Dragon Coast

The Dragon Coast was the name given to the region along southern shore of the Dragonmere, and the lands west of the Sea of Fallen Stars. It's city-states and pirate outposts served as confluence of several great cultures, from the archaic Old Kingdoms to the east, the profitable and deadly lands of the Vilhon Reach to the south, and the progressive and independent realms of the Western Heartlands. It was a place of intrigue and danger, where profit and lucrative opportunities abounded, for adventurers, merchants and criminals alike.

Description
The coast has nearly always been an unrestrained land of free commerce and independent city-states, or as some may say, a places of lawlessness and piracy. The people that called these city-states their homes had little to no sense of greater identity, or national pride, but lived as solitary forces unto themselves.

Geography
The Dragon Coast encompassed the lands and cities along southern shores of the Dragonmere and the southwestern coast of the Sea of Fallen Stars, from the Cormyrean city of Proskur in the west, to the Ruins of Starmantle in Gulthandor to the east.

According to some scholars the Pirate Isles were considered to be part of the coast, despite being geographically separated by leagues of water.

Geographical features
In the western stretch of the Dragon Coast, the Tun River flowed into the Dragonmere, forming the Gritstone Moorlands in between a series of hills north of the Overmoor Trail. Just east of these landmarks were the Castaway Coast and the Skeleton Shore, the two coasts that made up the southern shores of the Dragonmere, the Horse Prairie, and the northern slopes of the Giant's Run Mountains.

The central area of the coast was highlighted by vast stretches of flatlands and interconnected bodies of water. Rainwater ran down from the Giant's Run peaks to the Lake of the Snake, east along the River Reddan into Redwater lake, before emptying out into the sea. The lands north of these waterways was known as the Bleached Bones Flats, and the diminutive river east of Westgate was called the River Thunn.

A bit further east was the Long Arm Lake, fed by the Wet River; and to its east, the Gulthmere Forest. The _____ river flowed north from the Orsraun Mountains, through the forest to Starmantle Bay.

Government
"Waterdeep without guilds or Watch"

- Gulkyn Drouthe's description of the Dragon Coast.

Unlike nearby nations that formed from groups similarly-aligned cities, such as Cormyr and Sembia, the powers of the Dragon Coast never came together under a common cause to form a single nation. As such the coast had no centralized governing body, but rather a collection of self-serving city-states.

Most often, the individual city-states were each governed by some form of council of merchants, often of less-reputable dispositions.

Trade
"Everyone has a price. But the price is more reasonable on the Dragon Coast"

- Saying in Sembia.

The Dragon Coast was known first and foremost as a haven for smugglers and other folks dealing in illicit goods. Those merchants that chose to conduct their business in the region were not the type to cooperate with one another for the greater good, rather only look out for their own interests.

The Trueshield Trading Priakos maintained their headquarters and conducted their business predominantly on the Dragon Coast.

Defenses
While there was no shared military force on the Dragon Coast, individual territories or cities were often defended by mercenary groups and those individuals who took it upon themselves to serve as a local protectorate.

History
Sages of Faerûn differed as to how they believed the Dragon Coast earned its name, more specifically as to which actual dragon inspired the name.

In the 13 century DR, the king of Westgate Verovan attempted to unite the various factions of the coast, but was assassinated in the.

After the waters of the Sea of Fallen Stars dropped dramatically, following the Spellplague in the, coastal towns like Ilipur and Pros were abandoned and left to ruin.

During the majority of the 15 century DR, the kingdom of Cormyr embarked upon a campaign of expansionism, taking hold of several towns and cities along the Dragon Coast, including Proskur and Teziir. Westgate managed to remain independent in the face of growing Cormyrean power.

Notable Locations

 * Ruins:


 * Haunted Ilipur
 * Pros
 * Ruins of Starmantle, a former pirate-allied city that was ravaged by the Spellplague and left a ruin of enigmatic crystal formations and a mysterious vortex.


 * Settlements:
 * Cedarspoke
 * Elversult


 * Nathlekh
 * Priapurl
 * Proskur
 * Reddansyr
 * Smuggler's Bank


 * Teziir
 * Westgate
 * Wyrm's Hamlet


 * Nations:
 * Nathlan


 * Roads:
 * The Overmoor Trail
 * Snake Road
 * Trader's Road
 * The Plunge
 * Turnstone Road
 * The Grand Ride

Inhabitants
The Dragon Coast attracted a host of secretive associations, criminal organizations, and other groups that operated on the fringes of lawful society. Included among these groups were the Fellowship of the Purple Staff,