Moonshae by Douglas Niles Credits: Editing: Mike Breault Cartography: Dave S. LaForce Cover Art: Tim Hildebrandt Typography: Kim Janke Interior Art: George Barr Keylining: Stephanie Tabat Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Graeme Morris, Jim Bambra, and Phil Gallagher for their ideas and input as the islands were begin- ning to take shape. The Korinn Archipelago was created by Aaron Allston and is detailed in module N4, Treasure Hunt. TSR, Inc. TSR UK Ltd. POB 756 The Mill, Rathmore Road Lake Geneva, Cambridge CB1 4AD WI 53147 USA United Kingdom TSR, Inc. PRODUCTS OF YOUR IMAGINATION™ ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, AD&D, BATTLESYSTEM, FORGOTTEN REALMS, PRODUCTS OF YOUR IMAGINATION, and the TSR logo are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. Distributed to the book trade in the United States by Random House, Inc. and in Canada by Random House of Canada, Ltd. Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distributors. Distributed in the United Kingdom by TSR UK Ltd. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork presented herein is prohibited without the express written permission of TSR, Inc. ©1987 TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed in U.S.A. ISBN 0-88038-494-8 $7.95 US 9217 9217XXX1501 Table of Contents Introduction . .4 Moonshae Overview .................................................................7 Character Races of the Moonshaes .............................................................7 Character Classes of the Moonshaes .......................................................7 Character Levels ................................................................9 Common Conflicts .................................................................9 Economies of the Moonshaes .............................................................12 Moonshae Climate .....................................................................12 Moonshae Topography ..................................................................15 Wildlife of the Moonshaes ...........................................................................19 Deities of the Moonshaes ................................................... ..21 The Goddess ........................................................................... 2 1 The Children ........................................................................ ..23 Kazgoroth the Beast ........................................................................ 2 7 Specific Locales of the Moonshaes .................................. 31 Callidyrr ................................................. 32 Corwell ................................................................. 34 Moray ................................................................39 Snowdown ................................................................ 42 Norland.. ..........................................................................44 Norheim ............................................................ 46 Oman ........................................................... 48 Gnarhelm ........................................................... 50 Korinn Archipelago ..................................................... 53 Myrloch Vale .................................................54 Synnoria ........................................56 Flamsterd .............................................. 58 Appendices .............................................................. ..60 Using the Moonshaes .................................................................. ..60 Magical Items of the Moonshaes ........................................................... 61 INTRODUCTION The goddess has been in the Moonshaes above all, and the first two of her chil- The children of the goddess, and the for many centuriessince before the dren were peaceful, nonthreatening animals, and the Llewyrr and the coming of the humans or even the Lle- creatures. To balance them, the god- dwarves, fought the Beast as best they wyrr. Alone, she nurtured and cared dess gave birth to her third childthe could, holding its dark force at bay. The for the isles, seeing them green and ver- youngest and deadliest of her brood. Beast could not be defeated, but neither dant through the summers, white and The goddess brought forth onto the could its might grow such that it would slumbering through the long winters. Moonshaes the Pack, the congregation overcome the goddess. Thus, the Bal- She watched her body, the land, of wolves whose hunting song would ance was maintained. change with the passing of years, yet so strike terror into the hearts of lesser The Beast called its own followers slowly that it always seemed to remain creatures, and whose cruel jaws would who rose, dripping, from the sea to the same from year to year. She gave end the lives of many a helpless doe and crawl forth on land. The firbolgs birth to lakes and low marshes became unwary rabbit. claimed the Moonshaes as their own, grassy fields. Mountains slipped slowly, For the Balance demanded that life be ruthlessly slaying any who stood in eroding into the valleys below, while countered by death. And so the Pack their way. The ugly giants gradually rivers grew in size, becoming more roamed the Moonshaes, wild, singing, took to the land, forgetting their origins placid with the years. Occasionally a and free, as the goddesss agents of in the sea, and spread across the Moon- river would change its course, racing death. shaes with relentless strength. eagerly along a new path until the pass- As time passed, more and more ani- The dwarves and the Llewyrr mar- ing of the centuries pacified its turbu- mals arrived to populate the rugged, shalled their forces to stand against the lent ways. yet peaceful isles. The most serious threat of the giants and the Beast. For The goddess could see the isles threats to the land were the winter many decades, war wracked the isles, through the Moonwells, windows she storms that swept off of the Trackless but finally the firbolgs were driven in to created in the land. Each Moon well was Sea, scouring the weak and the frail small corners of the isles, where they a clear, placid pool of cool water that lay from the islands, leaving the strong to were carefully watched by the protec- in a secluded grove or remote mountain multiply and prosper Thus, even the tors of the Balance. glen. Through the Moonwells, the god- storms played their role in maintaining For centuries this remained the way dess watched her world take shape, the Balance. of the Moonshaes. Little changed, for and she watched it grow and change. Then one day the Llewyrr arrived. the Llewyrr and the firbolgs were not And finally, she watched the coming The elvenfolk came over the sea, per- builders, and the work of the dwarves of life to her world. haps interrupted in some mysterious progressed mainly underground. And She remembers times, long past, journey toward places even farther thus it might have remained for all when the only creatures upon the isles west. They claimed the Moonshaes as time, but for the coming of man. were her children. The great leviathan their own. They lost touch with their The first humans arrived from the was the first of her offspring to come kin throughout the Realms, and passed south, sailing slow but seaworthy cora- upon the shores of the Moonshaes, its peaceful centuries of pastoral solitude. cles from an unknown land. These men great, gray back breaking the surface Later came the dwarvesmysterious fled a mighty foe and erected fortresses of the Sea of Moonshae like a freshly folk who seemed to sprout from the and palisades to protect themselves. rising island, as broad and solid as a ground itself, for the goddess does not But whatever they feared, it did not small land mass. For many years, the recall their arrival. They lived in peace pursue them here. spuming cloud of the leviathans breath with the Llewyrr, for the dwarves More and more of the men arrived, was the only sign of animal life along shunned most of the surface world. soon claiming most of the large isle of the gravelly shores and deep firths of Those places they inhabited were bar- Alaron as their own. Grudgingly, the the islands rugged shorelines. ren and rockyterrain the Llewyrr Llewyrr moved aside, withdrawing to Then came the unicorn, Kamerynn, had no wish to populate. the wilder reaches of the isles. But it whose snowy mane flashed through And then, in the heart of a cruel win- seemed that the human arrivals would the fields and glens of the isles. The ter, the Moonshaes felt the first heavy never stop, as word spread of a place mighty creature lived first on Gwyn- tread of the beast. where none need fear the tyrants boot neth, but then on Alaron, Moray, and The mother knew not whether it or the evil sorcerers spell. other islands until finally it had dwelled emerged from the storm-tossed sea or The people who came to the Moon- upon all of the isles. Legends say that from the depths of some seething ocean shaes called themselves just that: the the offspring of the unicorn, the horses, of lava far beneath her skin. She knew People or in the language of the isles, roam all of the Moonshaes because of only that the monster stalked the land the Ffolk. The Ffolk prospered, and the wanderings of their ancestor with foul purpose, grievously threaten- their cities grew. They spread to Gwyn- But the goddess required Balance ing the Balance. neth, to Moray and Snowdown, andin 4 lesser numbersto the more barren Realms. But the northmen