Vaasa

Vaasa was an isolated and untamed land located in the Cold Lands of northeast Faerûn. It was the seat of power for the famed Zhengyi the Witch-King in the mid 14 century DR, and it was ruled by the Warlock Knights of Vaasa as of the late 15 century DR.

Description
Vaasa was a relatively empty and inhospitable land of rolling hills, frozen wastes, meager grasslands, and open tundra with sporadic farms and the occasional wandering monster. It was always cold, with frigid and dry winds blowing off the Great Glacier to the north and winters bringing deep freezes. In the summers, frigid waters from melting ice turned much of the tundra into mud. As a result of this harsh environment, the Vaasan people were known to be a tough and close-knit folk who were unashamed to rely on everything and everyone they could to help them survive.

Geography
Vaasa was the westernmost realm of the so-called Cold Lands. It was bordered on the north by the Great Glacier and surrounded on the south by the arc of the Galena and West Galena Mountains. Bloodstone Pass allowed access through the Galenas to Damara in the east, and these two nations were collectively known as the Bloodstone Lands. The West Galenas separated Vaasa from the lands of the Moonsea North to the west and the from the Moonsea itself to the south.

Most folk who settled in Vaasa did so in the Sunderland region in the southeast where they had access to both the gem and metal rich Galena Mountains as well as workable soil for raising crops and livestock. This region was dominated by the towns of Darmshall and Maur-Eturo. As of the late 15 century DR, much of the remainder of the population lived in the city of Palischuk in the Ostraland region to the northeast or in the city of Telos in the central highlands.

Geographical Features
Vaasa was a realm of tundra, taking the form of moorlands in the west, wasteland in the north, and plains in the south.

Every summer, the Great Glacier continued its retreat, inundating the tundra with icemelt and turning the land into mud, especially in the western moors where the Bottomless Bogs formed. This morass of muddy swampland was seasonal during the 14 century DR, but over the decades it became a permanent feature of the landscape. What icemelt had not seeped into the mud found its way into the Beaumaris River, which meandered from the Bogs through the central highlands at the bottom of a great gorge, known as the Clefts of Razack, before arriving in the eastern lowlands and exiting Vaasa through Bloodstone Pass. The river bisected the realm with the arid badlands of the Cinnabar Wastes in the north and the short grass steppes of Haatar-Baen and the Sunderland in the south.

Because the Great Glacier kept melting, the northern border of Vaasa kept shifting northward. Between the 14 and 15 centuries DR, the labyrinthine ice formations known as the Ice Run melted away, adding the Lugsaas Chain Mountains to the landscape.

Flora & Fauna
Little grew naturally in Vaasa save for the grasses of the southern steppes. There were no forests, and what few clumps of trees could be found were as often dead as alive. While the grassy plain of the Sunderland in the southeast was decently fertile and could support agriculture and ranching, the southwestern grasslands along the West Galena Mountains were locally known as the Bleak Steppes of Haatar-Baen because the soil was tainted and everything that grew in the area was inevitably poisonous.

The land was inhospitable to all but the most hardy animals (notably brown and ghost rothé as well as caribou and elk ) and monsters. Giantkin were common all across Vaasa, as were orcs, goblinoids, and yeti. Whitespawn iceskidders, winter wolves, and polar bears were common near the mountains and the Glacier to the north, as were remorhaz, so much so that hunting and killing a remorhaz was considered a right of passage among the White Worm barbarian tribe. The eastern and central badlands were home to chromatic dragons, bulettes, and similarly foul creatures. In the south, leucrotta stalked the steppes while blue dragons, cave trolls, and owlbears haunted the mountains. Vaasans were known to tame the local griffons as mounts.

Government
For much of its existence, Vaasa was largely unclaimed and lawless outside of a few close-knit communities, and even when claimed by one kingdom or another, much of the land was devoid of civilization. It was conquered and ruled for a decade in the mid 14 century DR by the tyrannical Zhengyi the Witch-King before returning to its frontier status through the rest of the mid-to-late 14 century DR.

From sometime in the late 14 century DR through the mid 15 century DR, Vaasa was a barony of the Kingdom of Bloodstone, ruled by Gareth Dragonsbane and his heirs.

The Warlock Knights
As of the late 15 century DR, Vaasa was a feudal society in which all power rested with the Warlock Knights. Anyone who was not a member of the Knights was considered a lowly serf or a slave. All landowning nobility were members of the Knights called Fellthanes, who exercised total control over their fiefdoms and the people living within them. These fellthanes in turn were vassals of more powerful Knights known as Vindicators. At the top of the hierarchy were the twelve most powerful Vindicators who made up the Ironfell Council along with the Voice of Telos, the leader of the Warlock Knights and thus the de facto ruler of Vaasa.

The seat of the Warlock Knights' power was Telos City, where the Ironfell Council deliberated on matters of state within the grand Citadel of the Iron Sky. As these councilors had to journey from their holdings across Vaasa, they held court infrequently and often for no more than a total of five days out of each month.

Trade
Vaasa was a land rich in mineral resources. The Galenas were full of iron, silver, and copper as well as gemstones, including emerald and ruby but especially bloodstone. These made up the bulk of Vaasa's exports along with a comparatively minor business in trapping and fur trading.

As much of the land remained unclaimed, there were many prospectors who came to Vaasa seeking its natural treasures in the mid-to-late 14 century DR. Trade was almost exclusively conducted through the Vaasan Gate of Bloodstone Pass, where the Kingdom of Damara had ensured that merchants would pay fair market prices for Vaasan goods and gems. Barter was also extremely common as the tools and supplies for survival could be far more valuable than gold to the average Vaasan. While some trade also occurred across the West Galenas to the Moonsea via Garumn's Climb, more often than not this route was seldom used unless there were problems with the usual trade routes through Damara. Behind mining, the most profitable business in Vaasa at this time was likely bounty hunting.
 * 14 Century

Vaasa's major imports at this time were weapons and food. Vaasan farming was limited, and so grain was imported from Impiltur. However, some farmers did sell their produce to the Damarans at the Vaasan Gate. Both the nars and sosser breeds of horse were common on Vaasan farms.

By the late 15 century DR, the Warlock Knights had transformed the Vaasan Gate into the "Iron Divide," completely sealing the Pass and using the Gate solely as a military fortification. With Bloodstone Pass no longer a viable trade route, the Knights had to look elsewhere, not only to export Vaasan goods but also to import the basic necessities that the harsh landscape of Vaasa was not able to produce, such as food and lumber. The route through Garumn's Climb was available, and soon a great deal of wealth moved through it and along the road to Ilinvur. However, this was seen as too long and too dangerous to be sustainable, even after incorporating the Beaumaris River between Moortown and Kond as part of the imports route. To solve the problem of losing the eastern route through the Galenas, the High Walk was the shortest option, and Palischuk became the biggest trade hub in the realm. Despite hostilities between the two realms, at least some trade continued between Damara and merchant guilds in Vaasa. To solve the need for a faster route to the Moonsea, the Knights opened Gramble's Climb in the spring of 1480 DR for a direct link between southeastern Vaasa and Hulburg.
 * 15 Century

During this time, farming and ranching flourished in Darmshall and Maur-Eturo. Meat and milk were produced from large herds of rothé and krotter.

The Warlock Knights minted their own currency in Telos City using alloys of traditional precious metals with ironfell. The copper-based coins were called nubs, the silver-based coins were called dirks, and the gold-based coins were called anvils. Platinum was not minted into coins but was instead exchanged in thin ingots worth 50 anvils.

Culture
Vaasan people had a bad reputation for ruthlessness, and while it was certainly true that their culture was largely informed by the harshness of the land, it was tempered by the influence of Damaran culture from across the Galenas. Vaasans viewed themselves as frontierspeople who prioritized adapting and surviving in their environment. They were hardy and wary of dangers, but also supportive of each other and happy to welcome good-intentioned new members to their communities, such as when they embraced the half-orc settlers of Palischuk in the mid-to-late 14 century.

As with most nations in the so-called Demonlands, Vaasa used the Impilturan Calendar and spoke the Damaran language, although in particular they spoke a guttural creole language unique to Vaasa based in Damaran, Dwarvish, and Common. Many Vaasans also spoke some Dwarvish, Orcish, Chondathan, or Uluik, and knowing Goblin, Giant, or even Abyssal was not unheard of.

Arcane magic was mistrusted but not unfamiliar to the people of Vaasa. With the rise of the Warlock Knights, however, the the practice of magic became strictly regulated as the Knights feared it could be used against them. Thus, any who wished to study magic had to first swear lifelong loyalty to the Knights as a nishaadhri (meaning "bound one"), which entailed becoming a warlock of Telos.

Feudal Hierarchy
During the latter half of the 15 century, the frontier-like spirit of Vaasa would be overshadowed by the oppressive class system put in place by the Warlock Knights. Only high-ranking Knights were entitled to own land, and all others served them either as lower-ranking Knights, serfs, or slaves. Lower-ranking Knights ranged from the equivalent of landless nobility to conscripted serfs, and even these lowliest of indentured infantry saw the benefits of merely being associated with the Knights as compared to being just a serf.

Anyone not associated with the Knights was automatically considered a serf in the eyes of the law, and even the lowliest of Warlock Knights had the right to kill a serf on the spot. These people toiled on the Knights' land, barely scraping by, and lived in much worse conditions than most common folk across Faerûn. The serfs themselves were further stratified by race. Nearly all of the Warlock Knights were human, and non-human serfs were considered even lesser in their eyes. This predominantly included the dwarves, half-orcs, and orcs of Vaasa, as well as the "scamps," a derogatory term for any of the more diminutive races, including goblins, kobolds, and halflings.

Finally, the lowest rung on the ladder were the slaves. Most non-human inhabitants of Vaasa were enslaved, although there was nothing stopping the Knights from enslaving whomever they wished within their domain. Slave labor was the driving force behind the mining operations that generated most of Vaasa's wealth and slaves were used as the bulk of the Warlock Knights' armies.

Religion
In general, Vaasans cared little for the religion of their neighbors, which allowed many faiths, even less reputable ones, to flourish in the 14 century DR. Gods like Talos, Tiamat, Auril, Bane, and Cyric had notable followings, and one of the legacies of Zhengyi the Witch-King was an enduring population of Orcus worshipers led by the Cult of the Goat's Head. As for good or lawful deities, Tyr had a following and Ilmater was particularly popular given that hardship and suffering were endemic to life in Vaasa, with the Ilmatari faith being encouraged by Gareth Dragonsbane and the Order of the Golden Cup. Thanks to the large populations of orcs and half-orcs, worship of the orc pantheon was quite common, and likewise the longtime presence of the dwarves meant that the Morndinsamman were popular as well. Worship of the stone giant god Skoraeus Stonebones was unusually common among the goblinoids and giantkin of the Galenas.

With the rise of the Warlock Knights came a crackdown on religion, and worship of gods like Ilmater was banned among the serfs. In places like Telos City, no temples were permitted and no worship of any deities was allowed. These faiths were replaced with a state religion that venerated Telos, the entity from which the Warlock Knights drew their powers. This faith was presided over by a sect of warlock priests called the Luminaries, led by the Voice of Telos, who held quasi-religious services and maintained shrines to Telos, such as in the Citadel of the Iron Sky in Telos City. Despite this suppression of religion, worship of some gods continued in secret. Ilmater remained popular among the serfs, Bane had a following among the Warlock Knights, and a priest of Auril named Amgrel Vlorund plotted to spread the religious and political power of his goddess's church in Vaasa by corrupting members of the Knights.

Defenses
Vaasa's strongest defensive asset was the land itself. Winters were harsh enough to destroy an army outright and summers brought on sucking mud that made marches arduous. The region was protected by the Galena mountains, making the passes through those mountains strategically important to the land's defense (although more often these served to defend Vaasa's neighbors from Vaasa itself). The most strategically important site was the Vaasan Gate, a massive military instillation at the entrance to Bloodstone Pass. Vaasan cities tended to be fortresses built to keep out the land's monsters and outlast the long winters. Owing to the ever present dangers, most Vaasans in the 14 century DR had some training as fighters and were familiar with the use of splint mail and the heavy or light mace. During the reign of Gareth Dragonsbane in the mid-to-late 14 century DR, the lands were well patrolled by Damaran soldiers and mercenaries.

During the reign of the Warlock Knights in the 15 century DR, Vaasa was defended by their fearsome standing armies bolstered by conscripted infantry and slave soldiers. They maintained large garrisons at the Vaasan Gate (then called the Iron Divide), Telos City, Darmshall, and the ruins of Bloodstone City. The Knights led these forces themselves, and were fearsome individual combatants.

Early History
In the mythic past, the lands that would one day be Vaasa were part of the giant empire of Ostoria. The area was always known to be rich in gemstones, and the dwarves established mining settlements in the region, including the twin mines of Delhalls and Talagbar. In the year, the continual expansion southwards of the Great Glacier covered Vaasa and its neighbors with thick ice, driving out the inhabitants. In the, the Glacier began steadily melting, starting a centuries-long retreat northward that freed Vaasa, Damara, and Narfell from the ice for the first time in millennia.

At this time, the edges of the Glacier were inhabited by tribes of nomadic humans, including the White Worm tribe, and as the ice melted they were followed by dwarven clans who settled the Galena Mountains. They were followed by a migration of humans of Netherese and Chondathan descent, mostly from the Moonsea. These waves of settlers swiftly pushed Vaasa's native herds of mammoth further and further east until there were no more left.

For the first two centuries after the Glacier began retreating, Vaasa had little contact with or relevance to the rest of the Realms aside from serving as an inhospitable northern route for Damaran caravans to reach the Moonsea. Vaasa was often ignored by scholars and assumed by most to be an uncivilized frozen wasteland. During this time, Vaasa was inhabited mostly by hunters, trappers, subsistence farmers, Dwarven miners, and nomadic tribes of humanoids. That said, there was a culture of arcane if not scholarly tradition in Vaasa. In 1141 DR, a cabal of Vaasan wizards raised the Ice Castle in the Lugsaas Mountains where they experimented with creating a new school of magic based on cold. The wizards and their castle disappeared in 1148 DR when a massive earthquake rocked northern Vaasa, thought to have been caused by the slumbering god Ulutiu. Additionally, Vaasa was home to the great explorer Palus Frohm, who launched a 20 year expedition to the Great Glacier starting in the. Based on this experience, he wrote the definitive guide to arctic regions, 'Blood and Ice: Survival in the Great Glacier'.

The 14 Century DR
Vaasa's reputation would be forever changed in the when the lich Zhengyi the Witch-King appeared. He raised Castle Perilous over the course of a single night, immediately claimed sovereignty of Vaasa, and began recruiting evil Vaasans, monstrous humanoids, magical beasts &mdash;including many chromatic dragons &mdash;as well as raising an army of undead towards his cause of conquest. Within a year, he had full control of the region and had invaded neighboring Damara in what would come to be known as the Vaasan War. In the, after ten years of war, he slew the Damaran king, Virdin Bloodfeathers, and seized control of Damara. However, Zhengyi himself would be defeated two years later in the Bloodstone Wars of the, when Gareth Dragonsbane and a company of adventurers stormed Castle Perilous and severed Zhengyi's link to Orcus, thus breaking the power of his undead armies. Despite his defeat and the destruction of Castle Perilous, Zhengyi's legacy and fears of his possible return continued to pollute the area for over a century.

With the defeat of the Witch-King, Vaasa returned to a land of independent settlers, but next two decades were a period of explosive growth in Vaasa. The Great Glacier continued to recede, revealing the ancient dwarven mines of Delhalls and Talagbar, and the land became known as a destination for prospectors looking for mineral wealth, leading the population to spike from about 8,000 in 1359 DR to over 140,000 in 1372 DR. All the while, Vaasa was known to be dangerous and full of monsters and threats, including remnants of the Witch-King's armies, an evil priest claiming to be the "son and heir" of Zhengyi, and a growing presence of worshipers of Tiamat at Castle Perilous. Gareth Dragonsbane, who had become King of Damara, made great efforts to fortify Bloodstone Pass against future incursions from Vaasa, including building the Vaasan Gate and offering huge bounties for evil humanoids and bandits from the region. Much of this effort was in service to pacifying the region in order to add it to his Kingdom of Bloodstone, which had been a goal of his since he united Damara. This began to bear fruit when Palischuk all but swore fealty to his kingdom outright circa the, when he defeated a rival claim to the area from Bregan D'aerthe.

The most serious threat to Gareth Dragonsbane's growing power in Vaasa came in the, when Sammaster, leader of the Cult of the Dragon, masqueraded as a returned Zhengyi. This false Witch-King rallied an army of monstrous humanoids, giants, and raging dragons, and his horde seized the Vaasan Gate in a single night, then invaded Damara. While this Witch-King was defeated quickly, it took many months to route the remains of his army and to reclaim the Vaasan Gate.

At some point soon after, Gareth Dragonsbane annexed the region into his kingdom as the Barony of Vaasa to create the unified Kingdom of Bloodstone.

At some point in the early 1370s DR, Gareth Dragonsbane appointed Rannek of Nesmé, Zhai of Cedarleaf, and Illius of Silverymoon as the first rulers of Vaasa.

The 15 Century DR
During the rule of the Dragonsbanes, Vaasa was a peaceful if still largely inhospitable land. It continued to draw immigrants, especially from Impiltur. During this time, the Great Glacier would continue its retreat northwards to beyond the Lugsaas Chain Mountains, freeing the ruins of the ancient giant kingdom of Kultaakarr from the ice.

This relatively peaceful time in Vaasa began to change with the emergence of the Warlock Knights sometime after the Spellplague, who began subjugating small settlements of peasants and conscripting evil humanoids. The Knights then marshaled an army of conscripts, slaves, and monsters in 1459 DR, and began open rebellion in the.

Over the next decade of war, the Warlock Knights would brutally conquer Vaasa, culminating in the, when they captured the Bloodstone capital city and razed it to the ground. With this, they sealed Bloodstone Pass and declared independence, thus splintering the Kingdom of Bloodstone back into Vaasa and Damara. However, this did not end the Knights' violence, and in 1470 DR, they attacked the dwarves of the Galena Mountains, forcing them to abandon Bloodstone Mines and to barricade Hillsafar Hall. By this point, their conquests had driven thousands of Vaasan people and humanoids from their homes, and with Bloodstone Pass closed, these refugees gathered in tent cities or sought refuge in the Knights' own capital of Telos.

Under the Warlock Knights, Vaasa was structured as a feudal system with the majority of the human population in serfdom and much of the non-human population in slavery or indentured servitude. By the, all nobles and landowning lords in Vaasa were members of the Knights.

Inhabitants
Vaasa was a land with two distinct populations. The first were the more civilized folk, including Vaasan and Damaran humans in the Sunderland and southern cities, half-orcs and Sossrim humans in Palischuk to the north, and shield dwarves in the mountains. These folk were largely farmers, trappers, and miners. The second were the nomadic tribes who populated the mountains and the wilds, mostly consisting of barbarians, grey orcs, goblinoids, and giants. These nomadic and tribal humanoids vastly outnumbered the civilized folk by as much as 25-to-1 in the mid-to-late 14 century DR, although their numbers dwindled dramatically under the rule of Gareth Dragonsbane, and many more were subsequently killed or enslaved under the Warlock Knights. Notable tribes of this time were the goblinoids of the Garuk One Ears and the humans of the White Worm tribe, the latter of whom continually moved north out of Vaasa following the retreating Great Glacier.

Vaasans tended to honor their promises, but they were not particularly honorable in general. They were persistent and sly hagglers with little sense of etiquette. Folk wore their hair and beards long, and often dressed in heavy furs. Owing to the harshness of their environment, they tended to be quite big and strong, and did not make much distinction between gender norms or roles. Vaasans took their romantic commitments very seriously, and interracial couplings were not uncommon. Marriages were referred to as "life pledges."

Notable Locations

 * Cities
 * Telos City, the capital of Vaasa and its largest city under the rule of the Warlock Knights.
 * Palischuk, a once-destroyed city rebuilt and occupied by half-orcs which had grown to be Vaasa's wealthiest and second largest city as a trade hub under the Warlock Knights.
 * Darmshall, a small fortress-village founded by the Tenblades adventuring company which grew to become Vaasa's third largest city under the Warlock Knights.


 * Settlements
 * Avang, a trade stopover on the western edge of Vaasa.
 * Fugue, a tent city of refugees trying to escape through Bloodstone Pass.
 * Hillsafar Hall, a heavily fortified Dwarven fortress that sat at the entrance to the mines of Clan Hillsafar.
 * Ishe, an outpost in Vaasa's far north.
 * Kond, a town and trade outpost built into the cliffs above the Beaumaris River.
 * Maur-Eturo, a ranching town located at the intersection of the main trade routes through Vaasa.
 * Modurt, a town inhabited largely by goblins.
 * Moortown, a settlement in the Bottomless Bogs located on the Beaumaris River.


 * Points of interest
 * The Black Holes of Sunderland, a network of monster-infested caves in the southeast.
 * Castle Perilous, the ruined former home of Zhengyi the Witch-King which mysteriously rejuvenated in 1477 DR.
 * Delhalls and Talagbar, twin Dwarven mines on opposite ends of Vaasa.
 * The Granite Tower, a secluded keep that served as the home of descendants of the Moor Eagle tribe.
 * The Vaasan Gate, a massive fortress at the entrance to Bloodstone Pass that was later called the Iron Divide.
 * Shrine of the Tear, a shrine built to house the Tear of Selûne following the Dawn Cataclysm.


 * Roads, passes, and waterways
 * The Beaumaris River, the main waterway which bisected the realm.
 * Bloodstone Pass, the critical route through the Galena Mountains connecting Vaasa to Damara.
 * Dead Man's Walk, the primary east-west route across Vaasa.
 * Garumn's Climb, a mountain pass which connected western Vaasa to the Moonsea North.
 * Gramble's Climb, a mountain pass which connected southern Vaasa to Hulburg on the Moonsea.
 * The High Walk, a mountain pass which connected northeastern Vaasa to Soravia in Damara.
 * The Howling Kupuk, a mountain pass which connected northeastern Vaasa to Alpuk.
 * The Ice Run, a series tunnels in the Great Glacier. After this section of the ice melted in the 15 century DR, the name was subsequently used for a pass connecting northern Vaasa to Alpuk.
 * Nigel's Ford, the primary crossing of the Beaumaris River in eastern Vaasa.
 * The Reach, a trail that headed north through the Great Glacier to Sossal.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * The Bloodstone Wars • The Throne of Bloodstone • The Bloodstone Lands • The Great Glacier: "Snow Baby"
 * Bloodstone Pass • The Mines of Bloodstone
 * Novels
 * The Rite • Promise of the Witch-King • Road of the Patriarch
 * The Summoning • The Siege • The Sorcerer • Sentinelspire • Swordmage • Corsair • Avenger • Hero
 * Short Stories
 * Realms of Shadow: "Darksword" • "If Ever They Happened Upon My Lair"
 * "That Curious Sword" • "Comrades at Odds"
 * Video Games
 * Pools of Darkness • Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone • Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear
 * "That Curious Sword" • "Comrades at Odds"
 * Video Games
 * Pools of Darkness • Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone • Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear
 * Pools of Darkness • Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone • Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear