General Info

The world of the Forgotten Realms is an Earth-sized planet formerly known as Abeir-toril, “Cradle of Life,” in an ancient tongue. In ancient times, some thirty thousand years ago, the world was threatened with destruction in a war between the gods and the primordials, so it was divided into two separate versions of itself. Abeir became the home of the primordials whilst Toril became the home of the gods. This event had faded to less than a rumour before it was spectacularly proven relevant again a century ago in the cataclysm known as the Spellplague, which briefly re-merged the two worlds, leaving scars behind that are fully yet to heal.

Planet Details

Toril’s equatorial circumference is approximately 24,000 miles, with a surface area somewhat less than 197 million square miles. Toril is the third of eight planets circling its sun, with Anadia and Coliar (the Dawn Heralds) orbiting inside Toril’s orbit and Karpri, Chandos, Glyth, Garden and H’Catha (the Five Wanderers) orbiting beyond it. Toril has one large moon, Selûne (also the name of the goddess of the night sky), and a string of asteroids orbiting in its wake, known as the Tears of Selûne. Toril orbits its sun once every 365¼ days (with an extra leap day added every fourth year) and rotates on its axis once every 24 hours.

Toril possesses enormous ice caps which extend well into the temperate zones. During the hottest summers, the frozen ocean around the north coast of Faerûn sometimes breaks up and permits travel from the Trackless Sea to the Great Ice Sea (with ships from far Sossal occasionally seen in Sword Coast ports). There appear to be no continents or landmasses at either the north nor south poles.

Continents

Toril is divided into multiple continents, although the exact number of continents and even the definition of a continent (versus a large island) are fiercely debated between sages and cartographers. Still, the following continents are generally accepted as being extant:

Faerûn:

The most famous continent on Toril, the home of note worthies such as Elminster of Shadowdale and Drizzt Do’Urden, and the location of cities such as Neverwinter, Baldur’s Gate, Calimport and Waterdeep, and nations such as Cormyr, Halruaa, Calimshan, Mulhorand, Sossal and Thay. Faerûn makes up the western portion of a larger supercontinent and also contains offshore islands such as the Moonshaes, Lantan and Nimbral.

Kara-Tur:

The largest and most populous continent on Toril, located to the east of Faerûn and making up the eastern part of the main supercontinent. If Faerûn is the land of kingdoms and city-states, Kara-Tur is the land of empires, in particular the vast Shou Lung Empire which dominates much of the landmass. The offshore island chains of Wa and Kozakura are counted as part of the continent. Cloudspire, the tallest mountain on Toril (exceeding 35,000 feet), is located in Kara-Tur.
Zakhara: The Land of Fate is the southern-most part of the main supercontinent and forms a large peninsula extending south-west from Kara-Tur. It is dominated by vast deserts, ancient ruins and great cities such as Golden Huzuz, the City of Delights. The continent also includes the vast island chains of the Crowded Sea.

Maztica:

Known to its inhabitants as the True World and to Faerûnian as the New World, this continent is located some three thousand miles to the west, across the Trackless Sea. Maztica was “discovered” in the year 1361 DR (Dalereckoning) by explorers from Amn and colony-states were established (the people who actually live there “discovered” it some considerable time earlier, of course), but clashes between the native gods and the Faerûnian pantheon resulted in demarcation lines being established and full-scale colonisation of the continent was subsequently averted. Maztica vanished during the cataclysmic event known as the Spellplague and returned a century later; its fate during the intervening period is unclear.

Katashaka:

A vast jungle continent to the south of Maztica, south-west across the Great Sea from Faerûn. Unvisited by Faerûnians, but some Katashakans have visited Faerûn and settled there.

Arandron:

A highly mysterious and little-known continent in the southern hemisphere. Some traders from this land have established ties with the island-kingdom of Lantan.

Ossë:

A continent located to the east of Kara-Tur and west of Maztica and Katashaka, on the far side of the world to Faerûn. Its nature is unknown and even maps of it are speculative (Elminster of Shadowdale has indicated maps show the continent as significantly larger than is the case), although some spirit-shamans of the continent have allegedly visited Faerûn as part of their spiritual quests.

Anchôromé:

A vast island-chain located to the north-west of Evermeet. The provenance of this name is subject to bitter conflicts between cartographers of Baldur’s Gate and Amn. The notables of Baldur’s Gate claim that Anchôromé is the name of the entire continent to the west, as discovered and claimed by their great explorer Balduran some centuries ago, as well as the islands. However, Amnian sources claim that Balduran only discovered the islands off the coast and never made landfall on the continent, citing the absolute lack of evidence for its existence prior to the “discovery” of Maztica. The Amnians claim the entire landmass is Maztica, and have named it as such (adopting the native name). The actual inhabitants of Maztica also reject the “coloniser” name of Anchôromé, which they regard as meaningless. Some have suggested a compromise of splitting the continent in two, with Maztica in the south and Anchôromé in the north, but there is no known geographic feature to mark such a split (as opposed to Faerûn, Zakhara and Kara-Tur, which are divided from one another by the massive mountain range known as the Yehimal). The actual inhabitants of “Anchôromé” – incredibly hostile wild and jungle elf tribes – have also not been consulted on what they themselves call the landmass. The only geographic feature known to exist on this landmass is the vast Mount Havraquoar, an ancient colony of the Aearee-Krocaa. The debate continues.

Myrmidune:

A name of debatable provenance, applied to the very large island (or small continent) immediately west of Maztica. This island is believed to be the ancestral home of the aeraee in ancient times.

Akota:

A substantial island chain to the west of Zakhara. Largely unknown, the people of Akota conduct limited trade with Zakhara via a colony-city (also called Akota) on the south-western coast of Zakhara.

Laerakond:

During the Spellplague, the small continent of Laerakond was somehow transplanted from the world of Abeir to Toril, materialising in the Great Sea south-west of Faerûn (where it was known as “Returned Abeir” for a time). For a century, Laerakond traded with mainland Faerûn whilst Faerûnian adventurers travelled to Laerakond to explore that land further. However, in the Second Sundering, the event that signalled an end to the Spellplague and separated the conjoined worlds of Abeir and Toril, all contact with Laerakond was lost and has not yet been re-established. It is unclear if Laerakond remains on Toril or returned to Abeir in the Sundering; learned sages of note have claimed both versions of events. Further clarification is awaited.

Additional large islands or small continents are located north-west of Maztica, beyond the northern polar ice line, and to the south-west of Zakhara. There are also very large island chains in the Western Ocean between Ossë and Maztica which are still unexplored.

Oceans

Toril possesses several notable oceans:

The Trackless Sea

The Trackless Sea lies to the west of Faerûn, separating it from Maztica and the islands of Anchôromé. Marginal seas of this ocean including the Sea of Moving Ice (off the north-west coast), the Sea of Swords (between the coast and the Moonshae Isles) and the Shining Sea (between Calimshan and the Chultan Peninsula). The Bay of Balduran and the Sea of Azul lie off the coast of Maztica. Chult and the island of Nimbral mark the southern end of this ocean.

The Great Sea

The Great Sea lies to the south of Faerûn, separating it from Zakhara to the south and Katashaka to the south-west.

The Southern Ocean

The Southern Ocean lies to the south of Katashaka, Kara-Tur and Ossë, and encompasses the frozen southern polar region of Toril. Marginal seas of this ocean include the Crowded Sea off the southern coast of Zakhara and the Segara Sea between Zakhara and Kara-Tur.

The Eastern Sea

The Eastern Sea lies to the east of Kara-Tur, separating it from Ossë and extending north of that enigmatic continent. Marginal seas of the Eastern Sea include the Celestial Sea and the Yellow Sea, off the coast of Kara-Tur.

The Western Ocean

The Western Ocean lies to the west of Maztica and Katashaka, separating those continents from Ossë.

The Endless Ice Sea

The Endless Ice Sea lies to the north of Faerûn, Kara-Tur and Maztica. The “sea” is actually an immense frozen ice pack extending across the polar regions of Toril and extending onto the landmass of the main supercontinent. The Endless Ice Sea links to the large glacial masses in Faerûn (Reghed Glacier, the High Ice and the Great Glacier of Pelvuria), as well as the Land of the Snow Spirits in northern Kara-Tur. The only notable marginal sea of this ocean is the Great Ice Sea, which cuts southwards to separate northern Faerûn from Kara-Tur.

Sapient Species

Capital Cities