What can you tell me about Chult - particularly Samarach? - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

What can you tell me about Chult - particularly Samarach?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
Los_Grak
Mar 29, 2011 14:57:09 Not being up on the history of the Realms like I know a lot of you are, I'm looking for some recent historical background on the area (say, the last 300 years). This is for a MyRealms LFR adventure that I'm putting together. I read a little bit about it on the Forgotten Realms Wiki, as well as the information in the FR Campaign Guide. However, I have a feeling that there's more information out there that I can use to build this adventure.

Any and all help, even just links to information, is appreciated.
#2
Stigger
Mar 29, 2011 16:42:43 I don't recall much ever being mentioned about the area in general. There was brief mentions of the region in the 2e/3e Shining South sourcebooks, but they just sorta glossed over the region by and large. 3e's Serpent Kingdoms made some mention of it, but again, its sparse for the most part. Mostly it boiled down to a series of battles between the Yuan-Ti and everyone else, mostly with the status quo being upheld, and though the Yuan-Ti's penchant for intrigue and infiltration gives them a bit of an edge, it just never seemed to amount to much, as least as of 3e, though they were starting to gain some ground. That seemed pretty cyclical to me though, so I never put too much thought into it.

While I haven't really looked at the Wiki for it, its probably not far off, given the sparsity of information in general. More than likely a lot of the Samarach stuff came from NWN2's Storm of Zehir expansion, but I didn't see much in there that contradicted any established lore, what little there is of it, at least in terms of its treatment of Samarach... though a lot of the Neverwinter stuff stretched the bounds of credibility for me.

Samarach generally boils down to a vassal state of Nimbral (a nation that used to worship Leira, the goddess of Illusion, that's mostly CN in its national outlook, though how the whole Cyric taking over Leira's portfolio thing works with that isn't something I much like to think about, since I can't stand Cyric...) that's relatively isolationist and more than a little xenophobic, who aren't really well thought of in the region as a whole, being viewed as a bunch of violent paranoids, in a region where paranoia (that whole Yuan-Ti thing) seems to be a way of life. Don't recall offhand how long they've been a vasal of Nimbral, but its not exactly recent from what I recall, and its one of the few instances of Nimbral actually taking an interest of things outside of their islands beyond keeping pirates and other threats at bay, at least that I can think of.

As to Chult in general, its pretty much been the target of foreign exploitation and pillaging, much like Africa was, with the Portuguese, French, and Spanish (to name a few) being played by Calimshan, Lapalliya (or however that's spelled), and the Rundeen (again, to name a few). There's really not that much more to it, beyond stuff with Ubtao and Eshowdow (though from what I've heard, neither is much of an issue these days) and the events that occur in and around Mezro, Ubtao's sacred city. Its a pretty convoluted mess actually, so you're probably better off either coming up with it yourself, or cherry picking whatever you might pick up on Wiki. About the only thing I could really recommend is looking up Artus Cimber, a harper, and looking into his exploits in the region, as he's the only 'big' (questionably so to be honest) name I can recall being associated with the region offhand.
#3
sfdragon
Mar 30, 2011 22:53:51 Samarach is rules by Yuan ti now.. the once human cities were wiped out...

the only thing of value of the old chultese lore, would be any maps of the cities, like MEnzo which is a ruin now, but the map would still function.
#4
The_Silversword
Mar 31, 2011 0:00:37
The 3e FR campaign Setting has this to say about Samarach:

"Little is known about this kingdom, since it is separated from the rest of the peninsula by thick jungle and rugged mountains. Explorers from Tashalar claim it is populated by cowards who barricade themselves in walled cities at night. The natives cloak the paths to their cities and the passes through the mountains with illusions."

The 4e FR Campaign Guide say that the kingdom of Samarach was submerged, but looking at the 4e Realms Map, it looks as if a large portion of it is still intact, As sfdragon pointed out, the area is probably know controlled by Yuan-Ti, or even worse, but if the people there cloacked their cities in illusions, its possible some of them may still be around.

The 4e Guide also lists the Spellscarred of Samarach as one of the main factions of Chult in the current era, so I guess they werent all wiped out? But I guess theres a high concentration of Spellscarred there now.

The 4e guide also points out that Chult has merged with bits of Toril's sister planet Abeir:

"In the Year of Blue Fire, the Chultan jungle was interpenetrated by pockets of Abeiran landscape that now lie scattered in the skies and the forests. Strange, savage behemoths now prowl the shadowed jungles and wandering motes alike. Several Chultan tribes were hunted to extinction by these voracious new predators; those that remain have learned new methods of coexistence."

So basically it looks as if theres room for anything you wanted to throw in there. The new low lore approach 4e Realms, pretty much gives the DM freedom to do whatever he or she wants, but I do miss all the rich lore from previous editions, made setting up an adventure that much easier, I really didnt need to make up NPCs such as the stable hands or the barkeep or who ever, all I had to do was look in a book!

IF you want some good lore on Chult from previous editions, check out the AD&D Realms adventure the Jungles of Chult, it is an adventure but it contains alot of info on the peoples, monsters, and the area. If you can find it used someplace, or on ebay or something, Id definitely check it out.
#5
sfdragon
Mar 31, 2011 0:49:58 Stoms of Zehir the second and final expansion to nwn2 had a part that took place in that area of Chult.

like the gensai of Calimshan, I think that the majority of the samarachians were indeed snake fang cultists( formerly knwown as Yuan ti pure bloods) under the guise of illusions magics.

#6
Los_Grak
Mar 31, 2011 8:48:37 Thanks for the info. I'll definitely be creating a Yuan-ti-centric story and playing on the xenophobia of the people of Samarach.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Los_Grak Mar 29, 2011 14:57:09	Not being up on the history of the Realms like I know a lot of you are, I'm looking for some recent historical background on the area (say, the last 300 years). This is for a MyRealms LFR adventure that I'm putting together. I read a little bit about it on the Forgotten Realms Wiki, as well as the information in the FR Campaign Guide. However, I have a feeling that there's more information out there that I can use to build this adventure. Any and all help, even just links to information, is appreciated.
#2 Stigger Mar 29, 2011 16:42:43	I don't recall much ever being mentioned about the area in general. There was brief mentions of the region in the 2e/3e Shining South sourcebooks, but they just sorta glossed over the region by and large. 3e's Serpent Kingdoms made some mention of it, but again, its sparse for the most part. Mostly it boiled down to a series of battles between the Yuan-Ti and everyone else, mostly with the status quo being upheld, and though the Yuan-Ti's penchant for intrigue and infiltration gives them a bit of an edge, it just never seemed to amount to much, as least as of 3e, though they were starting to gain some ground. That seemed pretty cyclical to me though, so I never put too much thought into it. While I haven't really looked at the Wiki for it, its probably not far off, given the sparsity of information in general. More than likely a lot of the Samarach stuff came from NWN2's Storm of Zehir expansion, but I didn't see much in there that contradicted any established lore, what little there is of it, at least in terms of its treatment of Samarach... though a lot of the Neverwinter stuff stretched the bounds of credibility for me. Samarach generally boils down to a vassal state of Nimbral (a nation that used to worship Leira, the goddess of Illusion, that's mostly CN in its national outlook, though how the whole Cyric taking over Leira's portfolio thing works with that isn't something I much like to think about, since I can't stand Cyric...) that's relatively isolationist and more than a little xenophobic, who aren't really well thought of in the region as a whole, being viewed as a bunch of violent paranoids, in a region where paranoia (that whole Yuan-Ti thing) seems to be a way of life. Don't recall offhand how long they've been a vasal of Nimbral, but its not exactly recent from what I recall, and its one of the few instances of Nimbral actually taking an interest of things outside of their islands beyond keeping pirates and other threats at bay, at least that I can think of. As to Chult in general, its pretty much been the target of foreign exploitation and pillaging, much like Africa was, with the Portuguese, French, and Spanish (to name a few) being played by Calimshan, Lapalliya (or however that's spelled), and the Rundeen (again, to name a few). There's really not that much more to it, beyond stuff with Ubtao and Eshowdow (though from what I've heard, neither is much of an issue these days) and the events that occur in and around Mezro, Ubtao's sacred city. Its a pretty convoluted mess actually, so you're probably better off either coming up with it yourself, or cherry picking whatever you might pick up on Wiki. About the only thing I could really recommend is looking up Artus Cimber, a harper, and looking into his exploits in the region, as he's the only 'big' (questionably so to be honest) name I can recall being associated with the region offhand.
#3 sfdragon Mar 30, 2011 22:53:51	Samarach is rules by Yuan ti now.. the once human cities were wiped out... the only thing of value of the old chultese lore, would be any maps of the cities, like MEnzo which is a ruin now, but the map would still function.
#4 The_Silversword Mar 31, 2011 0:00:37	The 3e FR campaign Setting has this to say about Samarach: "Little is known about this kingdom, since it is separated from the rest of the peninsula by thick jungle and rugged mountains. Explorers from Tashalar claim it is populated by cowards who barricade themselves in walled cities at night. The natives cloak the paths to their cities and the passes through the mountains with illusions." The 4e FR Campaign Guide say that the kingdom of Samarach was submerged, but looking at the 4e Realms Map, it looks as if a large portion of it is still intact, As sfdragon pointed out, the area is probably know controlled by Yuan-Ti, or even worse, but if the people there cloacked their cities in illusions, its possible some of them may still be around. The 4e Guide also lists the Spellscarred of Samarach as one of the main factions of Chult in the current era, so I guess they werent all wiped out? But I guess theres a high concentration of Spellscarred there now. The 4e guide also points out that Chult has merged with bits of Toril's sister planet Abeir: "In the Year of Blue Fire, the Chultan jungle was interpenetrated by pockets of Abeiran landscape that now lie scattered in the skies and the forests. Strange, savage behemoths now prowl the shadowed jungles and wandering motes alike. Several Chultan tribes were hunted to extinction by these voracious new predators; those that remain have learned new methods of coexistence." So basically it looks as if theres room for anything you wanted to throw in there. The new low lore approach 4e Realms, pretty much gives the DM freedom to do whatever he or she wants, but I do miss all the rich lore from previous editions, made setting up an adventure that much easier, I really didnt need to make up NPCs such as the stable hands or the barkeep or who ever, all I had to do was look in a book! IF you want some good lore on Chult from previous editions, check out the AD&D Realms adventure the Jungles of Chult, it is an adventure but it contains alot of info on the peoples, monsters, and the area. If you can find it used someplace, or on ebay or something, Id definitely check it out.
#5 sfdragon Mar 31, 2011 0:49:58	Stoms of Zehir the second and final expansion to nwn2 had a part that took place in that area of Chult. like the gensai of Calimshan, I think that the majority of the samarachians were indeed snake fang cultists( formerly knwown as Yuan ti pure bloods) under the guise of illusions magics.
#6 Los_Grak Mar 31, 2011 8:48:37	Thanks for the info. I'll definitely be creating a Yuan-ti-centric story and playing on the xenophobia of the people of Samarach.