Voonlar

Voonlar was a small farming town located between the Dalelands and the Moonsea. The town was Shadowdale's main rival in many ways.

Geography
Voonlar was a crossroads town located on the North Ride between Shadowdale and Teshwave where the Shind Road split off toward Yûlash. Most of the town's important buildings were found at the "Y" created where the two trails met, known as "the Throat." The town was on the edge of the northwestern arm of the Cormanthor forest, known locally as "Greentree." The surrounding non-wooded area was dotted with farms, some quite large and prosperous.

Government & Politics
Ostensibly, Voonlar was an independent town with a democratically elected sheriff called the Bron (possibly a corruption of "baron" ) who performed the duties of judge and enforcer. The Bron had six full-time deputies that kept the peace. They wore the symbol of Voonlar, five white coins in a circle, emblazoned on the back and over the breast of dark green jerkins.

From about 1355 DR until at least 1372 DR, the office of the Bron was held by Buorstag Hlammythyl who was widely known to be an agent of Zhentil Keep or subservient to them and thus the city was tacitly controlled by the Zhentarim. All six of the deputies were hand-picked and trained by the Zhentarim, who chose warriors with much more strength than ambition. Their names were Andrus Kriivor, Barimus Whitehand, Caldor Fuldren, Holman Frostfeather, Jalarkh Ohngate, and Marsara Storntil.

Elections were held annually, but ever since Buorstag was first elected, the voting was secretly rigged by the Zhentarim to keep him in office. This went on for so many years that it became a farce and few citizens bothered to run against the incumbent or dare to challenge the counting. Eventually, the people became grudgingly resigned to being ruled by puppets of the Zhentarim.

Law & Justice
In the early years of the Buorstag administration, lightly guarded caravans were subject to the seizing of goods and demands for coin to pay for protection from the various threats surrounding Voonlar (mainly orcs and bugbears, but also poachers and raiders from Shadowdale and Hillsfar,  and the dreaded Harpers). These same threats were used against the local population to extort goods and tax money.

The Zhents eventually reined in Buorstag and his petty dictatorship, perhaps fearing that Maalthiir of Hillsfar would use the Bron's excesses as an excuse to annex Voonlar without raising the ire of Sembia, and since Zhentil Keep had recently been destroyed (at the end of the Year of the Banner, 1368 DR ) they did not have the resources to fend off any challengers for Voonlar. The result was that Buorstag and his deputies created an atmosphere more favorable to business by being more even-handed when meting out justice and ending the policy of extortion. Then he raised taxes to compensate for the loss of revenue, and it worked. His tough-but-fair enforcement of the law kept Voonlar safe, business kept coming, and revenues were greater than he ever got through coercion.

Trade
Voonlar was both a stop over and terminus for many caravans plying the Moonsea and Dalelands regions. The lion's share of these did business with or were owned by the Shield Trading Company headquartered in Voonlar. The Shield Trading Company was operated by an elderly Voonlarren cloth trader named Zaravron Rarthree and, despite the suspicions of many, maintained a reputation for fair dealing without the taint of Zhentish investors or influence from the Bron.

History
Founded in the year 1164 DR, Voonlar began as a small farming community.

On Marpenoth 24 in the year 1369 DR, Khelben Arunsun and Fzoul Chembryl met here and struck a secret deal, which would be uncovered by the Harpers only some months later.

Temples and shrines

 * The Dark God Reformed: A temple to Cyric.
 * The Bounty of the Goddess (Voonlar): A temple to Chauntea.
 * A shrine to Lathander
 * A shrine to Tempus

Inns

 * The Sign of the Shield.
 * The Swords' Meet.