Rivershire

Rivershire was one of the counties of Tethyr and a major agricultural territory. In 1370 DR, it was the most stable of Tethyr's counties.

Geography
County Rivershire was located in the Crown Lands, between the Sulduskoon River and the River Ith, east of county Ithmonn and west of county Varyth.

Trade
Rivershire was a large producer of pipeweed, fish, and table wines. Nearly all the land and businesses were owned by seven rich families.

Government
Zelphar Thann, the Estate Chancellor of Tethyr and relative of Danilo Thann, was the appointed Count of Rivershire. His estate was Lhestyn's Hearth, (named after Zelphar's grandmother,) which was twelve miles north of the capital. Zelphar was not a well-received count&mdash;only two of the seven merchant families approved of his leadership.

Rumors
While on the surface, this county was stable, political instability seemed on the horizon in 1370 DR, due to rumored schemes among five of the seven Rivershire families to remove Zelphar Thann from power. One such plan involved rumors that Zelphar was courting the Court Vizera, Perendra Raslemtar, solely to gain favor from the queen. Another scheme took advantage of the fact that, in that year, Zelphar was spending most of his time in an advisory role in Riatavin, which had recently defected from Amn to join Tethyr. In his absence, the merchant families were actively attempting to establish spies among Zelphar's staff. Finally, even the Shadow Thieves sought to benefit from the situation, hoping to manipulate one of the families into assassinating the count.