Vaasa

Vaasa was an untamed wasteland of frozen moors and tundra located in the Cold Lands of northeast Faerûn.

Geography
Vaasa was a relatively empty land with sporadic farms and the occasional wandering monster. It was bordered to the north by the Great Glacier and to the south by the Galena Mountains. The Beaumaris River, winding through the Bottomless Bogs and the chasm known as the Clefts of Razack, separated the badlands of the Cinnabar Wastes in the north from the rest of Vaasa.

Most people who settled in Vaasa did so near the Galena Mountains to the east where they had access to both mineral resources as well as workable soil for crops. The lands along the Western Galena Mountains were known as the the Bleak Steppes of Haatar-Baen, and were almost completely uninhabited as the top soil was tainted such that any vegetation that grew in the area was poisonous.

Bloodstone Pass allowed access through the Galena Mountains to Damara in the east. These two nations were collectively known as the Bloodstone Lands.

Government
As of the late 15th 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 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.

Economy
As much of the land was unclaimed, there were many prospectors who came to Vaasa looking for natural treasures, of which it had many. The lands were rich in precious metals and gems, particularly bloodstone.

As of 1480 DR, 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 instead was exchanged in thin ingots worth 50 anvils.

History
In the year, the continual expansion southwards of the Great Glacier covered the lands that will one day be Vaasa and Damara with thick ice. In the, a slight shift in the rotation of Toril caused minor changes to weather around the world. In the Cold Lands, the Great Glacier began to melt and retreat; the lands of Vaasa, Damara, and Narfell became ice free for the first time in ages.

For the next two centuries, 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, 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. 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'.

Vaasa's reputation would be forever changed in the when 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 humanoids and 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. By 1357 DR, after ten years of war, he had seized control of all of Damara west of the Goliad River and slain the Damaran king, Virdin. However, Zhengyi himself would be defeated two years later in 1359 DR 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.

The next two decades were a period in which Vaasa was known to be dangerous and full of monsters. Gareth Dragonsbane had become king of Damara, and made great efforts to fortify Bloodstone Pass against future incursions from Vaasa, including offering huge bounties for evil humanoids and bandits from the region. During this time, Baron Tranth of the Damaran Barony of Bloodstone had called for Vaasa to be conquered by Damara and for King Dragonsbane to rule both lands as a single kingdom called Bloodstone. At some point during or after the late 1370s DR, King Dragonsbane did indeed pacify and annex Vaasa.

During the rule of the Dragonsbanes, Vaasa was a peaceful if still largely inhospitable land. It became known as a source of mineral wealth and a destination for prospectors, which drew greater numbers of people to the region including small populations of Dwarves and Halflings. 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. In 1453 DR, they wiped out a settlement of minotaurs at Kond on the Beaumaris River to secure the site for themselves. The Knights then marshaled an army in 1459 DR while Bloodstone was distracted by the assassination of their queen, and in 1460 DR they began open rebellion.

Over the next decade of war, the Warlock Knights would brutally conquer Vaasa, culminating in 1469 DR 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. Their conquest drove thousands of Vaasan people and humanoids from their homes, and with the Pass closed, these refugees gathered in tent cities or sought refuge in the Knights' own capital of Telos.

In 1470 DR, the Knights would also attempt to conquer the Dwarves of the Galena Mountains, ultimately expelling them from Bloodstone Mines and driving Hillsafar Hall to seal its gates. As of 1480 DR, the Knights were the masters of Vaasa south of the Lugsaas Chain, and had begun eyeing expansion north into the titan kingdom of Kultaaakar, south into the Moonsea, and east into Damara.

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 1480 DR, all nobles and landowning lords in Vaasa were members of the Knights.

Notable Locations
Settlements


 * 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 second largest yet wealthiest city 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.
 * Kond, a town and trade outpost built into the cliffs above the Beaumaris River.
 * 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 bloodstone mines of Clan Hillsafar.

Points of interest


 * Castle Perilous was the ruined former home of Zhengyi the Witch-King which mysteriously rejuvenated in1477 DR.

Appearances

 * Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone
 * Promise of the Witch-King