Faerûn

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Faerûn
Original Name	费伦
Type	Continent
World	Toril 1
Current Era	Late fifteenth century Dalereckoning; 1490 DR is identified as the current year. 308 343
First Appearance	1

Geography & Living Conditions

• Faerûn is a vast, sparsely populated continent on Toril, inhabited by humans, elves, dwarves, dragons, goblins, and many other peoples and creatures. Magic, gods, demons, and angels are all active parts of life. 1
• Arable land is plentiful and agricultural goods are cheap, partly because magic can greatly improve production. Thay exports especially cheap grain through climate-altering magic and undead agricultural labor. 2
• Safety—not land—is the continent's scarcest resource. Wilderness settlers face monsters before they can establish farms, while many refugees displaced by the Second Sundering remain dependent on major cities for survival. 287
• Faerûn contains powerful urban centers and frontier regions alike. Baldur's Gate, Waterdeep, Neverwinter, Silverymoon, Amn, Cormyr, Thay, and the elven realm of Cormanthor are among the locations referenced in the narrative. 2 148 165 289
• The Sword Coast is politically fragmented among city-states and competing factions, limiting the ability of mortals to unite against supernatural threats. 287
• Elturel, capital of the theocratic nation of Elturgard, lies roughly two hundred miles east of Baldur's Gate along the upper Chionthar River. Known as the City of the Eternal Sun, it is considered the safest city in western Faerûn and contrasts sharply with Baldur's Gate's comparatively free and criminally entangled society. 28
• The Anauroch Desert in northwestern Faerûn was formed when the Phaerimm's magic drained moisture from the lands contested by Netheril and the Phaerimm. 113
• Faerûn's surface is connected to the Underdark below and, in some places, to other planes. A major breach near the Lighthouse of Lathander opens into the Shadowfell and permits shadow creatures to enter the Prime Material Plane. 333

History

Primordial and Creator-Race Ages

Ao created Toril, after which Selûne and Shar emerged from chaos and created the first Goddess of Magic, Mystryl. During the Days of Thunder, the Sarrukh, Batrachi, and Aearee each established empires before their civilizations fell. Humans existed in a primitive state during this era. 262

In the Dawn Age, dragons conquered the creator races and enslaved humans and other peoples in four great kingdoms. The Dragonfall War between dragons aligned with Tiamat and Bahamut weakened dragonkind, allowing giants to wage a long war against them before retreating into the northern frozen lands. 262

Elven Ascendancy

Elves arrived on Toril through portals from another universe and rose after the dragon–giant conflict. Their high magic created mythals capable of rivaling divine power; the Dracorage Mythal drove dragons and dragon-blooded creatures into mutual slaughter, ending dragon rule and beginning the elven Age of Flowering. 262

The elven kingdoms later fought the three-thousand-year Crown Wars, which shattered their dominance. The Age of Flowering also included the First Sundering, which split the supercontinent of Merrouroboros into multiple continents, and the Descent, which forced the dark elves underground and transformed them into drow. 262 309

Human Empires and Netheril

As dragons, giants, and elves declined, humans became one of Faerûn's dominant peoples. Human empires including Netheril, Calimshan, and Imaskar shaped the following age. 262

Netheril became a magical superpower whose fifty-four floating cities ruled Faerûn's skies. Its High Netherese arcanists ruled surface “freemen” as property, subjected non-spellcasters to forced labor and magical experiments, and encouraged the slaughter of other races. 113

The empire's war with the Phaerimm turned much of its territory into the Anauroch Desert. Near Netheril's end, Karsus cast the unprecedented twelfth-circle spell Karsus's Avatar in an attempt to save the empire and fulfill his ambitions. 113

Netherese arcanists specialized narrowly but pursued their selected domains to extraordinary depths, making tenth- and eleventh-circle spellcasting possible. Karsus's folly led the second Mystra to prohibit mortal methods of casting magic at that scale. 236

Recent Catastrophes

• Time of Troubles — The Tablets of Fate were stolen, and gods walked the mortal world through Chosen. The Circle of Supreme Powers later expelled Cyric after he murdered the Goddess of Magic and sentenced him to a thousand years of imprisonment. 177
• Bhaalspawn crisis — Charname Adrian defeated Sarevok and other Bhaalspawn, destroyed the Throne of Bhaal, and became Baldur's Gate's great hero and Grand Duke in 1450 DR. His death at the hands of the final Bhaalspawn in 1482 DR restored Bhaal to life. 18
• Spellplague — The death of the Goddess of Magic killed countless spellcasters, mutated creatures, twisted terrain, and caused Toril to overlap with its sister world, Abeir. 20
• Second Sundering — Ao rewrote the Tablets of Fate, separated Toril from Abeir, and reshaped Faerûn's geography. 20
• Post-Sundering era — Ao's revised Tablets established Paths as a law of the world. Direct divine intervention became more difficult, while gods increasingly empowered Chosen to act in the mortal realm. 122 174 308

Magic & Advancement

The Weave and Spellcasting

• Magic is regulated through the Weave, and arcane spellcasters depend heavily on Intelligence. 2
• Faerûnian creatures are measured by six core attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. A class's primary attribute determines its growth rate and potential. 2
• For wizards, Intelligence 19 is required for ninth-circle spells, while Intelligence 20 is considered the mortal limit and offers a chance to enter legend. 2
• Intelligence governs the comprehension and analysis of magic; Wisdom governs the sensing of magic and connection to divine or natural sources; Charisma governs an individual's affinity for and ability to influence magic. 101 208
• Faerûn is a high-magic world in potential, but advanced magic is not broadly accessible. The scarcity of capable mages remains a major barrier to widespread magical infrastructure. 238 288
• Magical knowledge can itself be dangerous. Major institutions such as Candlekeep regulate access to exceptional texts, while divine powers may use rare books and arcane knowledge to test prospective Chosen. 164

Paths and Chosen

• A Path is a world-law written into the Tablets of Fate by Ao. Mortals who open one gain the potential to reach godhood, making them both valuable and threatening to divine powers. 122
• Paths are described as Paragon, Hero, and Legend grades. Paragon Paths produce exemplars renowned within a kingdom, Hero Paths create figures celebrated throughout Faerûn, and Legend Paths belong to individuals capable of imposing their will on the multiverse. 148
• A divine blessing alone does not make someone Chosen. Chosen are representatives who enact a god's will and spread its doctrine on the Prime Material Plane; ability, character, aptitude, and opportunity are all required. 174
• The post-Sundering era has produced an unusually large number of Chosen, intensifying conflicts among faiths and turning mortal affairs into extensions of divine rivalries. 122 308
• Despite the growing number of Chosen, mortals who have independently opened Paths remain rare. 304
• Marvin Rodhart's immortal Path, Civilization Flamebearer, assesses and converts contributions to Faerûn's mortal prosperity into Civilization Influence and recoverable Flames of Civilization. 262

Mythals and Netherese Magic

Type	Scope / Characteristics
House Mythal	Also called a Lesser Mythal; usually protects one or several buildings. 238
Sorcerous Mythal	Created by more recent non-elven spellcasters; powerful but below ancient elven high magic. Silverymoon's Dragonward Mythal belongs to this grade. 238
Mythic Mythal	Created through elven high magic; can rival lesser gods in power. 238

• Netherese mythallars are vast magical energy sources and symbols of that empire's greatest magical engineering achievements. 64 346
• The Mythallar Compendium records mythallar knowledge but requires exceptional Intelligence to study effectively. 348
• Titansteel, called orichalcum in Netherese, is material left behind by Primordials after death. Its properties vary according to the Primordial from which it originated. 308
• Heavy Magic is a dangerous Netherese power capable of greatly amplifying spells. Karsus used enormous quantities of it to support his twelfth-circle spell, but its power also contributed to his madness. 206
• Super Heavy Magic is a more advanced form of Heavy Magic produced through an annihilation reaction. Its properties remain poorly understood, though exposure may temporarily heighten mental power enough to perceive divine activity. 320 321
• The Shadow Weave is a shadow-magic framework associated with Shar. Its users can interfere with conventional spell models by forcibly linking hostile spells to it and injecting shadow magic, provided their mental power surpasses that of the target caster. 248 250

Faith, Factions & Politics

• Most Faerûnians are vaguely faithful rather than devoted to a single god, praying to different deities according to immediate needs such as wealth, romance, farming, or war. 182
• Faith is politically significant: noble families treat a child's religion as a declaration of political alignment, much like marriage. 120
• Religious and racial discrimination are widespread, including prejudice between spellcasters, races, and faiths. 22
• The Harpers are a Chaotic Good secret organization known for opposing evil and acting as chivalrous outlaws. Rulers focused on order may distrust them, but they remain a reliable force against major threats. 12
• The Twenty-Four Council is a divine political body intended to preserve multiversal balance and communicate the gods' will through their representatives. Its meetings bring Chosen and powerful religious figures into direct political conflict. 177 178
• The gods of knowledge and invention—Oghma, Deneir, Milil, and Gond—share close ties through the preservation, creation, and spread of knowledge. 178 305
• Talos, Umberlee, Auril, and Malar form the Furious Four, an influential evil alliance linked by destruction, storms, sea, winter, and the hunt. 305
• Religious life ranges from Chosen and devout proselytizers to ordinary believers and the merely nominally faithful. Senior clergy, paladins, and core religious military orders are generally counted among the devout. 390
• Baldur's Gate permits comparatively broad freedom of faith, while Elturgard's state religion and theocratic structure create longstanding political friction between the two powers. 28
• The Twenty-Four Council's attendance reflects the fragmentation of divine politics. At one gathering, Shar, Talos, Oghma, Kelemvor, Chauntea, and Mystra were each unrepresented despite their importance in Faerûnian affairs. 327
• The Knights of the Shield, the Nine-Fingers Guild, the Flaming Fist, noble houses, churches, and Chosen all compete for influence in Baldur's Gate, making the city a focal point for wider Faerûnian and infernal conflicts. 248 261 327

Other Planes

Plane / World	Connection to Faerûn
Abeir	Toril's sister mirror world; briefly overlapped with Toril during the Spellplague before Ao separated them in the Second Sundering. 20
Feywild	A mirror plane of the Prime Material Plane and home to most fey. Its time and space are unstable, and its native fey often interpret words literally. 122 285
Shadowfell	The dark echo of the Prime Material Plane. Shar created it from the broken Shadow Plane after the Spellplague by pouring in necrotic energy. Breaches can allow Shadowfell creatures to invade Faerûn, while mage towers may be established within the plane. 250 333 393
Astral Plane	A boundless, timeless transitional realm between the Prime Material Plane and the Outer Planes; astral color pools lead to other planes. 238
Mechanus	A plane of geometric order and colossal gears; it is especially compatible with lawful neutral mental power. 238
Nine Hells	A major fiendish realm whose devils fight demons in the Blood War and seek mortal resources, weapons, and souls. 175 178 182

Technology & Civilization

• Gond's followers develop firearms, cannons, steamships, magical tools, and industrial technologies. Their Hall of Wonders displays inventions while selling practical mass-produced goods to fund further research. 26 305 308
• Firearms have become a source of divine conflict. Tempus fears that industrialized warfare could shift the portfolio of war toward gods of knowledge and invention. 178 305
• Firearms remain costly and specialized equipment in many parts of Faerûn, but their planned large-scale use by devils in the Blood War has made their strategic implications impossible for the gods to ignore. 24 178
• Gond's Church is developing advanced construct technology, including Steel Guardians and proposed giant mechanical war machines intended to strengthen Baldur's Gate's defenses. 83
• Sussur Magic Furnaces offer a new energy system that could make wizard towers more widespread and expand access to magical infrastructure. 165 288
• Thay is a pioneer in magical agriculture despite the cruelty of its undead labor system; later agricultural magic arrays borrow techniques from its methods. 2 287
• Faerûn's civilizations repeatedly rise, collapse, and rebuild rather than progressing continuously. Marvin identifies divine interference, wars, and magical catastrophes as recurring interruptions to development. 262
• The emerging doctrine that “Development Is Balance” seeks to reconcile druidic stewardship with agricultural and technological advancement rather than treating development as inherently opposed to nature. 262 287

Role in *Faerûn's Overprepared Wizard*

• Faerûn is the continent where Marvin Rodhart awakens after transmigrating to Toril. Its monsters, factional conflicts, divine schemes, and unstable political order shape his cautious approach to survival. 1
• Marvin's knowledge-driven actions influence the continent's future: firearms enter the Blood War, a druidic movement adopts the principle that “Development Is Balance,” and Sussur Magic Furnace-equipped towers support new education and magical growth. 262
• His firearms agreement with the Church of Gond and the Nine Hells creates enough political upheaval to divide multiple Chosen at the Twenty-Four Council, despite Marvin remaining outside the debate itself. 178
• Marvin's opening of the immortal Path, Civilization Flamebearer, is tied directly to his vision of Faerûn's past and his potential role in altering its future development. 262
• Baldur's Gate becomes the principal center of Marvin's influence. Through alliances with the Flaming Fist, House Stelmane, the Church of Gond, the Nine-Fingers Guild, and major civic leaders, he helps organize responses to mind flayers, devils, the Dragon Cult, and Gargauth. 146 248 261 327
• Marvin's destruction of Cyric's artifact dagger, Godsbane, triggers a divine confrontation in the Astral Plane and draws the imprisoned god's personal hostility toward him. 320 321
• The campaign against Gargauth draws Chosen, church forces, Baldur's Gate's authorities, constructs, mercenaries, and independent adventurers into a broader coalition, illustrating both Faerûn's political fragmentation and its capacity for temporary cooperation against existential threats. 324 327 333
• Faerûn's conflicts continue to extend beyond the continent itself. Marvin operates through linked mage towers and uses the Shadowfell's Black Tower to redirect Shar's followers and manipulate Lorroakan into confronting them. 376 393