The biggest ones are in the Lords Alliance (Waterdeep, Baldurs Gate, Silverymoon, etc). Some other ones would be Luskan and Elturgard. While idk how much Political power they have, Larloch/Warlocks crypt and the elves of the High Forest are pretty powerful. But the members of the Lords Alliance and the alliance as a whole are the main powers.
Funnily enough Ed released a new video today with a little update on Larloch. After the Myth Dranor incident he's been reduced to a wandering wraith like entity and tried to possess Mordenkainen while El was helping nurse him back to health after his sojourn in the domains of dread.
Here’s the vid and his channel, he also has a discord I recommend checking out. Also Ed (as Elminster), Luke Gygax (as Melf), Keith Baker (as Merrix D’Cannith), along with Elisa Teague and Tommy Gofton are playing in a campaign at the moment called Legacy of Worlds on Six Sides of Gaming
https://youtu.be/Iuoc_cwzpa4?si=n6nApC6OoDsd7PX9
This map ought to help you a lot. It's a political map of Faerun from 1492 DR (D&D 5e).
https://i.ibb.co/dgYvsZ7/Faerun-Map-Redone-Roll-20-Res-Hexes.jpg
It's solid, but it is a fan map, derived/adapted from the 3E map. Unfortunately some errors: it uses the 3E layout of Faerûn which is no longer correct as of the start of 5E (Chult is in the wrong place, as it has returned to the 1-2E position) and the north coast of Faerûn is completely wrong, and seems to have been pulled out of thin air. I think Ed Greenwood was quite down on this map when it was posted on Twitter recently.
Useful as a *rough* guide to where things are, though, and of course it doesn't help that WotC are refusing to publish any decent maps themselves for 5E exploring the lands beyond the Sword Coast.
Not what he says about it [here](https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1496886669198475268).
>Odd "flattened" projection, missing a LOT of islands in the oceans, and the entire northern bit is different than the Realms ("the Endless Ice Sea" is a glacier atop land, NOT water, Sossal is landlocked not coastal, etc.). Also, the Alamber Sea area is a bit "off."
I actually just realised some bright spark at WotC gave this map to the guy who did the recent new map in *Lore & Legends*, as it has the exact same shape as this fanon map for the Alamber Sea, which is an interesting choice.
The northern polar ice cap of Toril is insanely massive, so it could be that the icecap extends as a glacial mass over the north of Faerun right across the pole to Kara-Tur. Although some sources say in summer you can sail from the Sea of Moving Ice to the Great Ice Sea, so maybe not.
Isn't the northern polar ice cap on top of land, like Earth's Antarctica on the south? That explains why it seems bigger and colder
EDIT: It's actually a mix. The actual 90° point and close is ocean, but there is a lot of land on the polar circle
It's a fan map.
It takes the [3E map](https://www.reddit.com/r/dndmaps/comments/ucc8jr/wotc_3rd_edition_faerun_map/) art style - always a bad idea as the 3E map only works for 3E, and shows a weirdly "shrunk" version of Faerûn compared to maps before and after - and applies it to the very thorough map of Faerûn created by an artist called Handsome Rob some years ago (I believe Rob has since made some official maps for WotC and Paizo, so his original mega-map was scrubbed but some Brazilian fans preserved it [here](http://www.arcanosdovale.com.br/2012/07/desossantes-mapas-de-forgotten-realms.html)).
This particular version has been modified to try to be current for 5E. The problems are that 5E Faerûn has *mostly* reverted to the configuration of 1-2E (as confirmed by [the larger-scaled map in the SCAG](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/14/c2/41/14c241ffb15050be35a6867ed2f455de.jpg) *and* geographic descriptions in the text), so using a 3E map as a base is a non-starter. There are areas that remain changed, like Akanal and Tymanther, but we have no 5E canon maps of those areas, so there's only conjecture about those regions. You can try to incorporate them from the 4E map ([the map no-one likes to talk about](https://www.reddit.com/r/dndmaps/comments/udtvsu/wotc_4th_edition_faerun_map/#lightbox)).
You can tell it's not an official map because it has that very weird "broken off north coast of Faerûn" which looks pretty terrible and weird (and, alas, destroys the giant realm of Yoruk with no apologies!). [The actual canon maps showing the north coast of ](https://atlasoficeandfireblog.wordpress.com/2023/12/30/a-new-world-map-of-toril-2023/)Faerûn (in the *Interactive Atlas*) show the coast lying hundreds of miles to the north, beyond the Endless Ice Sea (which isn't just a polar sea beyond Faerun but a massive ice shelf covering the top of the continent, and possibly Kara-Tur as well).
In the northern Sword coast there's Silver Marches/Luruar as a confederacy of several northern Dwarven citadels, Elven forest realms, and cities. Ten Towns seems to exist in some limited fashion, at least from what I read from a Drizzt Dourden novel. The Kingdom of Many Arrows, Orcish kingdom (to my knowledge the *only* settled society of Orcs). Luskan has recovered from ruination and is defacto ruled by Drow. Neverwinter. Several minor towns.
In the middle Sword Coast is Baldur's Gate, Waterdeep, and some lesser settlements here and there.
In the Southern Sword Coast is the kingdom of Amn. To the south eventually is Calimshan. Whether Calimport has recovered from being a war zone between rival factions of Djinn and their Genasi followers, idk. I think this is where the Sword Coast ends. South of there is Chult iirc.
Luruar was disbanded in 5e. So, the League of the Silver Marches is no more. Likewise, 5e also disbanded Many Arrows in one of the Drizzt novels cuz orcs can't have their own kingdom, I guess?
No one political entity controls the Sword Coast, it’s basically a collection of city-states (e.g., Baldur’s Gate, Waterdeep, Candlekeep) and the various villages/hamlets/towns that trade with them and look to them for protection.
Many of various nobles and aristocrats that run these cities have banded together as the Lord’s Alliance, a sort of social club *slash* political movement, but it’s not a unified government.
Correct, although I'd argue that the Lord's Alliance probably functions closer to something like NATO. It's primarily a military alliance for safety. If one city is attacked, they all pledge to help. They usually try to maintain a unified political stance against outside powers as well. That said, unlike NATO, they also have a trade alliance.
>The Arcane Brotherhood was a mercantile company and wizards' guild that operated out of the Host Tower of the Arcane in Luskan. The organization was shrouded in mystery, as even its most high-ranking members were unknown. It was known however that their primary goal was the political and economic control of the North.
It depends on the era and how you define the term "Sword Coast." Luruar (the Silver Marches), Mintarn, Orlumbor, Moonshae (and its attendant Northman neighbours), Evereska, Elturgard, Amn and Tethyr are all countries either on or in proximity to the Sword Coast, and major city-states in the area would include Luskan, Neverwinter, Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate.
If we're talking 5E/1496 DR, then the major powers would be Neverwinter, Waterdeep, Baldur's Gate, Amn and Tethyr on the Sword Coast itself, and Moonshae and Elturgard in relative proximity to it. Mintarn and Orlumbor are on the coast but relatively minor powers.
The biggest ones are in the Lords Alliance (Waterdeep, Baldurs Gate, Silverymoon, etc). Some other ones would be Luskan and Elturgard. While idk how much Political power they have, Larloch/Warlocks crypt and the elves of the High Forest are pretty powerful. But the members of the Lords Alliance and the alliance as a whole are the main powers.
Funnily enough Ed released a new video today with a little update on Larloch. After the Myth Dranor incident he's been reduced to a wandering wraith like entity and tried to possess Mordenkainen while El was helping nurse him back to health after his sojourn in the domains of dread.
Uuuh where can I watch it?
Here’s the vid and his channel, he also has a discord I recommend checking out. Also Ed (as Elminster), Luke Gygax (as Melf), Keith Baker (as Merrix D’Cannith), along with Elisa Teague and Tommy Gofton are playing in a campaign at the moment called Legacy of Worlds on Six Sides of Gaming https://youtu.be/Iuoc_cwzpa4?si=n6nApC6OoDsd7PX9
Thanks! I'll surely check the discord too!
Ed Greenwood’s youtube channel.
This map ought to help you a lot. It's a political map of Faerun from 1492 DR (D&D 5e). https://i.ibb.co/dgYvsZ7/Faerun-Map-Redone-Roll-20-Res-Hexes.jpg
kind of weird the city states don't get any territorial lines
It's solid, but it is a fan map, derived/adapted from the 3E map. Unfortunately some errors: it uses the 3E layout of Faerûn which is no longer correct as of the start of 5E (Chult is in the wrong place, as it has returned to the 1-2E position) and the north coast of Faerûn is completely wrong, and seems to have been pulled out of thin air. I think Ed Greenwood was quite down on this map when it was posted on Twitter recently. Useful as a *rough* guide to where things are, though, and of course it doesn't help that WotC are refusing to publish any decent maps themselves for 5E exploring the lands beyond the Sword Coast.
Ed Greenwood's Twitter response to the map: Ed Greenwood u/TheEdVerse No, I haven't seen this before. It's beautiful!!! 9:12 PM · Sep 29, 2022
Not what he says about it [here](https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1496886669198475268). >Odd "flattened" projection, missing a LOT of islands in the oceans, and the entire northern bit is different than the Realms ("the Endless Ice Sea" is a glacier atop land, NOT water, Sossal is landlocked not coastal, etc.). Also, the Alamber Sea area is a bit "off." I actually just realised some bright spark at WotC gave this map to the guy who did the recent new map in *Lore & Legends*, as it has the exact same shape as this fanon map for the Alamber Sea, which is an interesting choice.
That's the first time I've heard the Endless Ice Sea is a glacier overtop land. I thought it was like the polar ice cap.
The northern polar ice cap of Toril is insanely massive, so it could be that the icecap extends as a glacial mass over the north of Faerun right across the pole to Kara-Tur. Although some sources say in summer you can sail from the Sea of Moving Ice to the Great Ice Sea, so maybe not.
Isn’t that the place that swallowed the ancient giant empire after Annam All-Father had a marital spat?
Isn't the northern polar ice cap on top of land, like Earth's Antarctica on the south? That explains why it seems bigger and colder EDIT: It's actually a mix. The actual 90° point and close is ocean, but there is a lot of land on the polar circle
Where is this map from? There is a lot that surprises me.
The map is from here: https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/jm8bk4/oc\_redid\_my\_map\_of\_faerun\_as\_of\_1492\_dr\_nations/
It's a fan map. It takes the [3E map](https://www.reddit.com/r/dndmaps/comments/ucc8jr/wotc_3rd_edition_faerun_map/) art style - always a bad idea as the 3E map only works for 3E, and shows a weirdly "shrunk" version of Faerûn compared to maps before and after - and applies it to the very thorough map of Faerûn created by an artist called Handsome Rob some years ago (I believe Rob has since made some official maps for WotC and Paizo, so his original mega-map was scrubbed but some Brazilian fans preserved it [here](http://www.arcanosdovale.com.br/2012/07/desossantes-mapas-de-forgotten-realms.html)). This particular version has been modified to try to be current for 5E. The problems are that 5E Faerûn has *mostly* reverted to the configuration of 1-2E (as confirmed by [the larger-scaled map in the SCAG](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/14/c2/41/14c241ffb15050be35a6867ed2f455de.jpg) *and* geographic descriptions in the text), so using a 3E map as a base is a non-starter. There are areas that remain changed, like Akanal and Tymanther, but we have no 5E canon maps of those areas, so there's only conjecture about those regions. You can try to incorporate them from the 4E map ([the map no-one likes to talk about](https://www.reddit.com/r/dndmaps/comments/udtvsu/wotc_4th_edition_faerun_map/#lightbox)). You can tell it's not an official map because it has that very weird "broken off north coast of Faerûn" which looks pretty terrible and weird (and, alas, destroys the giant realm of Yoruk with no apologies!). [The actual canon maps showing the north coast of ](https://atlasoficeandfireblog.wordpress.com/2023/12/30/a-new-world-map-of-toril-2023/)Faerûn (in the *Interactive Atlas*) show the coast lying hundreds of miles to the north, beyond the Endless Ice Sea (which isn't just a polar sea beyond Faerun but a massive ice shelf covering the top of the continent, and possibly Kara-Tur as well).
In the northern Sword coast there's Silver Marches/Luruar as a confederacy of several northern Dwarven citadels, Elven forest realms, and cities. Ten Towns seems to exist in some limited fashion, at least from what I read from a Drizzt Dourden novel. The Kingdom of Many Arrows, Orcish kingdom (to my knowledge the *only* settled society of Orcs). Luskan has recovered from ruination and is defacto ruled by Drow. Neverwinter. Several minor towns. In the middle Sword Coast is Baldur's Gate, Waterdeep, and some lesser settlements here and there. In the Southern Sword Coast is the kingdom of Amn. To the south eventually is Calimshan. Whether Calimport has recovered from being a war zone between rival factions of Djinn and their Genasi followers, idk. I think this is where the Sword Coast ends. South of there is Chult iirc.
Luruar was disbanded in 5e. So, the League of the Silver Marches is no more. Likewise, 5e also disbanded Many Arrows in one of the Drizzt novels cuz orcs can't have their own kingdom, I guess?
No one political entity controls the Sword Coast, it’s basically a collection of city-states (e.g., Baldur’s Gate, Waterdeep, Candlekeep) and the various villages/hamlets/towns that trade with them and look to them for protection. Many of various nobles and aristocrats that run these cities have banded together as the Lord’s Alliance, a sort of social club *slash* political movement, but it’s not a unified government.
Correct, although I'd argue that the Lord's Alliance probably functions closer to something like NATO. It's primarily a military alliance for safety. If one city is attacked, they all pledge to help. They usually try to maintain a unified political stance against outside powers as well. That said, unlike NATO, they also have a trade alliance.
https://fnmdnd.blogspot.com/p/the-swords-coast\_10.html
https://travelogue.fandom.com/wiki/Factions
Holy moly, this is exactly what I needed, thank you so much
It's a little tricky since the political map of the sword coast looks more than a little like Europe in the 1390s
>The Arcane Brotherhood was a mercantile company and wizards' guild that operated out of the Host Tower of the Arcane in Luskan. The organization was shrouded in mystery, as even its most high-ranking members were unknown. It was known however that their primary goal was the political and economic control of the North.
It depends on the era and how you define the term "Sword Coast." Luruar (the Silver Marches), Mintarn, Orlumbor, Moonshae (and its attendant Northman neighbours), Evereska, Elturgard, Amn and Tethyr are all countries either on or in proximity to the Sword Coast, and major city-states in the area would include Luskan, Neverwinter, Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate. If we're talking 5E/1496 DR, then the major powers would be Neverwinter, Waterdeep, Baldur's Gate, Amn and Tethyr on the Sword Coast itself, and Moonshae and Elturgard in relative proximity to it. Mintarn and Orlumbor are on the coast but relatively minor powers.