Vastar Vastar was an orc kingdom that occupied the lands later known as the Vast , between Cormanthyr and Impiltur in north Faerûn . It was founded " circa " −700 DR and fell in 610 DR . History . The rise of Vastar . Orc hordes overwhelmed the elven community of Yrlaphon in the north of the land in the summer of −722 DR . It became a ruin held as an orcish stronghold and ruled by an orc chieftain . The orc kingdom of Vastar rose " circa " −700 DR . It was in place across the land by −626 DR . From time to time , the orcs of Vastar clashed with the minotaur s of the kingdom of Grong - Haap ( −981 to −350 DR ) , which encroached upon the northern highlands of the Vast . Following the fall of Grong - Haap , every ten years or so , entire tribes of orcs would vanish in the night , abducted by shadowy creatures that appeared suddenly and took them unawares . In time , rumors pointed to Ironfang Keep , the old capital of Grong - Haap , held to be the lair of cultists that experimented on beasts and people alike . The words of the few surviving witnesses passed into orc folklore . The hordes of Vastar . The history of Vastar was a turbulent one , with frequent coups , bloody civil wars , constant strife , and regular attacks and counter - attacks against their neighbors and other creatures who lived in their land . They were populous enough , however , that they could quickly outgrow any setback . Overcrowding was rarely a problem ; every dozen years , a horde would form in the summer , steal or build ships , and sail south over the Inner Sea to raid . Their survivors rarely returned , instead spreading south . For their crude ship - building efforts , the orcs cut down the great forests of their land . When they ran out of timber , they went via rickety boats across the Dragon Reach to take what they wanted from Cormanthor but , upon landing , the elves there were often quick to slaughter them with arrow and spell . Changing tactics , the orcs went by land north of the Reach , sending armies marching over the River Lis . Again elven arrows found them slowly marching through the marshes , and the slaughters gave the Lis the orcish name of " Blood River " . They made several such invasions by sea and land . Late in the Year of Cold Clashes , 331 DR , the orcs of Vastar launched a surprise attack on Cormanthyr , and occupied a portion of the lands east of the Old Elven Court . They solidified their forces in the area over the next few years , and meanwhile explored that old and ruined elven city . The Akh ' Velahrn forces of Myth Drannor attempted to recover these lands four times . The fourth attempt , in the Year of Seven Stones , 335 DR , resulted in the Darkwoods Massacre , in which the orcs took advantage of elven negligence to surround and slaughter over a thousand soldiers in their sleep . It wasn ' t until the Year of the Vanished Foe , 339 DR that the occupying orcs were routed by combined elvish and human forces , with the human warrior Velar emerging as a hero . In the Year of the Wyvernfall , 512 DR , Vastar was on the rampage again , with orc hordes from here and other strongholds emerging and threatening Cormanthyr and many other lands with war . Swarming through many small passes of the Earthspur Mountains , the orc chieftain Ulbror and his horde invaded the uplands of Impiltur instead . There , the orcs slew King Sharaun Mirandor , his three heirs , and their army , killing off the Mirandor dynasty . However , Ulbror and the orcs were defeated later that year by another army mustered by Duke Harandil Durlaven , being routed at the Battle of Bloody Reeds . The fall of Vastar . At some point , a monstrous orc called Ologh rose to the position of Overking of Vastar and created a throne for himself , holding court from the Hollow Mountain . But Ologh the Overking was killed by the black dragon Iyrauroth in the Year of Writhing Darkness , 572 DR , leaving the position vacant . With that , Vastar descended into civil war as orcish factions battled for control across the land . In the Year of the Gored Griffin , 574 DR , orcs spilled out into north - eastern Cormanthyr again . Meanwhile , underground , dwarves from the north and east expanded their mines into the mountains of Vastar . After initial clashes with the orcs in their tunnels , the dwarves decided to let no orc who ' d seen a dwarf remain alive , to prevent any word reaching orcish chieftains of the nature of their enemy . The dwarves were subtly aided by the downtrodden goblin and kobold slaves of the orcs : the dwarves left them alone , and so they never told the orcs about the dwarves they saw , nor helped them in battle . The unexplained deaths of large numbers of orcs in the mountains were blamed on the civil war . After eight bloody years , one orc finally won out as Grimmerfang defeated and devoured his last rival and seized the throne in the Year of the Loose Coins , 580 DR . Orc - King Grimmerfang renamed the Hollow Mountain after himself — Mount Grimmerfang — and ended warfare among the orcs of Vastar , at least for a short time . However , the dwarves continued to encroach from the west , spreading underground and putting increasing pressure on the orcs . Meanwhile , Vastar suffered repeated defeats to the elves . Working with humans and elves , the dwarves secretly developed orcslayer blades and then surged out of the mountains to " run in waist - high riot across the land " ( according to the sage Fairin Icemantle , who wrote the only first - hand account of the conflict ) and slaughtered the orcs . Vastar fell in the Year of the Spellfire , 610 DR , and Grimmerfang was slain in his namesake mountain , while the survivors were driven north and south into the mountain peaks . The dwarves claimed the surface lands for themselves and founded Roldilar , the Realm of Glimmering Swords , holding court from Mount Grimmerfang . Humans also began coming to the land . This peace lasted for a mere 39 years ; the orcs recovered and won a succession of victories against the dwarves above and below ground . Roldilar fell but , unfortunately for the orcs , the humans kept coming and Vastar was never restored . Legacy . Most sage s thought that the name " Vastar " survived in the form of " the Vast " , the name later given to the lands it once occupied , though the true source of the name was lost to history . The lands of the Vast were originally quite heavily forested but the orcs carelessly cut these trees down to fuel their war with Myth Drannor . This left only a few copses of trees surrounded by wide , empty grasslands , as could be found in the Vast in modern times . Society . The orcs were assembled in large groups called " glauraur " . " Glauraur " were not based around families and nor were they collections of clans , as some human sages mistakenly thought , but they were precursors to tribes . The orcs had little concept of family past the time children were raised , and so all the orcs of Vastar were interrelated . They were also numerous and highly fertile , so despite bloody civil wars and feasting dragons , they could be back to full strength within a generation . Overcrowding was also never an issue , as internal warfare and dragons placed a limit on their numbers , and hordes invading foreign lands allowed them to migrate . Each " glauraur " followed an orcish hero who led by charisma , brutality , or fear . These chieftains struggled constantly against each other for prestige and thus to get closer to the Overking . The other orcs gossiped about their struggles . The chief aims of the orcs were power and hedonism , and they loved to hunt down , torture , and finally devour their prey — and their enemies . For food , they busied themselves with basic farming , fishing , and hunting , while they operated mines and forges to produce their weapons . They regularly raided others to seize what goods they lacked . They were an undisciplined , reckless , powerful , and proud people , confident that their enemies could not challenge the so - called " teeth of Vastar " . However , they never attacked their enemies strategically , let alone engaged in trade or diplomacy . Thus Vastar was characterized by frequent conflict , strife , coups , and counterattacks , between the orcs and against all others who shared the land with them . Their greatest enemies were the dragons of the Moonsea , who enjoyed roast orc , and the elves of Cormanthyr , and they had some caution around them . The orcs enslaved kobold s , goblin s , and other goblinoid s to work in the mines . The Vastar orcs built ships with which they crossed the Dragon Reach and even the Inner Sea . These were crude , poorly made constructions , described as " barges with sails " by one elven contemporary . Legends . The exact location of the Hollow Mountain , or Mount Grimmerfang — the seat of power of Vastar ' s last Overkings and the resting place of Grimmerfang — became lost over the centuries . The few remaining dwarven elders who knew the location refused to talk about it to humans or elves . The sage Elminster reckoned it was the first peak north - east of Mount Wolf , but hadn ' t investigated this himself .