Grayvale

The Grayvale (also written as Greyvale and Gray Vale) was a valley lying around the Greyflow and Loagrann Rivers and part of the greater Delimbiyr Vale in the Savage Frontier. The lower Delimbiyr Vale was also known locally as the Delimbiyr Crescent and was largely synonymous with the Greyvale.

Geography
While the name "Delimbiyr Vale" was given to all the upper reaches of the River Delimbiyr and of its various tributaries, the Greyvale (and its variations) was specifically the grasslands and valleys drained by two of those tributaries, the Greyflow and Loagrann, a three-branched river that joined the Greyflow. Lying amongst the southern foothills of the rugged Graypeak Mountains, the Grayvale was thus considered to begin at the town of Llorkh and to continue downriver until after the confluence of the Greyflow and Delimbiyr, at the city of Loudwater. The land was bounded south and east of the river by the Greypeak Mountains and in the north by the great High Forest.

Politically, however, the name was often given to lands further afield, and its borders ebbed and flowed with the fortunes of its settlers and prospectors. Circa 1479, the entire valley south of the High Forest as well as the surrounding lands, as far north into the woods as the Star Mounts, as far east as the Graypeak Mountains, as far south to the High Moor, and as far west as one cared to go, could be known as the Gray Vale. However, the influence of the area and usage of the name waned as one moved toward the Sword Coast and into the Western Heartlands.

Description
Despite its name, the Grayvale was a verdant and beautiful valley. It was one of the most fertile lands in the North and it had plentiful natural resources. Bards described the area as like a luscious garden, that is, a place where the beautiful wilds were carefully shaped and pruned to create an almost magical paradise.

Scattered around it were farmsteads and hunting lodges, as well as the ruins of dwarven mines and elven realms.

Significance
In the tales of the Harpers, the whole of the Delimbiyr Crescent was the favored land of the goddess Mielikki. This seemed quite true. The Forest Queen envisaged a harmony between civilization and the wilderness and sought to make the Delimbiyr Crescent a showcase for this and a sanctuary for her faithful. To further this goal, she chose and empowered the Green Regents to guard the land and guide and inspire the people of the Delimbiyr Crescent. The Scions of the Green Regent and rangers, druids, and clerics of Mielikki aided in this task.

However, the gods Talos and Malar opposed Mielikki and her dream for the Delimbiyr Crescent and had their cultists work to bring chaos and carnage and attack the Green Regents whenever they could. While the Talassans worked for widespread destruction, the Malarites of the Thicket terrorized farmsteads and villages and disrupted the peace.

Circa 1372 DR, Waterdhavian guildmasters were desirous of the natural resources of the area, which were transported to them down the River Delimbiyr.

Government
In the mid-to-late 14 century DR, the Greyvale was divided between two powers: Loudwater, and those faithful to Mielikki, and Llorkh, under the grip of the Zhentarim. An uneasy peace and a border between them were maintained by the Oath of Orlbar.

Early History
The area was first settled by Netherese human refugees fleeing Netheril, sometime after its fall in the Year of Sundered Webs, −339 DR. Their settlements were the progenitors of Loudwater and other cities of the North.

The area was also once home to a community of elves, part of the nation of Eaerlann    before its fall in 882 DR.

Later, further settlement of the Loudwater and Llorkh region, as well as Longsaddle, Secomber, Triboar, and others, was undertaken by human pioneers from Waterdeep after the establishment of the Lords of Waterdeep there in 1032 DR. These pioneers were sponsored by noble and mercantile Waterdhavian families.

However, the growing human population upset the elven natives. In the Year of the Bloodrose, 1100 DR, desiring to escape, the elves of Loudwater and the lands around began leaving their homes for Evereska.

The Rensha Rule
In the Year of the Scourge, 1150 DR, the Rensha family leading a mercenary army conquered much of the Delimbiyr Vale and centered their power in Loudwater. This began a period known as the Rensha Rule.

Seeing Mielikki's Green Regents and their scions as threats to their reign, the Renshas persecuted them mercilessly, forbidding the selection of new scions and regents and hunting down any they found, causing them to vanish for more than a century. The second lord, Misbah Rensha, ruthlessly crushed the last resistance to the family's rule, with the help of the archdevil Baalzebul.

Though the Renshas made the vale more prosperous and expanded its connections with the outside world, they exploited its natural resources and despoiled much of the pristine beauty of the area. Under them, loggers cleared the forests away from the river and farmers claimed the land for agriculture, while miners strip-mined the mountains, all at a shocking pace, and the wealth flowed down the river and out of the vale. The amoral Renshas also soon descended into decadence and the pursuit of their dark magic, which would lead to their downfall.

Nevertheless, the Renshas ruled for 165 years before a Nimbrali mercenary working for them named Nanathlor Greysword rebelled against the rule of Pasuuk Rensha in the Year of Spilled Blood, 1315 DR. Pasuuk had commanded a band of talented mercenary hunters, among them Nanathlor, to bring him the horn of a unicorn, apparently for some infernal rite. But Nanathlor stayed his hand and instead defended the unicorn—in fact an avatar of the goddess Mielikki. She made him the new Green Regent and the twelve hunters who stood with him his scions, and tasked them with overthrowing the Renshas. The two-year-long War of the Returned Regent freed the Vale from Rensha rule. Finally, in the Year of the Wandering Wyrm, 1317 DR, Nanathlor Greysword defeated Pasuuk and the Renshas' forces at the Battle of Tanglefork and became the ruler of Loudwater. Nanathlor maintained relations with other lands but ended the rampant logging and strip-mining, thus restoring the ecology and fertility of the land, and in turn renewing prosperity in the Vale.

Modern History
In the, a cult of Talos summoned the great storm elemental the Tempest in the Greypeaks and unleashed it on the towns of Orlbar and Llorkh. It tore apart cottages with its terrific winds and produced a barrage of rain, flooding the Grayflow and washing away swathes of Llorkh. It seemed driven to lay the whole Grayvale to waste. Finally, the Green Regent Kalahar Twohands and a band of scions broke the cult and banished the Tempest.

The Malarites of the Thicket attacked Loudwater after a blood-red moon appeared in the sky for three nights in the, in the conflict called the Night of the Blood Moon. They raided the city and homesteads, forced people out of their houses, and engaged in frenzied hunting and slaughter, before finally slaying the then Green Regent, Galaer Grasswave.

After nearly ten years of only sporadic raiding, the bandits of the Hark stepped up their activity in the, preying on the Delimbiyr Road with greater violence. Meanwhile, from late spring, the High Forest orcs began the Gray Migrations across the vale and eastward to the Greypeak Mountains, causing much consternation in Loudwater.

Notable Locations

 * Settlements
 * Llorkh • Loudwater • Orlbar • Zelbross

Appearances

 * Organized Play & Licensed Adventures
 * Legacy of the Green Regent