Amn

Capital: Crimmor (Psuedo-Capital)
 * Regional Population: 2,357,189 (humans 77%, halflings 15%, half-orcs 7%) (Estimate, likely lower due to "The Winter of Teeth".)
 * Government: Plutocracy
 * Religions: Bane, Chauntea, Cyric, Selune, Sune, Waukeen
 * Imports: Exotic foods (from Maztica), magic items, mercenaries, pearls, siege weaponry
 * Exports: Ale, armor, beer, caravan items (wagons, wheels), gems, gold, grain, horses, iron, jewelry, weapons
 * Alignments: LN, LE, NG

Amn is a nation of merchants, a place where caravans start and end and ships leave for exotic ports and return laden with gold and strange items. The Shadow Thieves have their hand in everything, and the rulers were an anonymous group known only as the Council of Six before The Longest Year. Since that time, those same council members have done their best to consolidate power and ensure that society continues to operate with respect to their rule of law. However the once feared Cowled Wizards have since been quieted in recent years.

Amn maintained a large colony on the distant tropical continent of Maztica and had profited greatly from its trade. The government’s disregard for the humanoids in its southern mountains has come back to haunt the country; two ogre warlord leaders forged an army and decimated much of Eastern Amn, including its previous Capital, Athkatla. Now Amn struggles to maintain even a semblance of a country whilst making an attempt at maintaining its trade routes and dominance in Maztica.

Life and Society
The people of Amn, while still valuing wealth above all other things, have made some reservations due to the invasion out of the Small Teeth. The gold that once afforded Amnians with power had little impact on the invading army and most of those who attempted to wield their wealth as a means to sway the invading horde fell on deaf ears and resulted in a quick death.

Amn’s economy is still supported by strong guilds, controlled by powerful merchant families who have a great deal of wealth and political clout. Every aspect of trade or craft is covered by a guild.

Major Geographical Features
Amn is a great plain between two parallel mountain ranges. Four broad, slow rivers wind across its lowlands, laden with trade goods.

The Cloud Peaks: These mountains mark the northern border of Amn. Despite being home to white dragons and remorhazes, they are mined for iron, precious metal, and even some gems. A pair of steep crags known as the Fangs guards the Trade Way leading to the Sword Coast lands.

Lake Esmel: This dark blue lake plummets to unknown depths in the central, southern, and eastern portions. Hot mineral springs flow in the western shallows, making it a popular vacation spot and health resort for the wealthy. Rumors speak of an aquatic monster in the lake, but dismiss them as sightings of Balagos the Flying Flame, a red great wyrm legendary for his gigantic size, temper, and recklessly hurled spells.

Shilmista: The elven king of this era, also known as the Forest of Shadows, has declared that no more trees or elves of his realm shall die, and slays any who violate his order. Only a tribe of elves remains, and its members prefer to stay in small, hard-to-find camps rather than in larger settlements. The tribal leaders have established a tenuous contact with the rulers of Tethyr that may ease their paranoia.

The Small Teeth: This range of mountains was considered a nuisance because of the number of evil humanoids and giants living here, but now it is the backbone of the Sythillisian Empire, an area of conquered Amnian territory ruled by two ogre mages. The peaks are home to Iryklathagra “Sharpfangs,” a blue wyrm that awakens about once a century, and the Twin Towers of the Eternal Eclipse, two foritifications dedicated to the church of Cyric.

Snakewood: This place’s name comes from the black and green snakes that live here. Clerics of Eldath inhabit the central woods despite isolated pockets of monstrous spiders, giant snakes, beholders, and lycanthropes. An ambitious green dragon named Ringreemeralxoth lairs in the northeastern portion.

Troll Mountains: Rich in gems and full of mysteries, these mountains are mostly unexplored due to the predations of the monsters from which they take their name. The trolls here are unusually clever and well organized, and once ruled a small kingdom of their kind. The mountains are also home to the red dragon Balagos the Flying Flame, a temple of Talos that is struck by lighting daily, and the fortified gnome mining village of Quarrelshigh.

An enormous vertical slab of rock four thousand feet high in the western portion of the mountains is carved to resemble a dwarf. Known as the Wailing Dwarf because of the noise of the wind blowing through its hollow eyes, ears, and mouth, it marks the site of a fallen dwarven city and is no inhabited by trolls and other monsters.

Important Sites
Amn is heavily settled, especially along its great rivers and around Lakes Esmel and Weng. Inns and taverns catering to the Trade Way traffic line the road for the length of its passage through the country.

Athkatla (Ruined Metropolis, 0): This city was once the seventh busiest port in all of Faerun. Athkatla had managed to maintain some semblance of power following the Longest Year. However, in 1368, monstrous armies marched out of the Small Teeth and lay waste to the city. Few survived. Additional Details: http://tdn.boards.net/post/287

Crimmor (Metropolis, 80,194): The caravan capital of Amn, this fortified city is the mustering point for practically all trade heading northward by land. The Shadow Thieves forbid any thievery in this town as payment of a favor owed to a powerful family. Crimmor has many inns, taverns, and festhalls to serve the numerous caravanners and adventurers who pass this way. The attack from the Small Teeth led to many abandoning the city of Athkatla and taking up fortifications in Crimmor which was of the few defensive stances against the horde that was successful.

Eshpurta (Large City, 24,252): Although the rich in Athkatla consider this city a backwater, Eshpurta is proud of its status as Athkatla’s main military city. It has more business devoted to the military (including the manufacture of arms and armor) than most other cities in Faerun. The city also mines iron from the southern foothills of the Troll Mountains. Eshpurta has a quiet temple to Ilmater, an oddity in Amn.

Keczulla (Metropolis, 47,322): Settled hundreds of years ago when gold and iron were found nearby, the town fell on hard times two centuries later when those mines were depleted, only to rise again fifty years ago when gems were discovered. The city houses a secret cabal of benevolent mages, who keep their skills hidden from all but each other.

Murann (Metropolis, 43,773):

Purskul (Metropolis, 27,210): A granary city, Purskul is a significant caravan stop. Orcs were enslaved here over a hundred years ago, with the hardest workers earning their freedom. The half-orc population (15% of the total population) work as mercenaries and caravan guards. Purskul’s temple to Chauntea remains empty after its resident clerics died of sickness two years ago.

Regional History
Humans have inhabited Amn for thousands of years, but only with the rise of the Shoon Empire did the place become a unified nation, reaching its current borders in 768 DR. During the rise of Shoon, most of the elves in Amn’s forests were killed or enslaved, a fact that has not been forgotten by the elves living here today.

With independence, Amn became a center of trade, and its people became wealthy and prosperous. A series of plagues and monsters released by certain schools of wizards has led Amnian citizens to hold a very poor opinion of arcane spellcasters.

Amn was once ruled by the Council of Six, anonymous overlords who share their identities only with each other. The Council of Six made an accord with the Shadow Thieves, an exiled Waterdhavian guild of thieves and assassins, and the two organizations have prospered since then (in fact, a member of the Council leads the Shadow Thieves). Mercenaries in the employ of Amnian merchants discovered Maztica in 1361 DR. The pact with the Shadow Thieves is the only reason that the Cowled Wizards have been capable of maintaining control over Amn.