Anauroch

Anauroch ( ), or The Great Sand Sea, was a magical desert in northern Faerûn. It held the remnants of the once-powerful Netherese Empire, their flying enclaves having crashed to the ground when their greatest mage Karsus, in a desperate bid to end the war against the phaerimm, challenged the goddess Mystryl for her divine mantle, causing the Weave to falter and all magic to fail. For generations since, Anauroch, the greatest desert in Faerûn, encroached relentlessly on border nations, burying them beneath the sands.
==Geography==
The northern area of the Anauroch was a frozen land of rocks and the black glacier known as the High Ice. The middle area was the dry Plain of Standing Stones, where winds abraded jagged rocks that stood in the middle of a sea of gravel. Lastly, the southern part was commonly known as the Sword, a hot sandy desert. Anauroch was bordered on the west by the Silver Marches, the Savage Frontier, and Evereska; on the south by Cormyr and south-east by the Dalelands; on the east by the Moonsea and the Ride.
===Geographical Features===
;Bodies of Water
* River of Gems: A long clearwater river that stretched from the southern edge of the High Ice to the large sinkhole known as the Throat.
* Sixstreams River: A river that originated from streams flowing west out of the Desertsmouth Mountains and flowed past the D'tarig village of Tel Badir.
;Hills & Mountains
* Azirrhat: Called home by a large population of asabi, these rocky spires were avoided by the Bedine.
* El Rahalat: This lone peak housed both an oasis and its namesake place spirit, Rahalat.
* Hills of Scent: These sandy hills were bare of vegetation save gnarled frankincense trees.
* Scimitar Spires: This range of mountains earned its name from the blade-like appearance of the mountains.
* The Swordpoint: Though a useful landmark, this soaring peak was a known gathering place for manticores.
* Wall of Fallen Djinn: This range of mountains and foothills within the center of the Sword separated a number of regional landmarks.
;Landmarks
* At'ar's Looking Glass: Distinctive but dangerous, this ‘sea’ of finely-polished stones was located northeast of the Scimitar Spires.
* Bowl of Loneliness: This immense dune field was situated between the oases of El Rahalat and El Ma'ra.
* Fallen Giant Rift: This miles long and several hundred foot deep rift was home to highly territorial hill giants that hunted any who entered their rift by hurling weapons at them.
* Helm Rift: One of the many rifts that was within the Plain of Standing Stones.
* Quarter of Emptiness: This stretch of landscape was known to be particularly harsh, being little more than an expanse of open bedrock and sandy dunes, with no plant or animal life to be found.
* Saiyaddar: This region of lush grasslands was the shared “hunting-lands” of the Bedine.
* Shoal of Thirst: This large basin is a seemingly endless salt flat, and a place avoided when possible by the local Bedine people.
* Smokeholes: These large-round holes in the High Ice were created by lava-heated air deep below ground, and were home to a number of heat-loving monsters.
* The Throat: This large crater or sinkhole was the terminus of the River of Gems and was rumored to contain heaps of gemstones at its bottom.
;Oases
* Bhaerlith: This Zhentarim-created oasis was rich in date palms and fruit trees, and could be found north of the Hills of Scent
* Bitter Well: This oasis could be found southwest of El Ma'ra and the Bowl of Loneliness.
* Hlaunga: Located south of the Scimitar Spires, this oasis was created by the Zhentarim.
* Lion's Eye Oasis: Considered the most verdant oasis in the Sword, this oasis was home to a large community of lamia.
* Ma'atar: Located west of the Wall of Fallen Djinn, this created oasis was bountiful in nut-producing trees.
* Oasis of Vipers: Largely unvisited by wandering Bedine due to an infestation of snakes, this grouping of three pools was home to countless desert fauna.
* Olomaa: Created by the Zhentarim, this oasis was protected by a fiercely loyal beholder.
* Sister of Rains: This canyon-oasis was the refuge of outcast Bedine.
* Vuerthyl: Located in the northwest part of the Sword, this man-made oasis was discovered to contain a wealth of emeralds and an imprisoned mind flayer wizard.
* Well of the Chasm: Hidden within the Scimitar Spires, this oasis was commonly used by the Raz'hadi tribe.
* Well of the Cloven Rock: This large oasis was located within the Hills of Scent and, when not used by the Bedine, was occupied by lions.
* Yliyl: A relatively minor oasis, the primary thing it was known for was legends of buried treasure.
;Valleys
* Alagh's Pass: This mountain pass allowed travel through the Wall of Fallen Djinn, between the Saiyaddar and the Hills of Scent.
* Raudilauth: This long-dried river valley passed through the Desertsmouth Mountains and connected the Shadow Gap to the lands of the D'tarig.
==Life and Society==
The Bedine nomads were simplistic in nature and survived by raiding and guiding caravans through the hidden passes, making their home on the surface of the wastes, traveling from oasis to oasis. They were divided into a dozen or so minor tribes lead by sheiks, whose wealth was measured not by gold, but by the size and well-being of their herds. The Bedine were good-natured and noble, and the encroachment upon their home by the Shadovar trapped them in an exposed position. Suspicious of magic at the best of times, they had to deal with a vastly superior magical force altering the environment around them.
The Zhentarim, always eager to make a profit, fought long and hard to secure routes for their caravans through the desert. The northern routes across the High Ice were plagued by monsters too numerous to fight and in the south humanoid raiders and interference from the Dales and Cormyr hindered their efforts. After years of painstaking effort the Zhentarim created a caravan route via oases in the Sword, the sandy southern portion of Anauroch. The garrison constantly fought to defend its territory, but despite years of bitter fighting with the Bedine, the Zhentarim held little more land in Anauroch than that on which they stood.
Below the dunes of Anauroch lurked what remained of the evil phaerimm, a race of reptilian spellcasters with near-unrivaled mastery of the Art, long imprisoned in a magical shell called the Sharn Wall under the desert. The phaerimm were forgotten by all but the wisest of sages until the barrier holding them was broken. After fighting the combined armies of most of Evereska, Evermeet, the Heartlands, the Chosen of Mystra, and the Shadovar—all at once—the remaining phaerimm were scattered beneath the surface.
The returned masters of Anauroch, the ancient Netherese wizards of Thultanthar, warped and twisted by their long exile in the Plane of Shadow, were determined to retake what they considered their birthright, longing to restore the barren wasteland that was Anauroch to the once-fertile land of Netheril. The Shadovar had a regimented society, ruled by Telamont Tanthul and his Princes of Shade, all working in unison, toughened by centuries of hardship in the Plane of Shadow, to accomplish their common goal. They all but ignored the Bedine and Zhentarim, considering them beneath their notice.
==History==
In , the sarrukh empire of Isstosseffifil rose to prominence. Throughout the Days of Thunder they ruled much of the land that would one day become Anauroch. In , the Isstosseffifil empire's wizards rerouted the Narrow Sea in an effort to drown the phaerimm inhabiting Phaerlin. This resulted in a massive ecological change that devastated their empire. Eventually, their empire fell at the hands of the phaerimm and they were forced by the Netherese to scatter.
In , the phaerimm started casting spells in the land of Netheril that eventually caused the creation of Anauroch.
In 10 DR, the Netheril region was renamed Anauroch, to reflect the great desert that the region had become.
In 329 DR the Anauroch desert finally stopped perpetually expanding outward as the sharns defeated the phaerimms.
In 1038 DR, the sands of Anauroch began to spread out southward once more.
The arrival of Thultanthar in 1372 DR brought about significant change in the political and geographic landscape of the Anauroch. In that year, three Princes of Shade performed a ritual that created a huge storm above the Shoal of Thirst, and transformed it into the Shadow Sea. For around a year, they used shadow blankets to melt the glacier of the High Ice, before that plan was disrupted.
In 1385 DR the spellplague caused the merging of Abeir and Toril, creating changes in the landscape of Faerun, including large areas that collapsed into the underdark. Changes to the Anauroch were not specified, but a large area of the Frozen Sea was marked as the "Deep Maw" on a map from 1479 DR. 
By 1479 DR, the Anauroch was an arid dust bowl spotted with youthful forests. The melted glacier created rivers and grasslands. Rain fell and the temperature was moderated. Some areas had grown lush and verdant.
In 1485 DR, Bedine rebels began a concentrated effort to overthrow their Netherese overlords following Netheril's war in Cormyr.
In 1487 DR, Thulanthar's cataclysmic destruction in Myth Drannor signaled the end of the Second Netherese Empire, and by 1488 DR the empire was reduced to a shadow of its former size. By this point Netherese forces and Bedine tribes were in full conflict, warring over key points in the desert. One such battle near the Memory Spire managed to awaken a hive of phaerimm sleeping within, causing the aberrations to begin leeching life from the land around them.
Some time after 1485 DR, the Anauroch was once more a desert.
==Rumors & Legends==
The ruins of the very first cloud palace, belonging to the father of the cloud giants, Nicias, were thought to be located somewhere in the great desert.
There was a Faerûnian folktale that stated the Anauroch desert was formed by a single golem. The construct was tasked by its master to shovel sand into the region, but was subsequently forgotten about. After continuing with its task for so long, it was said to have formed the desert.
==Notable Locations==
* The Black Road was a Zhentarim built trade route across the northern portion of the Sword that included the artificial oasis Vuerthyl. 
*Lundeth, an ancient village near the southwestern edge of the Anauroch, was rebuilt by the Shadovar.
* The ruins of the flying city Negarath created a cavern system beneath a canyon in the Plain of Standing Stones.
* The Obsidian Chapel, a temple to Bane that was plundered by Bedine raiders sometime well before 1281 DR.
* Oreme was a ancient Sarrukh city near the frozen sea that the Shadovar rebuilt.
* Orofin an fortified ancient city southwest of the Scimitar Spires was rebuilt by the Shadovar. 
* Rasilith was an ancient city at the edge of the Quarter of Emptiness that the Shadovar rebuilt.
* Ularith, a hidden sand-swept Netherese death sect temple complex defended by a powerful lich-lord. The complex held a massive portal network that connected the temple and its many hidden crypts all across Faerûn, some being as far as Mulhorand or even beyond, reaching the Utter East.
===Empire of Shadows===
Returned in 1372 DR, Thultanthar, the City of Shadows, was a floating mountaintop, sliced off and inverted, with a city built upon it. It was built centuries past, before the folly of Karsus, and no magic like it survived in Faerûn in the 14th century, as the reincarnated Mystra restricted mortals from ever again creating such potent spells as the ones that created Shade's mythallar.
===Ruins of Hlaungadath===
About forty miles east of the ruined city Ascore on the northwestern border of the desert, another abandoned city rose from the sands. Hlaungadath was one of the three floating cities that Mystra saved during the destruction of Netheril. It was a city that landed near the High Ice and was eventually abandoned. Old but largely intact, the ruins were inhabited by a clan of lamias. The lamias stalked the nearby oases, preying on careless Zhentarim or unwary Bedine. Anyone knowledgeable of the desert knew of the evil of Hlaungadath and gave the ruins a wide berth.
==Inhabitants==
The only people to call Anauroch home were the nomadic Bedine tribes and a small Zhentarim garrison, tasked with patrolling and defending a line of oases along the Black Road, the trade route that winded west from the ruins of Teshendale to Llorkh at the foot of the Graypeak Mountains. A diminutive people called the D'tarig were the only other major inhabitants, who lived along the borders of the desert and interact somewhat with peoples from surrounding countries.
Finally, on Nightal 20 in 1372 DR, the Netherese enclave of Thultanthar (also known as the City of Shade) of the ancient Netherese Empire re-emerged from the Plane of Shadow in the skies above the Dire Wood, before drifting into Anauroch, settling above the Shoal of Thirst, bringing the evil and warped Shadovar into the Realms. This Shadovar population subdued the local Bedine for roughly 100 years before their fortunes were swiftly reversed when Thulanthar crashed down on Myth Drannor, robbing the Netherese of their capital and reducing them to a handful of settlements and forces skirmishing with the Bedine.
===Notable Inhabitants===
* Telamont Tanthul, ruler of the Shade Enclave, a powerful shadow archmage.
* The Princes of Shade, the sons of Telamont Tanthul.
* Ruha, a Bedine Harper. She attempted to capture the Seraph of Lies Malik el Sami yn Nasser to bring him before a High Harper court.
==Appendix==
===Gallery===
Anauroch west.png|Eastern Anauroch map.
Anauroch IA.png|Southern Anauroch map.
SEAnauroch.jpg|Southeast Anauroch.
===Appearances===
:;Novels
::The Parched Sea • Easy Betrayals • Return of the Archwizards • Blackstaff
::
::The Ring of Winter • Shadowdale
:;Comic Books
::The Forbidden Sands of Anauroch (#2)
:;Video Games
::
::Baldur's Gate • Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter • Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir
:;Card Games
::Spellfire: Master the Magic
===Further Reading===
* 
* 
* 
===References===
fr:Anauroch
pl:Anauroch
Category:Deserts
Category:Locations on the Dawn Pass Trail
Category:Locations in North Faerûn
Category:Locations in Faerûn
Category:Locations on Toril
Category:Locations
Category:Exports salt
Category:Exports spices
Category:Exports dates
Category:Imports livestock
Category:Imports wood