Utter East The Utter East was a land in the extreme southeast of Faerûn , bordering the continents of both Kara - Tur and Zakhara . It was home to the Five Kingdoms . Geography . The Utter East lay on the isthmus joining the great continents of Faerûn and Kara - Tur in the north to Zakhara in the south . The Wu Pi Te Shao Mountains , the southern arm of the massive Yehimal Mountains , ran down the center of the isthmus like a spine . The Utter East lay on the western side , between the mountains the sea , in a narrow landscape less than 100 miles wide ( 160 kilometers ) . It was the only easily traversable land - bridge between the continents ; the Sempadan Forest on the eastern side was much too dense . The coastline was dry and rugged . It was lashed by the Great Sea , which in its wake formed whirlpools and maelstroms . Vast and uncharted plains lay in the north , which bordered the eastern side of Ulgarth . Society . The Utter East was dominated by the Five Kingdoms , which were ruled by the Ffolk and by the Northmen . They included : They ruled over the indigenous Mar tribes . The Mar were once subjugated and enslaved by the Ffolk and Northmen , before they demanded their freedom following the Bloodforge Wars . Yet they still had no lands of their own or a say in the courts of the Five Kingdoms . The barbarian Horde dwelled in the northern plains , and regularly raided or invaded Ulgarth in the north . Language . The indigenous Mar people spoke Maran , which was most closely related to the languages of Zakhara . It was melodious but rapidly spoken , with short syllables and throat clicks . The Ffolk colonists spoke Waelan , the native tongue of the Moonshae Isles , but their Five Kingdoms dialect was heavily influenced by both its isolation and by Northmen settlers and by corsairs and merchants from across south Faerûn and north Zakhara . Relations . For much of their history prior to the 14th century DR , the cultures of Faerûn and Kara - Tur saw the isthmus as only a bridge to nowhere , not seeing the lands of Zakhara to the southwest , and so , for the most part , turned their backs on the Utter East . The Utter East therefore marked the end of the Western Realms of Faerûn . Western folk saw instead the Shining Lands around the Golden Water as the last " civilized " realm before one ventured into the Utter East . Even so , as the Durpari people of the Shining Lands had acquired some cultural practices and weapon and armor styles from their Utter Eastern neighbors , they were seen as barely Faerûnian themselves . Thus , to the West , the Utter East was a little - known and bizarre collection of lands , with only legends considered too fantastic and fanciful to be taken as fact filtering back to Faerûn . Even in the Hordelands , lying betwixt Faerûn and Kara - Tur , folk saw the lands beyond the Gate of Iron — Durpar , Ulgarth , and points further south — as a strange and incredible place , telling of mages without bodies and gods that lived like mortals , of islands that rose and fell beneath the waves and valleys filled with gem s . History . Ancient history . In primordial times , a great horde of fiend s and undead horrors became trapped in prisons buried deep beneath the land . There they would wait for thousands of years . The first humans of the Utter East were the Mar , who settled along the coastline in past ages . Their histories told they had known only oppression since that time . In ancient times , a mighty city was built atop the high mountains . However , it later fell into ruins , was stripped of its wealth and resources , and was by - and - large forgotten , known only as Old Stone Keep . Nevertheless , it was part of a legacy of great mages , and rumored to hide secrets of arcane magic . Western colonization . In the Year of Nineteen Swords , 621 DR , in the far Moonshae Isles , the Ffolk princess Bridget of Callidyrr was to marry the Northmen prince Scothgar of Rogarsheim , but she and her whole royal entourage vanished on the voyage to Norland . Ffolk and Northmen each blamed the other for the disappearance , which worsened relations between them . That same year , Moonshaes Ffolk arrived on the shores of the Utter East , where they chose to settle . They were later joined by Northmen settlers . The native Mar welcomed the Ffolk , who spoke of peace and brotherhood between the two races . Indeed , relations were friendly for the first few years . However , Ffolk soon turned greedy , and they seized Mar lands for their own , and then subjugated and enslaved the Mar tribes themselves . They carved these stolen lands into their Five Kingdoms . Invaders led by Rathgar the Raider overran Doegan , besieging the capital . To pacify his poor clansmen , Rathgar plundered the realm . Finally , he seized the throne crown itself , and the king was slain upon his throne , cursing that the dead would depose Rathgar . Escaping the invaders , the princess of Doegan sought a way to fulfil her father ' s prophecy . She went to Old Stone Keep and enlisted the aid of Aelric , a mage of Doegan and heir to the Keep ' s great magical legacy . The Bloodforge Wars . The bloodforge s were discovered in the Year of the Dancing Daggers , 648 DR , first by King Grewe of Konigheim and within tenday s by Ffolk across all the Five Kingdoms . These ancient devices of war could mass - produce entire armies of golems , eliminating overnight the cost of mustering and maintaining armed forces . Losing all restraint , turning war - mad , the Ffolk rulers of the Five Kingdoms each manufactured great golem armies and marched them against one another , bursting into the Bloodforge Wars . The Mar could only be helpless witnesses , recording events for posterity . A number of conflicts large and small raged back and forth across the Utter East , with all sides commanding bloodforges and basal golem armies . In the Howl of Vengeance , Aelric and the princess of Doegan raised an army of bloodforged undead in an effort to liberate their homeland . They were opposed by Rathgar ' s own bloodforged warriors . In the Harvest of Horrors , the monstrous Redfang the Reaper and his voracious kind in the Kingdom of Nix assaulted the town of Vanesci Hamlet , seeking to catch , cook , and devour the villagers , as the mage Haradan the Hermit led a desperate defense . A decade of unending warfare devastated the Utter East , leaving the defenses of the Five Kingdoms wrecked and the cities lying in ruins or rubble , while the ancestral lands of the Mar were despoiled . The Ffolk were at last growing weary of warfare , and utterly unprepared when another foe entered the game . It transpired that every use of a bloodforge had steadily weakened the ancient prisons binding the fiends and undead beneath the Utter East . Finally , in the Year of the Nine Stars , 657 DR , the horde of primordial horrors escaped and rampaged across the ruins of the land , killing without regard for kingdom or race . This was the Plague of Fiends . The Ffolk sent ships out north and south , desperately begging for aid from their neighbors . The Scouring of the Utter East . Grand Caliph Arash bint Sanjar of Zakhara answered the Ffolk ' s pleas for help , sending an armada of " sambuk " to the Utter East in early Mirtul of 657 DR . But the corsairs launched a surprise attack on the Five Kingdoms , swiftly overrunning and seizing their defenseless port cities . Then legions of " askar " , clad in djinn - forged lamellar and thrusting killing katar s , disembarked and marched across the land . With murderous efficiency , they razed every village and slew all they encountered , whether fiend or Ffolk , in what became known as the Scouring of the Utter East . The Grand Caliph saw the people as only heathens and barbarians , the land as infected and ravaged , which he had no plans to occupy . Their bloody work done by the time autumn fell , they boarded their " sambuks " and sailed home again . They left behind a wasteland , of burned and ruined cities , of corpses rotting where they ' d fallen . The Five Kingdoms were in chaos , but the Mar had , at least , survived . They stood up and demanded their freedom , and the Ffolk , weary and sick of warfare , yielded it , however reluctantly . Nevertheless , they still had no land of their own , nor were they heard in the royal courts . This state of affairs continued for centuries . Modern history . The Year of Rogue Dragons , 1373 DR , saw Shining Lands merchants journey to the Utter East , as well as to places as far - flung as Waterdeep , Zakhara , and even Maztica , in order to purchase wares for trade . Magic . The Utter East had a local magic unfamiliar to the spellcasters of Faerûn . Appendix . Background . The " Utter East " was first mentioned in the original " Forgotten Realms Campaign Set " ( 1987 ) , but where it actually lay has varied over subsequent sourcebooks , with earlier lore altered to refer to different locations . On page 81 of the " Cyclopaedia of the Realms " , it is said that ivory from the Utter East arrives in Suzail , but the " Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 2nd edition : A Grand Tour of the Realms " ( 1993 ) , page 55 , changes this to the Unapproachable East . " Forgotten Realms Adventures " ( 1990 ) on page 105 refers to the " mysterious Utter East " , but says this is Kara - Tur . Page 45 of the " Campaign Set " ' s " DM ' s Sourcebook of the Realms " mentions the " Blue Diamond " , a flying ship created in the Utter East , but " The Shining South " ( 1993 ) associates these skyships with Halruaa . The " The Forgotten Realms Atlas " ( 1990 ) finally located the Utter East , placing it beyond the far south and east corner of Faerûn , somewhere past Ulgarth , and joining Zakhara . " The Shining South " followed suit ( but with a reference to Horde barbarians in the plains east of Ulgarth , it may have been referred the Hordelands and Kara - Tur ) . Nevertheless , " Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3rd edition " ( 2001 ) , page 209 , still describes the Golden Way as connecting Faerûn and the " Utter East " — meaning Kara - Tur . The Utter East became the site of the " Blood & Magic " computer game in 1996 , which set a rather typical European - style fantasy setting in the area , rather than the expected Eastern - style setting that would fit with surrounding cultures . The Utter East was developed further in 1998 , with the novels " Faces of Deception " , the " Realms of Mystery " short story " Darkly , Through a Glass of Ale " , and the " Double Diamond Triangle Saga " all published in that year and set in and around the Utter East . These all made efforts to use details from the " Blood & Magic " game and to incorporate Asian elements so it better suited the area . With no further development or appearances , the area was later forgotten and remained little known to fans . Eventually , however , discussions on the Wizards of the Coast forums ( now deleted ) rediscovered the area . Following the popular " Kara - Tur Redux " thread , interest grew in the Utter East , prompting Mark " Markustay " Taylor to start the " Utter East Campaign + MAP ! ! ! " thread for research , speculation , and homebrew development , with the goal of producing a fan - written netbook . No netbook was produced , but some related articles were written for " Candlekeep Compendiums " . The thread was long - running , being active from June 2007 to June 2009 . The thread produced a great deal of speculation and fanon on the Utter East , and author Brian R . James used some of this in " The Grand History of the Realms " ( 2007 ) , marking an instance of homebrew fanon becoming canon lore .