Bloodstone Lands

The Bloodstone Lands were a part of the Cold Lands in northeast Faerûn which primarily encompassed Damara and Vaasa. They received their name from bloodstone, a precious gem mined throughout the region and which the nation of Damara used to establish itself as a major power in Faerûn.

Geography
The Bloodstone Lands region was roughly triangular in shape and had an area of around 150,000 square miles (388,500 km2). It was nestled between the Great Glacier to the north, the nation of Impiltur to the south, Thar and the Moonsea to the west (with the Galena Mountains and Earthspur Mountains acting as a natural border), and Narfell, the Great Dale and Thesk to the east.

The Bloodstone Lands were bisected by the Galena Mountains, which made the Bloodstone Pass through them vitally important to the region.

History
The early recorded history of the Bloodstone Lands begins with the prosperous rise of Damara as a nation in 1064 DR under the long unbroken line of Feldrin Bloodfeathers, the first King of Damara and founder of its capital Heliogabalus. Their prosperity depended entirely on their export of the valuable gem Bloodstone, a chalcedony found throughout the realms and particularly in the Barony of Bloodstone in Bloodstone Pass. The merchants of Damara took these precious gems to their neighbours, particularly westward to the Moonsea, where they found customers in Thesk, Sembia, Impiltur and other nations along the Sea of Fallen Stars. The people of the Bloodstone Lands enjoyed a time of peace, protected by their harsh natural environment, and the baronies grew ever richer.

The Rise of the Witch-King
The prosperity of the Bloodstone Lands was forever changed in one night when Zhengyi, the Witch-King, erected Castle Perilous in the nation of Vaasa in 1347 DR. The lich quickly took control of Vaasa and gathered to himself an army of goblins, giants and orcs, as well as formidable allies in the cult of Orcus, and the guild of the Grandfather of Assassins. Occupied with troubles of their own, including an awakened evil in the Bloodstone Mines and an early winter which destroyed crops, caused starvation, and brought packs of dire wolves marauding across the countryside, Damara were unaware of Zhengyi's quick ascension to power.

The very next year, the Witch-King's armies took Bloodstone Pass, cutting off Damara from its main supply of Bloodstone. They proceeded into Damara with incredible speed, but the people of Damara and Vaasa fought bravely, unassisted by their neighbours, who dealing with internal affairs of their own, offered little in the form of substantial aid. For ten years, the war raged, until it came to a head on the Ford of Goliad in 1357 DR, where neither army could gain the advantage.

Fooled by a traitorous lieutenant Felix, who tricked then King Virdin that his magical wand would enable safe passage across the river to gain the advantage on the Witch-King's armies, the Damarans marched into the waiting trap of Zhengyi and were swiftly defeated. Virdin himself was assassinated as he watched his army and nation fall, and it is widely believed that it was Felix who clutched the dagger.

Zhengyi would be defeated the following year by Gareth Dragonsbane and his companions, who stormed Castle Perilous, broke the source of the Witch-King's power, and thus ended the threat of his undead army.

The Kingdom of Bloodstone
Gareth Dragonsbane was crowned King of Damara shortly after his victory over Zhengyi. In the following decades, he focused on rebuilding his kingdom's economy and on fortifying Bloodstone Pass against potential threats from Vaasa, but he had also considered annexing Vaasa since he first took the throne. He pursued this goal by pacifying the region, relying heavily on adventurers lured by large bounties for local monsters and stragglers of Zhengyi's armies, and by winning the hearts and minds of the Vaasan people, first by expanding economic opportunities in the south via the Vaasan Gate and later by liberating the north when Bregan D'aerthe seized the area around Palischuk in the late 1360s DR. At some point before the end of his reign, Vaasa was indeed absorbed into Damara as a barony, thus extending Gareth's rule over the entirety of the Bloodstone Lands. The capital was moved to Bloodstone Village, which would be renamed as Bloodstone City, and the realm was referred to as the Kingdom of Bloodstone, often shortened to simply Bloodstone.

The reign of Gareth Dragonsbane and his heirs was generally peaceful until the rise of the Warlock Knights in Vaasa. This militaristic cult appeared shortly after a "falling star" landed in Vaasa during the Spellplague, and built its power by conscripting or killing Human, Dwarf, and evil Humanoid communities. In 1459 DR, the Warlock Knights took advantage of the political chaos created by the assassination of the ruling Queen of Bloodstone, Brianne Dragonsbane, to raise an army. In 1460 DR, they declared war on the kingdom of Bloodstone and began their conquest of Vaasa. In 1469 DR, they razed Bloodstone City to the ground and sealed Bloodstone Pass. Soon after, they claimed complete control of Vaasa and seceded from the Kingdom of Bloodstone, leading to the unified kingdom's collapse back into Vaasa and Damara. The two nations would then settle into a decades-long tense stalemate.