The Fortress of Dhalinax

The tharch of Gauros, updated to show created settlements

Dhalinax

Alignment: LN

Races: Rashemi, significant dwarves and gnomes are commons slaves

Classes: Fighters, clerics, rangers, rogues and experts common

Temples: Helm, Oghma, Shar, Tempus

Shrines: Auril, Beshaba, Grumbar

Age: Historical

Reputation: Tolerated

Virtue: Hope

Vice: Sloth

Recent Event: Imbued With Evil

Desires: Necessities

Security: Nearly Impenetrable

Access: Major Hub

Repair: Luxury

Impression: Too Quiet

Sanitation: Tolerable

Lighting: Poor

Streets: Tile

Once an abandoned, historic dwarven fortress, Dhalinax is now the northernmost town in Gauros. It bridges the gap between the Sunrise Mountains and the nearby hills, serving as security between Gauros and Rasheman. It is also a gate of trade between Gauros and Surthay, as well as the drow outpost below the shores of Lake Mulsantir. It serves as a launching point for expeditions into the mountains and the Gorge of Gauros. There are several great main gates on either side which require heavy-duty mechanisms to open; they are made of layers of stone and metal and benefit from magical wards. The machinery was based on old dwarven designs but has been updated with gnomish ingenuity, and it is no surprise that there are more dwarven and gnomish slaves than are typically found elsewhere in Thay.

The fortress is locked in a vicious cycle of feast and famine. At times, it is overcrowded with adventurers and merchants flush with currency and goods. At other times, the vaults are mostly empty and those who live there ration necessities. It survives because it is strictly organized by the temple of Helm, which has the greatest influence on the populace. Everyone who shelters within its walls must donate time and services to the upkeep of the fortress. All visitors are apprised of this before they are allowed inside. If they refuse to serve, they are turned away, but if they wish, they can trade their service for room and board. The central garrison has a system of task boards and tokens to keep track of chores, and an interview matches a person’s skills with a set of duties.

Given its location, the fortress does not enjoy the full protection of the Thayan weather net. It’s believed that the Red Wizards see little use in protecting the mountain range, especially when bad weather will help hamper escaping slaves. While the worst conditions remain in the peaks (hail, blizzards, avalanches, and anything else Talos can send through the porous net), the fortress is known to be colder than most places in Thay. The great vaults are not temperature controlled, but the rooms which line the vaults are warmed through magic or mundane means. Locals tend to wear layers as they venture from one side of the fortress to another and then shed them once they’ve reached their destination.

A stream from the Sunrise Mountains has been routed to serve as the fortress's main water source, emptying into a magical pit that stores the excess. Altogether, the fortress is impressive, with marble tile floors, high arched vaults lined with terraces, as well as a series of elevators that are operated via a blend of magical and mundane means. The lowest levels are forbidden to most (requiring permission from the mayor and/or the temple of Helm), and while justice is swift for offenses, it is not as inhumane as elsewhere in Thay. 

This is because there is more of a focus on order and efficiency than kindness and cruelty, and this attitude even extends to slaves. They work hard but they are allowed more freedoms in their spare time. They can craft, cook, brew, and so on, so long as they do not work against Thayans or Thayan interests. As a result, although the slave district is in the dankest part of the fortress, it has an engaging blend of styles, scents, and sounds. Visitors and inhabitants alike venture there for experimental gnomish cuisine and dwarven specialties. Slaves who follow the gods represented in local temples and shrines are allowed to worship at these official spaces. (In most of the country, slaves worship on their own and must construct their own shrines out of detritus.)

All in all, a visit to Dhalinax is a memorable experience, if one has occasion to go there.

The Magical Weather Net Over Thay

Map from the 3rd Edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting

The country of Thay is encompassed by several massive, invisible meshes of magic, and some of them govern the weather.  This ongoing project sustains webs of potent items and spells that must be replenished at intervals.  The necessary ingredients and arrangements are some of the Red Wizards' top secrets and they alone maintain the system's integrity.  Fail safe measures and alterations made at random also serve to throw off saboteurs.  But since circa 1100 DR, the "weather net" (as it is popularly known) has remained in place with few breaches or malfunctions and has transformed much of Thay.

Simply put, natural disasters like torrential rains, storm winds, droughts, hail, and heat waves do not occur because of this shielding.  Angry weather fronts rebound off the spell layer to wreak havoc in neighboring countries (which is between those countries and Talos, as far as Thayans are concerned).  Problems related to the volcanoes, seismic activity, and mudslides are still threats because they happen from beneath the surface.  Beshaba will have her day, as they say, and some bad luck cannot be avoided.  A great deal of damage and inconvenience has been mitigated by this magic, however.

The nation's current status as the breadbasket of Faerun is one of the outcomes of these buffers.  In the wee morning hours, a gentle but steady rain falls as scheduled in most tharchs.  It lasts for an hour and allows for more comfort and crops than were once possible.  In the earliest years after the net's construction, the rainfall happened at intervals throughout the night to help spur changes in the land.  The rains have been altered over the centuries but in recent memory, an hour a night has been enough.  This, along with rich fertilizers (that include the remains of sentient beings) has enabled Thay to sell food abroad by the ton without batting an eye toward its own granaries.

During the rest of the time, temperatures are kept relatively stable based on the region at hand, as follows:

The Priador, which sprawls along the ocean at a lower elevation, was cooler and wetter to begin with and is covered by its own screen.  Its spells are largely defensive in nature and do not provide rain; a certain amount of moisture is allowed through, instead.  Since the tharch has several key port cities, it still needs protection from Talos's rage and Umberlee's waves. The nation regularly goes out of its way to appease the Bitch Queen so she won't harass its ships, but she can be fickle.  Talos is only offered sacrifices when Thayans travel abroad but they're rarely enough to divert his hatred for long.  Surthay's coverage is similar in the north, where its net guards its position along Lake Mulsantir.

Thazalhar's program is based on a fierce determination not to lose its deserts.  Adverse weather is repelled, but very little moisture is allowed within.  The entire tharch resembles the hot, dry lands close to the Dragonsword Mountains, and its inhabitants prefer that.  The locals continue to uphold more traditional Mulan ways, anyhow, having divorced the culture from its religion.  (Mostly.  Perhaps it's no coincidence that there's more forbidden worship of the Mulhorandi pantheon in Thazalhar than anywhere else in Thay.)  The tharch uses its spell shield to create mirages, turning the land into a maze against those who do not belong there.  This has served to repel Mulhorandi spies and convince outsiders that the area has no cities of note.  It's rumored that the defensive net would be suppressed if enough rain were to fall on it but none know for sure.  In any case, the sodden island tharch called the Alaor has a similar net but different magical defenses.

The broad plateau upon which most of the empire rests enjoys a continuous mesh of spells.  The tharchs of Tyraturos and Pyarados were originally arid deserts interspersed with mesas.  While they have become far more livable, patches of desert persist, especially along the Slave Way and Eastern Way roads, which are stamped down regularly by humanoids, slaves, and livestock.  The cities of Tyraturos and Pyarados remain on hard packed sand and reach higher temperatures regularly, but haven't complained.  There are far more fields across these tharchs than maps tend to reveal but they are used for hardier crops that can withstand more heat and dryness.  


The tharchs of Lapendrar, Eltabbar, and Delhumide have shown the most improvement due to the weather project.  On the westward side of the Thaymount, deposits of ash make for incredibly fruitful soil.  Delhumide has seen enough death and magic for its land to respond well to water, but some of the crops that grow there have unusual side effects.  Lapendrar has grudgingly enjoyed the improvements the program has brought, especially in the lower cities of Nethjet and Nethentir (which were acquired later, in 1086, and continue to resist Thayan influence more than anywhere else).  The area's farmers have taken advantage of the good fortune while they have been able to, knowing that if rebel factions incense the Red Wizards enough, the rains could be turned off for good - or worse.

The sheer number and power of the effects going into Thay's weather shields make them inscrutable by any means short of epic level magic.  They are blinding when detect magic or similar spells are aimed at them, and divinations encounter as much interference.  No one will ever know how many spies and traitors have been executed before they could give away information related to this protection - nor is it likely they will ever be found.  Regardless of its expense or secrecy, most Thayans are quite proud of their bulwark against nature.  They know that it is one of the grandest magical undertakings in the history of Faerun, so any remarks about Thay's fine weather are more than just small talk, especially with foreigners.

Rumor #1: Thay Is a Dried Out Wasteland

Nuaros here.  Since we're just standing around waiting to board the next ship out, let's start the day with a good laugh.  Hopefully one that doesn't end up with me getting hit over the head.  Maybe instead of picking on what the nobles get up to just because they're rich enough to get bored, I'll pick on the stupid things outsiders believe about Thay.

Stop looking at me like that, Liroq.  I haven't said anything that bad yet.

Look, I don't mean 'outsiders' as in demons or creatures like that.  Those are a whole other matter and not one I want to know anything about, thank you very much.

No, I mean foreigners, all the kingdoms and races that are only fit to be here in chains.  <pause to spit off the dock>  Have you seen the way they usually show Thay on their maps?  It's no wonder they talk about us like we're still some sand-scrabbling backwater that needs our slaves to survive.  Everything they show is dry except for a few rivers and the lake.  Not a forest or a farm or so much as a tree.  Just look at it:

Excerpt from the 3rd edition Forgotten Realms map

It's like they think we haven't done anything here since we kicked Mulhorand out!  Or like it was a complete wasteland to begin with, which it wasn't.  (Or at least most of it wasn't.  There have always been some old scars on the land, but, you know, wizards.  They know how to leave a mark.)  The Rashemi who started out here only did so much but they had some forests and their own hardy plants.  The coastline on the Sea of Fallen Stars?  Plenty of green!  Always has been.

Then you have the chumps who think they have the "secret" map of what our land is really like.  Just look.  It has a little more green but none of the deep dark nastiness of the forests of Gauros.  Sure, we cut down whatever woods were in our way in some tharchs, but we didn't completely raze our own territory, not after we fought so hard for it.  (Okay, so we razed some of it, but only until the enemy gave in, and mostly in ways it could come back from.)  

Other cities know we ship tons of food across Faerun after growing it here.  They complain about how it's "slave goods" and morally wrong, but most of them are happy to buy it when their own harvests don't work out.  Just where do they think it comes from, if not from healthy soil?  Not every fucking thing is done by magic here.  Yes, the area around Tyraturos is still too dry, but there's only so much the weather net can do.  But this?  This is nonsense.

Excerpt from Unapproachable East

Much work, blood, and magic went into the land since we claimed it, believe it or not.  You don't have to be an elf to want a little green, and you don't have to be a druid to know that you need it to survive.  The nobles didn't want to live in Rashemi "hovels" or live like the nobles of Mulhorand, so they did something about it.  They did it on their own, some tharchions here, some noble families there, but it got done.  One of the only things the Red Wizards really pitched in for as far as I know was the weather net that makes it rain every night.  But that worked like a charm in most places.  We grow more food and drugs and other things than we know what to do with.

If they knew just how nice most of the First Escarpment is now, they would be bringing armies to our doorstep.  Better for us that they don't - even if it would be fun to kick their asses off the cliffs.  And the rumors will likely continue, anyway.  We have more sweeps across our land looking for spies and escaped slaves than you can get away from.  Even if a slave does make it out by some miracle, most of them keep their mouths shut or have some kind of unfortunate accident not long after.  Or they squeal and nobody believes them. 

And then there's the other major Red Wizard public project - the anti-scrying net of spells they keep running.  It just isn't possible to go scrying around our country, even if you are a powerful wizard.  We have all of the zulkirs making sure of it.  But that's a feature for another time.  We have a ship to board and work to do.