View source for Bloodstone Lands

{{otheruses4|the region|the sourcebook|The Bloodstone Lands (sourcebook)}}
{{Location
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| name               = Bloodstone Lands
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The '''Bloodstone Lands''' were a part of the [[Cold Lands]] in [[northeast Faerûn]] which primarily encompassed [[Damara]] and [[Vaasa]]. They received their name from [[bloodstone]], a precious gem mined throughout the region and which the nation of [[Damara]] used to establish itself as a major power in [[Faerûn]].<ref name="BL-p2">{{Cite book/The Bloodstone Lands|2}}</ref>

== Geography==
The Bloodstone Lands region was roughly triangular in shape and had an area of around 150,000 square miles (388,500 km<sup>2</sup>). It was nestled between the [[Great Glacier]] to the north, the nation of [[Impiltur]] to the south, [[Thar]] and the [[Moonsea]] to the west (with the [[Galena Mountains]] and [[Earthspur Mountains]] acting as a natural border), and [[Narfell]], the [[Great Dale]] and [[Thesk]] to the east.<ref name="BL-p2" />

The Bloodstone Lands were bisected by the [[Galena Mountains]], which made the [[Bloodstone Pass]] through them vitally important to the region.<ref name="BL-p2" />

==History==
The early recorded history of the Bloodstone Lands begins with the prosperous rise of Damara as a nation in [[1064 DR]] under the long unbroken line of [[Feldrin Bloodfeathers]], the first King of Damara and founder of its capital [[Heliogabalus]].  Their prosperity depended entirely on their export of the valuable gem [[Bloodstone]], a chalcedony found throughout the realms and particularly in the [[Barony of Bloodstone]] in Bloodstone Pass.  The merchants of [[Damara]] took these precious gems to their neighbours, particularly westward to the [[Moonsea]], where they found customers in [[Thesk]], [[Sembia]], [[Impiltur]] and other nations along the [[Sea of Fallen Stars]].  The people of the Bloodstone Lands enjoyed a time of peace, protected by their harsh natural environment, and the baronies grew ever richer.<ref name="BL-p3">{{Cite book/The Bloodstone Lands|3}}</ref>

===The Rise of the Witch-King===

The prosperity of the Bloodstone Lands was forever changed in one night when [[Zhengyi]], the Witch-King, erected [[Castle Perilous]] in the nation of [[Vaasa]] in [[1347 DR]].  The lich quickly took control of [[Vaasa]] and gathered to himself an army of [[goblin]]s, [[giant]]s and [[orc]]s, as well as formidable allies in the cult of [[Orcus]], and the guild of the [[Grandfather of Assassins]].  Occupied with troubles of their own, including an awakened evil in the [[Bloodstone Mines]] and an early winter which destroyed crops, caused starvation, and brought packs of dire wolves marauding across the countryside, [[Damara]] were unaware of [[Zhengyi| Zhengyi's]] quick ascension to power.<ref name="BL-p3-4">{{Cite book/The Bloodstone Lands|3-4}}</ref>

The very next year, the Witch-King's armies took [[Bloodstone Pass]], cutting off Damara from its main supply of [[Bloodstone]].  They proceeded into Damara with incredible speed, but the people of Damara and Vaasa fought bravely, unassisted by their neighbours, who dealing with internal affairs of their own, offered little in the form of substantial aid.  For ten years, the war raged, until it came to a head on the [[Ford of Goliad]] in [[1357 DR]], where neither army could gain the advantage.<ref name="BL-p4">{{Cite book/The Bloodstone Lands|4}}</ref>

Fooled by a traitorous lieutenant [[Felix]], who tricked then [[Virdin|King Virdin]] that his magical wand would enable safe passage across the river to gain the advantage on the Witch-King's armies, the Damarans marched into the waiting trap of [[Zhengyi]] and were swiftly defeated. [[Virdin]] himself was assassinated as he watched his army and nation fall, and it is widely believed that it was Felix who clutched the dagger.<ref name="BL-p5">{{Cite book/The Bloodstone Lands|5}}</ref><ref name="GHotR-p142">{{Cite book/The Grand History of the Realms|142}}</ref>

Zhengyi would be defeated the following year by [[Gareth Dragonsbane]] and his companions, who stormed Castle Perilous, broke the source of the Witch-King's power, and thus ended the threat of his undead army.<ref name="GHotR-p142" /><ref name="FRCS-p108">{{Cite book/Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 3rd edition|108}}</ref>

===The Kingdom of Bloodstone===

Gareth Dragonsbane was crowned King of Damara shortly after his victory over Zhengyi.<ref name="GHotR-p142" /> In the following decades, he focused on rebuilding his kingdom's economy and on fortifying Bloodstone Pass against potential threats from Vaasa,<ref name="FRCS-p108" /> but he had also considered annexing Vaasa since he first took the throne.<ref name="BL-p6">{{Cite book/The Bloodstone Lands|6}}</ref> He pursued this goal by pacifying the region, relying heavily on adventurers lured by large bounties for local monsters and stragglers of Zhengyi's armies, and by winning the hearts and minds of the Vaasan people, first by expanding economic opportunities in the [[Sunderland|south]] via the [[Vaasan Gate]] and later by liberating the [[Ostraland|north]] when [[Bregan D'aerthe]] seized the area around [[Palischuk]] in the late 1360s DR.<ref name="BL-p39">{{Cite book/The Bloodstone Lands|39-40}}</ref><ref name="RotP-p310">{{Cite book/Road of the Patriarch/MMP|310-311}}</ref> At some point before the end of his reign, Vaasa was indeed absorbed into Damara as a barony, thus extending Gareth's rule over the entirety of the Bloodstone Lands.<ref name="RotP-p310" /><ref name="FRCG-p188">{{Cite book/Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide|188}}</ref> The capital was moved to [[Bloodstone Village]], which would be renamed as ''Bloodstone City'', and the realm was referred to as the Kingdom of Bloodstone, often shortened to simply Bloodstone.<ref name="DunMag.177-p.78">{{Cite dungeon/177/Realmslore: Vaasa|78}}</ref>

The reign of Gareth Dragonsbane and his heirs was generally peaceful until the rise of the [[Warlock Knights]] in Vaasa. This militaristic cult appeared shortly after a "[[Telos|falling star]]" landed in Vaasa during the [[Spellplague]], and built its power by conscripting or killing [[Human]], [[Dwarf]], and evil [[Humanoid]] communities.<ref name="FRCG-p188" /> In [[1459 DR]], the Warlock Knights took advantage of the political chaos created by the assassination of the ruling Queen of Bloodstone, [[Brianne Dragonsbane]], to raise an army. In [[1460 DR]], they declared war on the kingdom of Bloodstone and began their conquest of Vaasa.<ref name="DunMag.177-p.78" /> In [[1469 DR]], they razed Bloodstone City to the ground and sealed Bloodstone Pass.<ref name="DunMag.177-p.80">{{Cite dungeon/177/Realmslore: Vaasa|78,80}}</ref>{{BloodstoneCityRazing}} Soon after, they claimed complete control of Vaasa and seceded from the Kingdom of Bloodstone, leading to the unified kingdom's collapse back into Vaasa and Damara.<ref name="DunMag.177-p.78" /> The two nations would then settle into a decades-long tense stalemate.<ref name="SCAG-p12">{{Cite book/Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide|12}}</ref>

==Appendix==
===Notes===
{{Notes}}
===Appearances===
{{Appearances
| novels = ''[[Promise of the Witch-King]]'';''[[Road of the Patriarch]]''
| novel refs = ''[[Archmage (novel)|Archmage]]''
| organized play = ''[[Tyranny's Bleak Depths]]'';''[[Tyranny's Bitter Frost]]'';''[[Tyranny's Perilous Bastion]]''
| organized play refs = ''[[Before Its Time]]''
}}

===References===
{{Refs}}
[[FR:Terres héliotropes]]
[[Category:Locations in the Cold Lands]]
[[Category:Locations in Northeast Faerûn]]
[[Category:Regions]]
[[Category:Locations in Faerûn]]
[[Category:Locations on Toril]]
[[Category:Locations]]