Damara

Damara is a scarcely populated kingdom in the Cold Lands of Northeast Faerûn. It is ruled by King Gareth Dragonsbane, and, with Vaasa, forms the Bloodstone Lands.

Forests
The Earthwood forest is a small forest known for its resilience, with trees growing back extremely quickly.

Mountains
The Galena Mountains is a jagged range of icy mountains that are largely inhabited by goblinoids and giants, but are also home to dwarves who mine the bloodstone, iron and silver deposits. Bloodstone Pass is the only pass through the Galena Mountains that is large enough for significant trade, linking Damara with neighbouring Vaasa to the west.

History
Damara's capital, Heliogabalus, was founded by Feldrin Bloodfeathers, the first King of Damara, around 1060 DR. It had a long line of monarchs until the death of King Virdin. During this time, Damara thrived on foreign trade, particularly through caravans to Ilmwatch in Impiltur and to the settlements on the Moonsea, through the gap between Rawlinswood and the Earthspur Mountains known as Merchants Run. Shipments of bloodstone were made throughout Traders Bay, and in Sarshel. Trade was also made through the Bloodstone Pass in the Galena Mountains, through the sparsely populated Vaasa, and through Garumn's Climb and beyond.

The Witch-King
In just one night in 1347 DR, Castle Perilous was created on a crag in northern Vaasa by the lich Zhengyi, and he claimed power in Vaasa, garnering the support of the goblins, giants and orcs, as well as creatures from other planes and the undead, and the Grandfather of Assassins.

In the same year, Wolf Winter struck Damara, in which the harvest was destroyed by early frosts, leading to widespread starvation, and dire wolves, some lycanthropes, spread into northern Damara. This coincided with an evil creature infesting the Bloodstone Mines, halting the mining operation that was responsible for almost half of Damara's bloodstone revenue and killing hundreds of miners.

In 1348 DR, the armies of the Witch-King Zhengyi occupied Bloodstone Pass and swept into Damara, massacring many Damarans and plunging the nation, along with Vaasa, into a decade of war. Narfell and Impiltur offered no help with the conflict on the grounds that they had their own problems to deal with.

A stalemate was reached in 1357 DR when King Virdin's Damaran army was involved in a standoff with Zhengyi's forces across the Ford of Goliad on the river of the same name. The stalemate lasted throughout the month of Kythorn (the source material gives "June" as the month but this is not on the Faerûnian calendar) until Virdin used a magic wand, believed to have been given to him by his chief lieutenant Felix, which he believed would allow his army to safely cross the river. It was a deception and Zhengyi's army had been waiting for this moment. They struck while much of Virdin's army was in the river, laying the decisive blow. Virdin, who was watching from a nearby hill, was assassinated by a dagger used by an unknown assassin, believed to have been Felix.

Notable Inhabitants
Gareth Dragonsbane Pavel Shemov Athrogate