Stonelands

Geography


The Stonelands is a region in Cormyr’s far north. Just beyond the Eastern Stormhornmountain range, it stretches along Cormyr’s northern front and is approximately one hundred miles measured west to east, by 60 miles measured north to south. The Stormhorn mountains run along its southern border, while the Anauroch’s ‘Sword’ region, and the DesertmouthMountainssit to the north. The Farsea marsh, and the High Moors are to her west and to her east, the plains of Tilverton (and Tilverton scar) sit.

Strategically the Stonelands is of uptmost importance. With the fall of Tilverton, the Stonelands could provide the northern buffer that Cormyr needs to ward away incursions by the City of Shade and the Shadovar. Securing it would also free northern trade routes of a bandit blight.

Traditionally, with the Stonelands history of being a nest for bandit groups, border raiders and a goblin breeding ground, securing the Stonelands has been on Cormyr’s agenda for decades. Many of the orcs and goblins that nearly overwhelmed Cormyr during the Goblin Wars came from the Stonelands, proving that it, left untended, provides a base for far more than bandit groups wanting to ply their trade on the many caravans that use the Moonsea Ride to come south and enter the Heartlands region of Faerun.

Climate and Terrain
The Stonelands is subject to wild weather patterns due to the conflicting influence of the mountain ranges and the Anauroch desert. It is known to experience both blisteringly hot and dry summers, and frigidly cold and wet winters. There are many storms in this land.

While far from a barren land, it has been stripped of passive game-wildlife by centuries of the goblin presence here. Growing crops is difficult, moreso as one heads north toward the Sword, though farming is possible in some areas. The terrain is rugged, hilly and lined with canyons and gorges. As well as being littered with great ‘standing stones’ whose origin is, as yet, unconfirmed. The terrain, makes it difficult to exterminate local threats, due to the numerous caves that provide shelter for bands of bandits and, indeed, entire tribes of goblins.