Stonehearth: a scholar's introduction

## **The Stonehearth Sphere of Influence**

For the last two centuries, all of Faerûn has known of House Stonehearth, starting with their magical exports from Baldur's Gate. A century ago, Stonehearth outgrew their Baldurian roots and stepped into the political limelight.

The impact of the ***Stonehearth Sovereign Marquisate*** has been particularly pronounced on the Sword Coast. After the cataclysms, the new polity was a beacon for refugees from around Toril, including Maztica, but especially through Western Faerûn. The influx of survivors from Lantan and Halruaa reinforced the Marquisate's future direction.

More recently, Stonehearth's influence has expanded with founding the ***Commonwealth of the Charter of Light*** (CCL). The CCL also counts the now-returned **Lantan** and **Halruaa** as members of a federalized royal republic. The Marquisate was already perceived as a growing powerhouse, but the CCL's reach classes it as a technical empire.

By that alone, while the Marquisate is a member of the Lords' Alliance, and the Commonwealth has a formal support treaty with the lords, many are as wary of Stonehearth's burning radiant light as they are of the Zhentarim's shadowy machinations.

### **The March of the Marquisate**

The Marquisate is a territorially contiguous area of the mid-sword coast. It consists of the founding march and four expansion counties, as well as nine expansion baronies. It is effectively a unitary state, but has geographic divisions managed by Houses who have sworn to uphold the laws and practices of the original charter.

The capital of the Marquisate is North Point Keep. Built at the mouth of the Winding Water River, it guards the rough midpoint between Baldur's Gate (to the south) and Waterdeep (to the north). Founded as a maritime way-station between those famous Sword Coast cities, it has also served as a bulwark against trolls and the undead alike, not the least of which has been the insane Lich Larloch.

As a sentry of the far-flung northern border of Baldur's Gate, Stonehearth regarded themselves as a march of their home city-state. The Gate's "Dukes" recognized them as such, formalizing their elevation of House Stonehearth to marquis. This was the first such elevation.

The realpolitik was even more complicated. Stonehearth sovereign territory, starting with the **Stonehearth march**, was founded well beyond the claimed lands that support The Gate, much less the lands the Flaming Fist patrol and control. This distance was, at one time, a point of comfort to the Gate's patriars (nobles). As the march grew the new baronies and counties to become the Marquisate, Stonehearth now had effective control over almost half the once-unclaimed territory reaching back to the Gate.

While that growth stabilized at the base of the riverine peninsula, and the remaining distance was a kind of troll-filled moat against invasion from the north, the Marquisate's unprecedented success against those trolls takes away that diplomatic security blanket. The remaining unclaimed land, regionally known as Shavinar (for a kingdom lost to trolls more than a millennia prior) is now seen as the Marquisate's manifest destiny.

Given that Stonehearth remains a Gate noble and is often regarded as *the* "shadow duke" of the city, the fears of the Gate's aristocracy are not unfounded. Alternately, for the majority the Gate's commons, a Stonehearth-led coup can't happen fast enough.

### **Becoming a Marquisate**

Founded as a march but effectively a city-state, it was the common fashion for government in the Lords' Alliance. Things have changed radically over the last century.

From the upper peninsula, consisting of the northwestern tip (equivalent to a medium county), demand prompted growth of four additional large counties, nine baronies, and a local parliament to chart the course. That was the somewhat confusing growth from a March (a border area), to a Marquisate (a border area with its own dependencies).

The executive of the Stonehearth Marquisate is known by the metonym of the *Coronet*, rather than the *Crown*, as House Stonehearth has refused to declare themselves a kingdom without first accomplishing certain "security related" criteria.

That criteria hinges on stabilizing – *making safe* – the region immediately beyond their peninsula. They are just south of the Trollbark Forest and just west of the Trollclaw hills. There is not one once of irony to those names: the trolls of the Forgotten Realms are magically-regenerating, chaotic evil giants who have a taste for any tender humanoid under 8-feet in height.

Likewise, Warlock's Crypt, the home of the ancient Netherese lich Larloch, is a mere 25 miles northeast of North Point. For the last century, Larloch has played tit-for-tat with House Stonehearth. Across Western Faerûn, there are suspicions (and some resentment) that Larloch's "awakening" may have been a reaction against the encroaching marquisate. At stake was culpability for the destruction of Myth Drannor from the fallen Netherese city of Shade.

## **The Primacy of Primal Magic**

For nearly a century, Stonehearth's magical prowess has tilted Toril to spin on the axis of Baldur's Gate and North Point. There have been suspicions of every kind, not the least of which include divine favor from the likes of Mystra or Azuth (or Ao himself).

In **1481**, Stonehearth's confirmed the long-suspected secret: *they access "raw" magic from beneath the Weave*. It wasn't the gods at all. In fact, they systematically bypassed the Weave (and the gods) altogether. It explained a great deal, yet sparked new questions as parallels were drawn between the audacity of Stonehearth and the hubris of Netheril.

What everybody else called "raw magic," the difficult to tap (and harder to control) sub-Weave energy was now systematically accessed and controlled. Outside the limits and vagaries of the Weave, Stonehearth had their own name for it: ***Primal Magic***.

This has textured every interaction with the Marquisate since then. In this time of uncertainty, one thing was sure: *North Point was Ground Zero for indescribable power*. The Sword Coast would be the epicenter for a quake that would rattle Toril and beyond...

## What's Next...?

From Candlekeep to Waterdeep, that's the insider's view of what's happening on the Sword Coast. In every royal court or arcane library across Faerûn, Primal Magic is a wildcard in the great political game. It doesn't matter how many months it would take to march from North Point, *Stonehearth looms on the horizon*.

That's where you are, right now. What's your next step?

* Something is happening... ***I need to be a part of it!***
* What did that Laeral Silverhand person say about **Primal Magic and the world...?**