Anauroch


 * For the ancient British nation, see Rheged.

Anauroch, also called The Great Sand Sea, is a magical desert in the fictional fantasy setting of the Forgotten Realms.

The desert is a remnant of the once-powerful Netheril Empire. It is presently inhabited by the Bedines, magically transported there from Zakhara as well as the vicious asabi and the dreaded phaerimms and, since very recently, by the archwizards of Shade.

Elminster has said of Anauroch that "It is not a natural desert, and it is not all hot sands." In fact it is three deserts. The hot, dry desert of sand dunes which most folk imagine all Anauroch to be like is known as "the Sword" and actually makes up only roughly the southern third of the region. North of that lies a region of wind-scoured bare rock, called "the Plain of Standing Stones" despite very little of it being flat plain. The most northerly region is a vast sheet of ice overlying bedrock and marked with many rifts named "the High Ice."

Empire of Shadows
The Empire of Shadows is nebulous country in southern Anauroch, mainly consisting of whatever territory the City of Shade controls at any given time. The Shadovar are currently striving to make the Empire of Shadows into a cohesive and permanent nation.

Hlaungadath
Hlaungadath is one of the three floating cities that Mystra saved during the destruction of Netheril. It is a city that landed near the High Ice and was eventually abandoned. The drow in the War of the Spider Queen series arrive here by means of a portal. They are forced to flee after they are set upon by lamias (humanoid lions that work magic) and their legions of asabis.

Reghed
Reghed, or High Ice, is a frozen wasteland located on a plateau in northern Anauroch.

Official Material

 * Brief description by Ed Greenwood
 * Empire of Shadows
 * Shadovar, Shades, and the City of Shade
 * Netheril, the Archwizards, and the Return of Shade
 * Reghed
 * Frostburn

Portals

 * At'ar's Portal Collection, in the Azirrhat
 * The Parched Portal, in the Plain of Standing Stones
 * The Sand Dragon Portal, close to the Empire of Shadows
 * The Portal of the Dead
 * The Slaves' Escape Portal
 * Hlaungadath
 * The Lost Portal at Hlaungadath
 * Reghed
 * The Cavern in the High Ice connected to Thay
 * The High Ice leads to The Sea of Moving Ice

Specific prestige classes

 * Empire of Shadows
 * Netherese Arcanist

Specific template

 * Empire of Shadows
 * Shade

Novels and Modules

 * Empire of Shadows
 * Return of the Archwizards Trilogy