Tunlands

The Tunlands, also known as the Tun Plain or Plains of Tun was a region in the Western Heartlands roughly encompassing the area between the Sunset Mountains and the Storm Horns north of Proskur.

Description
The Tunlands consisted largely of grassy steppes and large swathes of wetlands, with most of the ground marshy and wet. The soil was largely considered too damp and marshy for farming, especially since the plains were often flooded by the Tun River.

Geography
Bounded by the Sunset Mountains and Far Hills to the west, the Sunset Foothills to the north, the Storm Horns to the east, and Proskur to the south, the Tunlands were often described as the vale of the Tun River which originated in the Farsea Marshes and flowed south and then east to reach the Dragonmere.

Government
The Tunlands were generally considered to be part of Cormyr, though this was largely a nominal claim by the Forest Kingdom as it exercised little direct control of the region. The closest thing to an organized government was the "bandit kingdom" of Thaalim Torchtower, which per definition was a rather lawless affair.

Early History
The earliest recorded event in the Tunlands (known at the time as the God's Theater) was the Battle of the Gods' Theater circa, one of the largest and deadliest battles of the Crown Wars. The Tunlands, which were part of the elven realm of Shantel Othreier, were invaded by the aggressive elven kingdom of Aryvandaar. As the two armies fought, a massive orc horde, 100,000 strong, fell upon them both. Ultimately, the orcs were beaten back at the cost of more than 70,000 elven lives. Aryvandaar prevailed and seized a large portion of Shantel Othreier's territory.

The first known settlement of the Tunlands was achieved by the dwarves of Oghrann between -5125 and. Although most of that ancient kingdom lay beneath the surface in the Underdark, the dwarves maintained a number of surface holdings to raise livestock.

Human settlement of the Tunlands stretched back to at least the 300s DR; King Thargreve the Greater of Cormyr ordered the construction of the fortress High Horn to ward against both lizardfolk from the Tun marshes and "border raiders" from the plains.

The Chessentan wizard Tashara of the Seven Skulls, notable for defeating the beholder lords of the Ring of Eyes, was annihilated by the deity Azuth in the Tunlands in the.

Betwixt the Zhents and Cormyr
Over the course of the 14 century DR, the Zhentarim began taking an interest in the Tunlands to challenge the authority of Cormyr. In the, Zhent forces led by Manshoon conquered Darkhold and killed the lich-queen Varalla, who they claimed had terrorized the people of the Tunlands and the Far Hills with Cormyr turning a blind eye. Under the guise of maintaining safety in the region, the Zhentarim settled in Darkhold permanently. A major benefit of controlling the Tunlands was that it allowed the Zhentarim to create a "short cut" caravan route south of the Anauroch, thereby linking Zhentil Keep with western Faerûn. The major downside was the many lawless tribes inhabiting the area, especially the nomadic Tunlar people. As a security measure, Zhentarim forces used magic to discreetly slaughter many non-compliant locals. The Zhents also hired mercenaries from Calimshan and Tashluta, as well as several tribes of goblinoids, to keep traders and explorers, apart from their own, away from the Tunlands altogether.

Around Marpenoth of, the warlord Thaalim Torchtower united several Tunlar tribes to form a "bandit kingdom" to prey on caravans traveling through the Tunlands. Thaalim maintained spies in several nearby towns and cities to gather information about viable raiding targets.

In time, the bandit activity in the Tunlands became untenable for Cormyrean authorities, and in Tarsakh of the, Cormyr began cracking down by increasing it patrols in the area, both from the Bridge of Fallen Men to the south and High Horn to the northeast. Cormyrean patrols attacked the Tunlar on several occasions, fomenting the ire of the local tribes against King Azoun IV. Thaalim Torchtower lost his youngest son in one of these attacks and swore to exact personal vengeance against the Cormyrean monarch.

In the, only a few years after the Spellplague, bullywug tribes from the Farsea Marshes rose up against Zhentarim forces in the Tunlands, severely diminishing the Black Network's control of the region.

Rumors & Legends
Both the Tun Marsh and the Farsea Marshes were home to mysterious ruins, said to belong to one or several mysterious civilizations that preceded even the elven kingdoms of antiquity. The ruins were supposedly made from glass as hard as steel, crystal, and metal; rather slender and graceful in their construction and pigmented white. With little basis in fact, bards invented a story of the ancient Tunlands where two rivaling city-states fought each other in a magical war that ended in their mutual destruction and the poisoning of the land&mdash;both factions having been manipulated by Talona. As with any good story, the details often changed in the telling.

Yet the local Marsh Drovers people had a similar legend of the swampy ruins: an ancient kingdom had once stood in the Tunlands until it was destroyed to punish its wicked rulers. One Marsh Drover reported having witnessed an entire building, akin to a temple, rising from the marsh on one occasion, as opposed to the scattered ruins normally found. The building was supposedly filled with belligerent zombies, though unfortunately the entire structure sank back into the marsh before anyone could verify the Drover's claim. The Drovers reported multiple other incidents of undead attacks; primarily from wraiths in the Farsea Marshes and wights in the Tun Marsh. On one occasion, a group of Drovers was attacked by a lich calling himself Nyrax, " Lord of the Eight Thrones", who demanded they "return what they had stolen". Fortunately, the lich was swiftly defeated. The combined weight of all these recurring incidents lent a good measure of credence to the idea that the Tunlands was haunted by the undead remnants of a long-vanished kingdom.

The Tunland marshes were commonly held to be disease-ridden and deadly places filled with foul creatures and decay and best avoided by all&mdash;even adventurers, though that hardly stopped them. The Chauntean cleric Twick, who had visited the area and written about it extensively, dismissed these notions as misleading. Instead, he described the marshes of the Tunlands as verdant places filled with a rich array of flora and fauna.

Notable Locations

 * The Tun Marsh
 * The Farsea Marshes

Inhabitants

 * The Tunlar, a nomadic people that subsisted by herding sheep and raiding caravans.
 * The Mir, semi-nomadic hunters and scavengers who specialized in riding horses and maintained a secret lair on the edge of the Tun Marsh, from which they fought both Zhentarim and Cormyrean forces.
 * The black dragon Skurge resided in the Marsh of Tun, though her domain also stretched below the surface to encompass the capital of ancient Oghrann, Araulurrin.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Waterdeep
 * Novels
 * Waterdeep