World Resources

World Basics

The sub-continent of Faerûn is set on the planet Toril. Faerûn is the western part of an unnamed supercontinent that is quite similar to real-world Afro-Eurasia. This continent also includes Kara-Tur, the original setting of D&D Oriental Adventures and Zakhara, home to the Arabian Nights setting Al-Qadim. Maztica, home of a tribal, Aztec-like civilization is far to the west, across an ocean called the Trackless Sea. The subterranean regions underneath Faerûn are called the Underdark.

In the northwest, Faerûn is a region of wilderness, difficult winter weather, hordes of orcs, and barbarous human tribes. This region is generally referred to as "The North". It is a mostly-untamed region that lies between the large Anauroch desert in the east and the expansive Sea of Swords to the west. This area contains huge wooded regions such as the High Forest and the Lurkwood, the frozen Icewind Dale to the north, and an untamed region called the Savage Frontier, which includes the Silver Marches (Luruar). The coastal region is called the Sword Coast. Here lies the city-state of Neverwinter and the large port city of Waterdeep. Deep inland are the ancient dwarven citadels of Mithral Hall, Citadel Felbarr and, the largest of the three, Citadel Adbar.

One of the most helpful resources is the interactive map found here:

https://www.aidedd.org/atlas/index.php?map=R&l=1

You can select all of Faerûn or one of the main cities, each has its own comprehensive map with flags explaining many of the locations.  You can even calculate distances between locations similar to google maps (though a little more difficult).

In the Forgotten Realms setting, a week is ten days long and is referred to as a tenday. There are three tendays per month, and twelve months in a year.

CALENDAR OF HARPTOS YEAR 1491-CR

The Calendar of Harptos was the calendar used across most of Faerûn. It was created by the wizard Harptos of Kaalinth, although most people associate the word "Harptos" with the calendar. It was split into twelve months, each lasting three tendays (or thirty days). There were an additional five days that fell between months, bringing the total number of days in most years to 365.

The days making up a tenday did not have formal names. If precision was required, the number of the day and the number of the tenday were used, as in, "the fourth day of the first tenday of Flamerule". Days of the month were typically written as the numerical date followed by the month name, for example, "15 Hammer" or "15th Hammer". Informally or poetically this could be spoken or written as "the 15th of Deepwinter".

Town of Nightstone

Nightstone was a fortified settlement located near the Ardeep Forest, in the hills between Waterdeep and Daggerford. It was connected to the High Road via a side trail and is roughly a full day's travel to Waterdeep.

Nightstone was built on the Ardeep River and consists of a fenced island connected to an artificial motte that holds the village's keep (mostly vacant). Its name derives from a mysterious obsidian obelisk in the center of the village that has strange glyphs carved into it and emanates a magic aura.

Locations

1: Drawbridge, no longer moves, stays down

2: Guard towers (generally left unguarded)

3: The obsidian obelisk

4: Homes

5: Temple dedicated to Lathander, God of the Dawn, and Mielikki, Goddess of the forest.

6: Graveyard

7: Stable and Smithy

8: Montgomery's Tavern

12-14: the Keep, in great disrepair, the bridge is broken with a 15 foot gap.

Waterdeep

On the Western shores of Faerûn lies the city of Waterdeep. A place of business for many, opportunity for others, and called home by countless thousands but all know it as the City of Splendor. Its history is old; older than the noble families that rule in the upper wards, older than Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale, older even than Neverwinter Forest and the great plains that succumbed to the Spell Plague and Calamity; it has persevered. Its history is Contiguous; the city behind its high, white walls has never fallen. This is the hub of many races who make up the spanning castes. This is a city of spectrums; great wealth and oppressive poverty; festivals and fairs and crime and corruption; adventure and intrigue and pampering and imbibing. A dichotomous city. Nobles of the North Ward who parade through the streets and throw elegant balls to flaunt their wealth just beyond the walls that divide them from the Field Ward homes that hold a thousand hungry mouths, some of them old beggars, others children made orphans by a parent's vice or war or both.

Each of its seven wards houses humans, teiflings, dwarves, half-orcs, elves, dragon borne and half another world of creatures. Merchants can be heard calling out the contents of their stalls in the Trades Ward; smells of freshly caught fish, ripe fruits and spices brought in by traders who travel over the Sea of Swords.

The streets of Castle Ward are pristine, patrolled by guards who don colorful and exquisite armor. Statues that act as street signs, pointing towards the courthouse, a local theater, or the king's extravagant castle. Just beyond the crimeless Castle Ward, is the Sea Ward, home of a dozen religions with gaudy temples, some built of stone, others carved straight into massive statues, the size of titans, that loom over the city of Waterdeep. Their features sometimes disappear into the sky, when the clouds hang low or when a fresh morning fog rolls in from the sea. They've been still for so long that houses have begun to appear near, around and on them. At one time, their names were known, and their history, told often. But the city is old, and with time, the people have lost the stories.

In the Dock Ward, amidst the seafoam and the smell of salt water, raucous laughter, or murderous shouting (sometimes it's hard to tell the difference) can be heard from behind brightly lit tavern windows. Salty dogs partake in bouts of violence. For brawls go hand-in-hand with hard liquor, and the liquor flows like water there. The dark alleys that pepper this ward are the hunting grounds for cutthroats; the busy harbor a playing field for a thief with sticky fingers. Nobles avoid this place, as much for the general smell as the inherent danger; like a lamb wandering into a pack of wolves.

The great graveyard, called the City of the Dead, sits in the eastern portion. It houses countless dead, from seven and seven and seven generations past. Walls have been erected around it, guards patrol it, in case any upstart necromancer is looking for flesh for his dark magics. No dead wander about, it is but a large graveyard, but that doesn't stop the children from telling ghost stories, or daring one another to sneak in and stay the night. Childish things, the adults will say. But even a grown man is superstitious enough that he wouldn't partake in any dare of that sort.

And on the southern side of the city, looms Mt. Waterdeep, a natural landmark that sweetens an already beautiful city. Its peak is white capped in winter and green in the summer. It catches the morning sun first and glows like a beacon. It once housed the original denizens that started the city of Waterdeep, tunnels and mines run through its core, but it's been long since abandoned. Or so the city thought; there's been rumblings in the dark, sounds from the old mines, a patrol disappearing here or there. Some say it's a troll, or perhaps Underdark creatures striking in the night. Others rumored that a mage took residence there. He experimented on things better left untouched. He went mad. Some say, on those cold, still nights, you can hear his laughter echoing off the mountainside.

Deities of the Forgotten Realms

There are a great many deities within the Forgotten Realms: