Nesmé

Nesmé was a small frontier city located in the Savage Frontier of northwest Faerûn, lying by the River Surbrin.

Geography
Nesme sat beside the River Subrin. The dangerous Lurkwood forest rested in the north. To the north and west were plains and hills inhabited by many Uthgardt barbarian tribes. The Evermoors lay to the southeast. The road to the south led to Mornbryn's Shield in the Surbrin Hills.

Structure
In 1484 DR, Nesme's wall was about the size of two ogres stacked on top of each other. It was 15 feet from the battlement to the ground.

Population
The city normally had a population of approximately 6,000 people, but this could rise by up to 50% during high trade season. However, following the raids by trolls and the frost giants, the population plummeted to under 2,000 people by the end of 1372 DR.

In late 1484 DR, after the city was taken by the forces of Many-Arrows, only 600 of the original population remained, all as prisoners.

Locations
The temple of Waukeen in Nesmé was a round building with four stories, with a peaked roof supported by wooden beams. It was not damaged in the sacking of the city in 1370 DR. The church was on the rise again since Waukeen's return that year.
 * Temple of Waukeen:

The House of the Wise Unicorn was a rental club run by Nistlor Lothlyn.
 * House of the Wise Unicorn:

In 1484 DR, Torch was a tavern and inn in the southwestern part of the city, with staircase leading directly to a southern parapet of the city wall. Many adventurers stayed there.
 * Torch:

The First Speaker's Hall was the seat of government.
 * First Speaker's Hall:

Economy
Nesmé's economy was based mostly around trade, and focused on investing in defense of the city and its people. Almost all goods bound for the west and from the west passed through Nesmé.

Nesmé was known for its exceptional steel.

Government
The city was ruled by a First Speaker and dominated by its merchants.

In 1372 DR, the First Speaker was Tessarin Alaurun. The High Priestess Jygil Zelnartha managed the local church of Waukeen. Though both the merchants and the church focused heavily on Nesmé's welfare and both focused on wealth, they often stood in opposition. However, their disputes were kept to a minimum when Nesmé suffered from external threats.

Circa 1372 DR, Eregund Walen commanded the Riders of Nesmé. Galen Firth, leader of the Riders, was in charge of day-to-day affairs, taking on the role of Mayor, presumably while First Speaker Tessarin Alaurun took care of the more important issues.

Militia
The Riders of Nesmé were an effective military force that defended Nesmé against its enemies. With peace rare, the Riders swiftly became experienced veterans. But after years of attacks by trolls and giants, by 1374 DR, the Riders had been reduced greatly in strength and numbers.

Nesmé's leaders encouraged adventurers to come and stay in their city and fight off the trolls and giants, provided they behaved themselves. Those who were not were escorted out by the Riders. As a result, Nesmé was a great base for adventurers looking for action.

Pre-Spellplague
Around 1368 DR, the population of Nesmé experienced a dramatic fall with an equally dramatic rise in the number of troll and orc attacks. A group of adventurers discovered that fog and cloud giants had moved into the Evermoors, driving the former inhabitants, the trolls, out of the moors. It reached a climax in 1370 DR, as an army of trolls invaded and ruined Nesmé. They were driven out by an army of dwarves from Mithral Hall and Mirabar.

After this, Nesmé had to rely on its own defenses, as the cities of the Silver Marches were forced to refocus their forces northward, along the frontier with the newly established Kingdom of Many-Arrows. In the face of repeated giant raids and the threat that the trolls might one day regroup, Nesmé's First Speaker, Tessarin Alaurun, stretched her finances to pay the Riders of Nesmé and maintain a small force of Uthgardt barbarian mercenaries.

With the expenditure of considerable time and resources, Alustriel and Silverymoon decided to have Nesmé rebuilt into a town of both larger and grander proportions. First, the remnant of the Riders and a large detachment of Knights in Silver drove the trolls deep into the Trollmoors, making the surrounding roads the safest they'd been in over a decade. Then, refugees displaced from homes lost to the orcs were encouraged to go to Nesmé to aid in the reconstruction. This had the effect of increasing Nesmé's population to around twice that of what it was before the siege. These people spent the entire winter of 1371 DR to 1372 DR building new structures that greatly outshone the old ones in both durability and size and erecting a double wall that surrounded the place, especially fortified and manned on the border of the Evermoors. Contingents of Riders and Knights patrolled the streets regularly and the town was never been finer, a startling difference to those who knew the place either before or during the troll siege.

Post-Spellplague
In 1484 DR, the city's First Speaker was Jolen Firth. Nesmé was one of the first cities to fall under siege by the orcs of the Kingdom of Many-Arrows (spurred on by the drow matron mother Quenthel Baenre through the restored House Do'Urden). The Companions of the Hall, including Drizzt Do'Urden and Athrogate, spent several weeks defending the city, but left in an attempt to aid other regions. Soon after their departure, the city was beset by orcs and the white dragon Arauthator. The city fell; the 600 survivors, including First Speaker Jolen Firth and Rider of Nesmé Giselle Malcomb, were taken prisoner. The drow Tiago and Saribel Baenre were declared "Duke and Duchess of Nesmé."

Novels

 * Streams of Silver
 * The Orc King
 * Rise of the King