Hello everyone, Jorphdan here the PH is silent.
I was kind of at a conflict as to what to talk about.
So I stared at the Forgotten Realms map and suddenly went, what’s with all those islands
west of Amn?
So I hope you find this video interested as we dive into the history of the Moonshae Isles.
The Moonshae isles are a group of islands that form a circular archipelago with the
Sea of Moonshae in the center.
Located southwest of the Sword Coast it seems like all the inhabitants migrated there at
some point.
There are two human tribes that live here.
The Ffolk with two f’s, which I assume you pronounce as just “folk.”
They sailed over around 140 DR to an island named Gwynneth.
They were descendants from Tethyr and took with them their love of agriculture and the
goddess Chauntea.
Much of the Ffolk have a strong druidic tradition, and a connection with the land is important.
They are peaceful with their farming, fishing, hunting, and trading.
And are also accomplished shipbuilders.
In contrast the other group of men that came to the Moonshae isles are the Northlanders.
They are a hardy warlike people who worship the god Tempus.
Tempus being the god of war.
They are believed to be related to the Uthgardt tribe, which if you want more information
on them Faerun History did a great video on the Uthgardt tribe, links in the doobly do.
The Northlanders started a longtime conflict with the Ffolk, raiding settlements and not
respecting the land.
The Ffolk are organized into a number of small kingdoms, loosely collected under the leadership
of a High King.
The High King is more of a figurehead than a true ruler.
Other races live on the islands but in much smaller numbers.
The Elves of Moonshae are known as the Llewyrr.
They were once the dominate race but now claim only a small portion of the islands as theirs,
they are similar to high elves.
Dwarves and Halflings outnumber the elves but are still in smaller numbers compared
to humans.
There aren’t many magic users on the Moonshae isles.
The craft is held in suspicion and magic users are looked at negatively.
I imagine the elves have their innate magic and are probably more relaxed to magic than
than the other human tribes.
The High King has his council of mages but for the most part you won’t see any Northlander
Wizards.
Both the Northmen and the Ffolk are taught that arcane power is a tool of the gods and
their agents.
Wizards are viewed as untrustworthy or downright evil.
Despite their infighting there are other worries on the Moonshae isles.
Trolls present a common threat including marine Trolls that can retreat back into the sea.
Wyverns fly over remote places and can attack settlements.
Giant centipedes, ropers, shambling mounds, dire wolves, and harpies are only some of
the dangers adventurers may find.
The people of the Moonshae isles worship an entity known as the earth mother.
While this earth mother is an aspect of Chauntea they literally worship their nature surroundings.
Chauntea is the goddess of agriculture and the Earthmother is nature itself.
While the divine powers are one in the same the perspective of the worshipers are different.
So from what I gathered the Earthmother is Chauntea they just don’t call her by that
name, kind of interesting and kind of confusing
Chauntea protects and loves the Moonshae isles, much like how Ubtao was with Chult.
The Children of the goddess, the animals of the islands, take three particular forms.
Leviathan, Wolf Pack, and Unicorn.
These creatures are symbols of the earth mother herself and thus they are well respected in
Moonshae culture.
The goddess holds balance upon nature in her lands but there is an enemy.
Kazgoroth, the beast kills for fun, pollutes its surroundings, and wages war against the
goddess.
He delights in nothing more than the corruption of a druid to it’s evil purposes.
Kazgoroth’s natural form was a Tyrannosaurus rex, but he can shape change to other forms.
Including those of people who he would kill and take their identity.
The creature served Bhaal and had the power in his bite to curse a creature to become
a lycanthrope.
He has been defeated in the past but since he is an aspect of Malar (an evil lesser deity
of beast savagery and evil lycanthropes) he always seems to return several years later.
As of 1371 DR the majority of Moonshae Isles were controlled by one High Queen named Alicia
Kendrick.
Under the rule of Alicia and her father a peace between the Ffolk and the Nothlanders
was created.
This changed with the spellplague and House Kendrick lost most of their control.
By 1479 DR the islands have different rulers controlling separate areas. For Instance;
Fomorians crossed over from the feywild and took control of the island of Oman.
And the isle of Moray is under the control of evil Lycanthropes.
The Black Blood Tribe is a tribe of lycanthropes that are dedicated to summoning Kazgoroth
again.
They live on this island with other were-beasts that migrated from the Feywild as well.
There are pirates that live in these waters with secret bases on several islands.
They prey on ships coming to and from Amn and Calimshan.
The Isle of Snowdown is controlled by a vampire who is loyal to Amn.
Lady Erliza Daressin was changed into a vampire in Amn and seeks to ascend and become queen
of the Feywild.
She came to the Moonshae Isles looking for a portal to the Feywild.
Seems odd to me that a vampire wouldn’t want to seek a way to the Shadowfell instead.
I know there are perpetual twilight areas in the Feywild but you don’t usually think
“undead” when you think of the Feywild.
There is a lot of fighting currently between all the different islands.
You’ve got the human tribes as well as the influx of creatures from the Feywild.
Might be a fun place for your adventurers to return from the Feywild.
Battle the political plots of vampires, or stop evil lycanthropes from resurrecting an
avatar in the shape of a Tyrannosaurus rex.
There was a great article in Dragon magazine 196 that had some information on the Moonshae
Isles, and how to drop your party there for an adventure.
Worth checking out.
That’s it for this week’s episode.
Thanks so much for watching, hit that like button as it helps the channel and share this video
with your gaming group.
I’ll be back next week for more Forgotten Realms Lore!