Port Nyanzaru

**After 1482 DR:**
No Official Currency

**Port Nyanzaru** is a port city in northern Chult. It was established as an Amnian colony in 1365 DR, and remained under Amnian control until its gained independence in 1482 DR. Prior to it gaining independence, Amn controlled most of the colony's trade and only those associated with trading companies were allowed within the city's walls, forcing others to reside in shantytowns outside the walls. It is considered the trading capital of all of Chult, eclipsing Fort Beluiran, a nearby colonial trade fort owned by the Flaming Fist.

## Geography & Description

Port Nyzanzaru is defined by four steep hills. The westernmost hill, called Temple Hill because it is home to the temple of Savras, is completely walled off from lower ground. A wide stone bridge crosses on arched columns from Temple Hill to Throne Hill, site of Goldenthrone, the meeting place of the Merchant Princes. A second bridge connects Throne Hill to the southern slopes, site of several merchant princes' villas. East of the harbor, the Hall of Gold stands atop the city's tallest hill, Mount Sibasa, which is connected by bridge to the neighboring Ykhvazi Hill, site of the Grand Coliseum. Steep, stepped streets and terraces surround each of these hills.

Outside the main walls are three slums: the Old City to the southwest, where many buildings are remnants of older, pyramidal construction; Malar's Throat to the south, where buildings cling to the walls of a lush canyon spanned by rope bridges; and Tiryki Anchorage to the southeast, where explorers and river folk gather.

## Government

Port Nyanzaru began as a charter colony, with the right govern the land in Amn's name being given to the Windspear Trading Coster. Under this charter, a representative of the Windspear Trading Coster, would have full authority and control over local trade and the Chultan natives his granted lands- provided this representative could provide results. During these early years the colony was unprofitable and its officials were corrupt, leading to the Council of Six revoking its charter and granting it to the DuLoc merchant family afterward. After three years under the Windspear Trading Coster and eleven under the DuLocs, the colony had become prosperous enough for the Council of Six to rule it directly.

Under direct control of Amn, all free native Chultans were expelled from the city, unless they were associated with a trading company that had paid Amn for residence rights. Those not affiliated with any of the trading companies were forced to live in the expansive shantytown beyond the wall. Taxes were high, and for the first decade of direct control, Chultans were treated cruelly and exploited- at least until Amn realized the potential of incorporating the Chultans in their profit-driven trade schemes. This remained the case until the 1480s, when a secret society called the Ytepka Society ('Triceratops' Society), began to work alongside a consortium of Chultan merchants to slowly push out Amnian business.

By 1482 DR, this alliance between the Ytepka Society and the merchant consortium had grown enough in wealth and influence to force out most Amnian trading companies. The heads of this consortium presented an ultimatum to the Council of Six, threatening to shut out Amnian trade forever if they were not allowed to 'peacefully' secede. For reasons unknown, Amn accepted this deal begrudgingly, having already lost their colonies in Maztica due to the events of the Spellplague. The heads of the Consortium became the Merchant Princes, forming a council where each of them had an equal vote.

Under the rules of the Merchant Princes, citizens of Port Nyanzaru vote for their judges, who preside over the courts and each serve terms of six years each. The legislative and executive branches are one-and-the-same, as the Council of Merchant Princes makes both the laws of Port Nyanzaru, as well as its foreign and domestic policies. Though the judges of Port Nyanzaru are voted in by the populace, no judge would ever truly risk the ire of one of the Princes if they did not have protection of another.

### Laws and Punishments

The merchant princes can create or alter laws by decree as they see fit, and judges are expected to interpret laws freely but wisely. Such a system would seem to invite abuse and bribery, but the Chultan courts are surprisingly free of corruption.

Slavery isn't illegal in Port Nyanzaru, but it's frowned upon due to the exploitation the Chultan people endured by Amn. As a result, the merchant princes won't do business with slavers or show them any legal favor.

Killing (even in self defense) is illegal, but "sanctions"— legal permission to kill someone or to have someone killed— can be purchased from the merchant prince Jessamine. The price depends on the prominence of the intended victim, the reason for the sanction, and the wealth of the purchaser. The minimum price possible is 150 gp; the maximum is limitless. The availability of sanctions doesn't mean they're common— and it's rare for more than six to be sold in a year. That has less to do with price than with the fact that if word gets out who purchased a sanction, nothing can stop the friends of the victim from sanctioning the original purchaser.

Despite their high ambition, the merchant princes' power is entirely contained in the city. Elsewhere, Chult is ruled by the red law of tooth and claw. An individual is either predator or prey, and the predator might be a mob of undead, a ravenous allosaurus, a grung hunting party, Jahakan pirates, or a Flaming Fist patrol.

## Trade

Founding with the interest of being a stop between the ports of Athkatla and the Amnian colonial possessions of Maztica, trade in the early days of Port Nyanzaru consisted of Maztican goods, as well as enslaved peoples being brought in to Port Nyanzaru and eventually sold to Amn. Following the Spellplague, all trade with Maztica ceased and the Port Nyanzaru's primary exports became fish, a Chultan alcohol known as Tej, precious gems, and exotic goods from the jungles of Chult. After the disappearance of Maztica, Port Nyanzaru became one of the only cultivators of Maztican cacao, kaeth, vanilla and peppers, all of them craved by the rich upper class of Faerûn.

Textile weaving is not one of Chult’s native industries, because the jungle isn’t suited for growing cotton or raising sheep. However, the jungle and the sea provide everything necessary to concoct vibrant dyes in a rainbow of colors. Merchants import light, plain fabrics, which are dyed in vibrant colors and patterns at the dye works before being sold locally to the native Chultans or exported back to the regions where the cloth originated.

Additionally, paper, books, and scrolls are a popular and constant import from both Candlekeep and the city of Baldur's Gate.

## Defenses

Port Nyanzaru is protected by a high stone wall that was initially intended to keep the settlement safe from both the vicious creatures of the jungle as well as the native Chultans who had been pushed out of the territory by Amnian settlers. The city was designed with coastal defense as a priority, due to the many pirates being present the waters of the Shining Sea.

In addition to these fortifications, the city has from its founding attracted many powerful or influential people who have played a part in its defense. The Port's first Lord-Mayor, the tyrannical Asrel Fiirkrag, was skilled in the Art and played a huge part in the city's defense during his rule. Ever since he took the position in the mid-1460s DR, it has even been rumored that the city's half-dragon harbormaster- the sorcerer Zindar, has maintained an alliance with a dragon turtle to keep the city protected from sea monsters looking for easy plunder.

## History

Port Nyanzaru was founded in the year 1365 DR as a response to the Flaming Fist of Baldur's Gate establishing Fort Beluarian the year before. Like the fledgeling trade fort, the colony's proposed purpose was help facilitate trade with the newly-discovered continent of Maztica, where Amn wished to establish numerous colonies. The charter to establish Port Nyanzaru was granted to the Windspear Trading Coster- a lesser known trade company that had been founded in 1361 DR by the ruling lord of the Windspear Hills, Jierdan Firkraag. Under this charter, a representative of the Windspear Trading Coster would have full authority and control over local trade and the Chultan natives his granted lands- provided this representative could provide results. Lord Jierdan's representative in this matter was his own son, Asrel Firkraag. Using both family wealth and investments from the government, Asrel arrived in the Bay of Chult a group of nearly 200 settlers. Most of these settlers were nonhuman 'enforcers', a group composed of goblinoids, orcs, and even ogrillons that the self-proclaimed 'Lord-Mayor' had the loyalty of. The rest of the initial colonizers were a mix of peasants that had been uprooted from their lives in the Windspear Hills, as well as a few educated men from Athkatla.

When Asrel's expedition led him to a Chultan settlement ruled by the brothers Niari and Zarui, Asrel chose to build his colony upon the lands already inhabited by these natives. Using both his legion of enforcers and his own skill in magic, Asrel slew the brothers and enslaved the Chultan people, though many were able to flee back into the jungles of Chult to find safety in the holy city of Mezro. Claiming to have slain two 'tyrant kings' in the name of Amn, the Amnian established the settlement of Nyanzaru, naming it after the two leaders he had slain. For the next three years Asrel would rule as a corrupt tyrant, crushing dissent in his new subjects and exploiting the native Chultan people for his own profit. During this horrible period of the city's history, not even peoples of Maztica were free of the city's Lord Mayor- as he spent his own ill-gotten reserves on bringing in enslaved Tabaxi from the New World. Asrel Firkraag's reign of terror would come to an end in 1368 DR, when Amnian authorities realized that their colonial expedition had failed to be profitable under the Windspear Trading Company due to Asrel embezzling money that should have been sent back to Athkatla. Using the death of Lord Jierdan Firkraag earlier that year as a cover, Asrel was recalled back to Amn to take his father's administrative duties back at the Windspear Hills. When Asrel left his recently founded colony, he did so alongside many of his own peasants, his gathered wealth, his monstrous army, and many Chultan slaves.

Thus, once the government of Amn revoked the charter of Port Nyanzaru and attempted to administrate the colony themselves, they found that it had been stripped of most of its value and that the people living within the city were unhappy with Amnian rule. After a failed attempt to buy the trade fort of Fort Beluarian to relocate its settlers and merchants to the unprofitable Port Nyanzaru, Amn handed the administrative duties of the colony to the DuLoc merchant family. The DuLoc family did not assign one of their own as a lord to the territory as the Windspear Trading Coster had before, instead sending unambitious beaurocrats to take the role of representing Amnian interests. In 1379 DR, Amn's investments had finally made Port Nyanzaru into a profitable trade colony. The Council of Six would take this as a sign to revoke the charter of the colony once again, so Port Nyanzaru could be administered directly by proper Amnian officials. For their efforts, the DuLoc family was granted numerous ceremonial titles as well as the right to build a noble estate in Port Nyanzaru- leading to many of the DuLocs moving from Athkatla to Port Nyanzaru. To celebrate this change in administration, a tribe of Chultans was kidnapped from the jungles of Chult and brought to a preserve in Athkatla for the amusement of the capital's residents. This action lead a parasitic disease spreading from the Chultans to the people of the capital, killing many- including one of the members of the ruling council. The kidnapped tribe managed to escape and flee to the interior of Amn, and the event caused Amn to pass laws against allowing 'savages' in Athkatla. Slavery was and still is illegal in Amn, the laws against the practice were just being ignored to allow exploitation. Thus, the Council of Six declared that any Chultan brought to mainland Amn would be freedmen- effectively preventing most Amnian merchants in Port Nyanzaru from bringing Chultans outside of the colony.

Under direct control of Amn, all free native Chultans were expelled from the city, unless they were associated with a trading company that had paid Amn for residential rights. Those not affiliated with any of the trading companies were forced to live in the expansive shantytown beyond the wall. Taxes were high, and for the first decade of direct control, Chultan humans were treated cruelly and exploited- at least until Amn realized the potential of incorporating the Chultans in their profit-driven trade schemes. As a result of this, the population of enslaved Chultans decreased rapidly during this time, though Chultan animosity against Amn did not disappear.

This decision to start incorporating the Chultan people into the business and ruling of Port Nyanzaru would make the colony more profitable and inviting to traders from anti-slavery nations, though it would also eventually cause the end of Amnian rule. In the early 1480s, a secret society called the Ytepka Society ('Triceratops' Society), began to work alongside a consortium of Chultan merchants to slowly push out Amnian business. The Spellplague of 1385 DR then brought the end of all of Amn's schemes in Maztica, as the continent disappeared entirely- taking its colonies with it. This disappearance turned Port Nyanzaru into Amn's only colony, as well as the primary exporter of Maztican goods like cacao, vanilla, and peppers- all businesses dominated by Chultan merchants without ties to Amn.

By 1482 DR, this alliance between the Ytepka Society and the merchant consortium had grown enough in wealth and influence to force out most Amnian trading companies. The heads of this consortium presented an ultimatum to the Council of Six, threatening to shut out Amnian trade forever if they were not allowed to 'peacefully' secede. For reasons unknown, Amn accepted this deal begrudgingly, having already lost their dreams of a large colonial empire. The heads of the Consortium became the Merchant Princes, who have ruled the former colony together since it became it independent.

## Notable Locations

### Temples

* **Hall of the Many-Eyed**, a Temple of Savras, Faerûnian god of mages and wizards. It is located on Temple Hill, giving the hill its name.
* **Hall of Mechanical Wonders**, a Temple of Gond, Faerûnian god of craft, smithing, and invention. It is located by the city's docks.
* **Temple of Beautiful Sune**, a Temple of Sune, Faerûnian goddess of beauty. Located on a rocky formation above the sea, the temple is only accessible by boat or by a bridge connecting to Temple Hill.
* **Hall of Gold**, a Temple of Waukeen, Faerûnian goddess of commerce. It is considered the grandest of the cities temples, and sits upon Mount Sibasa.
* **House of Lucky Escape**, a Temple of Tymora, Faerûnian goddess of good fortune. It is located in Malar's Throat, providing an escape from undead and floods to residents of Malar's Throat who are not able to make it to city proper whenever an emergency occurs.

### Markets

* **The Grand Souk**, ('Market' in Chultan) is one of the three beating hearts of Port Nyanzaru- the others being the jewel market and the Red Bazaar. Traders from up and down the Sword Coast come to this market to buy everything from timber and spices to the handiwork of batiri goblins and grung hunters. It is the grandest of the marketplaces in Chult, as well as the most popular with outsiders. Business begins before the sun comes up, and dealing doesn’t stop until well after darkness edges across the city.
* **The Red Bazaar**, a marketplace where residents shop for their everyday needs. Unlike the Grand Souk, which deals heavily in durable goods and luxury items, the Red Bazaar deals in everyday needs: locally produced meat, vegetables, tropical fruit, tej, light tropical clothing, insect repellent, rain catchers, and other household goods. The buyers and sellers in the Red Bazaar are predominantly locals.
* **The Jewel Market**, a marketplace designed to be a miniature, more exclusive version of the Grand Souk. Its chief business is buying and selling the rich supply of jewels that are dug out of Chult’s mines, but many other rare luxury items are also traded here. It is one of the safest marketplaces in Chult, as its security and merchants are all under the employ of the Merchant Prince Zhanthi, who has a monopoly on the gem trade.
* **The Fish Market**, a marketplace located opposite to the Royal Docks. Due to seafood being the primary source of food for the city it is one of the most essential markets, is only outshined in activity by the Grand Souk. The fish market is a great place to buy the day’s meals. Prices are higher in the morning, when quality and selection are also better.

### Inns, Taverns, & Festhalls

* **The Thundering Lizard**, a raucous inn and tavern located in the Red Baazar. It is popular with adventurers that have come to Port Nyanzaru to make their fortune in the jungles of Chult. A bed for the night costs 5 silver pieces here.
* **Kaya's House of Repose**, a quiet and high quality inn located in the Red Bazaar. It is popular with merchants looking for a peaceful night's rest after a sea voyage. A bed for the night costs 1 gold piece here.
* **The Naga's Den**, a low quality inn and tavern located within Malar's Throat. It is known for attracting shadier groups from time to time, but is mostly just an alternative for travelers too poor to stay within the city walls. A bed for the night costs 1 silver piece here.
* **The Greasy Grung**, a popular tavern in the Grand Souk. It caters primarily to travelers and outsiders who wish to taste the exotic cuisines of the Chultans, Batiri, and Grung. While not usually visited by the Chultans, the establishment stays in business by appealing to the curiosity of foreigners. The merchant and harper Mua'glib worked in this establishment prior to acquiring the *Winged Salamander*.
* **The Laughing Raptor**, a mid-range tavern located in the Grand Souk. It caters to all, primarily through reasonably-priced seafood that has been enhanced in flavor by a number of local spices. It had two floors, though the space was limited due to the building being relatively small in size. It was located right next to *The Grey Trader*.
* **The Honeyed Locust**, a popular but expensive festhall by the royal docks of Port Nyanzaru. Known for both its good drinks and memorable courtesans, this festhall is popular with both the sailors of the city and visitors from outside Chult.
* **The Water Lily**, a seedy gambling house and brothel located by the royal docks. Its quality of drinks is known to be terrible, but its status as the only brothel and gambling house inside the city walls keeps it in business.

### Other

* **Chultan Public Baths**, a public bathhouse open to all and run by the Church of Sune. Despite the existence of smaller private bathhouses and spas around Port Nyanzaru, the public bathhouse is the most visited as well as a source of pride for city residents. Their is no entry fee, with visitors instead being instructed to give a donation to the temple befitting their wealth and station prior to entry. Inside, the wealthiest of merchants and the poorest of dockworkers can be found.
* **Beggars' Palaces**, the largest two ziggurats located in Old City. They are called such because they are the seat of the Beggar Princes, the ever-changing crime lords who rule the Old City through debt schemes, thieving, and protection rackets. They are surrounded by ramshackle bamboo huts and wooden longhouses.
* **Executioner's Run**, is a long arena initially constructed by the Amnian settlers of Port Nyanzaru to be used for athletic competitions. This rectangular stone-lined pit is 15 feet deep, 50 feet wide, and 200 feet long. Rather than being used for simple athletic games nowadays, the locals use it for a different, more exhilarating entertainment. Criminals are often set lose in the pit, hunted by hungry jungle beasts and vicious dinosaurs. Spectators bet on which criminals might survive and which will be the fist to die, and should any criminal make it to the end of Executioner's Run they are given their freedom as well as a cut of the bets made in their favor. It is often claimed that many criminals get caught on purpose, just for a chance to be rewarded after surviving the Executioner's Run.
* **Refuse Pit**, an enormous sinkhole serves as the city’s garbage dump. Every type of refuse gets tossed here, up to and including dead bodies. It’s a festering scar of garbage, rancid water, and vermin. Rats, insects, and ravens abound. Ghouls are sometimes seen prowling through the pit in search of fresh corpses.
* **Goldenthrone**, a palace that serves as the meeting place for the merchant princes of Port Nyanzaru and is recognized as the seat of the city’s loose government. It was built decades ago by an Amnian trader and is one of the most opulent structures in the city, rivaled only by the grander temples and the merchant princes’ villas.
* **The Dyeworks**, where imported fabrics are dyed in vibrant colors and patterns before being sold locally or exported back to the regions where the cloth originated. The cliff below the dye works and the sea around it are perpetually stained bright orange, blue, red, green, and yellow, depending on what colors are being dumped from the vats that day. People employed here are easily recognized on the street because their hands and feet are likewise brightly stained.
* **Nyanzaru Lighthouse**, located in the city's harbor ward. Its fires illuminate the way for ships around Chult, and can be seen for miles along the coast.
* **Fort Nyanzaru**, which contains a winch for raising and lowering an immense iron chain stretched between the fort and the lighthouse. When this chain is raised, no ship can sail into or out of the harbor. Although this chain hasn’t been raised against attackers in decades, it’s been used occasionally to prevent a ship from slipping out of the harbor with criminals or contraband on board.

## Inhabitants

Though it began as an Amnian colony where humans from Amn treated the native Chultans as property, nowadays the native Chultans outnumber the Amnian humans significantly. Aside from this large group of humans of Amnian, Chultan, and mixed descent, there exist a large number of minorities within Port Nyanzaru.

Due to being brought from Maztica as slaves in the early years of Port Nyanzaru's existence, a number of Tabaxi are residents in the city. Most of them are descendants of Tabaxi who escaped captivity and fled into the jungles of Chult, only to return to Port Nyanzaru a free people. These Tabaxi tend to work as jungle guides and minstrels, though a few are also shopkeepers. Though slavery is not illegal in Port Nyanzaru, the power held by the native Chultans and the anti-slavery Merchant Princes has ensured that the Tabaxi are not targeted by the same predatory practices that brought them to Chult in the first place.

Another group of interest residing in Port Nyanzaru are the Chultan Shield Dwarves (not to be confused with the Wild Dwarves of Chult). These shield dwarves are known by the locals as 'Albino Dwarves', due to their easily recognizable albinism. These dwarves used to live underground in cities of their own, only coming to the surface during the night. In the 15th century DR they were forced to abandon their homeland due to volcanic activity, causing many to make new lives in both the jungles of Chult and city of Port Nyanzaru.

The last significant group of outside residents is small, but still influential. Port Nyanzaru is home to many Yuan-Ti Purebloods, sent to infiltrate Chultan society for their brethren living in the jungle ruins of Chult. All of these Yuan-Ti were sent due to a resemblance to humans, and although the city is aware of the threat Yuan-Ti pose, these spies and infiltrators have remained hidden both within and outside city walls.

## Notable Inhabitants

### Merchant Princes

* **Ekene-Afa**, a female Chultan and former gladiator. She use her wealth and adulation to become a merchant, and later became the Merchant Prince with a monopoly over nonmagical armaments and adventuring gear.
* **Ifan Talro'a**, a male Chultan human. He is known for being avaricious and distrusting, as well as has having a very close relationship with the Zhentarim in Port Nyanzaru. He has a monopoly over the buying and selling of beasts and monstrosities, whether they be beasts of burden, exotic pets, or vicious dinosaurs.
* **Jessamine**, a female Chultan with history as an assassin in Calimshan. Due to her profession prior to becoming a merchant, she has a monopoly on the herbs, poison, and assassinations. Murder is illegal in Port Nyanzaru, as it is almost everywhere, but Jessamine has a monopoly on "sanctions"—writs that allow a killing by ordained methods (usually poison or stabbing with a blade). For an added fee, she even provides buyers with an assassin.
* **Jobal**, a male Chultan with a history of being a jungle guide and adventurer. He has a monopoly on the services of jungle guides in Port Nyanzaru, and is often the patron of adventuring parties coming to Chult. Jobal briefly died in 1490 DR during a failed attempt by the Xanathar Guild to replace the Merchant Princes with intellect devourers, though his riches and still-living lover ensured he would be resurrected two months later in 1491 DR.
* **Kwayothé**, a female Chultan who rose to the ranks of the rich elite after a long life of poverty. She is known for her hatred of Amn and her distaste for noble and royal families- both Amnian and Chultan. Kwayothé has a monopoly on fruit, alcohol, and goods that aid with life in the jungle, such as oil, perfume, and insect repellent.
* **Wakanga O'tamu**, a male Chultan wizard and scholar. He is known by many as a dandy who is easily seduced by smart women, though his status as the only arcane spellcaster among the Merchant Princes marks him as among the most intelligent officials in Port Nyanzaru. He has a monopoly on information brokers, lost lore, arcane knowledge, potions, and scrolls.
* **Zhanthi**, a female Chultan noble. She is a descendant of Chultan royalty, as well as a member of the Ytepka Society that liberated Port Nyanzaru from Amnian control. Like Ifan Tal'roa, Zhanthi has close ties with the Zhentarim, though her loyalty lies with the Ytepka Society and the people of Port Nyanzaru. She has a monopoly on gems, jewelry, colorful Chultan cloth, and nonmagical leather, studded leather, and hide armor.

### City Officials

* **Zindar**, the half-dragon harbormaster of Port Nyanzaru. He is a member of the Ytepka Society, and an occasional ally of the Harpers.
* **Grandfather Zitembe**, the Head Priest of the Hall of the Many-Eyed, the city's temple of Savras. Zitembe is an aging Chultan man.
* **Mother Sibonseni**, the chief priestess of the Hall of Gold, known better by the title 'Mother of Prosperity'. Sibonseni is loved by the city for her generosity.
* **Sister Mainui**, the chief priestess of Sune. Mainui is human woman of mixed Chultan and Amnian ancestry, renowned for her beauty and kindness.

### Other

* **Aello**, an aarakocra ranger and monster hunter, living in the city in between trips into the jungle for hunts.
* **Buzz-Buzz**, a kenku wizard and entomologist living in Malar's Throat. He aided a pair of heroes in dealing with the city's Love Bug infestation in a bid to gain Aello's favor.
* **Dour Orlando**, a foul-mannered Amnian fence with ties to the Shadow Thieves. He was also the owner of a general store known as *The Gray Trader*.
* **Gro'ok**, a grung forgeworker, 'prophet', and sorcerer who went from lighting forges to being a privateer alongside his brother.
* **Mua'glib**, a grung alchemist and chef who went from working at *The Greasy Grung* to being a privateer and 'spice merchant'.
* **Pock-Marked Po**, one of the Beggar Princes of the Old City Ziggurats in the year 1491 DR with strong ties to the Zhentarim.

## Organizations

### Emerald Enclave

The Emerald Enclave is a widespread group of wilderness survivalists who preserve the natural order by rooting out unnatural threats. They struggle to keep civilization and the wilderness from destroying one another. In Chult, the Emerald Enclave is chiefly concerned with protecting inhabitants from the undead menace. A few guides in Port Nyanzaru and Fort Beluarian are openly associated with the enclave, and a few others are secret members or are sympathetic to its goals. The faction maintains several well-camouflaged outposts in the jungle. They serve as hidden observation posts, not forward fighting positions.

Following the beginning of the Death Curse in 1491 DR, the tabaxi Screaming Wind became the *de facto* leader of the Enclave in the port city, conducting business on behalf of the group with the other major factions in the city.

### Harpers

The Harpers are spellcasters and spies who covertly oppose any abuse of power, magical or otherwise. Working alone or in small cells, they gather information throughout Faerûn, analyze the political dynamics in each region or realm, and use what they uncover to help the weak, the poor, and the oppressed from behind the scenes. Harpers act openly only as a last resort. In Port Nyanzaru, there many Harper spies and allies, mostly present in the city to ensure that the Zhentarim present in the city do not gain too much power over the people of Chult.

Two notable Harpers who spent a significant amount of time in Port Nyanzaru were the brothers Mua'glib and Gro'ok.

### Lord's Alliance

A number of cities and settlements banded together to form the Lords' Alliance, a coalition that works actively to eliminate threats to their mutual safety and prosperity. Port Nyanzaru is not one of these cities, but its neighboring settlement of Fort Beluarian is under the faction's sphere of influence. As a result, many cities aligned with the Lord's Alliance (such as Waterdeep and Neverwinter) have operatives in Port Nyanzaru, where they undermine the efforts of non-alliance powers such as Calimshan, Amn, and Tethyr to expand their control over Chult's vast resources. Most of these representatives are open about their ties to the Lord's Alliance and style themselves as ambassadors of their cities, but they also employ covert agents to undermine each other's plans and carry out less savory tasks. The Lords' Alliance sponsors mapping expeditions into the peninsula, with the aim of finding more treasures or mines it can plunder.

### Shadow Thieves

The Shadow Thieves are the most powerful thieves' guild in Faerûn. While originally based in the city of Waterdeep, the guild soon moved to the Amnian capital city of Athkatla, where it could manipulate the Amnian bureaucracy to exert influence all over the Sword Coast. Due to Port Nyanzaru's history as a colony of Amn, it was unsurprisingly considered Shadow Thief territory for a long time. As the Ytepka Society began to push for Port Nyanzaru's independence however, they secretly allied themselves with rivals of the Shadow Thieves- both independent and Zhentarim aligned. This favor for the Zhentarim remained even once the colony gained independence, which led to most Shadow Thieves abandoning the organization to go independent or simply leave Port Nyanzaru altogether.

Some former Shadow Thieves have continued to survive in Port Nyanzaru as independents, such as the fence Dour Orlando and some of the enforcers utilized by the Beggar Princes of the Old City. Due to the perception of the Shadow Thieves being an Amnian guild, it is unlikely they will rise to prominence in Port Nyanzaru again.

### Ytepka Society

The Ytepka Society, also known as the Triceratops Society, is based in Port Nyanzaru and dedicated to preventing any individual or group from abusing power and upsetting the natural social order. Its members are primarily neutral good Chultans. In many respects, the society's goals are similar to those of the Harpers. The Ytepka Society was instrumental in liberating Port Nyanzaru from foreign powers and facilitating the rise of the seven merchant princes. Its members now work tirelessly to prevent the Zhentarim and other dubious factions from taking over the government or gaining undue influence.

Currently there are fewer than fifty active members of the Ytepka Society. They don't advertise their membership but identify one another using a simple hand gesture: a raised left hand with the index finger, middle finger, and third finger extended, representing the three horns of the triceratops.

### Zhentarim

The Zhentarim is an unscrupulous shadow network that seeks to expand its influence and power base throughout Faerûn. Its members pursue wealth and power through any means, though the public face of the organization appears much more benign—the Zhentarim provides the best mercenaries money can buy. The merchant princes of Port Nyanzaru hire Zhentarim guards to defend the city walls and Zhentarim mercenaries to protect hunting, lumbering, and mining operations in the jungle and foothills. The Black Network has used this wide-ranging access to the city to set up its own woodcutting camps and mining operations. It also mounts treasure-hunting expeditions.

The Black Network considers the Merchant Princes their best customers, with at least two of the seven even being considered assets by the Zhentarim. Before the Death Curse began in 1491 DR the Zhentarim had no clear leader in the city despite their strong presence, but the crisis drawing attention of the factions led to the Beggar Prince Pock-Marked Po claiming the role.