Najara - Geographical Features
The major features of Najara are known to humanoids in the area, though few know them as well as the Najarans themselves.
The Backlands: Named by coast-dwelling humans for its location relative to them, the area known as the Backlands encompasses the sparsely settled region east of the Serpent’s Tail Stream, the Forest of Wyrms, and the Trielta Hills, which are north of the River Reaching, west of the desert Anauroch, and south of the Greypeak Mountains.
Fertile Netherese farms once covered this region, but now it is home to all manner of fearsome monsters. Yuan-ti and naga hunting parties, guarded by bands of ophidian warriors, often wander the Backlands seeking new types of prey. The serpentfolk have been known to hunt humanoids—particularly cocky bands of adventurers—for sport.
Forest of Wyrms: The Forest of Wyrms is one of the last remnants of the great forest that once stretched from the Sunset Mountains to the Sea of Swords, and from the western and southern edge of the High Moor down to the Cloud Peaks. Despite the incredibly rocky terrain, the great redwoods and thick pines of this forest soar to incredible heights, suggesting that at least parts of this woodland may have been magically grown by the elves of Shantel Othreier. Logging the forest is almost impossible due to its formidable terrain and the creatures that dwell within.
The Forest of Wyrms has been home to all manner of snakes since the arrival of the yuan-ti in Ss’thar’tiss’ssun. Some of the more dangerous varieties include deathcoils, jaculis, and tree pythons.
In addition, the Forest of Wyrms is home to at least a half-dozen immature green dragons. escended from the legendary Agyrtclughwaur, these creatures effectively rule the forest’s depths. Dragon slayers often come here to hunt, but no one has yet recovered the fabled hoard of the Forest Wyrm.
Marsh of Chelimber: This vast marsh is home to thousands of lizardfolk, bullywugs, muckdwellers, and sivs. Their numbers were sorely depleted in the Year of Wild Magic (1372 DR), when beholders enslaved many tribes to fight on behalf of the phaerimms, but the populations have since rallied. The marsh-dwelling tribes battle constantly amongst themselves, uniting only to repel incursions of serpentfolk from the Serpent Hills.
King Kront nominally rules the lizardfolk, bullywug, and muckdweller tribes, but in practice his influence rarely extends farther than his immediate attendants. The siv-dominated Order of the Frog is the real power of the marsh, although individual beholders of the shattered Greypeaks Hive are given wide berths, and the catoblepases feared by all.
The marsh was formed when the Principality of the Snarling Boar (457 DR to 692 DR), named for the legendary adventurer Boareskyr, was inundated by water elementals in the aftermath of a spell battle between two powerful archmages. Today, many of the Boareskyrn ruins that still dot the marsh are inhabited by brotherhoods of monastic sivs. Other ruins are too magical or intimidating for the marsh inhabitants to tamper with. The waggishly named Dunkapple Castle, which hangs upside down with its spires in the muck at the head of the Winding Water, was once the abode of the Wizard of the Crag but is now home to a huge thirst of stirges. The most famous ruin is the Keep of the Drowned Prince, which once served as the royal seat of Boareskyr. The realm’s last ruler, Prince Chelimber the Proud, has become a powerful wight, guarding his riches in the depths of the flooded keep. His courtiers, a ravenous pack of lacedons, attend him there.
River Catherine: This small stream winds through the southern Serpent Hills until it joins with the Serpent’s Tail Stream and, eventually, the Winding Water. This waterway is home to many of the same creatures as the Serpent’s Tail Stream. The central arch of the Great Petrified Serpent spans the River Catherine at its widest point.
Serpent Hills: These rocky hills roll along a great expanse, broadening to the west until they become the High Moor. The Serpent Hills average 500 feet in height, with the tallest just below 1,000 feet. This region gets more rainfall than the moor, and its scrubby growth and groves of hardy trees provide cover for the region’s innumerable snakes. Many streams, the largest of which is the River Catherine, emerge from freshwater springs and then carve their way through the rocky hills to join with the Serpent’s Tail Stream.
Most of the rock faces have been carved or quarried, and the landscape is dotted with ruins, many of which are Anaurian crypts that date back to the era immediately following the fall of Netheril. The hills themselves are primarily granite, though deposits of iron and silver ore, veins of salt, and pockets of fine marble make them a rich resource. Much of the exposed marble has already been quarried, but many deposits remain underground.
Only a few shallow caves lie directly beneath the hills, but some of them connect with the more extensive limestone caverns that make up the uppermost reaches of the Underdark. In addition to lizardfolk, nagas, ophidians, and yuan-ti, the Serpent Hills support a colony of black caimans, a school of bulettes, a handful of beholder variants with vipers in lieu of eyestalks, dinosaurs (deinonychus, known locally as razortails, and small stegosauruses, known locally as spiketails), firedrakes, giant frogs, muckdwellers, urd, and strange monstrosities bred by the yuan-ti.
The harmless forms of wildlife include frogs, at least four varieties of skinks, snake-necked turtles, and toads. All manner of snakes make their homes here as well, including adders (Small vipers), loopsnakes (amphisbaena), striped boalisks, tree pythons, two-headed adders, whipsnakes, winged vipers, and other harmless varieties.
Known dragons include Borcher (male adult bronze dragon), Chellewis (female adult copper dragon), Girac (male old brass dragon), Janic (female old brass dragon), Narbdy (female young adult brass dragon), Nusas (female adult bronze dragon), Naelere and Thyka (female old bronze dragons), Kasidikal (female mature adult black dragon from Orogoth), Landillew (female very old red dragon), Mejas and Miteach (male young copper dragons), Topher and Sivert (male adult brass dragons), and Troberdene (male red wyrm).
Serpent’s Tail Stream: Winding along the eastern edge of the Serpent Hills, the Serpent’s Tail Stream is fed by countless streams as well as the River Catherine. Like the Winding Water to the south, which it eventually joins, this small river serves as a hunting ground for the black caimans and many swimming snakes that live along its banks. Ophidian hunters often fish from the western bank of the river, regularly landing scaled salmon and horned trout. Periodic floods cause the Serpent’s Tail to rise high above its banks, and from time to time the rising waters reveal the entrance to a long-forgotten Anaurian crypt.
Eastern High Moor: The eastern reaches of the High Moor are desolate and rocky. The small ravines and narrow ridges that mark this portion of the wilderness gradually rise up to form the Serpent Hills. The moors due west of the central Serpent Hills are home to numerous hobgoblin tribes, most of which venerate one of the resident wyrms of the region and war intermittently with the serpentfolk.
The moorlands to the west of the northern Serpent Hills are home to savage human tribes of Tethyrian heritage, descended from the long-ago union of House Orogoth’s Netherese servitors with scattered clans of primitive humans. The human tribes have long warred with the ophidians of the
Serpent Hills, but in recent years pureblood yuan-ti interlopers have transformed many of their human chieftains into tainted ones in order to keep the barbarians in check.
Tor of Swords : This granite upcropping stands just east of the most northeasterly loops that the ever-twisting Winding Water makes. Named for the quintet of Anaurian blades entombed within the hill before the erection of the Standing Stone, this tor is often confused with the nearby Dungeon of Swords and hence rarely visited by adventurers. The hill once marked the northern border of the Helbryn, the great hunting preserve of the long-ago dwarven kingdom of Oghrann. Caverns hewn from the base of the tor form Endar Aglandtor, the Sword Grotto, which serves as an abbey of Haela Brightaxe. The ablest swordswomen of Haela’s Host now wield the magic blades for which the tor is named, often clashing with the serpentfolk who venture down from the hills to plunder the battlefields where dwarf warriors fell in ages past.
Upper Winding Water: The upper reaches of the Winding Water wend from the heart of the Marsh of Chelimber to Boareskyr Bridge. Above the bridge, the river’s water is potable, but many intelligent creatures avoid it anyway for fear of consuming “Bhaal water.” The Winding Water is slow and turbid, making its way along a wide and marshy bottomland and leaving small swamps and oxbow lakes in its passing. Black caimans (crocodiles) and swimming vipers are the most common predators along the river, but many monsters haunt its banks as well.