The Caravan City. Tymora's City.
Arabel.
Caravans thrundle into the city from Sembia, coming down from the mountains through distant Thunderholme. Smaller caravans, from Bospir, which connects to south-east Cormyr, and Waymoot via Eveningstar, also make their journey, aiming for markets to the northern markets in the Dales and further on.
From Arabel, many caravans continue West through Eveningstar, aiming for the Sword Coast and distant Tethyr, Amn and Calimshan, or even Waterdeep, city of cities. Caravans also pass through Arabel on the way to coastal Suzail, where they take ship across the Sea of Fallen Stars to Westgate, Aglarond, Impiltur and many more, even Mulhorand.
This land is a crossroads, a meeting place and melting pot of races and people. Many people have come to know Arabel, not because of its wealth or its power, but because of the chaos it spews.
Shortages of goods in distant areas of Faerun can be blamed on the troubles that plagued this city, as caravans stall and rot in fields as they wait for wars to end, or battles to finish. Arabel is in the lips of many different people as they speak of the many creatures and demons, monsters and dragons that have made their name known.
Arabel is not a place for the weak at heart, and many of its citizens have become jaded and morose, seeking only to survve the latest threat, the latest horror, wondering why they do not move, vowing to depart, and failing to do so.
Sheriffs mount the guard on the Palace and at their fortified tower, while the local militia, a large army of men, maintains its ultimate neutrality, eschewing politics in favor of defending their homes and their families. Queen Venieth of the Hullack Kingdom lies in state in the Palace, a temporarily heroic figure suddenly gone silent, cast into the shadow of her Viceroy, Baron Kreswell of Arabel, a man as vile as Cassiel, a man hated by many and loved by some.
He rules while she recovers from her illness, extending his tentacles through the countryside. The Sheriffs are his tool, a mix of local men and Sembians, as often as not complemented by mercenaries and assasins working to maintain loyalty in the populace rather than the safety of the citizens.
East Way, razed and razed and razed again. Once the a retirement village for older Purple Dragons, it has been destroyed time and time agan, often by threats from neighbouring Hullack Forest, or the Cemetary of Dread, where the Devil Dragon reigns supremean and unchallenged. Recently destroyed, it is slowly being rebuilt
It is home now to the Varlets, a criminal organisation that has become legitimized by a King, and now works to put down, violently, the same type of people they once were. They're methods are bruthal, and subtle, as often as not. Nobody trusts them, many fear them, and they are nominally allies of the Sheriffs.
Eveningstar, lonely on the border of the King's Forest, watched by the remnants of the Purple Dragons that battle the goblin hordes that lair in a multitude of forest camps. It is home to Fort Hart, and a gateway to the Haunted Halls and Starwater Gorge. The Knightly Order of the Red Hart has its home there, maintaing a strong garrison with the remnants of Queen Lhal's loyalists, who retreated from Arabel after their grevious losses during the battle with the Devil Dragon and the Hullack Kingdom
Eveningstar has just about recovered from a dragon attack.
Technically at war with the Hullack Kingdom, Queen Lhal, the Red Harts and her loyalists lick their wounds and engage politely with the sheriffs whilst facing off against their newest enemy.
The Legion.
Castle Crag has been the hottest piece of property for the past few years. Everyone wants it, and when they get it, they have to fight to keep it. Its newest owner is the Forsaken Legion, a group who say they are honorable and good, who claim to be knights, who claim to bring order. They have allies amongst the Company of the Gear, who has opened up a foundry amongst the ruins of Flynn, who provide them with a multitude of war machines.
There is little to note about the Company of the Gear. Its numbers have fallen in recent times. Debacle has dogged it recently, as people take note of its neutrality treaty, yet note that a machine provided to the Red Harts proved disasterous, and that the Company of the Gear has been making huge sales to the Legion.
The Rift yaws wide, unassailable. Cults gather in the shadows. Things begin to creep.
And everywhere in Arabel, roots.