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Channath Vale

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The Channath Vale was a narrow stretch of land comprising a series of hills and forests that formed the southern edge of the Shaar where it met the North Wall mountains.[1][7] It was a major caravan thoroughfare between the lands of Lapaliiya on the Shining Sea to the west and the Great Rift and Dambrath to the east.[1][8][9]

As of the late 15th century DR, much of the Channath Vale was devastated by a changed climate, and was part of the eastern reaches of Elfharrow.[10]

Geography[]

The Channath Vale was a valley[2] centered on the River Channath and River Talar as the former fed the latter flowing east-to-west. The region ran from the Channathwood and Rathgaunt Hills in the east to the Dun Hills in the west, and was bounded to the south by the North Wall, the Bandit Wastes, and the Swagdar,[11] and to the north by the Shaar and Lake Lhespen.[1][8] The east-west route was Trader's Way,[12][13][14] which passed through the south side of the Vale.[1]

The region was hot and humid. It was notable for its three jungle-like forests: the Channathwood, the Misty Vale, and the Shaareach Forest. The Vale also encompassed a small mountain range known as the Wyrmbones[1][8] and an area called the Shaareach.[15]

Flora and Fauna[]

Woodlands in the Channath Vale were densely overgrown with trees and vines, and edible berries and herbs could be found within. In the drier hills of the Vale, olive trees thrived.[1] Avalathar trees were native to the area.[14]

The Channath Vale was home to a wide array of animals, such as baboons, beguilers, crocodiles, deep bats, dire apes, dire boars, dunscales, giant eagles, giant owls, giant water spiders, goats, hyenas, lions, and snakes. More monstrous fauna included ankhegs, bulettes, chimeras, darkenbeasts, digesters, displacer beasts, ettercaps, gargoyles, girallons, griffons, hippogriffs, krenshars, leucrottas, manticores, nyths, perytons, phase spiders, spectral panthers, and tall mouthers.[1][14][3][4][16][17] Dragons were also known to make their home in the Vale, notably bronze, green, and rattelyr dragons.[3]

Some areas of the Vale were haunted by undead[3]—especially near the many Lapaliiyan tombs in the Dun Hills to the east.[1] Such undead included allips, ghasts, ghouls, mohrgs, shadows, skeletons, spectres, vampire spawn, wights, wraiths, and zombies.[3][4]

History[]

Among halflings, the Channath Vale was known as a land that produced great heroes.[18]

The Vale became one of the easternmost holdings of the Shoon Imperium by 300 DR.[19] When several Shaaran towns rebelled in the Year of Willing Sacrifice, 435 DR, this led to a brutal reprisal from Amahl Shoon VII against the region known as the Seven Burnings campaign: between 438 DR and 440 DR, Shoon armies rampaged through the communities of the Vale and killed or displaced many locals. Despite quelling the rebellion, the Shoon forces were soon forced to withdraw from the Shaar due to outside factors. The area was completely freed from Shoon rule by the end of the Year of Unleashed Fears, 451 DR.[20][21]

By the mid-to-late 14th century DR, the trade route through the Channath Vale was frequented by merchants and pilgrims, who in turn were attractive targets for the likes of gnolls, slavers, and bandits.[4][22][23] As of 1373 DR, the eastern end of the Vale was menaced by a number of raiders operating out of the Forest of Amtar. This included a motley force led by the ogre mage Tandith Tornears, an unusually organized group of gnolls based in the Gate of Iron Fangs,[9] and a bandit gang known as the Reavers led by the half-fiend Tanushk Versix,[23] Meanwhile, trade through the western end of the Vale was threatened by gnolls from the Wyrmbones being led by a chieftain known as the Wyrm Master.[16]

During the cataclysmic events of the Spellplague of 1385 DR, the eastern side of the Vale was swallowed by the Underchasm.[24][25] Over the following twenty years, dramatic changes in climate caused the Channath Vale to dry out. The area became a veritable desert, with the Misty Vale coming to be known as the Dead Vale and the western half of the Channath Vale coming to be considered part of the wastes of Elfharrow.[10][25] Even so, parts of the Channath Vale saw an influx of refugees fleeing from even greater Spellplague-related catastrophes.[26]

Notable Locations[]

  • Channathgate, the easternmost town in the Vale located south of the Channathwood.[1][8]
  • Fryndul, a gnomish village known for exporting cut gems.[6]
  • Kormul, a settlement located between the Misty Vale and the Shaareach Forest.[8][16]
  • Rethmar, a city[15] located between the Shaareach Forest and the Channathwood that was located atop natural springs.[8][14] Rethmar survived the fallout of the Spellplague and subsequently grew as it accepted refugees.[26]

Inhabitants[]

Prior to the Spellplague, several communities and small villages lay along the trade route that passed through the Vale, and survived by servicing the caravans that traveled through them.[1] These settlements were populated notably by Shaaryan and Tashalan humans, ghostwise and strongheart halflings, gnomes, and wood elves,[2][6][3][4] and their populations could swell during the peak of caravan season.[14] For food, these communities grew olives, farmed, herded goats, foraged local flora, and hunted.[1][10] Their rangers and warriors patrolled the Vale day and night.[3][4]

These communities had minimal contact with the inhabitants of the nearby woodlands: a reclusive and territorial tribe of ghostwise halflings in the Channathwood,[1] the xenophobic and hostile wild elves of the Misty Vale (known as the grugach),[1][27] and the yuan-ti that inhabited the waterways of the Shaareach Forest.[16] Meanwhile, gnolls were notably common in the region, especially in the Wyrmbones and Dun Hills,[3][16][5] such that it was not uncommon for other inhabitants to learn the gnoll language.[2] The Vale was also known to be home to araneas, bugbears, centaurs, doppelgangers, green abishai, hill giants, hobgoblins, hybsils, orcs, ogres, pterafolk, satyrs, trolls, wereboars, and weretigers.[3][4][17] Tribes of nomadic Shaaran humans also crossed into the Vale, herding goats and raiding caravans.[1][7]

Following the Spellplague and the mass exodus of the wild elves from the dying Misty Vale, these elves became the dominant force from the coast of the Shining Sea to the North Wall. They coexisted tentatively with centaur tribes who had fled to the area from the Shaar Desolation.[10]

Appendix[]

Background[]

The geography of the Channath Vale was the direct inspiration for the Elsir Vale, a location on the world of Nerath that was first introduced in the 3rd edition adventure Red Hand of Doom.[28] For more information, see the Elsir Vale article at the Points of Light Wiki.

References[]

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 Thomas Reid (October 2004). Shining South. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 158. ISBN 0-7869-3492-1.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Richard Baker, James Wyatt (March 2004). Player's Guide to Faerûn. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 25–26. ISBN 0-7869-3134-5.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Thomas Reid (October 2004). Shining South. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 81. ISBN 0-7869-3492-1.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Thomas Reid (October 2004). Shining South. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 82. ISBN 0-7869-3492-1.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel (July 2006). Monster Manual IV. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 71. ISBN 0-7869-3920-6.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Ed Greenwood (March 2000). “The New Adventures of Volo: Hin Nobody Knows”. In Dave Gross ed. Dragon #269 (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 86–87.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Thomas Reid (October 2004). Shining South. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 155. ISBN 0-7869-3492-1.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 Thomas Reid (October 2004). Shining South. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 156. ISBN 0-7869-3492-1.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Thomas Reid (October 2004). Shining South. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 97. ISBN 0-7869-3492-1.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Bruce R. Cordell, Ed Greenwood, Chris Sims (August 2008). Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide. Edited by Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, et al. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 122–123. ISBN 978-0-7869-4924-3.
  11. ↑ Thomas Reid (October 2004). Shining South. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 95. ISBN 0-7869-3492-1.
  12. ↑ Ed Greenwood (April 2001–May 2003). Elminster Speaks archive (Zipped PDF). Elminster Speaks. Wizards of the Coast. p. 58. Archived from the original on 2016-11-01. Retrieved on 2016-09-03.
  13. ↑ Ed Greenwood (2002-09-04). Part #48: The Road to Khôltar, Part 1. Elminster Speaks. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2016-11-01. Retrieved on 2017-06-10.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 Ed Greenwood (2019-11-04). RETHMAR, Rathole of the Shaar. EN World. EN Publishing.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Karen Wynn Fonstad (August 1990). The Forgotten Realms Atlas. (TSR, Inc), pp. 9–10. ISBN 978-0880388573.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 Thomas Reid (October 2004). Shining South. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 159. ISBN 0-7869-3492-1.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Robert Wiese (2006-08-21). Steal This Hook!: "A Place to Call Home". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2008-02-28.
  18. ↑ Richard Baker, James Wyatt (March 2004). Player's Guide to Faerûn. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 40. ISBN 0-7869-3134-5.
  19. ↑ Brian R. James, Ed Greenwood (September 2007). The Grand History of the Realms. Edited by Kim Mohan, Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 69. ISBN 978-0-7869-4731-7.
  20. ↑ Brian R. James, Ed Greenwood (September 2007). The Grand History of the Realms. Edited by Kim Mohan, Penny Williams. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 87. ISBN 978-0-7869-4731-7.
  21. ↑ Ed Greenwood, Eric L. Boyd, Darrin Drader (July 2004). Serpent Kingdoms. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 102–103. ISBN 0-7869-3277-5.
  22. ↑ Thomas Reid (October 2004). Shining South. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 164. ISBN 0-7869-3492-1.
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Thomas Reid (October 2004). Shining South. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 186–189. ISBN 0-7869-3492-1.
  24. ↑ Bruce R. Cordell, Ed Greenwood, Chris Sims (August 2008). Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide. Edited by Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, et al. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 121. ISBN 978-0-7869-4924-3.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Map included in Bruce R. Cordell, Ed Greenwood, Chris Sims (August 2008). Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide. (Wizards of the Coast). ISBN 978-0-7869-4924-3.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Ed Greenwood (2019-12-03). Making Rethmar Come Alive. EN World. EN Publishing.
  27. ↑ Eric L. Boyd (November 1998). Demihuman Deities. Edited by Julia Martin. (TSR, Inc.), pp. 112–113. ISBN 0-7869-1239-1.
  28. ↑ Richard Baker, James Jacobs (February 2006). Red Hand of Doom. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 8. ISBN 978-0-7869-3938-1.
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