Tashalar

Tashalar was a small, exotic country located on a strip of coast along the southern Shining Sea. It lay just east of the Chult peninsula, and west of the magic realm of Halruaa. It was famous for beautiful weather, beautiful people, excellent crossbows, and the richest wine producing region in the world.

Life and Society
The small city-states in Tashalar were home to various wealthy mercantile families who lived quite lavishly. In essence they ruled the country through various merchant consortiums. Commoners of the region typically made their living working in the fields, groves or vineyards of these merchants' estates. Failing this, they could commonly find work as sailors, shipwrights, sail makers and provisioners, all contributing to the trade of the region's goods.

Hunting was a popular sport in Tashalar as there were many deadly creatures to be found in the jungles. The indigenous spicy foods were quite popular, as were strong wines and a tart fruit called yhaumarind, all of which was popular dining fare. Tashlans obsess over the future; nearly every adult owned a deck of cards or plaques that they could be found poring over for personal divinations, often calling to the deity Savras. Most decks were made of wood or vellum. Wealthier people may have had decks carved from ivory or other exotic materials.

The Tashalar was part of the Lapal League. The major city centers to the south and east of the Shining Sea shared a common history dating back to the time of the Sarrukh Empires of old. Today, the Lapal League shared little more than a non-aggression pact and an interest in trade.

The other unifying factor was a general distrust of arcane magic users. A long, costly feud between several wizards attempting to dominate the region was still fresh in the minds of the people who had to rebuild their spell-ravaged cities. "Magic used is magic abused" is a common saying in the Tashalar. It should be noted that this attitude did not apply to divine magic.

Jungles

 * Black Jungles: Jungles of many yuan-ti tribes, at least one of which who was allied with the Rundeen consortium.
 * Mhair Jungles: Jungles that were home to scattered yuan-ti and some tribes of wild dwarves.

Mountains

 * Hazuk Mountains: The mountains of the Tashalar were rich in gold and iron. Stone giants laired in these mountains. They occasionally bargained knowledge of ore veins for dragon turtle meat. A Beshaban cult operated a gold mine in the western hills. Those convicted of serious crimes in the Tashalar toiled at hard labor and ran the gauntlet of deadly obstacle courses for the amusement of the Beshabans and their rich patrons. Sarixa sar Beshaba, a tiefling descendant of the goddess, rules the cult. Rumors abound that the Beshabans were using the mine as a cover for their search for Tyche's Deck. An artifact of the former goddess of luck, the placards were lost during a volcano eruption in the distant past.

Cities

 * Tashluta: The capital of Tashalar and the main point of arrival of nearly all outsiders to Tashalar.

Official Material

 * Brief description by Ed Greenwood