Eastern Shaar

The Eastern Shaar was an eastern extension of the Shaar, separated by the Landrise. Compared to the fertile grasslands of its western counterpart, the Eastern Shaar was a relative wasteland.

After the Spellplague led to the formation of the Underchasm, these roles were reversed, as the canyon cut the Western Shaar off from all sources of fresh water, turning the region from a savannah into a desert. The Eastern Shaar, however, still had rivers flowing in from the Unthangol and Toadsquat Mountains, and even gained a more moderate climate due to the now-nearby Gulf of Luiren.

As of 1479 DR, Okoth, a reawakened realm of the sarrukh, lay directly south of Azulduth (the Lake of Salt), and the Gulf of Luiren, which was a realm named Luiren before the Spellplague, lay to the south of Okoth. The eastern portion of the Eastern Shaar was called the Beastlands.

Flora & Fauna
Like its western counterpart, the Eastern Shaar was home to wild horses. Populations of Shaaran zebras roamed here, and the gold dwarves of the Great Rift spread hammer ponies throughout the region via the markets of Hammer and Anvil.

Although found in other parts of Toril, beguilers were most common in the dry plains of the Eastern Shaar.

History
Sometime in the last 6 millennia before Dalereckoning, at a time when Jhaamdath still stood to the northwest of the Eastern Shaar, a pitched battle between yuan-ti and giants took place at the Lorrift. The event came to be known as the Rain of Flying Snakes, as the yuan-ti summoned thousands of snakes from the empty sky to land on the giants' heads. This gambit did not end up winning the serpentfolk the fight, as the snakes that survived their fall turned on their summoners and ensured the victory of the opposing force.

Inhabitants
The largest and most well-known human tribes of the Eastern Shaar included the Cheetah Tribe, who lived in the grasslands between the Unthangol Mountains, the Great Rift, and the Council Hills; the Hyena Tribe, whose domain lay between the Council Hills, the Riftwood, and the Sharawood; and the Rhinoceros Tribe, whose home was between the Great Rift, the Landrise, the Chondalwood and the Forest of Amtar.

A number of bandit tribes were also known, chief among them the horse-riding Grey Ghosts tribe led by Furifax. Based out of Bandit City to the south of Unthangol Pass, this group exerted great influence over the small trading towns between Hardcastle and Azulduth.