Sword Coast

The Sword Coast is a fictional region in Dungeons & Dragons-based Forgotten Realms campaign setting. It is a portion of the northwestern coast of Faerûn, and stretches from the city-state of Baldur's Gate, in the south, along the coast of the Sea of Swords, to city-state Waterdeep, and from Waterdeep further north to Neverwinter, Luskan, and Icewind Dale, the arctic and northernmost region of the Sword Coast.

The metropolises of Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate are not counted as part of the Sword Coast, instead Baldur's Gate lies in the Western Heartlands, while Waterdeep is an independent city-state.

Because of its quasi-lawless, "frontier" setting, being a place where all races can meet and interact, it has been the setting for many modules (especially those subtitled with the Savage Frontier name), as well as the MMORPG Neverwinter Nights (AOL, 1991-1997) and the computer games Neverwinter Nights (Bioware, 2002), Baldur's Gate, Gateway to the Savage Frontier and Treasures of the Savage Frontier.

Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast is the title of an expansion disc for the game Baldur's Gate.

Icewind Dale

 * For the Icewind Dale computer role-playing games, see Icewind Dale series

Icewind Dale is a sub-arctic region, along the northernmost part of the Sword Coast. It is famous because many events involving the drow hero, Drizzt Do'Urden, occurred here, chronicled in The Icewind Dale Trilogy, a series of fantasy novels by R. A. Salvatore.

Icewind Dale is an icy tundra and the northernmost explored area of Faerûn. Its only permanent settlements are known as the Ten Towns, a confederation of a number of minor settlements cooperating with each other. The region is mainly populated by fishermen, craftsmen, rangers, dwarves mining the deeps for minerals and precious stones, barbarians, and merchants who tolerate the hostile climate in the hope of trading in ivory and gems. The "capital" of the region is the town of Bryn Shander.

Another notable feature of Icewind Dale is Kelvin's Cairn, a mountain north of Ten Towns. It was in a cavern on the northern face of this mountain that Drizzt Do'Urden resided for some time as a sort of 'scout' for Ten Towns.

Luskan
Luskan, also known as the City of Sails, is a port city on the northernmost point of the Sword Coast. It is considered by most to be the furthest reach of civilization, the Spine of the World Mountains which mark what most believe to be the end of the known world (this is of course not true as the Ten Towns of Icewind Dale lie past them) being just a couple of hundred miles north of the city{[fact}}.

Built on the ruins of Illusk, which fell in 1244 DR to the orcs of the Bloody Tusks Tribe, Luskan has a very intriguing history. Most of its inhabitants, however, couldn't care less. Luskan is a port town frequented by pirates, thieves and other disreputable folk interested in only one thing: money. Although you could be murdered, mugged or kidnapped at any moment within its walls, Luskan is a very lucrative city. Pirates bring in their booty to be sold to the black market, northern traders frequent the place as a rest stop on their way to the aforementioned Ten towns during the warmer months, ready to buy exotic scrimshander ornaments, several taverns do a roaring trade in ale and other spirits, the drugs and slave trade are rife (although obviously sublimated) and information brokers and prostitutes ply their trade during the night-time.

The city was officially ruled by the five High Captains: Taerl, Baram, Kurth, Seljack and Rethnor, former pirate lords all. In the game Neverwinter Nights which is not considered canon, in the year 1373 DR the High Captains were either killed or forced to flee during a vicious civil war caused by a cultist named Maugrim, who planned on using Luskan's might against the city of Neverwinter.

The true power in the city actually resides in the Host Tower of the Arcane. The 130 loosely affiliated mages use the High Captains as puppet rulers, mostly keeping to themselves and working on their own magical experiments. They encourage the harassment of the trading routes of small cities such as Longsaddle, Mirabar and Neverwinter although they stay well clear of Waterdeep and Amn's routes. They also encourage local traders to treat travellers with disdain and suspicion, in the possibility that they may be spies for their enemies, often sending agents to follow strangers personally.

In The Orc King, it is alluded to by Drizzt Do'Urden that Luskan will fall within a century.

Mirabar
Mirabar is the mining center for the Sword Coast. The city's shield dwarves live underground to oversee their workshops. The humans above cooperate with the Dwarves to handle the mining, move the ore to market and defend the city against magical threats. The nominal ruler of Mirabar is a hereditary marchion, but the true power is in an assembly called the Council of Sparkling Stones, a Dwarven and Human group that meets once a year to determine target production quotas and whether or not to threaten current clients with reduced output.

The city itself stands on a knoll on the north banks of the river Mirar. It is linked by good roads to its major mines in the Spine of the World mountains. These mines yield up almost all known metals and gemstones so they are guarded against Orc and monster raids by a standing army, the axe of Mirabar. The craftsmen of Mirabar also work the stone and metals taken out of the mines, transporting the stone to Luskan magically (for an exorbitant cost) to be shipped to the south, the worthless stone is crushed to improve the city's roads. This means that the city is the richest city north of Waterdeep.

Neverwinter
Neverwinter, also known as the City of Skilled Hands, or the Jewel of the North, is regarded by many, including the erudite travel writer Volo, as the most cosmopolitan and the most civilized city in all of Faerûn, quite a reputation, considering the breadth and variety of the continent.

Ten Towns
The Ten Towns of Icewind Dale are a loose confederation of villages in the far North. Only one is really large enough to be called a town: Bryn Shander, the most central and largest town. It was because of this that the Ten Towns' council building was constructed there. The 9 other towns are built around the three lakes of Icewind Dale: Maer Dualdon, Lac Dinneshere and the smallest, Redwaters. The other towns are named Targos, Bremen, Termalaine, Lonelywood, Dougan's Hole, Good Mead, Caer-Konig, Caer-Dineval and Easthaven.

The area is out of the way enough that not many people even know it exists, thinking the world to end at the Spine of the World mountain range. Those that do know of the existence of Icewind Dale know it for knucklehead trout scrimshaw. The knucklehead trout is a fish unique to Icewind Dale's three lakes. Its ivory is the only real export of the region and is in great demand from the rich over the length and breadth of Faerûn. The ivory, though unimportant in itself, can be carved into magnificent sculptures in skilled hands.

Official Material

 * Luskan
 * The Luskan Portal, portal of The Moonstars
 * The Crest of Luskan