The Nentir Vale

Zooming in from space...


The Barony of Harkenwold is located on the planet Nerath. It is named for the fallen empire of the same name, located in the NW corner of this map.


Harkenwold is inside the Nentir Vale, in the center of this map.


The companions begin on the King's Road, having entered Harkenwold on the SE corner of this map.


The party has recently come down from a dungeon crawl in the Dawnforge Mountains south of Hammerfast. They are heading towards Fallcrest, having recently heard rumors of work for adventurers in that bustling town.



*Edited for accuracy.

Google Middle-Earth
love the zoom!

Middle Earth style:



Player Options:
The Nentir Vale setting allows for a ton of character races and monsters.

Dragonborn are rare sights in the Vale. A few can be found in the towns of the Nentir Vale acting as bodyguards or caravan escorts. There is also a large group of Dragonborn called Dythan’s Legion who search for past relics from their old Arkhosian empire.

Gnomes are almost non existent in the Vale. A few tinker gnomes can be found in the towns and forest gnomes living in communities under the trees of the Harken Forest. There is no community of Tinker Gnomes in the Vale. Any tinker gnomes living there would have traveled to the region.

Dwarves can be found in the towns. There's a small number of hill dwarves in Fallcrest and the mountain dwarves to the east in the city of Hammerfast.

Wood Elves are rarely seen in human dominated communities. Most likely a wood elf would be from a small village in the Harken Forest.

High Elves are rarely seen in the Vale at all. Eladrin are rare in the Vale as well, but some Eladrin have come from the Feywild. Any High Elf would have come from outside the area (or the Feywild).

Half-Elves can be found in small numbers, but due to the scarcity of elves in the Vale the interaction with humans required to create a half-elf would be rare. Society treats these offspring stuck between two worlds as you might expect.

Humans are the dominant race of the Nentir Vale anywhere outside of Hammerfast and the Harken Forest.

Halflings are the second most numerous people in the Vale, like humans can be found nearly anywhere.

Tieflings are rare and most likely to be found in Fallcrest, living under the thumb of two tiefling families or operating as shopkeepers. Tieflings have a long history in this world and were originally human nobles before they built the now collapsed Bael Turath empire.

Other races such as Half-Orcs, Goliaths, and so on can be rarely found.





Locations:
The Nentir Vale is a rough place and the wilderness between the "points of light" can be deadly.

Hammerfast
To the east lies Hammerfast, the largest and wealthiest town in the region. The Trade Road runs through the gates of Hammerfast and continues east to the Dawnforge Mountains. Hammerfast is a fortress and a necropolis, so there’s lots fun to be had here if you like ghosts or orc invasions.

Harken Forest
This large forest is full of wood elves, drow, treants, spiders, goblins and other business. If you want to start in an elven village this is the best place and a good bet is with the Woodsinger clan from the Harkenwold Forest. There is the elven druid community of Harken’s Heart too.

Harkenwold
The isolated Harkenwold is well off the King’s Road and its people are farmers, woodcutters, and woodworkers versus being traders. This collection of half a dozen small villages makes up the Barony of Harkenwold

Fallcrest
This large town acts as a hub in the center of the Nentir Vale. In Fallcrest, travelers and traders meet at the intersection of the old King’s Road and the dwarven Trade Road. Fallcrest is surrounded by farmland and adventure sites. It has graveyards, gangsters, cults and more in the town itself. Close to the town are kobolds, goblins, witches, dragons and more.

Winterhaven
The remote town of Winterhaven lies to the northwest. Like Fallcrest, this Point of Light is a small town surrounded by a few miles of farmland and pastures, but it is smaller and does not work as well for urban adventures. The orcs to the northwest could invade again at any time and this village acts looks more like a stronghold.

Nenlast
This fishing community to the northeast is small and remote but is a point of light that can be explored during the campaign. It’s a great entry point to face off against the Tigerclaw Barbarians, Dythan’s Legoion (a band of Dragonborn) and Frost Witches of the northern area of the Vale.

Deities of the Nentir Vale:
We'll be using the sample pantheon called Dawn War Deities provided on page 10 of the 5th edition Dungeon Master’s Guide.

At the beginning of time, the universe was divided into the Elemental Chaos and the Astral Sea, with the world sitting between at the center of the universe. The gods were the original inhabitants of the astral realm when the world was newly created by the primordials from the untamed Elemental Chaos.



World (center), Astral Sea (top), Elemental Chaos (bottom), Shadowfell (left), Feywild (right)

The shared mythology of D&D talks of the Dawn War, a war between the primordials and the gods. The gods fought to stop the primordials from destroying the world. The gods united against the primordials and were able to gain a narrow victory. The primordials were imprisoned, but the threat they present remains.

Today, the home of the gods is the Astral Sea, the former battlefield of the Dawn War. Most of the deities who survived the Dawn War reside in dominions located somewhere in the Astral Sea (though some reside in the Abyss, Shadowfell or even just wander the world or cosmos).

In the Vale, commoners and adventurers will often revere (or pay lip service to) more than one deity, praying to different gods at different times such as Bahamut for protection, Avandra for safe travel or the popular Pelor for fertile crops. Each deity has their own vision of how the world should be, championed by their clerics and paladins. Nice thing about this pantheon is that it can act as a single source of deities for all the major races found in the setting.

The Dawn War pantheon contains gods from a variety of sources:

three unique gods (Ioun, Melora, Torog)
nonhuman deities (Bahamut, Corellon, Gruumsh, Lolth, Moradin, Sehanine and Tiamat)
Greyhawk (Kord, Pelor, Tharizdun, Vecna and Raven Queen which is similar to Wee Jas)
Forgotten Realms (Bane)
Greek (Avandra = Tyche, Erathis = Athena)
Norse (Raven Queen = Hel)
Egyptian (Zehir = Set)

Here is the list of the gods of good, neutrality and malign.

Good & Neutral Deities
Avandra
Goddess of change, luck, trade, travel CG Trickery Three stacked wavy lines

Bahamut
Dragon god of justice, protection, nobility, and honor LG Life, War Dragon’s head in profile

Corellon
God of arcane magic, spring, beauty and the arts revered primarily by elves CG Light Starburst

Erathis
Goddess of civilization and invention LN Knowledge Upper half of a clockwork gear

Ioun
Goddess of knowledge, skill, and prophecy revered primarily by scholars, magic-users N Knowledge Crook shaped like a stylized eye

Kord
God of the storm, strength and battle revered by warriors CN Tempest Sword with a lightning bolt cross guard

Melora
Goddess of the wilderness and the sea N Nature, Tempest Seashell with a wavelike swirl

Moradin
God of creation, artisans, family, revered primarily by dwarves LG Knowledge, War Anvil

Pelor
God of the sun, summer, agriculture and time NG Life, Light Circle with six outwardly radiating points

Sehanine
Goddess of trickery, love, moon and autumn revered by elves CG Trickery Crescent moon

The Raven Queen
Goddess of death, fate, winter LN Death, Life Raven’s head in profile

Evil Deities
Asmodeus
King of the Nine Hells and god of power, domination and tyranny LE Trickery Three triangles in tight formation

Bane
God of war and conquest LE War Claw with three talons pointing down

Gruumsh
God of destruction revered by orcs CE Tempest, War Unblinking triangular eye with bony protrusions

Lolth
Goddess of shadows, lies, and spiders revered by the drow CE Trickery Eight-pointed star with a web motif; spider

Tharizdun
Creator of the Abyss and god of annihilation and madness CE Trickery Spiral

Tiamat
Dragon goddess of wealth, greed, and vengeance LE Trickery, War Five clawed star

Torog
God of the Underdark and imprisonment NE Death T attached to a circular shackle

Vecna
God of undead, necromancy, and secrets     NE Death, Knowledge Partially shattered one-eyed skull

Zehir
God of darkness, poison, and assassins revered by snakefolk CE Trickery, Death Snake in the shape of a dagger

HARKENWOLD
The Barony of Harkenwold is a broad valley just over 50 miles long and roughly 20 miles wide located between arms of the Harken Forest. This primarily open land consists of gently rolling hills covered in a mix of cheery meadows, light forest with little undergrowth, and the occasional thicket. The climate is cool and rainy. Many small streams wind their way across the land, eventually joining the White River. These brooks are at most a few feet wide, and small footbridges cross them regularly.

Harkenwold's total population is about 2,000, scattered across half a dozen small hamlets and a score of isolated steadings. Most of the citizens are humans (50%), halflings (25%), and dwarves (20%), with a smattering of other folk (5%).

Harkenwolders living in the countryside are primarily farmers, shepherds, or woodcutters. Denizens of the hamlets also include woodworkers, smiths, carters, brewers, cheese makers, and leatherworkers. The other villagers tend nearby fields or orchards.

Harkenwold's Steadings
A steading is a farm or homestead in Harkenwold's countryside. Each of these settlements features a strongly built house of fieldstone and timber, surrounded by approximately 200 acres of pasture land and cropland. Some steadings have defensive palisades around the mainhouse. A Single extended family commonly lives in the house-two or three couples with their children, their older relations, and a few hired hands. Rarely do the total inhabitants of a steading exceed 20 people.

Traveling in Harkenwold
Characters on foot average 2 1/2 to 3 miles per hour on roads or trails. Walking from Tor's Hold to Easthill, for example, takes about two days. If the adventurers avoid the well-traveled trails and strike out directly overland, the mixed terrain reduces their speed to three·quarters normal. Venturing into the Harken Forest or the Briar Hills is much more difficult. The rougher terrain reduces speed to half normal.

Travelers in Harkenwold are rarely more than a mile or two from the nearest steading. Most Harkenwolders are happy to put up visitors for the night, although the accommodations might be a dry barn or stable.

1 hex = 2 miles