered all that stood in their way, and even the Red Wizards of Thay paid kind words and hard tribute to their majesty. Under the leadership of Yamun Khahan, they boiled into the civilized lands of the Unapproachable East.

The Horde was turned back by the combined efforts of an alliance of western nations under the leadership of King Azoun IV of Cormyr. Yamun Khahan was slain and the Horde disbanded, some of its elements returning to their barren land, others settling on the lands of their newfound conquests.

The Horde has left its mark on the Realms, with a new flood of refugees and immigrants moving westward into Impiltur and the Vast. The Sea of Fallen Stars has carried these newcomers to all of its ports and beyond, and new heroes and legends have erupted in their wake. And still the Hordelands sit like a watchful beast eying both Faerun and Kara-Tur, and none know when they will erupt again in another Horde, and who can turn it back if they do.

Beyond the emptiness of the Hordelands lies a mystical and magical land known as Kara-Tur (Kah-rah-TOUR). It is a region very different from the Faerun, and in the past only the hints of whispers of legends have come across that land to this. With the coming of the Horde and the wave of refugees pressed before it, more facts, legends, and tales of this land have passed from talespinner to talespinner. Many stories that cannot be placed elsewhere are said to come 'from Kara-Tur when the world was still new.'

The more amazing of the tales, of mortals passing through walls without magic, steam-breathing dragons, or warriors with hidden powers, are easily discounted or explained. However, it remains that the lands of Kara-Tur are very much unlike the native Realms.

Kara-Tur is known for two of its great nations, Shou Lung and Kozakura. Shou Lung may be the mightiest empire in the world, overshadowing the early days of Mulhorand, and the entire empire is ruled from a central city by an sage king advised by the spirits of his predecessors. Kozakura is equally famous as an island of warriors where duty and honor mean all to the loyal samurai and wandering ronin.

Kara-Tur's influence on Faerun is only distantly felt, and then mostly in the form of some tavern tale of great riches and wise dragons, or in some mysterious artifact which appears in the court of a distant king. However, there are occasional travelers, both merchants and adventurers, from west to east and vice-versa, and care must be taken before challenging one of Kara-Tur's legendary warriors in combat.

Create a hero from Kara-Tur...

Beyond Evermeet in the Trackless Sea is a continent until recently unrevealed, known to its inhabitants as Maztica (Mahz-TEEka), the True World. Its existence has been hinted at in various tales over the millennia, but only with the voyage of Captain Cordell in 1361 DR was the drape of isolation ripped aside and the True World revealed.

Maztica is a wild and almost untouched land, dominated by great jungles and thick forests. Its peoples live simply in small communities or religion-based city-states. Their magics derive not from conventional (read 'elder kingdoms') forces, but through focii of feathers and claws. The entire scope of these abilities, and the True World's new gods, is unknown.

The revelation of Maztica has had little effect on the bulk of the Realms, as there are more than enough new places to go and new monsters to vanquish without making a long sea voyage. The greatest effects have taken place in the Empires of the Sands and the island kingdom of Lantan, all of whom have laid claims to wide swaths of the new land (without consulting those who were living on it before the revelation). New riches have poured into these lands, making their rulers more powerful, but sending costs skyrocketing for commoners. Six years after the revelation, much is still unknown about this far land. Maztican individuals and artifacts have been drifting into the Realms, a subject of comment and curiosity. The strange feather magic (pluma) and claw magic (hishna) have daunted sages, new vegetables have appeared in Faerun, brought from Maztica, and the warriors of Maztica, like warriors throughout the world, are judged by the strength of their arms and the spirit in their hearts.

Far to the south, beyond the fabled lands of Halruaa and Luiren, of Durpar and Var the Golden, is a very different world, as alien as Maztica and as powerful as Kara-Tur. Located on the far side of the Great Sea, it is a hot, dry land of deserts and rocky mountains, its great cities hugging the coastlines for trade and water. It is a land of magic unknown in the north, of powerful monsters and more-powerful rulers. It is known as Zakhara (Zah-KARRah), the Burning World, the Land of Fate.

Zakharan culture at first blush seems to be related to that of the Empires of the Sands, or the desert tribes of Anauroch, and indeed there may be a long-distant connection, magical or otherwise. But the Land of Fate is a solid, unified culture unsullied by what the inhabitants laughingly call the Barbarian North. Its gods are unified into a single pantheon, and its leaders call heavily upon genies to solve every problem that confronts them. Items such as djinn rings and flying carpets that are infrequently encountered in the Realms are rumored to be sold on the open market in Zakhara, and every person born to that land is said to be royalty. The truth of such claims may be distorted by the distance the tales have traveled.

Zakhara, like Kara-Tur, is separated from Faerun by a great empty expanse, such that those who brave the Great Sea are most often adventurers and merchants who seek the new, the novel, and the profitable. The traveler should be warned, however, that Zakharans are firm in their belief that they are much, much more advanced and civilized than any other people, and treat others accordingly.

	Beyond the lands of Thay and Rashemen is a land of endless emptiness, paling with its vast openness even the Shaar to the south or the Fields of the Dead in the Western Heartlands. It is a treeless land occupied by barbarian herdsmen and raiders, the hollow link between Faerun and Kara-Tur. It is called the Endless Waste in old texts.
	Its people call it Taan and themselves the Tuigan. The modem natives of Faerun call it the Hordelands, for out of this land came the engine of destruction known as the Horde. The barbarian tribes of this land united and like a swarm of ants surged westward into the lands of Faerun. They conquered all that stood in their way, and even the Red Wizards of Thay paid kind words and hard tribute to their majesty. Under the leadership of Yamun Khahan, they boiled into the civilized lands of the Unapproachable East.
	The Horde was turned back by the combined efforts of an alliance of western nations under the leadership of King Azoun IV of Cormyr. Yamun Khahan was slain and the Horde disbanded, some of its elements returning to their barren land, others settling on the lands of their newfound conquests.
	The Horde has left its mark on the Realms, with a new flood of refugees and immigrants moving westward into Impiltur and the Vast. The Sea of Fallen Stars has carried these newcomers to all of its ports and beyond, and new heroes and legends have erupted in their wake. And still the Hordelands sit like a watchful beast eying both Faerun and Kara-Tur, and none know when they will erupt again in another Horde, and who can turn it back if they do.

	Beyond the emptiness of the Hordelands lies a mystical and magical land known as Kara-Tur (Kah-rah-TOUR). It is a region very different from the Faerun, and in the past only the hints of whispers of legends have come across that land to this. With the coming of the Horde and the wave of refugees pressed before it, more facts, legends, and tales of this land have passed from talespinner to talespinner. Many stories that cannot be placed elsewhere are said to come 'from Kara-Tur when the world was still new.'
	The more amazing of the tales, of mortals passing through walls without magic, steam-breathing dragons, or warriors with hidden powers, are easily discounted or explained. However, it remains that the lands of Kara-Tur are very much unlike the native Realms.
	Kara-Tur is known for two of its great nations, Shou Lung and Kozakura. Shou Lung may be the mightiest empire in the world, overshadowing the early days of Mulhorand, and the entire empire is ruled from a central city by an sage king advised by the spirits of his predecessors. Kozakura is equally famous as an island of warriors where duty and honor mean all to the loyal samurai and wandering ronin.
	Kara-Tur's influence on Faerun is only distantly felt, and then mostly in the form of some tavern tale of great riches and wise dragons, or in some mysterious artifact which appears in the court of a distant king. However, there are occasional travelers, both merchants and adventurers, from west to east and vice-versa, and care must be taken before challenging one of Kara-Tur's legendary warriors in combat.
	Create a hero from Kara-Tur...

	Beyond Evermeet in the Trackless Sea is a continent until recently unrevealed, known to its inhabitants as Maztica (Mahz-TEEka), the True World. Its existence has been hinted at in various tales over the millennia, but only with the voyage of Captain Cordell in 1361 DR was the drape of isolation ripped aside and the True World revealed.
	Maztica is a wild and almost untouched land, dominated by great jungles and thick forests. Its peoples live simply in small communities or religion-based city-states. Their magics derive not from conventional (read 'elder kingdoms') forces, but through focii of feathers and claws. The entire scope of these abilities, and the True World's new gods, is unknown.
	The revelation of Maztica has had little effect on the bulk of the Realms, as there are more than enough new places to go and new monsters to vanquish without making a long sea voyage. The greatest effects have taken place in the Empires of the Sands and the island kingdom of Lantan, all of whom have laid claims to wide swaths of the new land (without consulting those who were living on it before the revelation). New riches have poured into these lands, making their rulers more powerful, but sending costs skyrocketing for commoners. Six years after the revelation, much is still unknown about this far land. Maztican individuals and artifacts have been drifting into the Realms, a subject of comment and curiosity. The strange feather magic (pluma) and claw magic (hishna) have daunted sages, new vegetables have appeared in Faerun, brought from Maztica, and the warriors of Maztica, like warriors throughout the world, are judged by the strength of their arms and the spirit in their hearts.

	Far to the south, beyond the fabled lands of Halruaa and Luiren, of Durpar and Var the Golden, is a very different world, as alien as Maztica and as powerful as Kara-Tur. Located on the far side of the Great Sea, it is a hot, dry land of deserts and rocky mountains, its great cities hugging the coastlines for trade and water. It is a land of magic unknown in the north, of powerful monsters and more-powerful rulers. It is known as Zakhara (Zah-KARRah), the Burning World, the Land of Fate.
	Zakharan culture at first blush seems to be related to that of the Empires of the Sands, or the desert tribes of Anauroch, and indeed there may be a long-distant connection, magical or otherwise. But the Land of Fate is a solid, unified culture unsullied by what the inhabitants laughingly call the Barbarian North. Its gods are unified into a single pantheon, and its leaders call heavily upon genies to solve every problem that confronts them. Items such as djinn rings and flying carpets that are infrequently encountered in the Realms are rumored to be sold on the open market in Zakhara, and every person born to that land is said to be royalty. The truth of such claims may be distorted by the distance the tales have traveled.
	Zakhara, like Kara-Tur, is separated from Faerun by a great empty expanse, such that those who brave the Great Sea are most often adventurers and merchants who seek the new, the novel, and the profitable. The traveler should be warned, however, that Zakharans are firm in their belief that they are much, much more advanced and civilized than any other people, and treat others accordingly.