Mere of Dead Men

The Mere of Dead Men (or Merdelain, meaning "Slow Marching Court" in Elvish) is a salt swamp roughly 100 miles long by 30 miles wide, located south of Neverwinter along the Sword Coast. Named for the thousands of Dwarves, Elves & Humans of the Fallen Kingdom who were slain here by an invading Orc army.

It was created in 615 DR after the armies of Phalorm had been overrun by an orc horde. The few who had rallied made their stand at a tower belonging to Iniarv, former mage royal of Uthtower who had, unknown to all, turned to lichdom. The orcs enraged the mighty mage who threw spell after devastating spell at the horde, but such was the size of it, their numbers eventually outlasted Iniarv's magics and invaded the tower. Iniarv escaped to Uthtower where king Uth VII pleaded with him to remember his vows and destroy the orcs. Iniarv agreed but did so in a way appropriate to a mighty undead mage. He raised the level of the ocean and flooded the entire region, drowning not only orcs but also the humans and other species that lived there. When the waters receded all that was left was a saltwater swamp. The surviving orcs retreated to the Sword Mountains where their descendants would eventually found Uruth Ukrypt while the last survivors of Uthtower fled from the area.

The swamp grew larger and Iniarv released the creatures created by his magical experiments into the swamp. Attempts to resettle the drier high ground repeatedly met with failure due to the pervasive waters and in 631 DR the dragon Ebondeath laid claim to the area. Thus the mere saw little in the way of humanoids for around three centuries. The Ebondeath Sect of the Cult of the Dragon gathered around him after their leader died but collaped around 300 years later in 1358 DR when Myrkul was destroyed.

When Myrkul's avatar was destroyed over the Sea of Swords at that time, fragments of bone dust were, perhaps by chance, perhaps by design, carried north and entered the waters of the Mere. This dust animated some of the drowned corpses of the orcs and people of Uthtower into a variety of lesser undead creatures. They have displaced many of the living residents of the swamp, though they lack any kind of direction, having no greater undead or necromancer to lead them.

Locations near the Mere of Dead Men

 * Weeping Willow Inn
 * West Harbor
 * High Road

Appearances

 * Neverwinter Nights 2