Windy Plains

The Windy Plains were a region of southern Netheril that eventually served as the center of the goblin nation of Hlundadim and the greater Goblin Marches, until they were absorbed by the expanding Anauroch desert.

Geography
The Windy Plains were an area of Netheril north of the Storm Horns that later became associated with the Goblin Marches, and then the southern Sword of Anauroch. It overlapped or bordered the realm of Thaeravel and its capital of Rasilith, and the doomed realm of Apothec. The Netherese city of Thiefsward lay to the west of it, and the Angardt city of Kismet bordered it to the northwest in the Flats. To the northeast were the Hunter's Hills, Shaddan Hills, and the Burn, beyond which lay the border forts of Tower Ramanath and Tower Hlithal, and the Anaurian capital Amazandar.

History
The expansion of Netheril to the south resulted in conflict with the native orcs, goblins, and other humanoids, who were killed or displaced further south to the Forest Country and the coast of the Inner Sea. The Netherese fortress of Blister was founded in in the northern Thunder Peaks overlooking what would become known as Tilver's Gap, with the intent of preventing monstrous invasions northwards, and assisting colonization efforts southwards. Despite these efforts, within a few centuries the southern frontier was overrun by Netheril's enemies, and by, the Windy Plains were firmly inhabited by goblin tribes.

In the, the dying time of Netheril, a mysterious being known only as the Great Hlundadim unified many goblinoids, orcs, kobolds, gnolls, and other creatures into the nation of Hlundadim and raised the great fortress of Araugul in the Windy Plains. Southern Netheril was mostly spared the life-draining effects of the phaerimm, making the Windy Plains one of the remaining habitable regions at the time.

The fall of Netheril in the, and of Blister in the , ended any remaining contest with the goblinoids, orcs, and other groups it had fought for over a thousand years in the Windy Plains and beyond. The disparate humanoids claimed victory and migrated en masse from the Forest Country back into the Windy Plains and neighboring areas, and struggled with the successor nations of Asram and Anauria for centuries to come. Their dominion of the region was so complete that it became known as the Goblin Marches.

The great dust storms of the, heralded the expansion of the Anauroch into the Windy Plains, engulfing Araugul and shattering Hlundadim forever. The inhabitants largely fled south into the remaining Goblin Marches and the Stonelands, though the memory of their nation's supremacy remained in their culture. The area was eventually resettled and rebuilt, with the intention of reaching their former glories.

The slow revival of goblinoid society in the region was catastrophically interrupted by the warming climatic shift after 1038 DR, which brought the desert further south to the edge of the Stonelands, wiping out what was left of the Windy Plains. It eventually prompted Izac Uthor's goblinoid mass migration and invasion of the, culminating in the Battle of Bones at Torgor's Triangle.

Environment-altering magic used by Thultanthar following their return in the, brought a wetter, more temperate climate back to the former lands of Netheril, greening the phaerimm-drained desert back to a semblance of its former self, Windy Plains included.